Instant Noodles

Horrific restaurant. Terrible pink noodles and chicken in pad Thai. No taste. Delivery takes a decade. Do not order from here.

I’ll start by saying the manager yelled at me twice during my visit. The service was worse than the food. And the food was awful, likely the worst I’ve had in dc. I even got a scout mob for this place and paid half-​price; still the worst money I’ve ever spent on food. This review will likely be irrelevant in a few months: I predict they will close very soon.

Apparently, not a good place for good food, good service, or for African Americans.
More on their service visit…
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This article was very disheartening.

Ordered takeout from here using Foodler:
The meal overall was mediocre. Not the best, but not the worst. I tried the Goi Cuon, which are rice paper rolls with shrimp and vermicelli. They were ok, but pretty bland. I also tried the crabmeat fried rice. It was decent, but the crabmeat didn’t taste super fresh.
Overall, I might give them a try again, but will definitely try other menu items.

If I could give this place NO stars, I would. But it doesn’t even deserve zero stars. This was the most vile and disgusting Vietnamese food I’ve ever had! The beef phở had slivers of fat, no meat. I ordered online through living social and I regret it. I asked for extra sprouts and hoisen sauce. I got about 10 sprouts and no sauce at all! The quality of the meat was horrible! I also ordered the shrimp spring rolls and it literally had a sliver of shrimp that tasted rancid! It was basically just noodle, with a sprig of cilantro, one bean sprout and a tiny sliver of rancid shrimp in the middle. How the hell do they charge $ 6 for that?
I advise anyone thinking about going here, RUN AWAY AS FAST AS YOU CAN! I’m going to bet anyone who wrote a neutral or positive review for this place is a friend of the owner. Nobody in their right mind could ingest food this vile!

I wanted to like this place because its the only Thai place in Adams Morgan, but it misses the mark in so many ways.
If you dine in the food isn’t bad, but the prices and service are. Portions aren’t big, food is mediocre, and it takes a long time co complete the entire process. Food is typically oily and they overdo the fish sauce on everything so much that smelling your food makes you want to gag.
Take out is a nightmare. I ordered from them today and every single dish (out of 3) had something wrong. The Pad Thai was a bunch of cold coagulated noodles smothered in a weird blend of fish sauce and some bright pink liquid. There was maybe 2 vegetables on the whole thing and they put some bean sprouts and perhaps a teaspoon full of ground peanuts on the side. My girlfriend’s dish was basically 2 cups of vegetables smothered in oil and it didn’t even have the tofu it was supposed to come with or all of the vegetables listed on the menu. Finally, the lemongrass soup was a lemon squeezed in broth.
Avoid this place if at all possible. Visit Pho14 instead and save yourself the hassle.

I really like this spot. While the entrees are normal prices, the bahn mis are SUPER cheap — $ 6! And delicious. The papaya salad and larb gai are also great. Definitely a great weeknight dinner place.
Service is iffy — most of the time it’s pretty fast, but once it took an hour to get our food for no apparent reason. Also, for some reason they never refill water (a problem when the food is spicy!).
Bring back the curry puffs!

I’d avoid. It’s rather expensive for a Vietnamese/​Thai restaurant. The broth tasted funny (probably because of the underlying tap water taste). The sandwich was tolerable. Overall, the experience left me wishing I had gone somewhere else. Still not the worst Vietnamese restaurant but definitely in the lower tiers. [Original Visit: February 2012]

With a groupon, 3.5 stars. Without, I’d give 2.
I got their drunken noodle with seafood. It took forever. When I finally got it they made a mistake and gave me only shrimp (the cheaper option). They took it back and stir-​fried in some squid and scallops, but the squid taste didn’t fully come out.
The noodles did have that stir-​fry aroma, however, so that’s a redeeming quality.

