I was fooled. The unassuming strip mall exterior and the fact that it shares a wall partition with a blech sister restaurant (Tokyo Express) had me fooled. Even the overwhelmingly positive reviews didn't inspire me to go. But make no mistake, this place is fantastic.
I am embarrassed to say that I only ended up here because Lola and Padres (Oregano's was too long of a wait) were both closed on Sunday night -- and I pass by this place all the time.
Really good noodles and pasta done Asian Fusion style and totally cheap. The noodle dishes here are eight or nine dollars and have huge portions. I ordered the haruki yakisoba noodle stirfry with pork and shrimp - which came to me in a large bowl and steaming with soy and ginger flavors. The Korean spicy noodle bowl also outdid itself with sliced beef strips and a wonderfully hot hot hot taste. If that's not your thang, they have rice bowls, sushi, salads, about 20 Italian/Med dishes and several vegetarian and tofu dishes.
You'll find that they have an open kitchen so if you're close to it you can spy and salivate over everyone else's food. The servers were all very prompt and courteous after a slow start. A solo diner next to us was raving about the place and how much he loves it.
My favorite part of the food was definitely the complimentary cinammon bread crisps and bread basket that came with BANANA BREAD?!? Wtf, whew, that came out of left field. An awesome and delicious surprise that was.
They had a small wine list that was half off for that night -- as a nightly special. Did you hear that? HALF OFF!! All the sudden that $30 bottle of pinot looked pretty damn good. So for $15 we had four glasses of wine on the cheap. The owners know the one way to my heart -- wine specials!! Yes, it's official. I'm easy.
When I got the tab did I realize that dinner here (with the wine) was CHEAPER than breakfast earlier that day at Orange Table. Only then, did everything in life make sense. Lesson: Sketchy looking strip mall restaurant does not equal dump.
P.S. The tiny parking lot gets crowded very quickly and street parking with Oregano's next door can be problematic.