We were back in Pittsburgh for Thanksgiving last weekend. It's been a while (nearly a year) since we were back. Apart from spending time with the family as well as catching up with friends, we also managed to go out to eat at some of our favorite places in Pittsburgh. Some places were as good as we remembered them to be but some places were a total letdown. I will be writing more about those places in the coming posts.
The first place that I am going to write about is Lu Lu's Noodles. I have written a review about this place like two years ago and from that review, you can see that we truly adore this noodle house. It's located right in the middle of Oakland, somewhat close to the University of Pittsburgh. When we were still going to school in Indiana, PA, we would always visit Lu Lu's whenever we are back in Pittsburgh. We thought that they served the best noodles ever! When we walked into Lu Lu's last weekend, we were greeted by the familiar red walls and wacky black and white posters of people posing with noodles. Looks like nothing has changed....or has it?
We brought Kevin's mom along with us, since she has never eaten at Lu Lu's before. We have been raving about that place since forever, so we thought that she might like to try it. There were not that many people there and we didn't have to wait for a table (we did however have to wait quite a while before the server decided walk over and bring us to a table). After taking our orders, the food arrived rather quickly. However, we didn't have any cutlery set up. I had to actually walk over to ask them for some and it took quite a while for them to bring it over. Is it really that difficult to bring over 3 forks, 3 spoons and some napkins? Looks like the service is not as good as it used to be. Kevin's mom ordered a vegetable egg roll ($1.45) and the three of us shared a portion of Crab Rangoon ($2.95) as our appetizer. I didn't try the egg roll but it looks just like any other egg roll. The crab rangoon wasn't really the greatest. There wasn't any traces of crab in the stuffing. Out of the 5 pieces, I believe we only saw one tiny red speck of crab in one of them! Like seriously, only one? The rest of the filling was just some sweet mixture of mayo and errmm cream cheese I guess.
Since we were always raving about Lu Lu's Wonton Noodle Soup ($5.95), Kevin's mom decided to give that a try. She added on some extra shrimp ($1.75) to go along with it. The shrimp and pork wontons were good and but noodles were not as great as we remembered it to be.
Kevin also ordered the Wonton Noodle Soup and added on some Asian sausage slices ($1.75). He too agreed that the noodles were not as good as he remembered them to be. I wonder if they changed their noodle supplier (it's supposed to be flown in from San Francisco) or if our taste buds has changed over the years. The soup base wasn't that great either. It tasted like some MSG laden hot water soup.
I ordered the Wonton Braised Noodle ($6.75) and added on some Roast Duck ($1.75). Yes, I have to agree that the shrimp and pork wontons were still rather good but the noodles were horrible. My noodles were stuck together in a clump and I had quite a difficult time in trying to separate them. Also, there were not enough sauce on my noodles. I only wished they had poured on more sauce. The duck taste alright, nothing really to rave or complain about.
Our total bill came to $37.51. I guess that's rather affordable for all that food. However, we were really disappointed that the Lu Lu's that we went to that night wasn't the Lu Lu's that we remembered so fondly of. Mediocre tasting food coupled with mediocre service. I don't think we will be returning to Lu Lu's anytime soon. That's really sad though, cos we really did enjoy many lunches and dinners at Lu Lu's back in the day. Up til now, I cannot really place my finger on it. Have our taste buds really changed that much or has the quality of food in Lu Lu's really declined that much over the years? I really don't know.
The first place that I am going to write about is Lu Lu's Noodles. I have written a review about this place like two years ago and from that review, you can see that we truly adore this noodle house. It's located right in the middle of Oakland, somewhat close to the University of Pittsburgh. When we were still going to school in Indiana, PA, we would always visit Lu Lu's whenever we are back in Pittsburgh. We thought that they served the best noodles ever! When we walked into Lu Lu's last weekend, we were greeted by the familiar red walls and wacky black and white posters of people posing with noodles. Looks like nothing has changed....or has it?
We brought Kevin's mom along with us, since she has never eaten at Lu Lu's before. We have been raving about that place since forever, so we thought that she might like to try it. There were not that many people there and we didn't have to wait for a table (we did however have to wait quite a while before the server decided walk over and bring us to a table). After taking our orders, the food arrived rather quickly. However, we didn't have any cutlery set up. I had to actually walk over to ask them for some and it took quite a while for them to bring it over. Is it really that difficult to bring over 3 forks, 3 spoons and some napkins? Looks like the service is not as good as it used to be. Kevin's mom ordered a vegetable egg roll ($1.45) and the three of us shared a portion of Crab Rangoon ($2.95) as our appetizer. I didn't try the egg roll but it looks just like any other egg roll. The crab rangoon wasn't really the greatest. There wasn't any traces of crab in the stuffing. Out of the 5 pieces, I believe we only saw one tiny red speck of crab in one of them! Like seriously, only one? The rest of the filling was just some sweet mixture of mayo and errmm cream cheese I guess.
Since we were always raving about Lu Lu's Wonton Noodle Soup ($5.95), Kevin's mom decided to give that a try. She added on some extra shrimp ($1.75) to go along with it. The shrimp and pork wontons were good and but noodles were not as great as we remembered it to be.
Kevin also ordered the Wonton Noodle Soup and added on some Asian sausage slices ($1.75). He too agreed that the noodles were not as good as he remembered them to be. I wonder if they changed their noodle supplier (it's supposed to be flown in from San Francisco) or if our taste buds has changed over the years. The soup base wasn't that great either. It tasted like some MSG laden hot water soup.
I ordered the Wonton Braised Noodle ($6.75) and added on some Roast Duck ($1.75). Yes, I have to agree that the shrimp and pork wontons were still rather good but the noodles were horrible. My noodles were stuck together in a clump and I had quite a difficult time in trying to separate them. Also, there were not enough sauce on my noodles. I only wished they had poured on more sauce. The duck taste alright, nothing really to rave or complain about.
Our total bill came to $37.51. I guess that's rather affordable for all that food. However, we were really disappointed that the Lu Lu's that we went to that night wasn't the Lu Lu's that we remembered so fondly of. Mediocre tasting food coupled with mediocre service. I don't think we will be returning to Lu Lu's anytime soon. That's really sad though, cos we really did enjoy many lunches and dinners at Lu Lu's back in the day. Up til now, I cannot really place my finger on it. Have our taste buds really changed that much or has the quality of food in Lu Lu's really declined that much over the years? I really don't know.Lu Lu's Noodles - Pittsburgh, PA
400 South Craig Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Tel: (412) 687 7777
Yes, sometimes Lulu's is not the best quality, but it is cheap. I walked past it today at around 12:11 pm.
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