No, the chef just cannot run a kitchen. My first visit was at a slow time, and it took an inordinate amount of time for dishes to come out then, too.
The Gele Mountain Fried Chicken was actually better the 2nd time around, but between the filthy kitchen and poor service, I don’t know if I’ll be coming around for anything other than my fried chicken.
So sad. The saliva chicken used to be amazing.
I just ate at Best Noodle House again, and while the noodles are far superior there, I didn’t order the Mouth Water Chicken this time. Next time, though, I will.
Just had a nice meal here for lunch. The mouth water chicken tastes virtually the same as the first 6 or so times I had it prior at best noodle house before the chef left, no loss of quality imo, and they give it free if your party has 3 or more people.
The dan dan mian was similar, but balance seemed a bit off compared to best noodle house. There was way too much actual noodle, so it felt like a much heavier dish.
The hand pulled tomato egg noodle was alright, the sauce n tomatoes taste great, but there isn’t enough of it. So the noodles soak everything up pretty quickly n it dries out a little.
The dumpling with soup was something nice n light. It was for a person in the group that couldn’t eat spicy, n they seemed to enjoy it.
4 pics from chong qing special noodle followed by a 5th pic of dan dan mian from best noodle house last month for comparison
Btw service is extremely slow. The actual food comes out quickly, but taking orders, getting bowls, water, the check, etc, is pretty slow, and they don’t have enough staff to clean tables n seat people. Hope they figure it out soon
…and yours was cold?
I wouldn’t say out of fridge cold, but it wasn’t warm.
I was really craving some Dan Dan Noodles after a night of drinking, so I drove to SGV for some quality carbs. I was also craving Gele Mountain Fried Chicken, so I decided to give Chongqing Special Noodles another chance to see if they’ve worked-out their service and cleanliness issues.
Upon walking inside, I see 2 female servers who actually seem to be working (no sign of the owner’s son on hos phone), and the dining room is clean, with tables being bussed quickly enough.
It took a few minutes to place my order, but then I pulled out my stopwatch app to see if the interminable waiting would repeat itself. I have good news: it took just 6 minutes and 39 seconds for my Chongqing Dan Dan Noodle to arrive, and another 3.5 minutes for my Gele Mountain Fried Chicken to arrive.
Both taste just as good as I remembered, but I’m finally glad to see this restaurant has learned how to execute in the kitchen.
Is the food as good as when this chef worked out of Best Noodle House? Not quite with the noodles, but the chicken sure is! If I hadn’t experienced the combined talents of both places, I’d be tempted to issue 5 stars. As it is, we’re at 4.5 stars.
4.5/5 Stars - RECOMMENDED
this info is dated, but we tried the place in late june, did not experience a problem with the staff nor did we have sanitary issues. IIRC we did notice a difference from best noodle house, but not necessarily better or worse.
Had dinner here on Friday with a couple friends.
Seaweed Salad - not bad.
Cold Steamed Chicken with Hot Sauce - not as interesting as the one back at Best Noodle House, but still pretty good.
Boiled Fish Filets with Hot Sauce - really good.
Chonqing Dan Dan Noodles - excellent! The noodles could’ve used a bit more bite, but the flavors were spot-on.
Shrimp Fried Noodles - would normally not get a dish like this here, but one of my friends wanted a “safe” option 
A few of the shrimp tasted a bit fishy, but the noodles were surprisingly good, especially the “brown sauce”, which was much better than you’d usually get from a more run-of-the-mill American Chinese joint that “specializes” in these kinds of dishes.
Gele Mountain Style Fried Chicken - absolutely insane. The dish looks deceptively simple, but the seasoning on this chicken is like crack. Even after we were stuffed I couldn’t stop picking at what remained of this dish.
Not pictured are the Sichuan Style Dumplings - they were good but the dough-to-filling ratio was a little heavy on the dough. Still, the dough itself was not too dense, so they were still tasty.
Bang Bang:
We were going to get dessert at Here’s Looking at You, but they were closing early that day, so we ended up stopping at…
Bumsman Organic Milk Bar
(My friend’s) Lychee/Dragonfruit:
Not great. Flavors were pretty muddled. Very instagrammable, though.
Not pictured:
Matcha (mine): OK. Pretty standard matcha flavor. Wouldn’t go out of my way for it.
Milk (other friend’s): Decent, if unusual. Pretty strong lactic flavor, reminiscent of a heavy cream or something along those lines. Might be worth it if you’re into that sort of thing.
Just got here for my beloved Gele Mountain Style Fried Chicken, and also to try the Twice Cooked Pork. The owner’s son is back; he emerged from the kitchen and is now just sitting in a booth playing on his phone, as he seems wont to do 
UPDATED:
Okay, so service was actually good! Owner’s son did nothing except sit in the booth and play on his phone…but at least it didn’t seem like there was any expectation for him to be doing any work during this visit.
Gele Mountain Style Fried Chicken was amazing, as usual. The Twice-Cooked Pork was good! Not amazing, but still good. I want to try more of the menu, and that item was one I’d wanted to try back when the chef was at Best Noodle House, but never got to.
So glad to hear this place is now, er, cleaner-looking. Never had the mouth water chicken at the original place, so glad to hear it’s still pretty good at the new place. Thanks to all who went back so many times (since I personally would’ve probably given up). 
You guys were right. The chicken at the new place pales in comparison to the old flavor. They were giving it away for free after spending $25 or something like that and the chicken texture was okay but the sauce flavor was flat.
Waiting at chongqing special noodle now. What is/are the recommeneded noodles dishes?
I’ve never been but saw that J Gold wrote an article about this place recently
@js76wisco: thanks for posting. I had already ordered by that point, but I’ll def remember it’s there for future trips!
We had the gele mountain chicken, the spicy wontons, the dan dan noodles, and the saliva chicken. I looked on the menu for the youpo noodles and only saw it on the written on the wall AFTER I had ordered! Argh.
All were very good, but I think I found the food at the original location to be more of a revelation (but I also only went there once, so who knows if it’s just a faulty memory). Still, well worth a visit. The wontons in the spicy sauce were my favorite.
Did the gele mountain chicken always have that curious citrusy finish? On a related note, I think I need to do a better job when I order. We had 3 spicy dishes, which means my palate was a bit blown after eating the first dish (the saliva chicken). The herbal tea seemed a bit too sweet on its own but was nice was all the spicy and sour.
I’m not sure exactly what you’re referring to by “citrusy finish,” but what I have noticed is that CQSN seems to go a bit overboard with the Korr chicken seasoning packets in the batter, and the MSG levels are a bit too high for me. I’ve been going exclusively to Best Noodle House now that they’ve gotten things back on track (except on Tuesdays, unless I only want noodles).
Have you had the same dish at Northern Cafe? The last flavor I get b/f swallowing is a sharp and tangy flavor. Not sure how else to describe it, except as citrus. I get the same flavor from the gele mountain chicken at Chong Qing Special Noodles. Perhaps it’s the seasoning you’re referring to, b/c there’s something a bit “artificial” about the flavor.
If you think Best Noodle House is better, maybe I should hit it up…
Edit: argh!!! I should’ve read up on both places b/f making decision this past weekend. I found the spicing at Chong Qing Special Noodle to be a bit in-your-face, and the Gele chicken wasn’t quite as perfectly fried as I had remembered it. Well, next time. 
It’s the mixture of cilantro and vinegar. Cilantro generally has a citrus-y flavor to it, and couple that with the vinegar, you will get what some people find to be an artificial sour or tangy note.
