[01/22/2020: Just Noodles has closed permanently. Ownership could not be reached for comment.]
Just Noodles is a new Chinese noodle restaurant located at 2545 E. Speedway Blvd. Ste. 115. While there’s distinct signage and a front door, the space is shared with the longstanding Middle Eastern restaurant Alibaba.
Opened by Xin “Niki” Xu with the help of some of her Tucson family in early December 2019, Xu was born and raised in the Shandong province of China. Just Noodles is one of a handful of Chinese noodle restaurants to open in Tucson in the past year.
“We like to eat noodles,” said Xu. “It’s the primary dish where we’re from and I really wanted to start my own business.”
The restaurant features traditional Chinese noodles from the northern region of China. Noodles are a common dish in the northern region — much like rice is to the southern region. With a growing number of different noodle dishes on the menu, including noodle soup, stir-fried, and dry noodles, Just Noodles covers the gamut of traditional northern Chinese noodle offerings.
While many of Tucson’s noodle shops offer a twist on traditional noodle recipes — along with the more traditional version — Just Noodles features an authentic, traditional version of popular northern Chinese dishes.
This noodle bowl features sirloin, Chinese greens, and wheat noodles in a beef broth with chili oil. Features a deep, rich broth with Sichuan peppers.
The handmade wonton soup features seaweed, green onion, and greens. More of a delicate broth.
This noodle bowl’s broth is a beautiful blend of chicken and mustard greens. Topped with Chinese greens and Chinese peanuts.
This dry noodle dish is more of the type of dish you might find in an American Chinese restaurant. Features stir fried beef, carrot, and Chinese greens.
Bold and flavorful broth with a pleasant acidic tang, this dish features rice noodles with tender beef shank, hard boiled egg, Chinese peanuts, pickled long bean, and chili oil.
A dry noodle dish with fermented black bean paste, ground beef, carrot, cucumber, and green onion.
While Just Noodles name inherently implies they offer nothing but noodles, they do serve a small variety of tasty “small dishes,” including Peanuts With Celery, Shredded Potato, Seaweed Salad, Cucumber Salad, House Special Beef, Pan Fried Dumplings, and Fried Chicken Nuggets.
Just Noodles is located at 2545 E. Speedway Blvd., Ste. 115 and open from daily from 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. For more information, including contact info and full menu, visit justnoodlestucson.com.