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Next Noodle Bar
Categories: Restaurants Asian Fusion Restaurants Chinese Asian Fusion, Chinese [Edit]
560 Robson StVancouver, BC V6B 2B7
Neighbourhood: Downtown
(604) 681-6398
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- Yes
- Take Away:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Good For:
- Lunch
- Alcohol:
- Beer & Wine Only
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Ambience:
- Casual
- Has TV:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
23 reviews for Next Noodle Bar
Review Highlights
"Food always tastes FRESH and is piping hot."
(in 3 reviews)
"...Also the lettuce wraps and cashew chicken are awesome."
(in 2 reviews)
"We usually order delivery and they are always quick or..."
(in 4 reviews)
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23 reviews in English
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Review from Michelle S.
Vancouver, BC
1/28/2012
Delivery review: Hands down the best Asian food I've had in Vancouver. The simple chow mein was amazing. You have to get the Vietnamese spring rolls, OMG so delicious. I can also recommend the sesame chicken and deep fried tofu.
My partner and I have had negative experiences with terrible, bland Chinese food in Downtown/West End in the past and are totes sticking with this place from now on. It's also super cheap.
They don't deliver dim sum, could have gotten 5 stars guys, come on. -
Review from Amy S.
Maple Ridge, BC
2/9/2012
Next Noodle Bar is a Chinese style restaurant on Robson between Seymour and Richards. They obviously have a variety of noodle dishes but they also have dim sum and some other entrée dishes with rice. I was having a noodle craving and I knew I wanted some sort of noodle dish but the menu is quite large and a bit overwhelming.
I ordered the house curry chicken ramen soup ($8.50). The curry soup was quite spicy and it tasted good but I would have preferred a slightly thicker broth with the curry flavour. The noodles were bouncy and cooked properly and there was a fair portion of them that was comparable to most other bowls of ramen I've had. The soup was topped with chicken, broccoli, and tofu puffs. The tofu puffs were pretty soggy by the time I got them so I didn't care for them. The chicken and the broccoli were standard, not bad but nothing special.
The soup was okay, it satisfied my noodle craving but it wasn't spectacular. I would come back to try some other stuff on the menu because it was so large I don't feel like I really experienced the restaurant. The service was quite fast so it's a good place to go if you are on a lunch break.
http://thefoodqueen.co... -
Review from Ryan G.
Vancouver, BC
Updated - 10/29/2011
Yeah so, updates to my fellow fans of N-Noodle, lol. I ordered again from Next Noodle, delivery, meal for 3 and substituted and item (only a dollar .50 extra)
It was amazing, I ate it for 3 days and man I want more.
Love you Next...Love youListed in: 30-day challenge
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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10/2/2011
We've been to Next to dine in, its pretty good. Massive menu, full of mainly Chinese items. Some… Read more »
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Review from Vanessa C.
Vancouver, BC
10/19/2011
If you work in the area, it's a great place to come for a sit-down meal during your lunch break. Quick service, affordable prices, options for sharing or for single-portions, large portions and great daily lunch specials. If you're not picky about what you want to eat for lunch, for less than $10, you can get a set menu with soup, a small bite sized appetizer and dessert and a main course.
On weekdays, come before noon, or after 1pm, to avoid the lunch-time rush. -
Review from d f.
