Like @petolino, I had the biang biang noodle and one other noodle. And like petolino, I liked the biang biang noodle but not the other.
Handmade, good texture, as mentioned. And the red hot oil livened things up.
Garlic oil spinach noodle. Granted most of the noodles were eaten by the kids, but I didn’t feel the noodles were very special other than that they were green. Not much garlic taste to speak of. The highlight of the dish for me was, oddly, the red bell pepper which was pleasantly sweet and fresh with just the right texture between crunchy and soft. But of course, no one would order a noodle just for the bell pepper.
Fried eggplant appetizer. It was fine. I didn’t think the sauce was compatible with the savory eggplant. I vaguely recall it was slightly piquant, sweet and spicy.
The issue I have with the restaurant is that the restaurant seems to lack a point of view. Everyone is done because the dish may be hot somewhere else. The male owner, a young guy who’s perhaps 30, said he was from Taiwan. It was suggested to me that the wife behind the counter sounded like she’s from China. The chef was from Dongbei. Yet the restaurant name suggests Xi’an food with very few items from Xi’an that looked like from Xi’an. I asked the male owner about the Taiwanese beef noodle soup and there wasn’t a recommendation, let alone a strong one, so I skipped. If I were them, given the strength of the biang biang noodle, I’d just scrap the rest of the menu and focus on the Xi’an stuff.
If I sound harsh, that’s probably because of the unfair comparison in my mind between Chang’An and Kumino. Chang’An is not Kumino. Noodle dIshes were more expensive. Portions were pretty small. Flavors didn’t quite dance. The owner messed up an order with a quiet dining room. He is clearly a newbie when it comes to owning and running a restaurant. I just don’t know if the biang biang noodle, and hopefully some other good dishes elsewhere on the menu, is enough to draw people to the otherwise pretty small mall.
