MIAN

You must try the NEW NOODLE — The Baby Rib Noodle ! Super delicious! meat lovers, gotta try. The rib has a very tender taste and fully flavored.

Pretty great! Best Dan Dan noodles I’ve had in LA!
Know what you’re getting into– they really only do noodles and dumplings. Amazing noodles & dumplings! :)
Definitely try some of the sides on the last page– veggies and streamed egg w/​pork are great!
Cash only!

I was excited to try this place out. It’s a modern restaurant with minimalistic décor. The menu was well designed and the prices were good. We tried 3 different noodle soups. The soup on the menu with the sliced meat around it, I believe it was the beef pickled noodle, almost made this place a 1 star review. I don’t know what was wrong with this soup, but it started off a little spicy, then this sour flavor kicked in. It made everything so sour it was completely inedible. I tried to drink water and the water tasted like lime juice. I couldn’t get the taste out of my mouth. I let the staff know and they told me they should have warned me about «numbing spice» but it was not spicy, it was only sour. So I must have gotten some weird chemical in there that made it impossible to taste anything but sour. He offered to get me a new soup but at that point I just wanted something to get that taste out of my mouth so I asked for just a bowl of the soup broth. There must have been some miscommunication because he didn’t get me the broth but got me something else without salt in it. I let my wife try it and she experienced the same thing. I am confident something was wrong with that bowl because there is no way anyone could enjoy what we went through. But that noodle water he brought out did help to quell it down a bit by the end. Whatever it was, it was not natural and I am a bit worried about these types of chemicals in the food. After reading some reviews of the beef pickled noodle, there must have been something wrong with it because people said it was numbing spicy, which it was not. But it was numbing sour.
The spicy dumplings were great. My wife’s spicy sour noodle with a fried egg and some kind of beans were great. The bone broth noodle soup was great. Waiter was kind enough to give a refund but I didn’t want it so just left all the money on the table because he said that’s how the soup was supposed to taste, I didn’t want to not pay for something that was made right and I’m just too dumb to know that’s how it’s supposed to be. I hate people that try to get their money back for something because it doesn’t taste like how they imagined.
Not a fan of cash only for payment, that with the sour taste that ruined my meal confused me enough to lose my wallet today. That sour taste was just so overwhelming that it threw my psyche off and it dominated our conversation until I realized my wallet went missing.

Ordered the Niu Rou Mian (Beef Noodle Soup) which was just okay. What’s different about Mian’s Niu Rou Mian versus other restaurants’ is that the soup is spicy… and that’s about it. Spicy aside, I didn’t find the dish that special. The noodles don’t appear to be handmade or anything, and my beef tasted slightly tough.
I will say the service is great, which is rare for a Chinese restaurant, but my dish was lacking that oomph that’ll drive me back.

CASH ONLY. Noodles are all under $ 10. Generous portions.
Each person gets a can of «noodle water,» or the water that the noodle was cooked in. It has a slight dough-​y taste to it, but the purpose of it is to dilute spicy noodle broths. The placemat recommends a certain strategy for consuming spicy noodles for maximum enjoyment, haha.
Both Bone Soup Noodle (non-​spicy) and Ziwei Beef Noodle Soup (spicy) came very hot temperature-​wise, so be careful! The oil in the beef noodle soup was very spicy, even if all you did was drink 1 spoonful of soup at a time. The bone soup noodle’s broth was well seasoned in my opinion because it was not too salty. Comes with a few pieces of woodear, tomato, bok choy, and a fried egg that is a little gooey in the middle
|Check out @eugeniaeats on Instagram for more amateur shots of beautiful and delicious food|

Did a back to back visit here recently, and enjoyed both experiences.
The spicy beef noodle soup stood out. The beef was tender and well cooked, but maintained it a bit of its bite. There was a good balance between the leaner parts, the tendony, and fatty bits. I appreciated that the soup was well seasoned and well spiced. Spice can be a subjective thing, but I would say it’s a balanced warming type spice. Don’t expect the hair standing, lip numbing type stuff. Finally, the noodles were cooked just right for my tastes. Tender, with a bit of give and nice texture. The deep fried egg was a nice bonus and works well with the beef.
In terms of other things on the menu, the seafood soup was pretty good too. I would describe the soup as something very savory with that distinct dried shrimp type of seafood note to it. The chaoshou was also tasty. I haven’t had too much exposure to this particular thing — but to me it seem to resemble a wonton with slightly different regional ingredients. With that in mind, I thought they were well wrapped structurally with a good balance of filling to skin, and a flavorful broth to go with it.
Both times, I had the same server, Chelsea– and she was very attentive and nice. And double bonus for great English. The ambiance was a bit more modern and clean; and I appreciated that as well. As western as these elements were though; the place is still cash only. That’s on par with other places in the area, but would have been a nice touch to their «higher end» type sell.
I’m not sure if everything on the menu appeals to me, but I would certainly go back for those dishes that caught my eye and taste buds. The spicy beef noodle soup in particular!

