Tasty Noodle House, a Southern California Chain Specializing in Shanghai Cuisine

[Sundae in the Park]

My relatives picked the Cerritos location for my kiddo's 1-month party back in the day and it didn't disappoint. Despite being an ordinary, strip-mall space (with a crazy busy parking lot), the friendly and efficient staff make it homey and we keep going back whenever we're in town (hmmm, 4 times now? Maybe 5). My picky aunt who found it for us is from Shanghai and this is her go-to place to eat when she doesn't feel like cooking. I don't think it's affiliated with the other Tasty Noodle House in the San Gabriel Valley, which serves Dalian food, but based on some Facebook sleuthing it is part of a southern California chain with other locations in Hacienda Heights, Walnut, Irvine, and Chino Hills.

The sheng jian bao are great! Puffy, with crunchy bottoms, but not overly greasy, they are cooked to order so they take some time and we always get them. Despite being at their best when they are fresh from the kitchen, they also keep well for later (if you're getting full and need to prioritize). The XLB are decent but not as good as the sheng jian bao (but we usually get both anyway, since there aren't any decent XLB where we live). The basil eggplant dish is reminiscent of Thai food and nicely stir-fried, though a little oily - you can get it with mock chicken or mushrooms and both are very good. We usually get the stir-fried rice cakes which are light but tasty with lots of chopped greens and pork. They have some unusual dishes that I haven't seen in other places that are worth trying - fish fried in a seaweed batter and stir-fried peppers (anaheims perhaps? They are wide, fat, green peppers without much heat or the dreaded green pepper taste) smothered in a meat (they use pork but can do beef, upon request) sauce. We've had a few other dishes but they don't stand out in my memory; we keep going back for the snacky food. Other noodles and soups look great but we haven't had much opportunity to branch out because we keep getting the same things!