Little Village Noodle House

It was almost 9:00 pm and I still hadn't eaten dinner when the phone rang.  A couple of friends also hadn't eaten and asked if wanted to join them for dinner.  Well, at 9:00 pm who was I to refuse such an invitation, especially since there was nothing interesting to eat at home.  Since it was raining, I suggested that we go somewhere close to home.  For me, that meant Chinatown and Little Village Noodle House.

I've been to this place many times over that last few years.  It bills itself as having "simple and healthy" authentic Chinese cuisine.  Well, the food is simple, and is most often made without too much oil or MSG...so I guess that would qualify as healthy.

Tonight upon arriving, it wasn't too crowded.  Only a couple of the tables in the restaurant were occupied.

As we were seated and given our water and hot tea, we were also treated to some cucumber pickles.  These were a bit spicy and marinated with lots of chilli.

I also found that the menu had changed since my last visit about 2 months ago, but many of my favorites were still still being offered.  We started with the pan fried beef with chili and garlic (US$8.25).

This is actually my favorite dish here!  The beef is pan fried with chili and garlic until crispy.  On the menu, this is labeled as a "spicy" dish, but to be honest, it's just not enough spice (heat) for me.  I wish they would add a bit more spice!  I'm happy to report that this dish, as always, is not oily at all.  They must use very little oil in the actual frying of the dish and that's what makes this dish so good!

We also order, the steamed basa fillet (US$12.95).

I was told that basa is catfish and we're served two really good sized fillets.  The sauce is mildly flavored and not at all salty.  The fish is topped with slivers of ginger and green onions.  This tastes very delicious over hot rice.  This is only the second time that I've eaten this dish here, and I'm wondering why I don't eat it more often.

The last dish we order is a new item on the menu.  It's called clams in lemon grass sauce (US$9.95).

First of all, the clams were very fresh.  This made the dish wonderful.  They were plump and the flavor of the sauce...well, I can't say enough good things about it.  There was some dou miao (snow pea shoots) stir-fried in the along with the lemongrass, wine and chilli...ahhhhhh!

Well, it was nice to have ended up here tonight to try some of the new menu offerings.  I'm looking forward to trying more...and soon!

Little Village Noodle House
1113 Smith Street
Telephone:  808.545.3008

Comments

[Min]

the steamed catfish does look very healthy and delicious!

[Reid]

Min,

The steamed fish is very nice. It has a wonderfully light flavor to it! I think I'm going to have to eat this more often! =)

[Renee]

Reid, the fish looks wonderful. I love steamed fish, but have not come across steamed cat fish before tho', as it is more usually served deep fried.
it looks wonderfully fresh and light... just wondering, was there any "muddy" taste at all from the catfish?
and oh, the beef looks absolutely scrummy! ; )

[Reid]

Renee,

There was none of that sort of flavor with this fish at all and it is actually very light in flavor.

The beef is actually very good as well, although, I wish they would use more chilli when cooking it for a bit more heat!

[umami]

I like the look of the clams. We call them la-la.

[Reid]

Umami,

The clams taste much, much better than they look!

[santos]

hey there

i went to little village after reading about it here--what a great place(and great site)! i can't thank you enough for recommending it.

i had to get the clams in lemongrass--not only was it swimming in lemongrass, chili, and ginger, but the whole stems of thai basil gave it a beautiful anise/licorice note. i also got the sizzling sea bass and the pecan spinach salad with shredded chicken. excellent! do you know what they put in the vinaigrette? i want to say lilikoi but my mum says mango.

anyway, thanks again, i'll definitely return next time i'm in honolulu!

[Reid]

Santos,

Thank you for the compliment and for visiting my site. Little Village is one of my favorite Chinese restaurants because the food is so good and they don't use MSG (if you tell them not to!).

I love the spinach pecan salad. It's wonderful isn't it. Actually, I was told that the base for the dressing was orange juice! I'm going to have to pressure the wait staff for more information the next time I'm there.

Generally the people there are quite friendly and helpful, especially if you've never been there before.

Hope you stop by again!

[Mr_Me]

My office is directly around the corner from Little Village, and I'm actually enjoying the Steamed Basa Fillet as I type this! (I'm working late to meet a client's deadline...thank heaven's Little Village is so close by and open so late!)

And yes, the Basa fillet is perfect. Incredibly moist, yet firm and not mushy and overcooked. Just lightly flavored enough to not overpower the fish.

The only downside to this place is that if you're phoning in a takeout order, 90% of the time, I've found it very difficult to understand the person taking the order. But they are indeed nice people, and even though the prices are a bit higher here than other Chinese joints, it's absolutely worth it.

Little Village quite simply rocks.