An hour before closing, we got a table almost without waiting.
Kitchen seemed to be ready to close, plenty of items were sold out. At last we had:
Ziwei Beef noodles — simple beef noodles soup which resemble Taiwan style beef noodles soup, but added with szechuan spices. Soup is lacked of depth and richness, beef aren’t tender enough, noodles is just simple white nooodles which lack of chew.
Chengdu Zhajiang noodles — em… the meat sauce does look gross. and texture too coarse, sauce is alright, noodles itself is also too soft.
Beef Pickled Noodles — actually I do like this broth, clear yet sweet, quite spicy, packed with heat and get your mouth numb like every szechuan dish should do. Not much of beef, sliced so thin you can’t hardly feel a thing in mouth. The beef slices really needs to be thicker to enjoy. Again, noodles too soft.
Red Oil Chaoshou (dumplings) — Spicy soy sauce taste quite good. In fact the meat in dumplings taste really fresh and yummy too, but the dumpling skin is overcooked, fell right off when I picked them up with chopsticks. This is a NO NO for a good dumpling.
I am kinda disappointed with this meal, esp Johnathan Gold recommends it. He hasn’t tasted some true Chinese food. And these noodles are overpriced.

The «Chef’s Choice» Chengdu ZaJiang (8.99) was tasty however not very pretty as the menu photo. My instragram photo was quite disappointing. The meat was a bit mushy and the sauce was on the bottom.
The warm soup stock that’s served with your meal is perfect for calming down that szechuan numbing sensation.
The pork dumplings (8.99) is a MUST get and the perfect sharable appetizer.
This place was good, but not the best that we’ve had for Szechuan.

From the same owners of Chengdu Taste comes MIAN. They serve a variety of noodle dishes here, most tend to be spicy.
I really liked the dishes since I love spicy, but I do think they overcharge here. Noodles in the area are typically $ 6-​$ 7 but one bowl here is close to $ 10. Not worth it in my opinion, but if you like spicy enough, then maybe you get more out of it.

When I’m craving ethnic noodles, I come here. Tried their Hot & Sour Noodle this time. It’s more like Spicy & Vinegary Noodle. The taste is fine. Kinda sorta liked it, but the noodle is too soft. Like ‘em firmer. Doesn’t have to be al dente, but the soft noodles were so soggy tasting.
Bf tried their Spicy Beef Noodle. Said the beef was too tough. Only one or two pieces were tender.
Steam veggie was kinda sad. It was cold. How come Asians always blanch their vegetables to the point were it’s overcooked? Just wondering…‘cuz mom cook veggies to death too :(Anyways, drop ‘em in the bowl of spicy noodles and all of a sudden, it doesn’t taste so bad.

Heard about Miàn on KPCC this past week and heard the Jonathan Gold enjoyed the food. Even though some reviewers mentioned it was too spicy for them or too bland (go figure) my SO and I were committed. Smaller than I thought, we had not problem securing a table at 5:30pm on a Saturday. Heads-up…get there before 6:00pm, as there was a line by the time we left at 6:30pm.
I ordered the Chendu Zajiang Noodles. My GF (Japanese) ordered the Clear Broth Zajiang Noodles. Being a big white guy, I asked for just a hint of spice. The dish was perfect. Full of taste with enough heat to round off everything. My GF found her noodle dish to be a little lacking in flavor, she added some chili oil, but only got a «shoulder shrug» from her.
Service was fast and very friendly. Will definitely go back. Thanks KPCC!

The most important thing about a good noodle is the texture and the soup. I came to Mian last night with a group of friends, and we all came out very pleased and satisfied. Service was a bit slow, but you don’t come to SGV looking for excellent service (any place that does give you great service in the area deserves an extra star!)
+ CHENGDU ZHAJIANGMIAN — The texture of the noodle was a nice blend of chewy and tender. The Zhajiang sauce wasn’t overly powering and had a good mix of saltiness and spicy notes. I highly recommend adding in the Fried Egg with this noodle (we ordered it both ways). The egg gives an additional texture and depth of flavor.
+ HOT AND SOUR NOODLES: This was one of the favorites at our table. It’s more «soupy» than the zhajiangmian and the noodles are thinner and more slippery. Mian does their hot and sour soups very well (as also evidenced by the CHAOSHOU that we ordered).
+ NIUROUMIAN: The basic niuroumian was my personal favorite, mainly because it’s my quest to find the best niuroumian in San Gabriel. The beef they use is all very tender (most places give you just cartilage and fat, which some places offer and some people prefer… but Mian gives you all meat). I loved that the beef was not an afterthought to the soup and the noodles. Broth was very clean as well
+ BEEF PICKLED NOODLES: This one packs a punch… it’s the lightest colored of all the noodles, but ended up being the spiciest and the most «Szechuan-​like». The peppercorns are in full effect in this soup, so be careful when slurping this broth… you will definitely feel it then… and after.
+ RED OIL CHAOSHOU: I’m a huge fan of the classic red oil chaoshou, and true to form, this place does it right. It would be disappointing if a restaurant associated with Chengdu Taste did spicy chaoshou wrong, but it was not the case. Highly recommend.

