Noodlehead

Noodle head is a great place for chatting with friends. The menu is pretty average, but my biggest complaint is the cash only policy. It’s a huge inconvenience for most people who prefer to use credit cards for ease of use and security. I’ve enjoyed the few times I went in he past, but we try to choose somewhere else that doesn’t require a separate trip to an ATM. Get with the times.

Great place! The food was delicious. The pork belly buns were my favorite Had Street Noodle #1 and Pad See Yew — personally liked the latter better. Cozy environment too :)

Great food and service, but the cash only policy makes it a pain when you forget, then have to go get cash and come back. Lame on their part. So, for that they lose a star.

I loooove me some Noodlehead. It’s come to be a regular option for so many kinds of meals: a birthday dinner with coworkers, an impromptu gabfest with a girlfriend (in which we may or may not have scurried over in gym leggings and/​or scrubs), a first (or fourth) date, or a catch-​up with my brother (for whom Noodlehead was the ticket to him falling in love with Thai food!). The pad thai (my preference = with those perfect tiny shrimp!) is now an old standby, but Street Noodle #1 is an equally viable option. I’ve also been lusting after the Chiang Mai curry as of late. Don’t forget a steamed pork bun or two to tide you over.

My Saturday night staple. This is the place I take out of towners when I want to give them a taste of modern Pittsburgh (people think that Primanti’s is synonymous with Pittsburgh cuisine).
First, the food. When going to noodlehead there are things that you must do: you must start your meal with the steamed buns; if you don’t you’re only hurting yourself. These are more than just appetizers, they’re flavor adventures. The first time I took my father here, he ate three orders of them. On the outside they’re warm and soft cheese Asian buns (that sounds kind of dirty), tasty tender pork on the inside, and topped with crunchy cilantro and pickles. If you haven’t yet found God, you might find him in the steam buns; these classify as a religious experience. As for the rest of the menu he really can’t go wrong so far away.
The atmosphere is modern and cozy, but remember they don’t take credit cards, they don’t have a phone, and they don’t take reservations. Probably because they don’t need to do any of those things and they know it.

In a nutshell: Hip, modern and affordable. Small menu of some appetizers and Thai noodles. Cash only.
I really enjoyed Noodlehead. You can tell the quality of food when the place is packed and there are packs of people standing at the door waiting for a table. My husband and I came here on a Friday night and it looked incredibly busy, but the wait was only 15 minutes. We ordered the Sweet Potato Triangles for our appetizer, he ordered the Kee Mao and I ordered the Street Noodle #1. The sweet potato triangles were mashed sweet potato, wrapped in spring roll wrapper and deep fried, served alongside a light cucumber sauce. These were AMAZING. They were sweet, crunchy and when paired with the sauce, OMG. The refreshing cucumber cuts through the heaviness of the deep fried shell. The Kee Mao was delicious, but really spicy. My husband ordered spice level 1 and it was too spicy for the both of us. I also want to note that we are not sensitive to spice, as I typically order a 6 at other Thai places when I’m in the mood for mild spice. I ordered a 2 spice level for my street noodle #1 and it was perfect. The sauce was a sweet and spicy sauce. It’s similar to Pad Thai, yet completely different. The noodles were very saucy, but it was perfect to dip the chicken in.
I would give Noodlehead 4.5 stars. I loved everything about this place except for the over spice on my husband’s Kee Mao, despite its low spice level. Maybe it was a mix up in the kitchen so I’m definitely willing to go back to give it another try.

This place is fantastic. My soon to be in-​laws and SO came here to give it a try, since they are the cheaper alternative to other Thai places. We ordered one of every appetizer and were blown away by the flavors. After eating all of that we obviously had to get a main dish as well (don’t judge, we get hungry). I ordered the See Yew and fell in love, so did everyone that ordered the Street Noodle (1&2). Along with the food, you can’t beat the fact that there isn’t a corkage fee, only a .50 recycling fee.
Highly recommended.

One of my very favorite restaurants in the city. No phone, no reservations, and cash only! The atmosphere is great. Wood and metal décor and some big tables for sharing. The menu is not huge, but it doesn’t need to be. Everything is delicious. The appetizer of pork steamed buns is SO good. I can’t go there without those steamed buns .
You can choose your spice level for each dish. I warn that its pretty spicy. They have a scale from 1 – 5 and although I’m not very big on spicy things, sometimes a level 1 is a little much. So I’d stick to a lower number to start and you can always add spice if it’s not enough.
It’s also BYOB, which is a huge perk because the fee is .50 a person. So basically free. It’s also right down the street from a big wine store where i always stop to grab a bottle before i head there.
The service is also always good and quick even if the place is packed we never wait that long to eat once we are sitting.

I’m a super fan of Thai food. Love this place, really good Thai cuisine, and the atmosphere is great.