Vancouver, BC
10/20/2011
When I was eight months pregnant I was walking (waddling) up Robson at 6pm-ish on a weekday when I realized that I had to pee. Not like I should head over to pacific centre and figure out where the public bathroom is, but like the baby just kicked my bladder and I might wet my pants where I stood. I was right out front of Next Noodle Bar so I ducked in the door. A middle aged man greeted me at the door and said "For how many?" and I gave him my most sheepish grin and said, "I'm so sorry, but I really need to use your bathroom." He replied, "Customers only," and turned his back to me. I said, "Sir, please, I'm pregnant," and when he turned around I pointed out my IMPOSSIBLE TO MISS gigantic belly. He told me that his manager wouldn't allow it, he would get in trouble if he let me, and that he was sorry. I walked out. Then I walked back in, past the man who had greeted me at the door and was now taking an order at a table (but had stopped to glare at me), and through the half empty restaurant to the bathroom. When I came back out I walked straight to the cash register and asked to speak to the manager. I wanted to give him (or her) a piece of my mind and find out if it was indeed policy to NEVER make exceptions to the "customer only" rule, even if the person in question was in obvious distress (such as hugely pregnant). To my shock, the woman at the cash register told me that the middle-aged man who had turned me away WAS the manager!
I understand having a "customer only" policy. People are filthy and I've worked places where people have done awful things to the washrooms. But really, I'm a 30-something, clean-cut, pregnant woman... am I going to trash your bathroom? Worried I'm trying to find a place to shoot-up? I was so angry that all I could do was hiss, "you should be ashamed of yourself," at him as I stormed past him and out to the street.
This all happened some time ago now, but yesterday I happened to walk past Next Noodle Bar and was reminded about the rude, insensitive, cowardly manager who couldn't even admit that HE was the one refusing a pregnant woman entry to their bathroom but tried to come across as just a poor waiter who would get in trouble if he took pity on me. -
Review from Nat P.
Vancouver, BC
2/23/2011
They say a picture says a thousand words. Well, Next Noodle Bar, most of what your picture of Lemon grass chicken soup was saying was a lie.
I almost chose the lunch special, but that picture of the LG chicken on your gigantic menu seduced me away from the idea. It looked to have it all - rice noodles and chicken and veggies.
When it arrived i was impressed by the portion, but everything else just inspired a series of "wtf?" thoughts. The noodles turned out to be Udon, the chicken was tasteless, i had three florets of broccoli and three nickel sized pieces of carrot.
And where was the Lemongrass part? There was no flavour to the broth...just a distant salty taste...The dish should be renamed Lemongrasslessness Chicken soup.
Oh yes i did.
It was like Next Noodle bar was a dating site, and i chose from dozens of potential lunch dates by looking at a picture and a brief description. I chose a companion who looked hot, colourful, healthy and tasty who said they were a dentist. Turns out they weren't that good looking, not all that into health - kinda boring and bland and weren't even a dentist, they just pulled out their own tooth once after landing on their face in an unfortunate biking accident.
I was in denial for a while at first.... "Well it tastes healthy" ..."Well they seem like a nice person"
The soup my friend got set up with, the Chilli Beef Ramen was also disappointing - he said it "tasted cheep." He didn't have more than 4 chopsticks full.
So, thats life. We need to take risks to discover new things.
Sometimes these risks pay off. Sometimes we risk taking someone out on a date and they become our husband or wife.
Sometimes the risks don't pay off, like having lunch at the Next Noodle Bar, and we just need to move on to whatever is next...after Next... -
Review from CP G.
Vancouver, BC
6/22/2011
I've been a loyal customer for over 6 years and have referred many friends and colleagues to this restaurant. I dined at Next so often that the manager, KC, gave me a VIP card (10% discount) after about 6 months of repeatedly eating there. I always, sadly, order one dish every time. The deep fried tofu is a favourite of mine. "Hold the seasoning please." "No problem!"---- Delicious.
I was there yesterday with a friend who also loves the place and we were served deep fried tofu. It looked and tasted awful. The cook must have been asleep at the switch because it was very overdone. I called KC over and asked if he would replace this order. Surely, he would agree as I have had this dish well over 100 times. It was terrible and like nothing we had ever been served before. He lashed out and proceeded to argue with us and was literally screaming at us in front of the other patrons. --"It was a different brand of tofu." he reasoned. "You ordered it without seasoning!" he whined. Finally, he agreed to take it away and bring a new order, which he did, except it was the same plate he had taken away just re-fried. He dropped this on the table and huffed, "There you go!". So we ordered a new plate of tofu and yes, it was just as it always was, delicious!