Oh, you can’t give 0 stars?! You should be able to– this place is awful. I should have known by their «creative» store name: Instant Noodles.
Hint 2 it would be awful: They told me they ran out of the thin pad thai noodles, so I had to change my order or replace it with another type of noodle. I opted for the thicker rice noodles (found in Pad See Ew). Who runs out of pad thai noodles? That’s a staple.
Delivery RANT (I recommend skipping to food critique):
Apparently they use a third party delivery service. I ordered at 815pm. Fast forward to 945pm when I was 5 seconds away from eating my own arm for dinner, and I had called the establishment several times to find out where the food was. After an hour: «oh, it left 30 minutes ago.» 25 minutes later and still no food, I called back, «It left 20 minutes ago.» Now, how is that possible? MORE time had elapsed, not less. I called again and was finally informed that they had no idea where the order was, and they couldn’t call the driver because they didn’t have his number.
The food arrived at 9:55pm, a mere hour and 40 minutes after the initial order. It was obviously cold. Everything had leaked into the bottom of the bag– it had clearly been sitting for a while.
Food Critique:
The pad thai had potential but fell short since the noodles really lacked any sauce. The seafood noodle soup was not good. I have never had a soup I didn’t like, until now. The «red tofu soup» tasted like metal had seeped into it. The seafood smelled awful– a sure sign it wasn’t fresh. The portion was way too small. The rice paper shrimp wraps had a quarter of one piece of shrimp and the rest was just filler– I’d rather have 2 rice paper rolls with shrimp than 3 filler rolls with the equivalent of less than one piece of shrimp.
Moral of the story: I will never forget to look at Unilocal before I go to a restaurant again– NEVER!

5^th time’s the charm? Not for Instant Noodles. Here’s how my 5^th and final encounter went:
I called to place an order for delivery and the hostess told me that they don’t take delivery orders over the phone. I tilt my head like a dog trying to understand people words. How do you take delivery orders then?
Over the internet obviously! It’s kind of a strange business model since most people are used to placing orders by phone, but I decided to go with the flow (plus I was really craving me some pad thai). After I masterfully completed my order form I awaited my feast’s arrival, but not for long.
Five minutes later, I got a call from the same hostess, telling me there’d be no Pad Thai feast tonight because… they ran out of chicken. It’s probably for the best since the thought of eating from Instant Noodles often far exceeds the reality, kind of like internet dating.

I ordered Phở Ga and Pad See Ew for delivery. Both were supposed to be «hot» on the spicy scale. Both are beyond mild – not a hint of spice in either dish.
Other than that, the Pad See Ew is tasty and good. The Phở Ga, however, was extremely lacking. I don’t know if it’s because I had to add the ingredients to the broth myself or what, but this dish was extremely lacking in flavour. I wanted to give this place 2.5 stars because the Pad See Ew was good, but the Phở Ga was just too disappointing, plus the complete lack of spiciness was enough to keep me from tipping over to 3 stars.

I was looking forward to eating here but they have terrible service!!!
I ordered the Drunken Noodles online for delivery. Over 2 HOURS later i called them for my order. The lady said she tried to «call me» because they didnt have Drunken Noodles that day, which is funny because she had no recollection of who i was or my number at the time of my call. I asked for a refund, she said she will call me back and give her driver directions to give me my money… i have yet to receive a call or money!!!
Wasted time and money
Do NOT recommend!!!

I hate to give a bad review, but I left disappointed. This is unfortunate because I was looking to add a new place to my rotation.
Sodas cost like $ 3.00!!! Although the food prices weren’t bad, the food itself seemed like a cheap knock-​off.

I got delivery: spring rolls are good, phở is really good. Very spicy. Dumplings are not good at all.

Instant Nope.
We got Pad Thai and Sweet and Sour Pork for takeout.
Problem 1: Pad Thai tasted overly fishy, even though it was chicken Pad Thai. We’re hoping it was just an overpour of fish sauce.
Problem 2: Some of the pineapple in the Sweet and Sour Pork was fermented.
Problem 3: They automatically added about a 18% gratuity to our takeout bill. Sorry, but I don’t think picking up a bag of food from you warrants you to take $ 4 from me without asking me.
Problem 3 alone will keep me from ever giving them a second chance, purely on principle.