This place is awesome. Given that they get such a huge crowd, the way 4 – 5 people were managing was really commendable. Talking about the food, it is the best Thai food I have tasted in Pittsburgh. Added to that is the damn cheap price. My wife and I tried pad thai and street noodle 2, both were great. We went a day before the new year eve, it was full, but got place within 10min. Highly recommended, will visit again.

Their menu is simplistic and it’s easy to decide what you want to order. Since discovering this place I’ve been back 5 times. They’re almost always packed, but if you don’t have a larger party of 5 or 6 you will be seated very quickly. You can also BYOB.
My favorite dish is the See Yew with chicken. It’s delicious! I’ve found myself craving it now and then and I have to go back for more. Their prices for their main dishes are also pretty reasonable. Most noodle plates are $ 9, and it’s a big helping. The food also comes out super quickly. The longest I’ve had to wait was probably 10 minutes for my food.
The only issue I have is with their appetizers. I wish they weren’t as expensive or gave you more for your money. Under «snacks» we ordered the spring rolls for $ 4. Only 2 came and they weren’t any bigger than my thumb. We haven’t ordered any else since.
Quick tips: bring cash they don’t except cards! They also don’t have a phone!

This place is amazing and never fails to disappoint. We live in walking distance and come here about once a week. I do wish they took take out deliveries orders over the phone, but oh well.
I always get the sukothai and just upped my spice level to 4. They are always super consistent with the spice level. I love the hard cooked egg in this dish, never over cooked! And the noodles always perfect and not overcooked.
And the pork buns. Oh. My. God. Also a big fan of the chicken appetizer. So perfectly crunchy and delish.

Okay so I still love this place but the last time I went here my noodles were much drier than they were the first time. The taste was delicious but I couldn’t ignore the change and dryness… I had to douse it in Sriracha for some moisture and when I ate my leftovers the next day I added water/​soy sauce. Hopefully this is a fluke!

Decided to try this restaurant after stumbling across it on Instagram. The restaurant had a very nice cute setting and was BYOB which I love!
We decided to try the pork belly buns and we were not disappointed. Even better with a little siracha on them. As an entrée I tried the See Yew with tofu. I think it could have used a little extra sauce but other then that it was very good. We will definitely be returning!

GET. A. PHONE. I would up this review to 4 stars if they would give people some method of ordering ahead – even online would be great. They’re not super slow for carryout (usually less than 30 minutes), but that really defeats the purpose of ordering takeout. I’m not a huge fan of the ambiance here – the tables are set up in a very date-​y way, but the restaurant is loud – so takeout is my strong preference.
That said, prices are cheap, portions are generous, and food is pretty good (not better than SBL, but they’re serving a different type of Thai), so if I have something to do instead of twiddling my thumbs while waiting, I’ll keep going.

Considering Thai is my favorite food group (lol) I am on a mission to try all of the Thai that the Burgh has to offer. My mom is a Thai lover as well– so on a beautiful Fall Friday when I had the afternoon off work, we visited Noodlehead. There is some outside seating, but it was a little chilly so we sat indoors.
Here are a couple things you need to know before visiting:
1. CASH ONLY
2. BYOB! (Only a 50 cents «recycling» fee per person)
3. Parking isn’t the best– we paid to park at a meter outside of Noodlehead. There is residential parking but it’s permit.
Our server was nice & attentive to our table despite being very busy with a late lunch rush. She brought us glasses for our wine & a pitcher of water for the table shortly after our arrival. We ordered the pork belly steamed buns to start. I heard awesome things & had to try them. For our entrees, we ordered the chicken pad thai (spiciness at a 3), street noodles #1 (spiciness at a 3) with chicken & the beef soup (spiciness at a 1).
Pork belly steamed buns– I have always wanted to try these little adorable Thai sandwiches but wasn’t sure where to find them before Noodlehead. They were good & very simple. Basically just BBQ pork in a steamed bun with some pickled cucumber on top. I added sriracha to mine to add some spicy flavor– they literally weren’t spicy at all without it. At two per order for $ 6, there aren’t a bad deal– just not as flavorful as I had hoped.
Street Noodles #1– The chicken was AWESOME in this. For $ 9, the portion of noodles I received was large & the amount of chicken I received was awesome as well. The chicken was fried but the batter was more fluffy than fried tasting. Really tasty. The noodles were disappointing. I understand that Fish Sauce is in A LOT of Thai. I’m not a fish person AT ALL, but I deal with it. In 99% of the Thai restaurants that I have been to, I can’t taste the fish sauce in their food. Usually I can’t even smell it. This dish was the exception. It had completely too much fish sauce in it. I tried to neutralize it by adding Sriracha– didn’t work. I didn’t eat much of this dish in the restaurant because I hoped I could «doctor it up» at home by adding sesame oil, soy sauce & chili oil, to make it less fishy. I couldn’t even eat them then. I’m not sure if it was just a bad day or if these noodles are always this fishy but I wasn’t impressed at all with this dish.
Beef Soup– My mom really liked this. I am not really a beef soup person, but the bite I tried was tasty. It had a slight spicy kick to it, which was nice. The portion was huge– what she didn’t eat at the restaurant, she had for dinner the next day.
Chicken pad thai– Still fishy. Not as fishy as Street Noodles by ANY means, but it was still fishy. We added fresh lime juice & Sriracha & that seemed to do the trick of neutralizing the fish sauce. After adding those ingredients we really enjoyed it.
I don’t want to give Noodlehead two stars– I love the décor of this place, it’s rustic & modern, yet still Thai feeling, the presentation of the noodles were great & I am a fan of the prices & the fact that they are BYOB. But I can’t give them a good rating considering two dishes we ordered were overpowered with fish sauce. If I have to take a dish home in order to make it better, then the restaurant didn’t deliver like they should have. The pork belly steamed buns were also disappointing. I ended up ordering some to-​go for the boyfriend & he thought they were bland as well.
I would be willing to return. everyone seems to love this place, so maybe I just came on a bad day.

