This entry refers to a departed business that has closed or left town. All information here is for historical reference only.

 

Noodle Express is no longer operating on G Street and was supposedly moving to a new location, but a commenter below suggests that will not happen.

Location
In process of moving
Hours
Old Hours; Maybe New Again Some Day?
Mon: Closed
Tue-Thu: 11:30AM-2:00PM, 4:30PM-9:30PM
Fri: 11:30AM-2:00PM, 4:30PM-10:00PM
Sat: 11:30AM-4:30PM, 4:30PM-10:00PM
Sun: 4:30PM-9:30PM
Phone
(530)753-7755
Owner
Mr. Chen
Established
Date, i.e. YYYY-MM-DD
Payment Method(s)
Credit, Cash

Noodle Express was located in a building, built in 1910, that was once The Bank of Yolo, the first bank built in Davis. The bank closed down in 1933 during the Great Depression, although all depositors were eventually paid. The building is a City of Davis designated Merit Resource, and is considered a fine example of "adaptive re-use" of a historic cultural resource. Taste of Thai is now occupying this location.

The chinese food is of reasonable quality, and some consider it better than the cheaper places like Great Wall or Silver Dragon. The ambiance isn't great, but it's date-worthy if you want Chinese food.

They have Peking Duck — just make sure to call ahead.

The Noodles in Pork and Red Bean Sauce is delicious, cheap, and is probably the only Chinese dish not served elsewhere in Davis. Good selection of vegetarian items, they will even make some of their "meat" items sans-meat (potstickers, for example). The General Prawn dish is excellent (if you like shrimp).

Reasonably priced, too.

There was a kitchen fire at Noodle Express on August 22, 2007. They closed for renovations, but reopened two months later.

Comments:

You must be logged in to comment on this page. Please log in.

The food is pretty good. Their eggplant is quite good; you can either get the garlic eggplant or the eggplant in fish sauce—they are both good (the fish-sauce one doesn't really taste that fish-saucy to me). Noodle Express has a really good deal where, for dinner, 2-3 people can get some soup and family-style rice with 2 main dishes for $12.99. In my opinion, the dish they do the best compared to other Chinese places in Davis is the dried fried string beens. it comes in this subtly tart and sweet black sauce (may be a reduction of balsamic viniger and soy or something) and little pieces of fried pork. It's a lot different than other places that make this dish, and this is the best one I've had, although the Chinese places in Davis are not quite as good as in other larger cities. However, Noodle Express is one of the best here and I go here every once in a while if I feel like Chinese. Good but not amazing restaurant. MattHh

2005-09-15 01:27:26   Every Chinese place in Davis has a dish they do exceptionally well. Noodle Express has three. General Tso's Chicken, Lemon Chicken, and House Special Chow Fun. The General Chicken is crispy, spicy and tart. The Lemon chicken is a perfectly fried slab of breast meat with an amazing lemon sauce, and the Chow Fun is tremendously flavorful, with well separated noodles, without being horribly greasy. Noodle Express also has great Broccoli Beef, but the aforementioned three are their signature dishes. —ChrisLambertus

2006-02-02 20:00:13   Is Noodle Express generally cheaper than Hunan for dinner? —MindyYang

2006-02-23 17:46:00   They have great (and very cheap) VEGETARIAN (no pork) hot and sour soup!! —ErikNoftle

2006-03-19 17:59:47   Noodle Express is one of the best Chinese restaurants in my opinion. I've been going there since I was a kid. Excellent food and good service. —KevinRollins

2006-04-02 16:08:28   Friday night, I went with friends and we had sesame chicken, hong kong style seafood noodles(with the thin noodles), and some ginger beef. It was really good. The following night, I went with other friends but they made the noodle dish with the fat kind of noodles and everything was overall less yummy. Different cooks, perhaps? —MarieHuynh

2006-04-29 05:20:59   Sauce on noodles was a bit on the salty side for my buds, but everything else was good and the service was excellent. —MarieHuynh

2006-06-12 20:35:39   Excellent food, and the lunch special is the best deal in town - two entrees plus chow mein and fried rice for $4.25 —GeoffJohnson

2006-08-16 14:29:32   I used to be a regular here. The lunch prices are good. It's called Noodle Express for a reason, so I would recommend noodles, specifically the beef soup noodles. One random note: The hot and sour soup consistently gave me hiccups after a few spoonfuls. I might be allergic to white pepper or something else they put in it. It's never happened to me with other dishes or at other restaurants. —WinstonLee

