- Restaurants |
- Nightlife |
- Shopping |
- Movies |
- All
Issei Noodle
Rating Details »
- Hours:
Mon-Sat. 11:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m.
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Price Range:
-
$
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Good for:
- Lunch
- Alcohol:
- None
11 reviews for Issei Noodle
My husband and I just LOVE this place! We first tried Issei in the spring of 2009 and have been hooked ever since!
I'm a vegetarian and I really love the fact that my husband (who eats meat) orders a vegetarian dish when we eat at Issei. He says that the noodles and sauces are so good he doesn't even need meat.
I've tried many of the dishes but my favorite is the Yaki Udon. The noodles are great and the sauce is so good I am always tempted to lick my plate! I was at Issei for lunch yesterday and a friend of mine ordered the Thai cream tea. It was a scary rust color but tasted great! We all agreed it tasted like Christmas.
Try take-out if you're in the mood to eat at home.
Be sure to check their hours. I believe they're closed on Sunday and Monday as well as in the afternoons. This is typical of a small, family run restaurant.
I think the prices are reasonable. My husband and I usually eat for less than $25. It seems that most of the dishes are $9 and under.
Went on a Saturday night after learning about a noodle place in Carlisle. You can't beat a nice hot bowl of noodles, especially with the autumn weather approaching. Living in Chambersburg, there is nothing remotely this interesting available there, and thankfully it was worth the trip.
I had the spicy tan-tan (a popular Yelp choice I see) and it was delicious. The broth had a Thai, sesame red curry flavor and had both sliced pork and spicy ground pork. A nice combination with the homemade ramen noodles.
One cool thing was a variety of sauces and seasonings at the table. Besides your typical soy sauce, there was also some sweet hoisin sauce, a garlic chile paste in a bowl, some dry chile seasonings, and Sriracha... my personal favorite. Of course the tan-tan didn't really need any spicing up.
My companions mostly tried various Pho soups, which looked and smelled wonderful. These featured vermicelli noodles. Another friend of mine got a red curry dinner special with chicken and udon noodles, which he ate before I even had a chance to ask to try some.
Dinner was shockingly inexpensive; I realize it's just soup, but our party of five was filled up for about $50. That's way cheaper than any chain restaurant, except you won't feel so bad about it afterward.
One downside; they had bubble teas that I wanted to try... a little on the pricey side, but they came in some unique flavors. The black tapioca beads were listed as optional. They only had two flavors available and one was sweet potato... so of course I asked for that. The waitress returned to tell me they were out of tapioca beads and then I just couldn't justify it. Maybe next time.
Overall, it's a great little place in Carlisle, with great decor and atmosphere; although they regrettably do not serve or permit BYOB, I would recommend heading to Cafe Bruges right around the corner for dessert and a nice, strong Belgian beer.
My mother is friends with the guy who owns this place and the place next door. Issei Noodle is great! I get number 11 every time!
One of Carlisle's (ONLY) precious gems - Chicken Pho very good, love the fresh spring rolls with plum sauce. Prices are ok, great stop before a show at the Carlisle Theater. Nice family business, kids = employees, love that! Give it a try
As has been said the decor is nice, prices are slightly high for noodles, and service is lightning fast... The food however is delicious. A gem for Carlisle.
There's nothing like ramen when it's raining.
We lunched at Issei Noodle one lazy Saturday. It wasn't crowded (was after 1 PM) so we sat at the front window. There's lots of space and I believe they have a private room for big parties. It's well-decorated, very zen.[1]
The cook was working hardcore and got our dishes to us before we ordered them. I asked for the spicy tan-tan ramen ($7; #8 on the menu), with spicy sauteed ground pork and a sesame base broth. It was a good serving, soothing yet tangy, with a kick. The meat was tender, and the bambooshoot was a nice touch. Didn't even need to use the hoisin sauce - one of the many seasonings on the table - to sweeten it![2] Everyone else enjoyed their Vietnamese-styled dishes.
We never felt rushed, and paid at the counter when we were ready. Our server was on-point and even split our check for us - how's that for service? Can't wait to return to Issei Noodle!
