Qin

I can’t stop going back for more of the biang biang noodles.

I read a quick review about this place on Seattle Met, and I had to check it out. I’ve been on a mad noodle craving for the past few months, trying to satiate my desire for Asian noodles. The hand-​made Biang Biang noodles were chewy but not tough, wide, but not too wide, and had just enough flavor that eaten plain would be delicious, but not compete when coupled with any of the many sauces or proteins.
Why only four stars you ask? Mostly because I wished the noodles had been tossed with the sauce instead of it being thrown in the bowl and the sauce just ladled on top. The noodles kind of stuck together, and eating them was a challenge with just chopsticks. It took extra care not to splash all over my white shirt. Also, I don’t recall prices on the menu, so it was kind of a surprise when I paid the tab. The bill came to about $ 11 which I was fine with paying, although it seemed a bit high for the area, especially with my favorite noodle place just 3 doors down which is a bit easier on my pocket book.

I ordered the Mao Pa soup with beef and it was delicious. Restaurant was clean. All the patrons appeared to be Chinese which is always a good sign. Owners don’t speak much English but they were hospitable. I’d come here again.

I like this place. Food is good. They are humble. A lot of people come to eat. And my son loves their food

There are plenty of Chinese restaurants in Seattle, but only one Xi’an restaurant which is called Qin. Xi’an is my hometown and I like Xi’an food very much. Therefore, I had high expectations about this place before I went there. Qin didn’t disappoint me: the food is really palatable and it has a taste of the hometown for me.
I like the Lamb Pao Mo Soup the most. I highly recommend this dish because it is not only special but also delicate. Lamb Pao Mo Soup is made by Chinese bread «Mo» — «Mo» is cut into small pieces and there are some noodles, lamb, green onions in it. The base soup is lamb soup. The soup tastes salty. The meat is fat but not greasy. The «Mo» is fluffy. It can make you feel warm if you eat it because it is hot soup. It is a wise choice to eat for cold weather. Try Lamb Pao Mo Soup when you get a chance! Yum!

Had the three combo biang biang and the stewed pork biang biang. Both were delicious and were filling. The noodles were perfect and they were quite generous with the toppings!
We noticed that a lot of people got the chicken big plate. It looked really good, but definitely try to have four people and plan on bringing home leftovers.
—-update — -
The one sad news is that the noodles are in a super oily broth. Well, the broth is 30% oil. However, the waitress told me after dinner that you can ask for less oily noodles, so maybe you can try that!

Been coming here for last couple years. Food is decent but they keep raising the price. It goes up every time I come in.

We ate here when it was called Biang but were unable to have the hand pulled noodles since the chef had pulled his shoulder out of socket — the irony. We did have the sandwich which we though was amazing. The dumplings were decent and the overall experience was fine — enough so that we’ll return and I’ll update the review then.

Oh my god, yes. We came here on a friend’s recommendation for lunch on Saturday, braving the torrential rain to drive up to Edmonds. Almost getting hit on the highway was totally worth it for these noodles. All three of us ordered the pork biang biang noodles, and all three of us licked our bowls as clean as we could get them. The noodles are fantastic – wide, and the right amount of chewy. The minced pork that tops them is the real star of the show, and adding a few dollops of chili oil (I enjoy fairly spicy food) resulted in absolute perfection.
Needless to say, I cannot wait to go back – and I definitely will be back sometime soon. A couple of tips: avoid wearing white if you aren’t a chopsticks maestro (these noodles will slip and slide like nobody’s business), and bring cash ($ 15 minimum on card)!

Love the flat wide noodles here! I tried the pork bun appetizer and thought it was too dry and oily. It could’ve been a bit more flavorful, so I’ll skip that next time, but I’m glad I tried it.
I really enjoyed their noodles though. I ordered the one with the three toppings: fried tomatoes/​eggs, zha jiang and some other pork ingredient. That was tasty! It’s not really a brothy soup but they added more sauce for me.
The restaurant interior is clean and nice. I saw other diners eating a huge platter of crawfish. No idea they had that there! Seems a bit random for a Chinese joint, but I guess people like it.

