We’re out of order around here again, simply because I forgot to write about this one! For my dad’s birthday in the beginning of April, we took him to Red Moon Noodle House for lunch. I had another gift certificate from Utopia and I wanted to use it in conjunction with his birthday to treat him to a nice lunch out. My mom, dad, myself, Jake and T all drove over for lunch. Somehow we managed to find a spot in the tiny, tiny lot that Red Moon is in. The parking gods were smiling upon us that afternoon!
[ginger flavor fried chicken – $7.95]
This was one of my favorite from this revisit. The chicken had a light coating on it and was very nice and crispy. The only thing was I didn’t find it particularly gingery – more like a mild ginger flavor and I couldn’t tell if it was in the batter or on the chicken itself since it was light. In any case though, I still really enjoyed it because I liked the texture and crispiness from the dish.
[green beans – $7.95]
Now we ordered the green beans with chicken… but there was no chicken actually in this dish… so I’m guessing we got the braised green beans. Whatever they were though, they were delicious. They had a slight crunch to them and tons of garlic – always a plus in my book. There was also a mild, savory sauce on the green beans though I couldn’t tell you what was the flavor (I’m guessing that’s from the braising!). This was one of the favorite dishes from my parents and Jake!
[red moon beef – crispy beef sauteed with tangerine peel in chef’s special sauce – $8.95]
I ordered this one since I tend to like crispy beef… but this one was just way overcooked. The crispy beef was a little above and beyond crispy and almost had the consistency of beef jerky. It was very tough and chewy and not what I was expecting. The overall flavor was good… it was just way too overdone. We ate it all anyway.
[crispy garlic chicken – lightly fried white meat chicken with assorted veggies in a spicy garlic sauce – $8.95]
This was the only repeat from my last meal. Jake ordered this one for us and it again came out very impressively with the sideshow of adding the sauce at the table creating a steamy, sizzling dish. It was just as good as the last time I had it! I got to eat most of the mushrooms, too, since I’m the mushroom lover around these here parts.
[mandarin style meat sauce noodle – $7.25]
My dad and were thinking this would be like what we had at 101 Noodle Express, but it fell far short of our expectations. The noodles were okay though a bit overdone and the ground pork was just okay. It lacked flavor and seasoning. It was bland and just didn’t compare to the one we had up north. Even if we hadn’t had that one to compare it to, I still would have thought this dish was under seasoned. The noodles did not have that nice chew and instead just tasted a bit soggy with no bite to them.
The plates this time around seemed a lot smaller to me. I don’t know if that’s because we were feeding five this time or because of what we ordered but I felt like we barely ordered enough for everyone. Service was a little lacking that day, we were kind of overlooked since only one person was working when we got there. Service was a little slow for us and overall it was just okay. At least we had a decent meal overall.
I received a complimentary gift certificate from Utopia to use towards this birthday lunch for my dad. You can get a discounted gift certificate from Utopia to use for yourself or a friend to save on lunch or dinner at Red Moon Noodle House. They have a bunch of other local restaurants and services available for discounted gift certificates so you can try new places in and around San Diego (and Los Angeles). Check it out!
See my other post to read about my previous visit to Red Moon Noodle House.
Red Moon Noodle House
4646 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111
(858) 576-7466
Disclaimer: I received a complimentary gift certificate for $20 from Utopia to go towards this meal. I was not paid for this review and all opinions voiced here are my own.