I live in Adams Morgan and was mildly excited when Instant Noodles opened up. Disclaimer: I am a vegetarian. My sister and I checked this place out on a Friday night. There were maybe 2 other parties in the restaurant. We started with fresh mango mojitos (highly recommended by the owner/​manager). It tasted good, but my lightweight self wasn’t even a tad buzzed; I wasn’t trying to order a virgin mojito. Disappointment #1.
For food, I ordered a veggie tofu bahn mi and my sis got some generic veggie dish. When the banh mi came out, I touched the bread and was horrified by how rock hard it was. I told the waitress, who suggested that I douse the bread in the oil conconction to «soften it» enough so that it was edible (I can only imagine how much oil I would’ve had to use)! I tried to take a bite, which of course was a huge mistake, and was only able to break off a tiny piece of the bun (fortunately not my tooth). The manager saw me struggling and offered to make me another one. This one was mildly better. The bread was softer, but still too crunchy and hard to bite into. The filling was also nothing to write home about. Disappointment #2.
And my sis’s food was bland and generic (I don’t even remember what she ordered — enough said). Disappointment #3.
This is certainly another Admo dining establishment that I can label a huge disappointment. I would’ve given 1 star, but the manager/​owner is really nice and made the experience somewhat pleasant. But not enough to ever come back.

Huh? I don’t know WHAT kind of sandwich I just ate, but it wasn’t a banh mi, and it wasn’t good enough to make up for the fact that it wasn’t, either. Barbecued pork was present, yes, but where were all the delicious crispy, pickled vegetables? There was like, A shred of carrot on my sandwich. But that wasn’t even the most grievous omission, no, that would be the omission of mayonnaise or whatever that mayonnaise-​based sauce that goes on a banh mi is. There was no dressing at all on my sandwich and it was pitifully dry.
I wanted to like this place more because the staff was abundantly friendly — and who knows, my green papaya salad was pretty decent, so maybe the other dishes are better? The guys at the table next to me were eating some noodles that looked and smelled good. I’d go back and try those — but steer clear of the banh mi!

Wandered in here on the basis of an instant deal from one of the 4.3×10²⁴ coupon sites that have popped up. Settled into a largely empty restaurant at 3 in the afternoon for a late lunch/​early dinner.
The wait staff was very attentive, although to be fair the restaurant was largely empty at 3 pm on a Sunday afternoon. I ordered the Thai iced team, the larb gai, & the phở bo (beef soup). The Thai iced tea was very tasty, silky and sweet with condensed milk. It’s not as strong as Haad Thai’s, but lovely nonetheless.
While the service was attentive, it was also quite slow. I wasn’t looking at my clock, but I must have read at least 5 of the leader articles in the latest Economist while waiting for my larb. The salad was plentiful, arranged over strategically placed pieces of lettuce. One nitpick — the larb wasn’t drained before being scooped into the plate, so the bottom of the place was brimming with liquid. It was hard to place the larb into the lettuce without dripping all over the place.
Then there was the larb itself. Oh my stars & garters, was it spicy! I’m used to spicy food, but this stuff was very nearly breathtakingly hot. While it was good, I can’t in good conscience recommend this to anyone who hasn’t had a crash course in hot food in New Orleans, the Southwest, or Thailand.
Then the phở came. AS other reviewers have indicated, the broth is sweeter than similar places. It’s also lacking the telltale bubbles of fat on the surface which are the usual hallmark of phở that has been lovingly and laboriously crafted. It came accompanied by the usual plate of condiments — mint, bean sprouts, jalapeños, and lime.
Will this phở blow you away? It’s unlikely. Will it do in a pinch if you don’t have time to venture to NoVA, Columbia Heights, or Cleveland Park? Sure.

Taking over the space that Savour formerly inhabited (in fact, the credit card slip still says «Savour»), Instant Noodles brings a pan-​Asian array of dishes to Adams Morgan. (Their Twitter account claims that they are primarily Thai and Vietnamese.)
I’m excited to have a credible bowl of phở and a source of banh mi near my apartment, though there are some kinks to work out in the service. My dining companion and I ordered shrimp spring rolls, a bowl of phở bo, banh mi with grilled pork, and banh mi with grilled chicken. We were sitting outside, so service was a little irregular, even though there was no one inside. I won’t knock them too badly on this, as they’ve been open less than a week. The biggest issue was that when the banh mi was delivered to the table, we got grilled beef instead of grilled pork. It was a little unclear as to what happened because English was clearly not the waitress’ native language.
That said, the food was good. The spring rolls (goi cuon) were good, though wrapped in an unusual fashion, with both ends open. The phở was very aromatic, with tender pieces of beef. The broth was good, though a little heavy on the allspice and maybe a touch sweeter than I like. The banh mi were loaded with radish and onion and didn’t have enough jalapeño, but came on some very nice French bread.
Prices were very reasonable for DC, and I’ll definitely be back to try some of the other dishes.