📍 2190 McNicoll Ave #119, Scarborough
Seeing this pop up on my Yelp radar actually got me excited as I was scouting for a new noodle place. It also surprised me that it was in the Midland/McNicoll plaza as I’ve been there a couple of times, but haven’t noticed Magic Noodle!
But… Perhaps my expectations were a little too great because I left with quite a disappointment.
Coming in a little before lunch time, it wasn’t as packed. Our waitress was on her phone and yawning while she told us to sit wherever we liked.
Alrrrrright… Maybe she was from the overnight/early morning shift since Magic Noodle is open 24/7 were my thoughts to let this one part of the service slide because I found it to be kind of unbelievable even at an Asian restaurant standard.
Menus were given and Magic Noodle offers quite a number of stuff! From appetizers, to fried noodles, cold dishes, skewers, but I think they specialized in noodle soups since they have more options of those.
We settled for The Magic and the Foochow Bowl both from the Hand-Pulled Noodle category. Upon taking our orders, she seemed to not really care, but when she was talking to her co-workers, she was very loud and making a ruckus with them, all while speaking Mandarin.
Each table has a water jug filled with water and a lemon slice in them. Along condiments like chopsticks, tissues, chili oil, soya sauce, etc.
Our food came within a good time, it wasn’t long or too quick (like microwaved).
The Magic noodle bowl consisted of beef stock, sliced beef, pork chop, fried egg, braised lamb, beef tripe, pickled turnip, cilantro and scallions with chili oil on the side, but my friend opted chili oil in general because of low spice tolerance (since we’re not sure how much they were going to put in).
I got the Foochow bowl which had a mix of chicken and pork stock, fishballs, imitation crab, seaweed and scallions.
The fishballs were stuffed with pork fillings which surprised me, in a good and bad way. Good because it was stuffed, bad because I actually prefer regular fishballs compared to the stuffed ones.
Yes, I added my own chili oil to my meal, which is why the soup looks so orange-y.
At first glance, they didn’t give us much or at least comparing to the pictures on the menu. But to be fair, it was written at the bottom of the menu that “pictures are for illustrative purposes only. actual products might differ”.
Damm straight it differed from the pictures…
It was a disappointing experience for both me and my friend. My friend’s meal actually had more bones than meat… and we had both expected more meat in general as well. My meal was just alright but nothing special nor would I get it again… just didn’t feel that satisfying.
The only thing we both agreed on was that the noodles were really really good. I’m assuming they make the noodles by themselves in the store considering they labelled it “hand-pulled noodles”, and it was just really soft and chewy. But that is about the only good thing I have to say about this restaurant.
The food didn’t satisfy us, and needless to say that the service didn’t improve at all. Won’t be back and it’s such a shame because they seemed to get decent reviews and it wouldhv been a new go-to spot to come for late night eats if I had a better experience.
Till next time, ♥
For more Magic Noodle – Official Website & Yelp
