By happenstance my fiancé and I tried Special Noodle. On first glance, the restaurant was very clean and modern. Ordering was easy and it helped to have photos included in their app. The food and service were top notch. Everything arrived hot and I appreciated the availability of condiments at the table. The only criticism we had was that the honey walnut shrimp didn't look like the picture that was advertised and it was over battered/way too sweet. Everything else that we ordered was delicious. We will definitely be visiting Special Noodle again!
Kiah B.
I'm so glad to have stopped here! The food was fresh and amazing - no description would be appropriate as it was just that amazing. We enjoyed chow mein, pork soup fried dumplings, onion pancakes, pork belly, chicken wings and quail. It sounds like a lot but the check was fair! You place your order through your phone and it's sent to the kitchen. Orders are brought out by attendants and little robots which was pretty cool and made for a unique dining experience. The attendants will help you with anything you may need for your meal also so while I wouldn't call them servers they were very helpful. The ambiance of the restaurant was bright and enticing just like the food. It made for a perfect dining experience and I live less than 5 minutes away. This will be our regular spot from now on!!
Stephanie V.
I was hesitant coming here a second time because restaurants usually miss the second time around BUT I was wowed. This place is phenomenal. The food is so good and the crowds/wait time are a testament to that. Everything on this menu is fantastic you can't go wrong. The service is also excellent. Shoutout to the worker who diligently brought us things without us having to ask anyone!
Thierry T.
1. Service - service is fast and a well oiled machine. This is a-la-carte, so you wait to be seated, order, and pay at the table. They have QR codes for their menu. Order through your phone and hit submit when ready. You have to pay by calling the waiter or host. 2. Price - affordable. $10-$15 per plate. 3. Ambiance - I love the aesthetics of this place. So modern, very appealing, and well designed. It feels as if it was a nice new restaurant in Shanghai. Dress code here is casual. 4. Food - so let's be clear. Someone classified this place as a dim sum restaurant. It is not Cantonese dim sum at all. However, it is a Chinese restaurant and their staples are dumplings and noodles. This is our first time there. This is actually one of the best meals that we've had while we visited Austin. This place has authentic Chinese food. I highly recommend ordering their Dumplings, Orange Chicken, and Chicken Lo Mein. We did order their Soup Dumplings, but the meat was a bit mushy to my preference. Soup Dumplings are ok, not the best. 5. Cleanliness - the dining area appears clean. The Food is fresh. But I was bit concerned about the greasy floors. That can be a problem if someone was to slip and get hurt. Overall, we had a great experience coming here. It was a great find. I would definitely come back, and I highly recommend others to check out this place.
Bowie L.
I'd heard a lot about this place since opening so I had to try it. The food is certainly authentic and the noodles are chewy. However I was a little shocked by the prices and feel like you can get the same elsewhere for much less. Like these are for resale some SF or NY prices in Lakeline? The restaurant is nicely decorated but it is definitely not upscale and this food is pretty standard stuff. I had a noodle with cured pork which came with a light soup which was a nice surprise. My partner had a stone pot noodle soup which has hot rocks at the bottom keeping it hot which was cool. We also had a Mongolian beef on the side. You order through a QR code but still pay with a waiter which is a little confusing. Overall I didn't find there was anything "special" enough about the food that would warrant making it out to Lakeline and paying these prices but if you live up there, it's a solid choice for Chinese noodles.
CaveatEmptor E.
The food was very authentic and tasty. The restaurant's ambiance is very nice and the food ordering is done via QR code so it's very efficient. We really enjoyed the general's chicken, combination chow mein, and the steamed pork soup dumplings. The braised rib with soup noodle was a bit under-seasoned. Overall, we enjoyed the restaurant and the food. We will definitely go back and make the restaurant as part of our regular restaurant rotation.
Briana N.
If this was a review just on their soup dumplings, I would have given 5 stars for sure. I have been looking for somewhere in Austin with good soup dumplings and this is it. I definitely want to try their pan fried ones next time. The Dan Dan noodles were pretty good too! It's really not that spicy and the cucumbers are very refreshing. The salt and pepper chicken was probably my least favorite thing we had. While the flavors were really good, I think the chicken was fried too long or something. It was hard and dry and kind of difficult to eat. Overall it was still ok but I would have enjoyed it a lot more if the chicken was a little juicier.