I’ve kind of avoided Chendgu Taste because of all of the hype and lines, so when me and the boo made our way to the back corner of 301 W Valley Blvd, I was happy to see that there was no line outside of Mian. And that it was right next to OG SGV standout, Mei Long Village.
I got the Chengdu ZaJiang and she got the non-​spicy soupy one. Both were good. For those not in the know, this takes ZaJiang Mian and presents it in a ramen restaurant style format. Works for me.
The spicy mala sauce and bits of pork left in my bowl had me desiring a piece of Shaanxi bread, but that’s another region. Maybe I’ll sneak a baguette in next time.
We’ll be back.

MIAN focuses on Sichuan noodle dishes, so expect a lot of spicy options. This is also a place that uses a lot of peppercorns, which adds a prickly, numbing sensation to the food. Every dish has a base of homemade noodles and small bits of chopped or ground meat — pretty simple stuff — meant to showcase the sauce. Typically a mix of red oil, soy, black vinegar, and sugar, every dish is the right balance of numbing spice, tangy, and semi-​sweet.
Don’t be fooled by the so-​so ratings. The food is phenomenal, the service is lousy. But you don’t come to dinky places like this for swank — you come here to eat delicious food for cheap. Don’t be shy about flagging down the waiters to place your order, get your bill, etc.
The zha jiang mian and spicy wontons are a good place to start!
The small covered cups labled «soup» at every table has a little bit of the water the noodles were cooked in. Don’t worry — I was also very confused. A bit of googling helped up learn that it’s traditional to sip that as you eat the noodles.

Definitely not for me! We came here on Saturday night and the line was really long! We waited 1 hr to get seated but my husband and I were still excited thinking that this is all gonna be worth it. Besides, we are also fans of its sister company, Chengdu Taste. Boy, were we sooo wrong!
We ordered Chengdu’s spicy noodle, ground pork soup noodle and crispy pork noodle, and spicy oil dumpling. The only one that imo acceptable is the ground pork soup noodle. I don’t like the rest.
In addition to that, what I think is weird is they gave us a zinc cup, with some liquid they called as «noodle water» I couldn’t even bring myself to try it. It smells like Clorox… but hey, maybe it’s just me…
Note to self: next time just eat Taiwanese ground pork noodle, and just add chili oil to it if I want it spicy…

Spicy as a mother…
I asked for my dish to be less spicy. Waitress told me, «no problem.»
My dish came out so spicy that it was almost inedible. I expected the food to be spicy, but not so spicy that I would not be able to enjoy my food.
They have a small kettle of what I was told was «broth» offered to dilute your soup. It appeared to be hot water. It did not help.
The noodles themselves were decent.
Service was incredibly slow.

MIAN Quick Thoughts:
– CASH ONLY.
– Salty more than spicy
– If you want spicy, go to Chengdu Taste.
– Service was terrible. I did, however, find another server who was much nicer to us.
– Wait time for Saturday at 12 noon for 4 awesome people was shorter due to breaking us up and seating us back to back in tables of 2. Eh. Whatever.
Without further ado, onto the dishes!
PICKLED CABBAGE
– Not too spicy, not too sour.
– FREE! (insert: whaaaa?)
SPICY BEEF
– Nice spicy kick at the end.
– Not as tender as other places, but good flavor.
WONTON IN CHILI OIL
– Delicious taste, soft skin and good chili oil.
PORK DUMPLING
– About 10 or 12 pieces in here and I ate ¾ of it. Yes, I know I’m a monster.
– The sauce is not as spicy as the Wonton in Chili Oil and rather had a bit of sweetness to it.
– I’m addicted to this sauce in this dish.
– Chewier skin than wonton.
ZHA JIANG MIAN (+ FRIED EGG)
– Love the noodle texture and flavor of the sauce, but it got so salty after a while.
– Drinking water from thirst will spread that numbing spicy feeling all over your tongue.
– Finally a place that makes the perfect fried egg for me.
SPICY BEEF NOODLE SOUP (+ FRIED EGG)
–That broth got pretty spicy for me though. Maybe I’m weakening now.
– Noodles were soft.
– Tendon was tasty and properly tender.
Overall, I liked the taste and quality of the food. The service, wait time, and salt content– not too much, but I could maybe see myself coming back in the future.