I think this place has the potential to be a new neighborhood favorite for me. I think their food is delicious (and definitely unique for this part of town) and the prices are right. I recommend either one of their «burgers» as well as anything with Biang Biang noodles (we had the cumin beef – yum, but eat around the peppers if you’re only moderately tolerant of spice)
The only thing I had an issue with is inattentive service. When I walked in no one directed me to a seat even though there were a couple waitresses making rounds. Our tea cups got filled pretty regularly, but our water cups were by large ignored. Overall, a solid fixture in the Edmonds asian food scene.

Two cray places for delicious inexpensive Chinese dining exist next to each other in Edmonds*- and if their shared walls give way it may trigger a black hole or cause a rip in the space & time continuum, swallowing the good people of Seattle into it only to leave us floating in space with the likes of Sandra Bullock and Matthew McConaughey, forever wondering what could’ve happened on that last play if we gave the ball to Beastmode… (SNAP OUT OF IT J). Eat here and bring your appetite, cuz the food here is just as tasty as the Unilocaler photos depict. Just be a bit patient with the wait staff tho, English is not their first language and Chinese is not mine, so one of my orders was mixed up, NoBiggie.
*ref:WontonNoodleHouse

I usually only rate restaurants that I absolutely adore. But I feel obligated to express my disappointment towards this place. I was born and raised in Xi’an, and ate my way around the city’s infamous Muslim quarter. I’d hate to have someone leave Qin and think this is what Xi’an food tastes like. Because it’s not. The food here can only fool those who’s never had Xi’an food or authentic Chinese food.
I took my mom here for a taste of home, after her friend told her about Qin. We ordered the cold noodles, both the pork and the cumin beef burgers, and the biang biang noodles with tomato and egg and black bean sauce. Classic Xi’an food.
We got the biang biang noodles first and rather quickly. I thought this was a little strange considering that we ordered the cold noodles, which is a cold dish. I couldn’t help but to wonder how long every component of this dish had been sitting under a heat lamp or on a plate warmer. Anyway, I can’t believe they charge $ 10 for this! There were like 3 tiny pieces of bok choy, not a whole lot of tomatoes and eggs, and a soup spoonful of tasteless black bean sauce. Sure the noodles were wide, but they were flat and doughy with mediocre texture. My mom kept commenting on how the noodles I cooked at home the night before tasted much better.
Then we got the cold noodles. After I took a first bite, my mom asked me what the yellow stringy pieces are in the dish. I said they are cucumbers. Why are they yellow? She added. Good question. Why are they yellow? God knows how long these old cucumbers have been sitting in there, all mixed in with other ingredients way before we made our order. The wheat gluten pieces were teeny and breadcrumb like. There weren’t any bean sprouts and the cold noodles I’ve had, no matter where, always had bean sprouts. The dish wasn’t garlicky enough, and all I could taste was some flavorless red pepper flakes.
Last but not least, the burgers. Are they only buying low grade leftover fat from their supplier? Because that’s all I found in between the buns. Greasy and heavy, and, again, with no flavor.
My mom, who is a very blunt person, asked the guy working there if he’s from Xi’an because their food isn’t very tasty and not authentic at all. I’m assuming he’s the owner because, for the most part, he just sat at one of the tables. The man asked my mom if we were actually from Xi’an and have tasted the food. He then proceeded to explain that they were not in the restaurant business before moving to the U.S., when my mom complained that their food is way inferior than the food at Xi’an Famous Food in New York. Okay… I understand that many people are doing what they do simply to make a living. But that shouldn’t be an excuse for you to knowingly do a crappy job. At least try harder to represent your hometown, alright?!
It’s funny because I just flew back in town from SF a few days ago and brought back some food from Terra Cotta Warriors, the Xi’an food restaurant in town. Their menu had more options, not just the same noodle dish listed in 20 different combos. Terra Cotta isn’t the most authentic Xi’an food restaurant that I’ve tried, but their pork and cumin lamb burgers tasted much better than Qin’s, even after 4 hours of traveling and then sitting in the fridge overnight. The best part: I paid less for a lot more food from Terra Cotta than Qin. This confuses me the most because food prices are definitely higher in SF. And how dare they charge so much for such horrible tasting non-​authentic food?
So please! I beg you to stay away from this place if you are looking to try authentic Xi’an food. The dishes served here are not what real Xi’an food tastes like. Wait and try Xi’an Famous Food in NYC, Shaanxi Gourmet in LA’s San Gabriel Valley, or even Terra Cotta in SF. Because I really couldn’t find any taste of home and childhood from Qin.

