Live Noodles

The beef hand pulled noodles broth didn’t really have a taste. The noodles were good and soft but the broth to me is the most important part. The soup dumplings were okay too, I have had better ones.

Food was very good. One of the few good places with sliced noodles (刀削麵). It was done well overall. I had the stir-​fried sliced noodles, and it was good. I also got a spicy pot. Flavor was good with lots of delicious veggies.
The service overall isn’t that great. Food took a while to get, and they were not very attentive.

The food looked really appealing and delicious, but I was turned off by the flour-​like taste of the sliced noodles with beef. The flavoring of the noodles and meat were also very mild… not sure what went wrong here, perhaps the noodles weren’t cooked long enough (?) The spicy thin beef noodle soup was prepared to expectations but were standard, except for maybe the goji berries on top! Not something you see often in noodle soups. If you’re looking for decent hand-​pulled/​knife sliced noodles in the Allston area this is likely one of the only options.

Delicious mala soup, thick fresh noodles, veggies, and soup dumplings! Not always great service but eh that’s ok.

Probably the best hand pulled (Lanzhou style) noodles in Boston. Certainly better than Gene’s.

On our first visit here we were seated in the adjacent pizza store, whose owner probably struck a deal with Live Noodles. I’m assuming Live Noodles is trying to maximize business opportunities and is willing to cut a share of their profit if next door’s space is used. I’m just guessing here. Anyways, I ordered the beef ramen since it was the more popular item on the menu. The noodles had a chewy texture, which meant they were made fresh. However, the soup base was pretty plain. My other friend ordered another noodle dish, but it had bread pieces in it which became soggy in under 5 min. We also got the stinky tofu, which was smelly alright but dry. Service wasn’t that great. No one came to check on us or refilled our drinks.

I got the beef hand drawn noodles. Everything about it was super flavorful! The noodles were super chewy (in a good way) and a smooth consistency. The broth was not too heavy and asking for the spicy version, they didn’t overdo it with the chili oil. The beef was also very tender and soft. I pretty much finished everything. The only thing I do regret is trying the stinky tofu my friend suggested me. I knew it was going to be bad but didn’t realize it would would be THAT bad. Only try this if you’re already accustomed to the taste or feeling adventurous for something exotic. In terms of service, they spoke Mandarin to my friend and I the moment we walked in. I don’t really speak Mandarin but I guess if you look Chinese, they’ll speak to you in Mandarin. I definitely will return to this place as it is so near BU campus.

The quality of food here is unstable. Last time I tried beef noodle here was fine, but today I order the same one and it’s too salty. Additionally, many customers are served at such a slow speed. You can have food here fair enough, but don’t expect too much.

I would give a zero if I could.
Terrible altitude.
We ordered $ 16 stuff from the mean and was charged $ 29.
What is even worse, the food is not good at all. Not just not tasty, I mean the quality of the ingredients.
We were seated to the table close to the restroom when all the other tables are available and they won’t change for us.

The 2-​star is for everything: the service, the environment, and the food.
The environment: this place can seat 20 people the most with 5 tables. It is tiny and not clean at all. The first time we walk in, 3 out of the 5 tables are not cleaned and there are all kind of trash both on the table and on the floor.
The service: so we stood there waiting for 30 minutes for the waiters to clean out 1 table. At that time, there is only 1 customer trying to order an take out. I keep wondering why it takes 3 waiters half an hour to clean even a table for 2. When we we finally seat down, no tea or menu was brought over. So I have to ask them to bring the menu. And 20 mins we get the good, I have to again ask them to bring some tea. When one of waiters was taking the order, he has no idea what was available on the menu. Every time, he has to go back to ask the kitchen what they have, which is really ridiculous.
The food: we ordered the skewer, which is so dry and tasteless. It is not juicy at all. We also ordered the fried noodles and the noodles are like 2-​inches thick, which they really should be thin and fresh.

Aight, here’s the run down.
** This is more so 3.5÷5 starz **
So… the reason why we came here in the first place was because we were rolling deep with about 20 people and Limoo’s wait for a group of 20 with no reservation would equate to me getting married and having three kids before we were able to secure tables for everyone. Nevertheless, one of the people in our party walked a teeny bit down the street and saw that Live Noodles was empty. Two things popped up in mind: 1. Wthell is Live Noodles? 2. There’s got to be a reason why it’s empty. So when hunger calls and getting married and having three kids is out of the question, we resorted to Live Noodles.
Service: It seemed like the owner and the waiters were genuinely shocked that a large party came to their restaurant. Like, out of all the popular places we could have gone too, we chose Live Noodles. There were two other small tables being served at the time, so the water was poured relatively quickly, any needs we had were met and met quickly, BUT. the order in which the food came out was rather weird and slow for me and my friend who opted to share. One of our dishes ordered, the beef noodle soup, came out maybe 10 minutes after the second round of beef noodle soups were brought out. Problem here though, is that the folks who got their beef noodle soups came in late to our little gathering and had gotten theirs first.
Food: We had ordered the beef noodle soup and chicken gizzard skewers. The beef noodle soup was solid; hearty, flavorful, and portions were just right. I probably would have enjoyed it more though if I didn’t have a vein poppin’ out of my head (see above as to why). The chicken gizzard skewers was good. I think comparatively, Mala Restaurant down the street in Allston uses the same recipe. AKA, cover the hell out of the gizzards with cumin.
TL;DR: If Jojo Taipei and Mala Restaurant had a kid, it’d probably be Live Noodles.

