Xishang Roodle

Following the 2024 closure of Japanese chicken wing and izakaya chain FuRaiBo in Santa Ana, Xishang Roodle quickly took its place, offering a completely different menu focused on regional dishes from China – specifically the southwestern province of Yunnan. Xishang is one of the districts of Yunnan’s capital city, Kunming, and “roodle” refers to rice noodles, which have a co-starring role in several of the restaurant’s entrees. Using their smartphones to place orders, guests typically order a large, shareable bowl of hot soup with light chicken broth, tomato broth, or beef broth, then add cooked rice noodles, meats, and vegetables to the broth to finish cooking them before eating them from individual bowls. Also known as “Crossing the Bridge Rice Noodles,” the Roodle dishes range from $17 to $25 depending on ingredients.

To try one out, we ordered the Wagyu Beef Roodle ($25), which arrived with a “nine-grid board” containing tiny slices of beef, shrimp, fish, pork, vegetables, and herbs, as well as a large pot of pre-cooked rice noodles. While the chicken broth was pleasantly light rather than oily or fatty, and went well with most of the ingredients, it wasn’t a perfect match for the beef. Similarly, the soft, rounded rice noodles were enough for several people to share, but somewhat challenging to serve from the large soup bowl, making a small mess as we ate.

Thankfully, we really liked or loved everything else we ordered, with only one caveat. An “Old Fashion Noodle” dish (aka Old Kunming Braised Noodle) with sweet soy broth, gravy, vegetables, minced beef, mushrooms, and peanuts was slightly spiced and similar to classic Chinese dan dan noodles – enjoyable enough to finish every last bite in the large bowl. On flavors and value, we would sooner order this $16 dish again than go with one of the Roodle bowls, even though it’s less of a distinctive experience.