We will never step foot in Next again. I think the food is good, but there are many, many excellent Asian restaurants in this city.
We thought the owner, after we spoke to him and told him what had happened, might apologize, or have KC apologize, or something rather than risk losing two customers that return often and always spend quite a lot on food and wine. But no, not a word was spoken to us when we asked for the bill. One order of tofu had been removed from our bill but we had told him we refused to pay for it so it really wasn't enough in our opinion.
If this establishment thinks it's OK that their manager yell at customers and re-serve old food and then bold face lie that it's a new order ..... Oh my, kind of scary and frankly raises questions about the hygiene of the place.
Really, is a $1 plate of tofu worth losing loyal customers over? Was KC having a rough day? A simple apology would have made everything better....oh, well...you know what they say......NEXT!
I hear The Thai House makes a wicked fried tofu! -
Review from Lisa M.
Vancouver, BC
5/8/2011
I dont understand the negative reviews here.
We order from next ALL the time as we CONSISTENTLY get GREAT food! We usually order delivery and they are always quick or within the time quoted. Food always tastes FRESH and is piping hot. This really is some of the best chinese food that i have had in vancouver.
****LOVE everything that comes with the dinner for 3***** Also the lettuce wraps and cashew chicken are awesome. -
Review from roxmarie g.
6/26/2009 1 photo
I was on the other end of the tourist phenom last week as I visited Vancouver BC from San Francisco. Heading for the Chinese Cultural Centre, we needed some fuel to get through the perimiter.
As my friend and I looked at the menu at Next Noodle Bar, a passerby approached us and enthusiastically urged us to get a dish from the appetizers menu, swearing it was fantastic and could feed two people with another veggie dish. The item was comprised of four different rolls including a vietnamese fried imperial roll, a duck roll, a raw vietnamese spring roll, and another fried roll called mini me which was filled with taro.
Ultimately I was too stubborned to acquiesce, not interested in a meal of three fried rolls no matter where they're from. But then, I think Asian Fusion is a lot of bother.
We got the Sichuan dumplings - I actually discovered these beauties in Las Vegas of all places, and now I try them wherever I go. I absolutely love the traditional sauce which is a combination of soy, chili oil, sesame oil, sometimes garlic, fresh chilis and cilantro, and is served in the same dish as the steaming hot dumplings. I could eat that sauce on everything. The Sichuan dumpling itself isn't entirely unlike a gyoza with its thin wrapper and hearty meat filling, but it's not fried. Swimming in the aforementioned sauce, I could eat them all day. These were executed fine.
We also enjoyed vegetable dumplings in a thicker rice dim sum wrapper. The filling was nice - crunchy diced water chestnut, carrot, onion, mushroom and other veggies. I'm not a fan of the thick rice wrapper though - it just does nothing for me.
We also had the sweet corn soup with chicken. The soup came to the table piping hot, just the right thickness with lovely swirls of egg and a very generous amount of ground chicken.
I liked our quick nosh at this place a lot. If I worked nearby I would make it a regular destination. As it stands, it was a quick stop in a busy day of touring. A nice inexpensive, good quality respite. -
Review from Kaya R.
Vancouver, BC
2/5/2009
Another opportunist restaurateur that thinks the key to success is to try and be all things to all people, rather than staying true to who they are and/or what they do well.
It's called Next Noodle Bar, a kind of indifferent name that only discloses that it serves noodles and that it's casual. And noodles is what they serve, regardless of whether they know how to make them or not. Malaysian style Laksa, Japanese Ramen, Chinese noodle in soup... if noodles aren't your thing, they've attempted to hop on the Izakaya train with odd tapa style appetizers, chinese stir fry's, thai dishes, etc. There's got to be at least 40+ dishes on their menu, with no direction and focus.