This is my favorite noodles place! Food here is originally delicious. I tried almost all kinds of noodles here. Both spicy noodles and non-​spice noodles are super yummy! Besides, it’s right next to T station, so it’s always my first choice when I want to have some Chinese food.
Today I had some 泡菜 and 大盘鸡。大盘鸡 came in a huge bowl. It’s smelled so good when I stirred the spoon provided. It made my day (or night) lol.

My little cousin wanted me to try this spot so we went there today.
We came in and got seat right away. The waiter didn’t speak much English but service was like any typical Asian restaurant. They don’t attend to you much unless you flag them down for something.
I saw a lot of photos of the spicy beef noodle so I decided to get that. It was a good portion but didn’t look like anything from other peoples picture. The hand pulled noodle was better than I expected. I’m not much into chewy noodle which most hand pulled noodles tend to be. This was just perfect. The size and the thickness of the thin noodle was a thumbs up. As for the broth, it was plain and simple. There was no spice to this noodle soup. They gave only a few pieces of bok choy, 2 quail eggs and few slices of beef. I wish they gave a little bit more veggie. I give this a 3.
Also ordered the soup dumplings… Its OK. It tasted the same as the ones from Gourmet Dumpling in Chinatown. No special tastes there.
I would go back to try other dishes from here though. I saw what some other people ordered and it looked so good! There was a fish dish that came out in a whole baking pan and some people order the dry hot pot. I would definitely try those next time I come.

Skeptical at first because if you went to BU then you know the previous restaurant Quan’s was really only good when you’re hammered (sorry not sorry). However, once Live Noodles opened, I always saw people (even in the day!) and pretty crowded too; I had to wait 30 min once so I came another time. I was really interested in the hand made noodles but they had a lot of different options so we ended up getting what other Unilocal users got/​the ones with pictures on the menu lol.
Service was okay nothing special, no one really greeted me when I came in and they placed me at a 2 person table that wasn’t even cleaned yet so I just moved over to the bigger clean table.
— Pork Soup Dumplings = Really tasty, I added chili paste and black vinegar which the waiter recommended
— Scallion Pancake Wrapped Beef = Took me a while to find it on the menu, but the pics on Unilocal looked dope, and it was also hella delicious
— Beef Hand Pulled Noodle = I thought the soup would be smaller but it had a ton of noodles, which were the best part. The flavor could have been a little stronger though
— Shan Xi Sliced Noodle (I think?! It has egg and there’s a pic on the menu) = So glad this was big enough that I had leftovers for the lunch the next day heh. It has a lot of bean sprouts which I personally love, and my favorite part was the texture of the noodles. Instead of the usual thin long noodles, this was doughier, thicker and sliced and at first kinda odd but then I got used to it and decided it was pretty awesome
Super excited to try some of their other noodles next time

Live Noodles is an interesting experience. The big draw is the lure of hand-​pulled noodles, offered in a variety of forms. If you are seated in the right place, you can actually see them preparing the noodles and, if you catch you looking, they will often include a bit of showmanship.
The hand-​pulled noodles are offered in a number of forms: flat and thick (I believe this is the more traditional), thin (a bit more like ramen), and sliced (which we didn’t try). Noodles are offered as either part of a soup or dressed with topping and a bit of oil.
The noodle dishes came exceptionally fast, within minutes of being ordered. However, they were only just above room temp, leading me to wonder just how fresh the preparation was. This may be why the spicing was far weaker than MDM, where I had a similar dish. It may also be because people normally order the soup varieties, and we did not. Every bowl of soup we saw was steaming hot, and will likely be what I try next time. That said, it was still quite fulfilling and the black vinegar at the table offered a bit of a flavor boost.
We also ordered the soup dumplings. We had to remind our server of the order in order to receive it, but once we did, we were quite pleased. While not as robust as some others in the city, they’re quite good and offer a pleasant warmth on a cold day.
The best part of our meal was a recommendation from the server: the beef wrap. Essentially a fried rolled scallion pancake with beef, cilantro, and a ‘special sauce’ inside, it was absolutely delicious. A bit reminiscent of a banh mi, it was the perfect appetizer and I’ll definitely order it again.
tldr; Live Noodles is a good choice for authentic style Chinese noodles in the heart of Allston. While I have concerns about the consistency, it is well worth a return trip.