Casey T.
Whoever named this restaurant has got it right because this noodle IS special!! Honestly one of my favorite Asian restaurants in Austin right now. There was about an hour wait when we came here, and now I totally understand why! (don't worry there's a dollar store and arcade next door to kill some time) My group tried the noodles that came in a special pot, and some of the dumplings. Imo the dumplings were kind of mid, but the NOODLES live up to their name! We tried one of the dry noodles with egg and pork, and one soupy one (forgot exactly what we ordered). The texture of the noodles was heavenly and the flavor was out of this world. I would make the trek up to north austin any day for this amazing meal!
Zizhong Liu
The food is amazing. Highly recommend all kinds of buns! The service is also very kind and welcoming. Highly recommend this restaurant.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Soup Dumplings
Bo Yu
Great portion, seasoned well, my family loved everything they ordered.
Atmosphere was relaxed, staff was working hard to fulfill all orders. We tried several varieties of their dumplings, noodles and soup. Can’t wait to go back!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Dim Sum, Beef Chow Fun, Soup Dumplings
Basil F.
Great place for dim sum. Their American-Chinese dishes are a little too sweet but overall great food and service. This place was packed but the wait was not bad, and they were very efficient at putting food on the table in record times.
Miao Susman
The pan-fried buns are delicious! The food is served very quickly.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: 藤椒肥牛锅, Soup Dumplings
Christopher W.
The traditional pork soup dumplings and the pork soup baos that are fried one one side are a MUST order. Their noodles are cooked wonderfully and have made this place a weekly go to. Aside from that, the lamb kebabs have a little kick but lots of flavor. Service is also good and recommend you get here early because it gets busy early.
Eric T.
The dishes are not bad. However, they're not good in any way. The soup dumplings are too sweet. The squid doesn't taste fresh. The wontons are mushy and have little filling. The beef stew is solid but it's $26 with small portion. Overall, the items are al overpriced and with small portion size. Service is ok. Ambiance is tacky mainland Chinese. Don't recommend.
By happenstance my fiancé and I tried Special Noodle. On first glance, the restaurant was very clean and modern. Ordering was easy and it helped to have photos included in their app. The food and service were top notch. Everything arrived hot and I appreciated the availability of condiments at the table. The only criticism we had was that the honey walnut shrimp didn't look like the picture that was advertised and it was over battered/way too sweet. Everything else that we ordered was delicious. We will definitely be visiting Special Noodle again!
I'm so glad to have stopped here! The food was fresh and amazing - no description would be appropriate as it was just that amazing. We enjoyed chow mein, pork soup fried dumplings, onion pancakes, pork belly, chicken wings and quail. It sounds like a lot but the check was fair! You place your order through your phone and it's sent to the kitchen. Orders are brought out by attendants and little robots which was pretty cool and made for a unique dining experience. The attendants will help you with anything you may need for your meal also so while I wouldn't call them servers they were very helpful. The ambiance of the restaurant was bright and enticing just like the food. It made for a perfect dining experience and I live less than 5 minutes away. This will be our regular spot from now on!!
I was hesitant coming here a second time because restaurants usually miss the second time around BUT I was wowed. This place is phenomenal. The food is so good and the crowds/wait time are a testament to that. Everything on this menu is fantastic you can't go wrong. The service is also excellent. Shoutout to the worker who diligently brought us things without us having to ask anyone!
1. Service - service is fast and a well oiled machine. This is a-la-carte, so you wait to be seated, order, and pay at the table. They have QR codes for their menu. Order through your phone and hit submit when ready. You have to pay by calling the waiter or host. 2. Price - affordable. $10-$15 per plate. 3. Ambiance - I love the aesthetics of this place. So modern, very appealing, and well designed. It feels as if it was a nice new restaurant in Shanghai. Dress code here is casual. 4. Food - so let's be clear. Someone classified this place as a dim sum restaurant. It is not Cantonese dim sum at all. However, it is a Chinese restaurant and their staples are dumplings and noodles. This is our first time there. This is actually one of the best meals that we've had while we visited Austin. This place has authentic Chinese food. I highly recommend ordering their Dumplings, Orange Chicken, and Chicken Lo Mein. We did order their Soup Dumplings, but the meat was a bit mushy to my preference. Soup Dumplings are ok, not the best. 5. Cleanliness - the dining area appears clean. The Food is fresh. But I was bit concerned about the greasy floors. That can be a problem if someone was to slip and get hurt. Overall, we had a great experience coming here. It was a great find. I would definitely come back, and I highly recommend others to check out this place.