I got the two combination (Ja jiang & tomato and eggs) Biang Biang noodles for takeout. When I opened it up, a pool of grease on the top was the first thing I saw.
I was immediately disgusted by so much oil and poured it out. The noodles were stuck together and not at all easy to eat, and the sauces were way too salty. Jajiang sauce was not what I expected… it blended with the tomato and egg chunks, which were decent, but the oil and salt overpowered everything. There were pockets of more oil as as I dug in deeper to take apart the smushed noodles.
All in all, highly disappointing and a waste of moola

I really love Qin and its affinity for quick service, cheap and well-​made dishes, and flavorful, wide-​format noodles. Parking’s a snap and then it’s in to the intimate, low key restaurant with you! The décor isn’t much, but don’t let that fool you. The food here is AWESOME and reasonably priced and the menus are in both English and Chinese (and there are pictures, for all you image-​driven people out there).
I’ve tried a bunch of their dishes and would recommend the stewed pork biang biang noodles for a more meaty flavor (pork lovers, rejoice!). The pork is incredibly tender, juicy, and fatty… And the noodles are simultaneously soft and firm. The noodles taste as noodles should and not like that artificial crap you get out of a box. The noodles and pork can be enjoyed on their own or together. Each alone offers a distinct flavor.
I’d also recommend the stewed pork sandwich. The bread (if it can even be called that) has a pleasing balance of, not only hardness and softness, but dryness and moistness, that I can’t really describe. It must be experienced! Its flavor fades into the background and acts as a crunchier texture to the softer meat — and serves as a flavor and texture accompaniment for the pork, which is seasoned to perfection and also quite tender, never dry or stringy. Just writing this makes my mouth water!
To be honest with you, the hot oil seared biang biang noodles came so highly recommended, I had to try them, but I wasn’t terribly impressed with the dish. I felt that the noodles were overall too oily and overseasoned (aka salty, chili peppered, and oily), so I couldn’t taste the noodles at all (as my mouth was aflame) even though i desperately wanted to (I love noodles so much… I weep). All I could taste was oil and heat. To each his own, though. People I go with love this dish so don’t take my word for it. You should probably still try it since it’s one of their more popular ones.

We went on a weekday for lunch and we were the only ones there… That should’ve given me some indication but I decided to trust Unilocal and head inside anyway.
Salty. So salty. This place overuses the salt and everything is just so salty. They were out of the beef pulled noodles when we went so we ordered the three topping hand shaved noodles, garlic broccoli, and stewed pork bun. I’m sad to say that the stewed pork bun was the best thing out of the three and the only thing that wasn’t salted to death. The bun was perfectly crispy on the outside and soft and warm on the inside.
The garlic broccoli was the saltiest of the three and almost inedible… but I was too afraid to send it back. The three topping hand shaved noodles were okay at best. The meat topping was extremely salty while the minced celery topping barely had flavor. The noodles had a good texture and were surprisingly long.
On the plus side, we received pretty good service since we were the only ones in there. There were also cloves of garlic as a condiment. I overheard the employees speaking Mandarin so I think they are authentic… but they oversalted everything and that made me disappointed. I’m not sure if (1) that’s actually how the dish is supposed to be flavored, (2) they were having an off day, or (3) they adapted the recipes to suit the Seattle population, but I was not a fan of their heavy use of salt.