Love this place! I was repeatedly recommended this place by coworkers who know what’s up and finally got the chance to come out all the way to Shadyside to experience this yumminess. I am a noodle lover and expert so here’s my 2 cents on this restaurant:
1 star taken off for cash only. Not even debit cards here. The menu and the website both call this out so I was at least forewarned. No parking either. That is a bit of a problem but we drove around a few side streets before finding an alley.
Okay, so the quality of the food. A+! I ordered the Street Noodle #2 and the hubby ordered the Chang Mai Curry. The street noodles were the exact textured Hong Kong style thin egg noodles that I crave ²⁴⁄₇. The sauce and the tempura shrimp were perfect too. I got the 0 spicy level but had them bring the chili flakes on the side. That’s how I roll. I like to control my own spice level. The portion of mine was rather small for $ 9. I agree with some of the other reviewers that they should throw in more noodles b/​c I started eyeing my husband’s dish…
The atmosphere was crowded but hip. The tables were super clean and not wobbly. I would definitely come back here to try the other menu items. It’s comparable to Lulu’s Noodles from the Carnegie Mellon area but there are many things I like about Lulu’s more, I think.

You’re still The One, Noodlehead.
A year after our first visit we returned to Pittsburgh (for another concert! Why are acts skipping over Cleveland?) and Noodlehead was to be our first stop! I have been dreaming of the pork buns and their sweet/​spicy marinade for the past 16 months and I was NOT disappointed!
On this trip, in addition to the mouth-​watering pork buns, we ordered the Chiang Mai Curry and the Pad Kee Mao — both at a spice rating of ‘1’ — and they were spot-​on! I am getting hungry just thinking about them now.
This is my best pointer for a trip to Noodlehead: be sure to note that their spice scale is not the same as your average American Asian restaurant. Whereas I usually order medium-​spicy at most Thai spots, at Noodlehead I can barely handle the ²⁄₅ spice level and find ¹⁄₅ more comfortable. You’ve been warned!
That being said, come to Noodlehead, bring your dry sauvignon blancs and light lagers and your cash, and enjoy some of the best Thai street food in the Rust Belt!

I previously gave it 4 stars, but 5 is more appropriate.
I still love wide noodles the best, so I ordered Kee Mao, with less salt. Wide noodles had a perfect sweet and salty flavor, and I really liked the cooked basil. My friends ordered See Yew (another wide noodle dish, one I ordered last time), and the Chiang Mai Curry. I tried the curry, and I think I’ll come back and get that too. The curry was thick and came with fried egg noodles.
I wouldn’t order the dumplings again though, those were disappointing in taste and size.
BYOB, at 50 cents a person, confirmed.
Cash only – don’t forget.

I’m not a huge Thai food eater. The fact that Noodlehead even turned my head is a pretty impressive feat. Noodlehead is cash only, but it is totally worth it.
The atmosphere is modern and fun, but my friend and I did find this place to be very cold, temperature wise. We ordered the Thai fried chicken ($ 6.50) to start, and it was delicious. I wouldn’t consider it a show-​stopper, and I would probably try a different appetizer next time. It was good, though. I ordered the Street Noodles #2 ($ 9) for lunch, which was thin egg noodles, tempura shrimp, bok choy, cilantro. I kept the spice mild because our server said the food was naturally more spicy than normal. I would disagree with this, but there is a spicy sauce on the table for do your own spicy! So it was not an issue. The dish was delicious. Plenty of shrimp and enough for lunch the next day!
Our service was great! The only major drawback is that parking can be challenging.