This past Tuesday, before the mid-point of 3 baseball games in 1 week (two in Cleveland, one in Cincinnati), my dad and I tried out one of Cleveland's newest Asian restaurants: Noodlecat.
Noodlecat, as I saw it, had amazing potential. It also has an outstanding location, in between Tower City and E. 4th. As a lover of the noodle bowls I had while in China, I had been anxiously looking forward to my first meal at Noodlecat. Unfortunately, it was an overall disappointing experience.
First, I've got to point out one thing: when it comes to food (especially Asian food, but all food in general), I prefer traditional Chinese styles, seasonings, and methods above all else. The complexities of the flavors within a deceptively simple set of dishes equals, for me, the perfect canvas for cuisine. Thai, Japanese, and Korean food are all similar, with different spices and a few different techniques, but if all of east-Asian food were a pizza, Chinese would be the crust.
Noodlecat, from the beginning, was a disappointment because it's not a Chinese noodle restaurant. It's primary focus is Japanese-california fusion, with some "traditional" dishes mixed in, all of them Japanese. I don't mind Japanese food, and indeed, I love sushi. But I will take a traditional Chinese noodle bowl with wheat noodles, carrots, onions, and chili paste over a fish-based Japanese soba noodle dish any and every day of the week. That's just the honest truth about my preferences. Soba noodles are chewy, stiff, and card-boardy all at once and completely unappealing in appearance. Unfortunately, Noodlecat only serves dishes with soba noodles.
It's also overpriced. I realize that it's "unique" and "Japanese" so you can charge whatever you want in that part of cleveland, but a little bit of nori, some onion and sprouts tempura, and a bowl full of fish sauce and soba noodles just isn't worth 14 dollars, even if that's not too far off how much it costs to make (which it isn't; not even if you buy every ingredient at Giant Eagle). There may have been more than that in my dish but it didn't taste like it. That's really my biggest complaint with noodle cat: it was a bowl of salt and soba noodles, with a soggy piece of "vegetable tempura" (which lacked any identifiable vegetables beyond the sprouts and onion) that was practically impossible to eat with chopsticks thanks to the now-turned-to-rubber breading.
So, I didn't like my dish much. My dad claimed to like his, but it looked to be about the same, with some different things going on. It claimed to be "surf and turf" but I think it just had clams and crab, so I don't know what the turf part of that was supposed to be.
I understand that Japanese food is a lot "fishier" than most. I also believe though, that, properly prepared, there isn't a type of food most people won't enjoy. Tempura, for instance, must be light and crispy. If it isn't, it's ruined. Granted, mine was served atop a noodle soup. I understand that, but if the food is ruined by its presentation change the presentation..
That's the bulk of my opinion on Noodlecat. I was also put off by their lack of any typical soft drinks. I understand the desire to go local/organic, but there's also a full bar in the restaurant. Concievably, you can't actually order whatever drink you'd like, because they don't carry things like Dr. Pepper and Sprite. No matter how good the organic cola is, nothing goes with spiced rum like regular Coca Cola. Ironically, this also made the experience markedly inauthentic: you can't go anywhere in Asia without the ability to order a Coke or Pepsi.
All of this was topped off by a waitress that basically treated us like idiots for trying to order regular pop and like second-class customers for not ordering an appetizer. Sorry, irritated waitress, for not knowing what's on the menu at a brand new restaurant, and for not having time before a baseball game to have a full meal.
No, I wasn't altogether pleased with Noodlecat. The food was filling enough, though I would have preferred the Jimmy John's next door, for half the price and ten times the quality.
-Zack
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