We had the beef noodle soup, the spicy and tangy soup, the cumin beef bun, and lamb dumplings. The beef noodle soup was okay. The noodles itself was a nice texture. Broth was simple and flavorful. The spicy and tangy noodle soup was a rip off. It was literally filled with vermicelli noodles and just spicy broth that taste like peanut oil. There was probably about a teaspoon of meat on top. It was not tangy. Dumplings were very gamey. Not really my cup of tea.
Maybe I don’t know how to appreciate this kind of Chinese cuisine, but it felt way too over priced. They could be more generous with the meat or add more spices in the dumplings. Their stinginess was a sacrifice in flavor. Food was not balanced and had no passion.

I first heard about this place from my friend who has done missions in Asia. She mentioned «hand shaven noodles» and I responded «yes please!» Anyways, I finally made my way up north and though the menu is not extensive, there were still many items that looked interesting.
I got a kick out of the name «spicy tingly soup» — so of course, we had to order that. We also tried the lamb dumplings, the cumin beef sandwich, and biang biang noodles seared in hot oil (I added pork to it!). Everything was good, but the hand shaven noodles (biang biang) were by far my favorite — they did tend to clump together, but still tasted amazing.
All the items ordered were large and filling — the two of us can normally eat 3 – 4 dishes, but we probably could have gotten by just ordering 2 items — but at least we got to try a lot of things!
PS: I found out that the «tingly» part of the soup is due to the intense spice level in the dish — a small amount of pepper = VERY spicy (like 5 – 6 stars)! I am also not sure what kind of noodles they used in this dish (thick glass noodles?), but they soaked up the broth as it sat and in turn, were very filling.
Service was decent — they seemed slightly disinterested, but they got the job done.

First time here due to the good Unilocal reviews. I feel this is a very specific type of Chinese food, which I can appreciate but still need to learn. Got the Biang Biang noodles, broccoli with garlic noodles, and pork Dumplings. Biang noodles are thick, but thin enough, handmade, and ribbon-​like. The chef brought it out to my table and as I proceeded in trying to stir it, he reached out and offered to stir it for me. He folded it, making sure the delicate noodles did not rip due to my confused stirring. Is it a black bean sauce. I liked it, but I have nothing to compare it to in my past, to say it’s how it’s supposed to taste. this is what I mean about understanding.
Broccoli is served cool with garlic sauce. When you chew it thoroughly and long enough, you can taste the subtleties.
Pork dumplings were not visually appealing but the inside is delicious and has a bit of soup in it! The dough is seemingly thick but perfectly cooked that you can’t hate it.
Again, I can appreciate this food but need to learn more about it :) definitely want to try other things in the future!

Traditional Xi An cuisine, great for cold weather. Haven’t really been to any other restaurants that specialize in this area besides Biang. And they do it pretty well. I wanted to try the hot seared oil noodles but I was sick when I went here, so went with the Lan Zhou Beef Noodle Soup instead. Also, they didn’t have hand pulled noodles that so wide noodles came in with the assist. Broth was decent in terms of taste, beef flavor was there, but we felt like it should have been searing hot, it was warm at best. I’m also a little partial to Taiwanese beef noodle soup.
For those who are unfamiliar, Xi An is a province located in the central northwest region of China. The flavors of this cuisine are noticeably different and reflect the cold climate. Get the spicy cumin beef «burger» or the stewed pork one, actually its called Rou Jia Mo in Chinese, meaning meat inside bread. You have to try it. Full of flavor. It’s in your face, spicy, seasoned, tender meat is a perfect compliment to the crispy exterior. It’s a specialty and you can’t really find it anywhere else.