2007-03-02 20:03:50   Can someone post a menu? —AlexKarner

2007-05-16 23:43:21   I just went here for soup and wantons with a friend, they were decent and well priced. I would really want to return to try their other dishes later, but this seems to be one of the better Chinese places in Davis, maybe it is merely the price, but it is nice to buy food that is worth it. —DavidPoole

2007-06-09 21:30:41   I have tried almost all of the Chinese Food restaurants in Davis and Noodle Express is near the top... especially if you are looking for a mixture of classic chinese and american chinese food. The owner (James) is fabulous and the service is great. My favorite dishes because they are so good: Hong Kong Style Noodles (egg noodles), Mongolian Beef, General Tso's Chicken, Tofu and Green Beans (not on the regular menu so you have to ask for it), and pot stickers (really good). The price is within a student's budget and the service is faster than making your way through the Silo. Highly recommended. —achsu

Warning: Ryugyu and Batana have the same IP address. This implies, but does not conclusively prove, that they may be the same person.

2007-06-10 15:07:35   I LOVE this restaurant! The manager (James) always gives us the best service. Everybody there is polite, the service is amazing, the food arrives quickly, and everything tastes delicious! The prices are also very reasonable, and portions are huge (we always have leftovers). They have a great lunch special, far better than Panda, and so so cheap! Some of our favorite dishes: mongolian beef, general chicken, green beans with tofu, crunchy chow mein, and lemon chicken. If you are in the mood for chinese food, definitely give this place a try. Ask them for recommendations on dishes as well if you aren't familiar with chinese food. We always leave this restaurant with our bellies full, smiles on our faces, and enough money left in our wallets to go buy boba (from old teahouse of course!) —batana

2007-06-10 15:11:18   Noodle Express is the BEST place to eat in Davis, CA. James is the nicest guy I know and the service over there is the best that I have ever had. I have been going to his restaraunt for almost 4 years now, and everytime I have gone, I was not only full of tasty chinese food, but left there with a feeling of happiness. My favorite dishes are the Tofu and Green Bean, Lemon Chicken, and the Wonton filled with Cream Cheese. I highly recommend this place, and I know that you will come back for the food and the knock your socks off service!!!! —ryugyu

  • please do not do multiple comments under different people's names

2007-06-13 16:30:35   I can vouch that the above 3 comments are indeed from 3 different people, with very different opinions on many things. Please do not make assumptions. —LeslieCooper

  • it is very suspicious when the 3 comments are written in a very similar writing style all with in a 24 hour period, and 2 of them within only 4 minutes of eachother. Not to mention the fact that ryugyu and batana have the same ip adress. -MattHh

2007-06-13 16:34:09   This is really great and cheap Chinese food. I only wish they didn't sell shark fin soup... —LeslieCooper

2007-07-01 13:55:44   The first time I went it was with a large group of people. I dont remember the food being that amazing. However, I went again two days ago and I was definitely impressed this time. I ordered the

  1. Ginger Green Onion Tofu (steamed)<---absolutely wonderful! Perfect balance of simple flavors. Ginger was tasty

  2. Eggplant and garlic sauce with some type of dark soy sauce<---At first I was a little turned off by the amount of sauce on the plate but the eggplant was really good. Not to mention they added ...maybe cloud ear mushrooms? and some other things such as bamboo. I love the texture of all the ingredients. They should go lighter on the sauce next time.

  3. HK style beef chow main<---my friend said it was pretty good. It had cabbage, some button mushrooms, and maybe other stuff. The noodles are cooked and then fried, creating a nice chewy texture. The noodles were alright. Not my kinda dish though

Overall, I really enjoyed it! It's ok though. I'll definitely come back again soon!-VT —VivianTang86

2007-07-16 23:49:55   hi matt-imagine this..3 people who happen to be friends and love the same restaurants and dislike the same restaurants. maybe they sound similar because they hang out a lot? perhaps 2 of them are sharing a wireless connection or laptop? Crazy notions huh? —batana

2007-07-17 10:59:18   I've been going here consistently over the last few years. I love this restaurant and the people here are great as well. On special occasions, we pre-order the peking duck meal and it's always delicious! —RohiniJasavala

2007-07-21 14:38:30   When you go there, try and kill the water... It will be refilled in under a minute, pretty much ever time >_> —StevenDaubert

