Noodle Bowl

This used to be one of my favorite restaurants in town but since the change in ownership it has declined dramatically.

When it first opened, Joy who owns Brails in South Eugene was a fixture at Noodle Bowl. As soon as you arrived you were served bowls of traditional Korean side dishes. Drinks were kept full and servers were attentive but not annoying. Since Joy has turned over the reigns I've had a reason to get annoyed every time I go there.

Once when I was sick I called in an order for their spicy beef soup to burn out my sinuses, my dad went and picked up my order and returned with some kind of teriyaki chicken and rice thing. I called them to tell them they screwed up my order and I'm positive I was speaking with the owner and she wouldn't acknowledge that they had done anything wrong and charged me for the teriyaki thing as well as the soup that I ordered. As I was leaving I said "I can't wait to go home and eat my $20 soup" and she replied while walking away "Ok! Thank you! Goodnight!" Needless to say I was pissed.

Since I've been going there for a couple years I wasn't going to be deterred that easily, but after today I'm done. We got there just after the lunch rush so I'd say it was about half full. There was one server working and she didn't seem to know the menu. The owner, Sue was just running back and fourth and not really getting anything done. I watched two tables who had been seated after us get their bubble tea orders before I got mine. I watched the owner try to give my drink to another table actually. My dad's order came out when I was getting finished with mine. I usually get the spicy beef soup but I thought I'd change it up and ordered one with pot stickers and rice cakes. It was...honestly kinda gross. the rice cakes were rubbery and the pot stickers tasted a little off. So I waited for my dad to finish his soup and drank my bubble tea. After our food came that was the last time we saw our server. She was doing all of the other tables while the owner sat at the front by the register doing nothing and occasionally giving her orders. My dad's soup was on the spicy side and we had both been out of water for a while. We kept turning around to try and get somebody's attention but it wasn't working.

My dad then held up his glass and shook it to get her attention. I know. Rude. I told him to knock it off. The thing was, she saw him do this, made eye contact and smiled and then did another couple of laps around the restaurant without actually helping any customers. Finally when she was back at her perch in the front. I walked up and said "excuse me, may we please have some more water!"  She went to the back and grabbed a water glass that all the ice and melted in and dumped it into my glass, then looked at my dad's empty glass and said "Ohh! You need some too??" and grabbed another luke-warm glass and dumped it in his glass.

By this point we were ready to get the hell out of there. We went to the front to pay and she grabbed a pen, tried to get the ink going on it, which didn't work, handed him the pen and walked away said "thank you! Have a good day!" I know the pen has nothing to do with the food but c'mon. She knew it wasn't working! I dug a pen out of my purse and we left. I really enjoy some of their food but I will NEVER go back there.

Noodle Bowl will be able to cruise by on winning some Best of Eugene awards for a while, but if they keep up the crap-tastic service the word of mouth that put it on the map will run it into the ground.

After seeing that the Noodle Bowl was nominated for the Word of Mouth section of the Register Guard today (Feb 13), I had to write a review of my experience.   On two occasions in the last 4 months my friend and I met for lunch at Noodle Bowl.   We each ordered noodle bowls that included a variety of veggies along with the protein.   On BOTH occasions our bowls were brought to us without any veggies.   Upon asking that the veggies be provided the response was "oh, you didn't get any" and then we were brought a very small bowl of a few bits of broccoli, cabbage and carrot to share between us.   Needless to say, I am not returning.

Worst Korean food in Eugene with small serving sizes!!! Worst Beef bulgogi....tough, dry, salty and small portion. Everything is way overpriced!!! The service is Awful...says a lot about this place coz we were the only customers during the busiest dinner time(a bad sign for sure!!!). and WHY don't you let us finish our food before rushing the check???  Warning, Warning, Warning....Worst Korean restaurant in Eugene and We won't be going back!  Trust me....get ur money well-spent somewhere else like the Cafe seoul or Cafe Arirang etc.