Capital Noodle Bar

With family history dating back to the 1981 opening of Kim Tar Noodle House in LA’s Chinatown district, Capital Noodle Bar is part of a small local chain of restaurants with locations in Brea, Costa Mesa, and Irvine, each seemingly distilled down from larger Capital Seafood restaurants that offer full-fledged dim sum and Chinese menus in Garden Grove and the Irvine Spectrum Center. Having passed by various Capital locations on multiple occasions without knowing their differences, we dropped into the Costa Mesa location to give it a shot, hoping for a Sunday dim sum lunch.

We found only a handful of dim sum choices at Capital Noodle Bar – none appealing – so instead wound up going in different Chinese- and Southeast Asian-inspired directions. Excellent items included lemongrass chicken skewers served with pickled vegetables, and tasty, super tender black pepper filet mignon cubes with lime-dipped salad and rice. There were also a few good plates: Singapore-style curried vermicelli noodles with plenty of large shrimp, thin-sliced garlic broccoli, and crispy shrimp rolls.