2007-09-18 23:06:20   too bad this place is temporarily closed. It's conveniently located and pretty cheap. I'll look forward to going back. —ArianeMetz

2007-09-27 10:23:41   I've been eating at Noodle Express for some years (prior to James being the owner. He was a waiter then). It seems I always order the same things, ie sizzling rice soup(very fresh), pot stickers(great, comperable to Oaklands China town), combo chow fun, dry(not quite as good as Oakland, but close) and general chicken(my wifes favorite). The best Chinese restaurant outside Oakland. And yes James is the greatest. Ken —KennySumner

2007-11-11 00:03:40   Don't want to knock the place or anything. I haven't tried this place yet. However, I walked by today and peered into the alley way behind Noodle Express. There was a lady washing broccoli in the parking lot. Broccoli was on the pavement. —GMC

2008-01-17 10:14:18   My girlfriend and I come here all the time. The food and the service are excellent. I agree with StevenDaubert about the water thing. We've done a contest to see if it was possible to drink a whole glass before someone came by to fill it. Impossible. My only complaint is that they serve Shark-Fin-Soup ... —GabeDavis

2008-01-26 15:19:50   I've eaten here on a number of occasions. The food is reasonably good, if a bit salty. Prices are good. Alas, they play what is in my opinion rather bad music all the time. (You may like their music, but I definitely don't.) It definitely diminishes the experience. But despite the atmosphere, I do like to go here for the food. —IDoNotExist

2008-02-04 23:13:21   I went there a couple weeks ago and tried the BBQ Pork fried rice. Not bad and well priced. However this older man came in telling them their soup made him sick. I'm not sure about him, but I know my experience there wasn't a bad one. —thelonepiper555

2008-04-21 02:17:49   I have not tried any other chinese food places besides old tea house. comparatively, this place is so much better. The food here is absolutely yummy. I ordered a hong kong style noodle. The texture was perfect, it was crispy and it melted in the mouth at the same time! The balance of vegetables and meat was perfect as well. I also went here with a group of 5 people and we ordered a specialty dinner. It was simply amazing. The lemon chicken was sweet and fulfilling. I also recommend the pot stickers with redwine vinegar and soy sauce. —chand3123k

2008-06-16 09:02:51   Service and attitude was first-class, tea was weak, Chow Mein was a distant third after Hometown (#1), and Ding How (#2). —JimStewart

2008-07-05 19:27:07   It was pretty good, but then they had the fire, and now something happened and they don't taste as good. —JimBob

2008-08-07 16:04:52   The people that work here are awesome. The service is fast and the food is good. I wouldn't say that the food will change your life or anything, but its been consistently tasty for me. And nearly always (unless I'm insanely hungry) I leave with leftovers. And the water thing is true, you can rarely finish it off without it being refilled (and btw that water is damn tasty, they really know the perfect lemon:water:ice ratio). If I wasn't a "poor college student" with a full-time job, I'd be here everyday for lunch. —SunjeetBaadkar

2008-08-09 09:27:36   I disagree greatly with the above statement. On my first and only visit, I went to dine-in during lunch and the staff were completely focused on the to-go crowd, some of whom had come in long after my friend and I had been seated. We waited a good 15-20 minutes just to order. I ordered the seafood noodle soup which was decent. I appreciated the mix of seafood in it (squid, fish balls, imitation crab) and the noodles were decent (Davis Noodle City is fair superior when it comes to noodles) and the broth was pretty bland—just tasted like salted water. But it took forever for my food to arrive and the server never came back to check again until he gave us the check 15 minutes later. And then he never came back for the check! By this time the to-go crowd had died down, but the server didn't come back. I took the payment to the front and they barely said anything to me.

Then I thought—to be fair, maybe this place is more of a To-go place during lunch. But looking at the selection which looked ridiculously oily, I was completely turned off to the place. I won't come back here again—the food's not worth it and what should've been a half hour lunch took twice as long simply because we were ignored. I love Davis Noodle City and would recommend that place over Noodle Express any day. —SarahOsler