[1] I'm thrilled that they offer plastic washable chopsticks instead of wooden ones, which can potentially harbor disease, not to mention splinters - way to think green.
[2] Speaking of sweets, Issei is connected to Casa Mani, so get some gelato for dessert!
As far as I'm concerned this is the only place in the entire Harrisburg metro area that has any right calling itself a noodle place. It's menu is not quite large enough to compete with the big cities, but it certainly puts that other noodle place (not to mention names but the one on Carlisle Pike in Camp Hill where the Long John Silver's used to be) to shame.
The decor gets 5+ stars. Absolutely lovely and spotless.
The service gets 4++ stars. Very, very fast (perhaps too fast as our entrees came out while we were not halfway through our appetizers).
Prices get a 2+. Higher than similar dishes at other places. But they're probably still paying on the artistic stone work on the front counter. Still, you're primarily getting starch and water . . . the prices are a little too steep. The kids meals were $5.00 for what is essentially chicken noodle soup (broth, noodles, and a few slivers of chicken) and a half cup of soda. If you take kids, skip the kid menu and just order off the regular menu.
Food gets 4 stars. I was very impressed. Everything tasted as it was supposed to - no dumbing down for the American palate. In fact, they do not allow any substitutions because they stand behind and defend their recipes.
Location gets 3 stars. I hate street parking.
Menu selection gets 3+ stars. They have a limited menu - but I can't complain if ever dish is as good as the ones we had this past Saturday.
Calculation skills get 1 star. We were overcharged by about $2.00. When my husband (who had already paid the bill) returned to the table, I asked the total so that I could leave the tip. The amount he quoted didn't make any sense. However, we ran into two friends at the restaurant (one of whom grew up in the same Okinawa area as the woman working there) and I didn't want to make a scene. I asked the server for a copy of the receipt (which she couldn't give me because she couldn't produce it out of the register) but I did view the slip. There wasn't a single price on the slip that matched the price in the menu. So, caveat emptor!!!
We originally stopped at that corner to eat at Blondie's for salads and she crab soup. However, they weren't open. We then offered the kids ot dogs at the Hamilton or chicken noodle soup at the noodle shop. They jumped at the idea of noodle soup. I wish the kids were more impressed with their soup because after a few bites of his, my almost 3-year-old said, "mommy, next time we come here I want hot dogs". Oops.
That being said, we are so glad that we stopped in. It was a lovely place and a lovely meal. For the four of us, two adults and two toddlers the total was about $33.00 (that was for one appetizer, two regular entrees, and two kid meals). Of course, I still think we were overcharged. With a $5.00 tip the total was $38.00. I'm used to getting out of a good Vietnamese place with similar food for under $30.00.
Final verdict? I'll eat there again. I won't take the kids (or I'll not order kid meals).
My wife would give it 5 stars, I give it 4. If you love noodles then this is great. I had the number 13, wish I could remember the name, it was outstanding. Nice and spicy, pork over noodle and salad with a fish sauce. Folks let me tell you "fish sauce" is great. There is nothing fishy about it.
Service was alittle quick. Atmosphere is great. Wonderfully decorated and very friendly people. Great for lunch. I left hungry. Fortunately they have a great cafe attached for desert!
Love this place, it's brand new in downtown Carlisle. They serve a mixture of Japanese, Vietnamese and Thai food, and they make their own noodles! The place is really, really nice inside. The service was just okay but the pho I had was excellent. Def. worth trying if ever you are in Carlisle.
Love that the awesomely cute owners of Casa Mani next door have opened up a noodle shop! The restaurant's decor is amazing (unlike fellow Asian restaurant Mt. Fuji - sorry, but vom decorations!) I had some sort of noodley ramen dish. It was definitely yummy but (snob alert) nothing compared to what I actually had in Japan. I am a huge fan of so-called "ramen eggs" which can be so deliciously cooked to perfection. Issei Noodle's attempt was less than stellar. But other than that, we thoroughly enjoyed our meal!
Issies Noodles is next to Mani's Coffee shop and has same owners. Noodles and Pho are served hot and good. No bar, no BYOB which is disappointing and costing them business, perhaps they will figure this out. The thai ice tea is delicious.
No reservations, no website.