We came here because it is a new place by Tony Xu and also known as the 5^th Chendu taste, being the 5^th restaurant he is adding to the list of Chendu taste spin offs.
The noodle soups were tasty enough but not to die for, tasty. There was msg in the soup which a huge negative for me. The price is high for a noodle place. We paid $ 40 tax and tip included, for 2 bowls of noodles and 2 sides. It would be priced better at $ 30 but it is what it is and there is serious competition out there.
My take is the best food is found in one of a kind, hole in the wall where the chef owns the place. The flavors are unique and are not duplicated elsewhere. Chain restaurants run into the problems of being a fast food place and we are back to the panda express taste. I like panda express for what it is but they don’t charge you at the price of an upscale restaurant.
By the way the newbie reviewers who give such high scores are friends, family or employees of the restaurant. Learn to distinguish friends from foe. We are not stupid.

This is a new Sichuan style noodle, more specifically Chongqing mian, and dumpling (chaoshou) place by the same owner of Chengdu Taste. The menu has pictures of each item and description, with symbols to indicate whether it’s spicy or not spicy and whether it has soup or no soup. There are 12 different noodle dishes, 4 dumpling dishes, and 10 appetizers on the menu.
On our first visit my wife and I shared Chengdu ZaJiang and Clear Broth ZaJiang. One is a spicy version with no soup and the other is a non spicy version with soup. Both came with homemade noodle, ground pork, and green onion. I thought both of them were great in their own way. I liked the Chengdu ZazJiang for the spiciness but the Clear Broth had a soothing broth. Noodles were just the right thickness and had little bit of chewiness to them.
On our second visit we ordered the Spicy and Sour Chaoshou and House Beef Noodles. Both came with a spicy broth but I liked the soup on the House Beef Noodles better. The texture of noodles were also on point like our first visit. However, I didn’t like the beef that much because they were too chewy and fatty.
Please note, some of the dishes have this weird spice or some pepper that leaves a numbing/​tingling sensation on the tongue. Not sure if it’s some Sichuan pepper or herb but it has a very sharp cardamom-​like flavor, which I didn’t care for. I tasted it on the Chengdu ZaJiang and Spicy and Sour Chaoshou. I still liked those dishes regardless because the overall flavor was good.
I’m giving this place 4 stars but have to admit it’s a weak 4. There are few reasons. One is the price. Whether you get dumplings or noodles they are about $ 9, and they aren’t that filling. I felt hungry both times after I finished eating so had to grab some dessert afterward to get full. Another reason is some of the items look different in the menu from the actual items we ordered. On the menu there were more vegetables than the ones we got. I’m not sure if they were showing the pictures with optional toppings added.
It’s located in the Prospect Plaza. It’s best to park underground as the main level has very limited parking spots. If you don’t find a spot the first time, you have to exit the plaza and come back since it’s a one-​way traffic that doesn’t circle around.

Mian is good, I would return. It’s a little overprice for bowl of noodles 10.00 and the wait was annoying for a Sunday night but the flavorful broths and the preparation of the noodles is worth it for the first time trying. I do not know or speak any Chinese, pointed to the pics on the menu and I was fine.
Beef noodles soup– my guest ordered it because it said chefs pick on the menu. The beef was tender and when I bit into it, the texture crumbles nicely. It had lots of flavor just like the noodles, but the soup was this Szechuan numbing spice that was overpowering and not good. Some people can take peppercorn spice but not us, it ruined the taste of my boyfriends noodles. Its not the ordinary spicy, their spice tasted like Asian medicine. The add on of choice for a few more dollars was a fried egg.
The ground pork noodles with green onions– this was their best noodle soup compared to the beef one. This broth was perfect and no spice. This one did not have those peppercorn taste in it so don’t worry. It’s safe and good. The soup had a lot of flavor and the noodles had the right texture. I knew this soup was good because my boyfriend kept dipping his tasteless noodles into mine to kill whatever broth he had.
Chengdu dumpling– it’s good just do not drink that oily soup. I treated this as a meat and ate it with my bowl of noodles,
Cons– the wait in line with the clipboard, the no napkins unless you ask for it and no free water, well not that they give you it, but you probably have to ask for it since my table did not get any. And in China I heard they do not provide you napkins either, people bring their own every time. Handkerchief? Gross ha.
Just a tip, all the workers do not really know English because after one person took our order and left, another person took our order. Also after the 2^nd worker took care of us, the first server comes back to give us the menu and then we had to explain that we ordered already. It was a little misunderstanding but that’s okay. They were friendly. They speak mandarin. So the 2 bowl of noodles and one chengdu dumpling was 31.00 before tip, pricey for noodles and dumplings right?