Noodlecat's downtown Cleveland location closed Saturday, Aug 12. The restaurant is slated to re-open in a new space in Crocker Park this fall.
Diverse noodle dishes in a casual eat-and-go environment
234 Euclid Ave., Cleveland.
Noodlecat is the restaurant downtown has always lacked: a funky, fun and imaginative eatery. The Japanese-leaning menu answers the call by offering a variety of ramen-noodle specials that might feature barbecued ribs one day and Buffalo chicken skin another.
Pork and chicken broths, the base of most soups, also come chock-full of vegetables: typically seaweed, peas, chives, greens, carrots, corn or bean sprouts. Soft steam buns, a house specialty, arrive stuffed with your choice of sweet pickles, pork cutlet, pork belly, burger or smoked turkey.
The decor's loudly colorful and cartoonish images of Noodlecat and chef-owner Jonathon Sawyer will put a smile on your face. So will the Cartoon Network, usually broadcast on the bar's TVs. The kitchen, under Sawyer's direction, layers in the flavor of Noodlecat's pork broth with fresh and smoked bones from the same animals that supply the restaurant's pork. Deeply satisfying chicken broth is created from scratch, too. Prefer something vegetable-oriented? Ask about dessert.
Contact: 216-589-0007.
Online: noodlecat.com
Hours: 11 a.m.-9 p.m. every day.
Prices: Snacks, $5.99-$11.99; Salads, $5.99-$7.99; steam buns, $3.99 (four for $11.99); Noodles, $8.99-$11.99.
Reservations: Recommended on weekends.
Credit cards: All major.
Cuisine: Japanese noodle house.
Bar service: Full bar. Good selection of bottled and by-the-glass sake, and many craft beers and brewed teas.
Accessibility: Easy access to tables in front and main dining rooms, and to bathrooms.
Grade: * * *