Market 16 Noodle Bar

The service here is terrible. I believed, when being a first-​timer at the establishment, that when you order sushi through the screen (like Wawa or Honey Grow) the sushi is made fresh. As an unpleasant surprise, the sushi is pre-​made and pulled from a fridge (why order through the screen?) Although, the roll wasn’t terrible, not worth $ 10.

If I could give this place a 0 I would. I came here for lunch with some coworkers to give it a try. The ordering process is similar to Wawa in that there is a screen to order, you pay, and then pick up. My coworker ordered sushi, paid for it, and then waiting for 10 minutes. Finally someone called her number and she went to pick it up from the counter. The woman behind the counter proceeded to tell her to «talk to that man over there». A man sitting and eating his lunch. She went over, and he went into a fridge to get her pre-​packaged sushi. Why did we have to order from a screen or wait at all? Then the sushi of course was not very good (6 rolls for $ 9!!!)
It seems like a good idea, but with the bad customer service and unorganized manner of the place, I will definitely never return.

It was cold out, I was hungry, there were people eating inside so I thought it couldn’t be thaat bad.
But oh wow, I wish I chose pretty much anywhere else. It’s one of those places where you’ll look forward to eating because of the menu descriptions, and it will just let you down miserably.
I got the tofu & mushroom noodle bowl with lo mein. The noodles were horrible, the worst quality I have ever had. The vegetables were so shredded that they barely resembled what they were supposed to represent. It had bok choy (there were 2 pieces 1in x 1in), horrible quality tofu, and chicken broth that tasted like water. I tried fruitlessly to save it with other sauces and it just was awful. I feel sick from eating it.
The only upside was there is seating inside, and there’s a cool touch screen order menu. But please, please don’t go here. Drexel is just looking for another way to rip off its’ community.

The milk was 10 days expired on the shelf– I was silly and didn’t realize, but I ended up with food poising from it. Never going back again.

If I could give this place 0 stars I would. Cup Ramen tastes better than the food at this «Noodle» Bar. If you enjoy chicken broth rich in sodium and shitty food in it, then this is the place for you. Do not purchase anything in this store… it is always overpriced.

Worst food I have had in Philadelphia. Drexel should be ashamed for putting such a repulsive place on campus. Low quality noodles and stale ingredients with an obscene price tag. The shop attached is overpriced and has a piss-​poor selection. «Ethnic»? What a joke. Avoid this place no matter how desperate you get.

Terrible food and service I would never go back. The selection of food was sub standard. The server was not friendly and the only person who was doing anything. I would not recommend this place to anyone

This is one of those times I wish I read the reviews before stopping in. I got a barely edible $ 8 Caesar salad and an okay rainbow roll. Never thought I’d wished I’d stopped at ⁷⁄₁₁.

Since Market 16 Noodle Bar is on Drexel’s campus, I’m assuming it can get away with being pretty meh while still maintaining a fair amount of business. If you have your choice of places, though, I’d recommend going to a different spot… literally any other spot in the area, actually. I like the concept, but the execution is just not that good.
Pros: It’s close to my work, and I love the Wawa-​style touch screen ordering system and the variety of meatless noodle and rice bowl options. I think the free sample idea is awesome, I mean, who doesn’t love samples?
Cons: The quality of the vegetables, noodles, and tofu they use is pretty crappy, and everything tastes stale and flavorless. The tofu is rubbery and dried beyond recognition and the broths are really bland. The prices are absolutely insane, too. There is a convenience store here as well, but all of the products sold are subject to the same unbelievable price markup as the noodle bowls. Lastly, the employees here all seem like they hate their job.
With its crazy markup, so-​so food quality, and disgruntled employees, Market 16 would be more at home in the Philadelphia airport than in University City, which has plenty of amazing and affordable food carts and mom and pop places. I’d suggest you support those instead.

This is truly one of the worst places to attempt to find food in Philadelphia. It’s essentially food you might expect to find on spirit airlines, or in a stadium where you have no other option but submit to their hegemony over you. The food is awful and insanely priced. A large orange juice, for instance, is $ 8. You have freedom to go elsewhere. I suggest you do.

I would give this place 0 stars if i could. I got a thai chicken noodle bowl from here and basically paid $ 8 for chicken broth. There were about 4 noodles, and some shredded chicken, more like a few strings of chicken. The broth was over spiced. The service is terrible. They gave me the wrong receipt because cashier was busy talking to the other coworker and ignoring me while i was trying to pay. Big ripoff!

Almost never write reviews for restaurants but this one takes the cake. 1230 on a Monday afternoon — one employee working who has two jobs. 1) cashier 2) food prep. So you’re either waiting in line to buy things while she’s making food or waiting for your food while she is ringing people out. Food-​as a whole– is … terrible. Sangkee is almost exact same price and infinitely better — and can be faster if you take out. If you’re desparate, go to 7 – 11 next door for at least something that is closer to food.

We got a large rice bowl. You need to order from self order touch screen. They provide a good variety of choices. However, they put too much sauce on the rice. Some vegetables were not cooked well. Food there was overpriced.

