United Noodles
Twin Cities, Minnesota
3.9 / 10 votes
The Twin Cities largest Asian grocery
Grocery/Bakery/Deli
United Noodles is the largest Asian grocery in the Twin Cities, and claims to be the largest in the Midwest. They have a lot of foods for vegetarians and vegans, including a freezer case devoted to vegetarian foods like mock meats and various types of tofu. They also have many, many other products that can appeal to vegetarians, including canned mock meat, vegetarian sauces (like "Za Jiang" noodle sauce), vegetarian buns, dumplings, etc.
The store carries primarily Chinese and Japanese foods, but they also have items from Southeast Asia, Korea and India.
Besides food, they also sell Asian kitchenware and a small selection of Asian magazines and newspapers.
Added by Dave Rolsky on Nov 17 03 (last updated Aug 6 09)
Mark this place closed (permanently).
Most Recent Reviews
brad*bradley
Sep 18 05
v.e.g.a.n.
May 14 05
I love this place, but I used to love it more before they added a deli and they started hanging dead animals in plain view. I am sensitive to sights such as these and would like to know ahead of time what I was about to be confronted with. The deli is in plain view when you walk through the front doors, so it's pretty much unavoidable.
I have started stock piling noodles in my closets and above my cupboards. I can't stop buying them. They are so cheap, and good. They have a huge selection of noodle soups there, they're super cheap. If you don't mind reading a ton of ingredient lists and eating a whole lot of MSG, this is the soup mecca. I buy everything I can find that's vegan, simply because it is so cheap and it's fun to experiment. Hell, if you don't like it, it only cost 30 cents anyway! They also sell great sauces, and have a large vegetarian frozen section, as well as a fair selection of canned mock duck and fried glutens. They have the best oranges in town, too. It does close fairly early though, and is really crowded on weekends, so I recommend going during the day on a weekday.
Neighborhood
SewardWheelchair Accessible
Payment
- Checks
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United Noodles is definitely one of the best Asian groceries in the Twin Cities. however, even though it is fairly large, they still seem to abide by the unwritten law governing Asian groceries (and co-ops, for that matter), which states that there is always at least one of your favorite items that they don't have, and that at least one other Asian grocery does have. for example, Shuang Hur on Nicollet has some fake meats that United Noodles doesn't carry. and vice versa. so if you enjoy and have time for an afternoon of leapfrogging around to 3 different places, this isn't really a big deal; but at times it'd be nice to have a complete, one-stop shop.
one of the things i especially like about United Noodles is that their selection of dishes and bowls is unique, elegant, cute, and seems to be of a higher quality than other stores. and, of course, like everything else, the dishes are very inexpensive.
another nice touch is that they provide green tea to drink as you shop! it's probably best to peruse those ceramic dishes before you get all caffeinated, though.