  • To be fair to the disagreement, the food isn't worth a 15-20 minute wait for ordering. I just suppose I've been lucky with the service or perhaps I go often enough that maybe I get preferential treatment (god, I hope not for a variety of reasons). And as far as the oily food goes, I haven't tried everything on the menu as of yet (though I've never disliked anything that I have tried), but I generally know what has the tendency to be oily in most Asian restaurants and steer away from those particular items (chow fun, for example), so I guess I never encounter that sort of thing. And although I like Noodle Express for their variety of foods, my heart will be with Davis Noodle City for the fact that they have the kimchee noodle soup...and as far as I know, the only place that still has kimchee. I was so sad when the Ramen House shut down back in the day. Now that place had amazing kimchee noodle soup, not to mention incredible thai iced teas... :( —SunjeetBaadkar

2008-08-28 18:50:33   My personal favorite among Davis Chinese joints. Excellent service and kind staff. Very reasonably priced and fast service. Not had a bad experience yet. —Sar58

2008-09-05 00:13:15   I had the Beef Chow Fun and I was not satisfied with the amount. It seemed way too greasy. Maybe the other dishes are better ? —TeaLeaves

2008-11-24 22:27:30   i heart noodle express's vegetarian menu. broccoli with garlic sauce (i.e. whole cloves of garlic *drool*), dry-fried string beans and szechuan tofu are amazing here. so far i like it much better than any other chinese place in davis. plus the waiters are always really friendly :D. —MiranPark

2009-01-11 19:00:09   Just got back from eating dinner here. I had the Beef Chow Mein and an order of Pot Stickers. I had a relatively long wait (20+ minutes), before the pot stickers came, which is an inordinate amount of time. The server was nice and apologetic about it, but there's no excuse to justify a 20 minute wait for an appetizer when the restaurant isn't crowded (maybe 3 other tables occupied). The pot stickers were crispy, but the meat content was pretty meager. The chow mein was a little on the greasy side, but I was definitely full afterwards. Other than the wait, a decent experience overall. —AlexChiang

2009-04-18 16:35:06   UGH. I came here the other day and ordered a lemon chicken to go. What I got was FRIED CHICKEN STRIPS in lemon sauce. Totally wasn't expecting that. If I wanted fried chicken I would've just gone to KFC. Never coming here again. —strawberry

  • I hope you know that that is what lemon chicken is. Just because they didn't meet up to your "expectations", your comment is really unwarranted. —xen0cide45

2009-05-04 16:21:36   I <3 Noodle Express, probably the place that I'll stick around for the 4 years that I'm here. The food is good with low prices that you can hardly find elsewhere, also with excellent service. —thtly

2009-05-30 23:57:07   Yes, the food was cheaper, but the portions were smaller. I ordered chicken fried rice, chicken chow mein, fried prawns and mongolian beef. None of it was fantastic, and the mongolian beef tasted more like teriyaki. The fried rice was waaayyy disappointing.

I will not be going back here. —BrookeB

2010-01-04 09:17:15   They closed? Noooooooooo. :-( —IDoNotExist

2010-01-11 07:55:49   I've heard they're actually moving, not closing, it turns out. —WesHardaker

2010-05-03 11:39:28   Where are you??????? We need an update on what's going on? —MissingYou

2010-05-03 11:43:48   They closed and have been replaced by a Thai place. I'm not aware of them having opened anywhere else. —IDoNotExist

2010-05-04 11:06:37   Like there aren’t enough Thai places already. Four in a one block radius. The Noodle Express was going to move two blocks down and reopen in a couple of months. It's now been a lot longer than that. We miss them!!!!!!!!! —MissingYou

2010-06-26 23:59:36   I miss this place so much. —reviewaskew

2010-10-07 11:14:31   Where the hell are they moving to, and why is it taking them so long?! I want my lemon chicken!!! —DolphinOmega

2011-01-14 22:13:06   I just stumbled upon this site and just want to say that the restaurant isn't reopening. Everyone has found stable jobs and most likely have no plans to reopen. Sorry for the inconvenience. —RelativeOfOwner

2011-04-16 20:51:03   This is my sad face: :-( —WesHardaker

2011-08-04 15:29:28   Old timers, help me out here... wasn't this where Flynn's Ice Cream used to be? (mid 80's) —OldDavis73

2013-01-08 23:02:28   Is there any way we can beg them to return? Or can the owner direct us to a similar restaurant. Since 2008 that I left Davis I have not been able to find a Chinese restaurant that makes the Orange Chicken as crispy, sweet, and delicious!!! & very tasty Cream Cheese Wontons and Hot & Sour Soup! =( *sad* —MissingNoodleExpress

2013-01-08 23:04:36   Has anyone been able to find a similar restaurant? Please do share. —MissingNoodleExpress

Add tags