I'd heard a lot about this place since opening so I had to try it. The food is certainly authentic and the noodles are chewy. However I was a little shocked by the prices and feel like you can get the same elsewhere for much less. Like these are for resale some SF or NY prices in Lakeline? The restaurant is nicely decorated but it is definitely not upscale and this food is pretty standard stuff. I had a noodle with cured pork which came with a light soup which was a nice surprise. My partner had a stone pot noodle soup which has hot rocks at the bottom keeping it hot which was cool. We also had a Mongolian beef on the side. You order through a QR code but still pay with a waiter which is a little confusing. Overall I didn't find there was anything "special" enough about the food that would warrant making it out to Lakeline and paying these prices but if you live up there, it's a solid choice for Chinese noodles.
The food was very authentic and tasty. The restaurant's ambiance is very nice and the food ordering is done via QR code so it's very efficient. We really enjoyed the general's chicken, combination chow mein, and the steamed pork soup dumplings. The braised rib with soup noodle was a bit under-seasoned. Overall, we enjoyed the restaurant and the food. We will definitely go back and make the restaurant as part of our regular restaurant rotation.
If this was a review just on their soup dumplings, I would have given 5 stars for sure. I have been looking for somewhere in Austin with good soup dumplings and this is it. I definitely want to try their pan fried ones next time. The Dan Dan noodles were pretty good too! It's really not that spicy and the cucumbers are very refreshing. The salt and pepper chicken was probably my least favorite thing we had. While the flavors were really good, I think the chicken was fried too long or something. It was hard and dry and kind of difficult to eat. Overall it was still ok but I would have enjoyed it a lot more if the chicken was a little juicier.
Whoever named this restaurant has got it right because this noodle IS special!! Honestly one of my favorite Asian restaurants in Austin right now. There was about an hour wait when we came here, and now I totally understand why! (don't worry there's a dollar store and arcade next door to kill some time) My group tried the noodles that came in a special pot, and some of the dumplings. Imo the dumplings were kind of mid, but the NOODLES live up to their name! We tried one of the dry noodles with egg and pork, and one soupy one (forgot exactly what we ordered). The texture of the noodles was heavenly and the flavor was out of this world. I would make the trek up to north austin any day for this amazing meal!
The food is amazing. Highly recommend all kinds of buns! The service is also very kind and welcoming. Highly recommend this restaurant.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Soup Dumplings
Great portion, seasoned well, my family loved everything they ordered.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Lamb Skewers, 烤大肠
Restaurantji Recommends
Atmosphere was relaxed, staff was working hard to fulfill all orders. We tried several varieties of their dumplings, noodles and soup. Can’t wait to go back!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Dim Sum, Beef Chow Fun, Soup Dumplings
Great place for dim sum. Their American-Chinese dishes are a little too sweet but overall great food and service. This place was packed but the wait was not bad, and they were very efficient at putting food on the table in record times.
The pan-fried buns are delicious! The food is served very quickly.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: 藤椒肥牛锅, Soup Dumplings
The traditional pork soup dumplings and the pork soup baos that are fried one one side are a MUST order. Their noodles are cooked wonderfully and have made this place a weekly go to. Aside from that, the lamb kebabs have a little kick but lots of flavor. Service is also good and recommend you get here early because it gets busy early.
The dishes are not bad. However, they're not good in any way. The soup dumplings are too sweet. The squid doesn't taste fresh. The wontons are mushy and have little filling. The beef stew is solid but it's $26 with small portion. Overall, the items are al overpriced and with small portion size. Service is ok. Ambiance is tacky mainland Chinese. Don't recommend.