I would give it another 6 months before trying this place again because the service was horrible.
No one came by to check if we were ready to order till 15 mins after we sat down. Our soda didn’t come till 10 mins after that. One of the server said that there were some new hires as an explanation for the disorganization. It was to the point that, they didn’t wipe the table next to us when they cleared it for the new set of customers that sat down. Just gross!
The food was nothing to WoW about. It wasn’t worth the long wait. It’s ok authentic Chinese food. I was disappointed that my spicy noodle soup didn’t come out steaming. Warm soup wasn’t what I expected. Spicy level was a joke. It’s dang red but no kick. They just put a dollop of their hot oil in the soup and call it a day. I wanted to go across the street to Victoria to grab their hot oil.
Their soup dumpling was better than Jo Jo’s. It’s not your typical looking dumpling. It’s more elongated upward than a circular bun look. The meat in it was less than norm. They don’t give you a plate of vinegar with shredded ginger. It’s a bottle and help yourself squirting on dumpling.
It was definitely weird to be eating Chinese food next door in the pizza shop. For some reason, they were seating guests at the pizza shop.
Another oddity, they are located in Boston zip code but on their menu they claim to be in Brookline.

As a China-​born lover of noodles, I think this place is one of the most authentic non-​cantonese chinese places around Boston, after living here for four years. The hand-​pulled noodles with beef is the classic and it’s absolutely worth $ 10. It’s soup is very rich bone soup that must have been cooking for hours! And they give two quail eggs in the dish! The hand-​pulled noodles are a great chewy consistency. We also got an order of 3 spicy lamb kabobs. They were also great, but at $ 5 for 3, it’s a little pricey for me.
I would recommend all my friends to come, but only four stars because their credit card limit is $ 20, so it makes splitting the bill difficult and eating alone difficult without cash.

This place has honestly the best authentic Chinese food I’ve had in my 5 years here in this Boston/​Brookline area. Absolutely delicious, I come here every weekend for lunch with my friends. Reasons it is the bomb:
1) Authentic handmade noodles. You can see the chefs in the kitchen making the noodles! I recommend the beef hand pulled thin noodle soup, you can get any level of spiciness. The beef is tender and the soup broth is fresh. Other places around the same area use store-​bought noodles, it’s hastily made, and/​or they just throw in a bunch of msg and try to make it taste good (looking at you, restaurant across the street…). But this place uses fresh ingredients, fresh cooked meat, hand made noodles that you can really taste the difference in quality.
2) BEEF WRAPS (niu rio bein). oh my god. heaven in my mouth. This is beef wrapped in a scallion pancake with hoisin sauce and the result is a happy stomach. You gotta order these alongside your main dish, its so good. They slice it up in three so it’s great for sharing.
3) service is good, never had an issue with them. But everyone knows when you come to a Chinese restaurant spot like this, you come for reasons 1 and 2, and service is there to keep you happy. They do a good job, the guys always come around and make sure you got enough water, give you updates on when your food’s coming out, and they sort out bills for you. Just make sure you know they only take up to 2 credit cards.
4) price. for quality authentic food, it’s affordable, I usually spend $ 15-​$ 18 but mainly because I’m a fatass and I like having soup and beef wrap every time.
I welcome anybody that wants to contest that this isn’t the best authentic chinese place in the BU area. Heck, I would even go here over anything in Chinatown, that’s how much I like this place. I come from LA with incredible chinese restaurants and it’s like this restaurant was handpicked from LA and dropped into the Boston area with a mission to spread handmade noodle happiness over a miserable cold Boston winter, which is coming.
Do yourselves a favor, hit this place up with yo friends and yo homies on a cold day, enjoy some soup and wraps, and you won’t regret it!

If you’re looking for general gaos chicken, this is not your place. I am american born chinese, but I embrace my Chinese food culture with my American standards. My meal appeased to both standards. We ordered the beef thin noodles, chicken in hot oil, and roast beef scallion pancake. The noodles were well made, but lacked in flavor. The chicken was larger than we expected and went well when we mixed it in with the noodle. The beef scallion pancake was good but is slight heavy on the hoison sauce. The food came surprisingly fast, and not super hot so I assume that they make the food in batches and serve to order.
It looked like hot pot and the noodle soup dishes were more popular. Next time I’ll give one of those a try.
The restaurant is on the smaller side, and it appeared that the pizza place next store allows their diners to eat there as well. My friend and I were the only Americans in the restaurant, everyone else seemed to be chinese foreign exchange or international students.

Given that each of our meals was under $ 10, I gotta go with 4 stars. The food is really good and you get a lot for what you pay for. They have some really unique noodles and you can mix and match things on the menu if there isn’t a regular menu option you want.
Definitely in our price point and we’ll definitely be going back on a cold winter day.
Hint: make sure to ask them to make your food mild if you have any hesitation towards spicy food!