It's a culinary train wreck, and while this restaurant concept may work in a small town that has limited selection of Thai, Malaysian, Chinese, Japanese, and Singaporean cuisine, the people of this city have become spoiled with the multitude of great restaurants to choose from, and don't need a one stop shop Asian restaurant in my opinion.
These are the modern day "Chinese-Canadian" restaurants, but instead of pairing burgers with chicken chow mein, they're trying to pair Chinese food with all of Asia in an attempt to cash in on the growing popularity of multi ethnic foods. And despite it's obvious failures, I continue to see restaurants sprouting up around the city proudly declaring themselves as "fusion" food, as if that's a unique selling proposition.
The decor is bland and forgettable, and the food is overpriced at about $12 a dish. Decide what kind of food you want to eat before you go out - doing so will ensure you avoid this restaurant. -
Review from Frank R.
7/3/2011
We stopped in after reading some reviews. We enjoyed it. We would return on a future visit. Food was very tasty, including a wrongly delivered item. It was also very tasty. I got two pieces of whatever it was before it was taken back.
Nice servers. Nice atmosphere. Stop in, good food. -
Review from Janice F.
7/31/2009
Ducked into here for some food and air con reprieve from the heat wave. It did the trick - nothing here is really 'bad' nor is it outstanding in any way. If i had to sum it up, it reminds me of Hon's except for a lot better hygiene, presentation and service. Although with smaller portions and bigger prices :P ..
Ordered the five spice BBQ duck noodle in soup - this was actually a huge portion, noodles & soup base were both decently executed. The BBQ duck is standard.
Also tried their honey wasabi shrimp - I'd give this a pass, although the taste actually wasn't too bad. For $12.95 you get a small plate of wasabi mayo smothered prawns on top of lettuce and tomatoes, red peppers.
The service here is actually the most comfortable to me - quick to take orders, bring the food, take away dirty dishes and with no small talk - suits me perfectly. Constantly refilled ice water too. -
Review from Gary T.
2/8/2010
After a long day of drinking my gf and I came here to fill our bellies w/some asian noodle goodness.
I ordered a bowl of won ton noodle soup and my gf went for an asian chicken noodle bowl. I can't say that anything here made us jump outta our seats or anything, but the portions were decent sized and pretty filling.
Worth a stop if you're in a hurry to eat and don't want to wait long. -
Review from Joe M.
2/26/2010 1 photo
Not much to say but....
Their Chicken Hakka Noodle = baaaaad heartburn and acid reflux for two days. My burps burned... bad. -
Review from Ross E.
5/9/2011
Fantastic dim sum and noodle place! Good environment, pretty good service, delicious dumplings and soups!
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Review from Anita T.
Toronto, ON
10/24/2008 1 photo
This place has all the different types of noodles you could ever dream of! From singapore street noodles to udon and yaki soba. Mmmmm...
Sure, the servers are a bit erratic (ie. taking our menu BEFORE we could order)... and the decor is overdone... cough cough... but the place should be tried.
The one thing that made me laugh was the decor.. it looks tasteful when you initially walk in, but then you see the BRIGHT fish tank, and the paintings that seem irrelevant to the theme of the place, ot to mention the giant rooster on the bar that looks like it should be in the kitchen of a middle aged caucasian woman. -
Review from Megan S.
12/3/2008 1 photo
I've had the udon here a few times. The noodles are a great texture. But I wish the meat had more flavor.
The serving size is awesome. My husband and I like to split some of the dishes. Prices are good- many options under $10- and then if you split something, the value is even better.
This may not be the best noodle bar in town, but it's consistent. -
Review from Anne W.
Vancouver, BC
1/21/2010
Went for the lunch menu, today, while shopping with my daughter. We were absolutely satisfied, in taste, price and service!
I'm sad to see so many bad reviews of a place I thoroughly enjoyed today. I'm not sure if there have been some changes since the other reviewers ate at Next or not. All I know is, what a feast!