[Reid]

Hi Mr_Me,

The last time I was at Little Village was a couple of months ago. I really should have taken some photos as they have remodelled the place.

The food is still good even though the prices went up a little. *sigh*

[Becky]

It turns out that Basa is raised in the dirty Mekong River in Vietnam. The Mekong Delta is known as "The Toilet Bowl of Asia." Many Basa are raised in cages under houseboats on the river and are fed human waste, feces, and even chicken excrement among other things. Basa is not a safe choice to be eating. Fertilizer, pesticide, and insecticides run off into the river and this catfish does not have anywhere near the same quality control as US Farm-Raised Catfish, which is truly a safe choice. The website CatfishRestaurants.com has a lot of information regarding the dangers of eating Basa fish. These fish have been marketed deceptively using at least 30 different names. I wouldn't feed this to my worst enemy!

[Mr_Me]

I finally found a clunker on Little Village's menu tonight...

Just a tip for those trying to navigate LV's tempting menu, DON'T order the "Stuffed Tofu with Shrimp". It is a very disappointing (and expensive) dish of uncooked cubes of tofu with a tiny bit of flavorless shrimp mush stuck on the top of them. Virtually no flavor at all in this dish.

They can't all be winners, I guess...But I'm still addicted to that steamed Basa fillet and Honey Walnut Shrimp, though!

[carlee]

So its my first time eating at Little Village Restaurant today, i was disatissfied. I had the steamed basa fillet, there was hardly enough food for me to eat. You can easily eat at other chinese restaurants and they give u more food and cheaper price. Also the pple were rude there they didnt even say thank to me when i paid. i do not recommend this place unless u want to spend a lot of money and get enough food.

[Dorsal]

My wife and I have eaten here several times, and it just mystifies us that people find the food so good. I know that Honolulu has a limited number of quality Chinese restaurants, or many restaurants from diverse Chinese cuisines--but this isn't even close to some of the better ones. The food is eerily similar to the owner's previous restos, but LV seems to have caught on because happy haoles (who comprise the vast majority of diners) find the room pleasant, the food safe, and a wait staff that doesn't throw the plates. One recent Sunday night, it looked as though a Rabbi and his congregants were in the large private room, a bunch of waspy grad students in another, while the main room was packed with military, tourists, and retirees, with nary a Chinese in sight. Given the mediocrity of the food (and this is charitable) it certainly makes sense. I can only chalk its success up to the owner's brilliant marketing, the diners' ill-informed taste, and delusional group-think.

[lorism]

We just returned from Little Village Noodle House and urge groups with three or five people NOT to visit without a reservation. Groups with the same number holding a reservation should also be warned.

Our family of six -- included a highchair, but since the restaurant does not take it into account, our reservation was for a group of five -- waited more than 1-1/2 hours after being told of a 20 minute wait. We regularly checked our status and were repeatedly told that we were next. There were a lot of people waiting and everyone was comparing waiting times. Most did not have a reservation.

After 1-1/2 hours, we demanded a more specific time when we would be seated since everyone who arrived after us, many times over, had been seated. It was during this discussion that we discovered Little Village Noodle House has an unspoken policy that regardless of your place in line or how long your group has been waiting, the restaurant will always max out its tables. The restaurant has tables that seat 2, 4, 6 and 10 people. There are only two tables where they will seat 5 people. As long as groups of 6 or more arrive, we would continue to be skipped over in order for the restaurant to fill every seat at the table. The restaurant gave no apology - just a matter of fact statement that this was its policy and yes, we could end up waiting indefinitely if the two tables where they allow our size group decided to stay all night. When asked, the restaurant said they had no intention of disclosing this policy.

Little Village Noodle House is a busy restaurant. Be warned about its seating practices. The same thing could happen with groups of three who would be skipped over indefinitely when groups of four continue to arrive.

Like us, you could still be waiting to be seated.

[Jean]

The food was good but this is not the restaurant to go to for a leisurely dinner. They are busy and want you in and out. Surprising even for a Chinese restaurant, they will ask you to leave if you take too long!

[Jennifer]

HI, I was just there for Lunch, and if you want to visit there, make sure you tip them good, i was in shock when the waiter tell me i did not give him enough tip. my mind was blank for a while, because i didn't know you can acutally ask customer for more tips. My check came out to be $93.30 and it's during lunch time, i was thinking. lunch time, tips should be 10% for we gave 9.00 tips or more, lose changes.... my waiter acutally came up to me and say we should give him 6 more dollars tip, because he expect to have 15% tip. WOW, i was so shock, so i gave him 6 dollars more, on the way home, it makes me really upset, because i do really wonder if he was right now.