Though I’ve been attending classes on Drexel’s main campus since January, this bitter winter has made me wary of traversing too far in search of lunch spots. So this week, I headed right up Market to Market 16 Noodle Bar. I was enticed by the idea of a «noodle bar», though I saw the grocery-​esque stacks and wasn’t sure what to expect.
Thankfully, it turned out pretty well. The noodle bar has touch screen ordering menus (a la Wawa’s hoagie screens) and offers noodle, rice, and soup bowls. Though you can customize an order, I went with the standard veggie bowl — noodles, broth, and a big pile of veggies. I loved that it was topped with limes to squeeze for flavor. Otherwise, there may not have been much. The saving grace was the sauces you could grab from the counter — the lime soy was SO good.
Definitely nothing to write home about, but a pretty solid spot for noodles. I’d even go back just for the lime sauce!

This is the first noodle place that I have been to where you get to choose your own type of noodle or rice bowl. Ordering is similar to getting a sandwich at Wawa where you have a touch screen and are presented options on what you want and can add on as may fill ins as you desire.
The place is also a convenience store, but has a nice small dining area. I was excited to create my own bowl and went with lo mein noodles, steak, mushroom, onion, bok choi, mint leaves in chicken broth. Even with all the fixings, the bowl was still pretty bland. The noodles were really bad and did not tasted like they were undercooked. The broth was okay, but nothing special. It was interesting to try, but the quality of the ingredients was just not there.

Tasty food — not the best but not the worst by far.
I’m glad I didn’t read the reviews before I tried this place. I had the Thai Noodle bowl and it was priced at $ 7. The «chef» was going a bit slow — perhaps she was new? But the rice noodles were just fine and the toppings (cilantro, scallions, basil, sprouts, etc) were fresh. There were sauces to choose from to put on your noodle bowl — a nice touch.
Yes, soda and snacks are pricey but no more so than anywhere else.
I didn’t have the sushi during this visit so I can’t speak to that menu. Perhaps they’ve implemented some changes since the last few negative reviews. Overall, a decent noodle bar.

Okay food. Okay service. Okay prices.
Ordered the ‘regular’ sized wide rice noodles with chicken, snow peas, Thai basil, and scallions. The noodles were cooked through and added texture more than flavor (given they are rice noodles, this is expected). The broth was nothing interesting and tasted like chicken bouillon in water. The quantity for the regular didn’t seem unreasonable and I left having consumed enough food for lunch. The prices which everyone else seems up in arms about didn’t bother me. $ 7 for a reasonable bowl of noodles (or really, any lunch) isn’t painful to part with. Understandably, it’s on a college campus and everyone wants to pay $ 2.50 like the food trucks but that’s not going to happen. The service I received wasn’t very warm but nor was it terrible. In other news, $ 7 for a box of Crispix? What?!
Not really impressed but if others want to come back, I won’t vote against it. Chinatown is definitely better but if you’re near Drexel, meh? Cheers.

I prefer to start with the good.
Service: Very nice, attentive, friendly and efficient. No complaints at all.
Atmosphere: Beautiful. Bright, cheerful and very clean with lots of room to walk around. This is a very comfortable place to sit at a window while having a great Chinese 5 Spice cookie and tea or coffee.
Location: Very convenient and easy to get to. And let’s face it that corner was in need of something… bad.
Food: Bland, at best. And that’s being charitable. Even if you didn’t know a thing about noodles or noodle bars and went here… I’m hard pressed to say you would enjoy it. It wasn’t horrible or inedible, but if you can NOT eat it… don’t. I had the regular bowl of Pad Thai noodles and the Spicy Tuna Roll and I’m sad to say that both were not even cafeteria quality. The noodles were over cooked; the broth was bland and had a burned taste. The sushi was a soggy mess, also with very little flavor. Bringing in a professional and talented noodle and sushi chef to oversee the actual food would fix every problem I can see here.
Price: Very over-​priced for a noodle shop. Even for an upscale market posing as a noodle shop. But then had the food been better I would be a little less offended by the price.
Its location and look and feel alone may be enough to save it. But I hope that Drexel decides to throw in a new chef as well. It could only help.

I expected a noodle restaurant, but it is more like a convenience store that happens to serve noodles. The food is mediocre and is served cafeteria-​style by people who don’t really understand the menu and don’t understand what they are serving, so for example you see several reviews below that complain that they put in *way* too much grated ginger; my noodles were barely edible. Similarly, they got my wife’s order completely wrong. If you order «phở», you are not going to get phở; you are going to get the same noodles put into some generic beef broth with some scallions and basil leaves.
I’m not sure how inexpensive this restaurant would have to be to justify the shoddy food, but it is much more expensive than that.
I do not plan to come back.

What a disappointment. Food is outrageously priced, and horrible. My «Phở» was only that in a theoretical sense. Worst beef broth ever; not even close to Phở. I’ve gotten better from a box. What a shame. The Asian food market is good, but also pricey.