I like that there is a variety of things to choose from on the menu. Unlike some other reviewers who were saddened by the lack of "focus", I have to say, I'm tired of going to places that offer only a half a dozen things. While this may be fine if you're out alone or with a only one or two others who share your tastes, it's difficult to bring a diverse group to places with such small menus. I like having options and Next gives you plenty and at prices that will keep you coming back for more.
The place was packed with people on their lunch breaks and we were afraid that we wouldn't get a seat but, luckily, after only a few moments, we were seated by our very pleasant waiter who, despite being run off of his feet, was friendly and attentive.
My daughter ordered the dim sum combo F and I ordered the Thai basil chicken combo D, both on the lunch only menu. We also ordered some edamame to start as we were famished - a decision we, later, regretted as the meals were more than substantial.
My meal had just enough spice for me although those who enjoy really spicy foods might want to ask for more heat. The soup that accompanied my meal was, I have to say, basic - somewhat like a can of campbells veggie soup with a bit of seasoning thrown in. I didn't mind as I wasn't jonsing for soup today but it's worth noting for those that might be.
The dumplings in my daughters dish were stuffed to sizable proportions, all nicely flavoured. I wanted, very much, to order another of the shrimp dragon balls but, alas, my stomach was out of real estate. Perhaps another time.
Prices were great - under $10 each.
A glance at the special after five menu told me that I must come back for dinner. I'll let you know how it goes. I also picked up a menu as they deliver and the prices are comparable to typical chinese food takeouts so we'll have to try that as well. -
Review from Dave S.
7/25/2010
Stopped in here twice on our recent trip to Vancouver due to its convenient location to our hotel. The first time I had Won Ton Noodle soup which actually was pretty good. Truthfully, it's not hard to screw this dish up and they didn't.
The second time we both had Haka Noodles. I had beef and the wife had chicken. They were very tasty. No complaints. Pretty much exactly what we expected which is not a bad thing. We also got an order of Har Gow and an order of Kim chi and beef dumplings. Both were hot, freshly made and really really good. Not sure why the mediocre reviews for this place, it's pretty much exactly what you think it is. -
Review from Michael L.
5/19/2010
I guess I should know better than to sit down in an Asian restaurant where it is clear that I AM THE ONLY ASIAN PERSON IN THERE.
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Review from Janet Y.
Vancouver, BC
6/2/2010
This is a fast Chinese restaurant place in downtown, great for quickie lunch. They have a cheaper special lunch menu that changes quite often, so you won't get bored eating the same thing. I go there for their fast service, (which is not bad for a quick turnaround restaurant, but not great Chinese food compared to Kirin), but not for the food itself . Quite busy during lunch hour, go before noon to avoid lineups. Your clothes will smell like Chinese food after you sat in that restaurant, the smell will fade in about one hour or two. Therefore, I usually avoid wearing wool jacket if I were to go there.
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Review from Kelly L.
Vancouver, BC
2/21/2010
Delivery Review:
I have ordered from Next Noodle Bar several times. The food is average, but not terrible. Tonight, they made mistakes for the second time!
First, I called to place the order at 4:50pm. And the food arrived at 6:30pm! I looked at the time when the order was placed on the receipt - 5:32!! This is also the second time it has happened. They also forgot to add the drinks to the delivery!
Second, the driver didn't have proper change. He asked if it was alright. Hmmm.
Third, the fried rice was more like sticky rice. The food was also luke warm when it arrived.
If you're thinking of ordering from Next Noodle Bar, think TWICE!
There won't be a third chance!
*I do recommend YOPO Cafe in Yaletown for delivery. They are reliable, but you have to be in walking distance. -
Review from Michael B.
4/16/2009
This place is great. Easy, quick affordable and tasty. I got the Shanghai Udon and it delivers what it promises. Great place for a quick bite with fresh ingredients.
