Giving this place 1 fortune cookie. This may have been the worst Chinese food I've ever eaten. 'beef chow fun' had almost no beef, sesame chicken was heavily fried with thick, cold sweet sauce, and even the fortune cookie tasted old and stale. Nothing was good and I'll drive to oakland Chinatown next time around for real Chinese cuisine

I should have had the noodles.I had a lunch special. Chicken with green beans. Plus was they added spice for me, negatives were rubbery beans, lackluster sauce, bland soy sauce and really bad egg drop soup.The tea was good, the prices reasonable but I was not inspired. Meh.

Chicken noodle soup & sautéed Chinese broccoli. I crave this combo. Add sesame chicken and its golden. Also, for garlic lovers, the garlic noodles are amazing!

friendly neighborhood noodle restaurant. we had siulongbao, jajiang mein, and beef noodle soup. all were delicious and fresh. while we waited for our food, the award winning noodle pulling guy did some noodle pulling.

I wouldn't know, it was supposed to open at 11am, and by 11:30 it still wasn't open, no sign on the door, so my 80 year old in laws, husband and I walked somewhere else for lunch, rather than continue standing in the cold. We walked by much later and saw it was open, but who knows when that happened.

I've been to this place twice now and really want to love it, especially after reading all these raving reviews on yelp, but I can't help but feel that it's just ok. It's possible that I'm not ordering the right things but wouldn't an amazing restaurant blow you away no matter what you order from the menu anyway?The first time I came here I ordered XLB and garlic noodles. I ordered a ton of XLB as that's what I mainly wanted to eat. It was pretty good but not the best I've ever had- maybe relative to Oakland/Alameda area it is the best. The garlic noodles was also just ok, nothing compared to Thanh Long garlic noodles. I had heard their specialty was hand pulled noodles so asked for that for my garlic noodles and was told that I can only have the hand pulled ones for the soup dishes. ok...... i mean they're all noodles aren't they?The second time I ordered soup noodles, since that's apparently what I have to get in order to get some hand pulled noodles around here. I ordered the spicy beef stew. I honestly didn't notice anything spectacular about the hand pulled noodles and the broth was good enough.I really can't help but be disappointed here. The staff is so nice and it's a small little place. I would potentially come out here again if I'm craving their particular soup noodle but I wouldn't go out of my way. I would strongly recommend Shan Dong over this place.

Dear Ark:You know me and I know you. I love you dearly. Your juicy pork dumplings cause orgasmic explosions in my mouth and quite possibly elsewhere. Your hand pulled noodles are just that. Fresh and made to order. The braised egg tofu is so yummy - delicate yet infused with the best of flavors. The beef noodle soup is so soothing and satisfying. Mind you the spicy beef noodle soup gets quite salty. The fried spicy wings are sent from heaven. The garlic noodle - although no Crustaceans or Thanh Long, is very garlicy and tasty. On point. I'm in love and the older man may be in love with me. Hehe. I'm not tooting my own horn here. He's constantly pointing at me and mouthing unintellible comments to the Mister (non-Asian). I have yet to witness this though. Only told by the Mister. I try to go every other week. ARK, I dream of you in my sleep.

Hot sour soup sooooo good! You have to get the hand made noodles! Also the steamed dumplings are amazing. Good prices.

Beef noodle soup = yesXiao long bao = not badA small (medium? not large.) bowl is more than enough for me.

We were thwarted in our efforts to eat at Burma Superstar since they were closed for a staff party so the Rinky family and friends headed for the Ark which I remembered having top Yelp ratings!What a find--we loved our meal!..The 5 of us were warmly greeted by our server and seated at a roomy round table with a lazy susan. We were impressed by all the choices including an entire vegetarian section. They also feature hand pulled noodles which appear to be made to order. I am one of those people who are easily amused and was absolutely mesmerized by staring at the chef through the glass viewing window pounding, pulling, stretching those noodles into lovely long strands.Reminds of the days when I was a young college lass in love with those cute pizza tossers at Salerno on Shattuck in Berkeley. I guess in those long ago days it was more about those cute guys than the food....but I digress.We had a wonderful meal:Green Onion Pancake--one of the best we've ever had and we've had dozens!Crispy fried tofu with onions in a light sauce. So yummy---even the carnivoresLOVED this dish.Plain rice porridge--a humongous bowl--enough for aLL 5 of us.Hot, comforting and so delicious!Garlic Eggplant--another overly generous portion.Vegetable Chow Mein--a little greasy but the freshly made noodles were luscious.Kung Pow Chicken--another large sized portion. Thinly sliced chicken withonions, peppers and peanuts in a slightly spiced sauce. A hit among the omnivores.We might have had another dish but I can't remember..It was a wonderful meal we were all stuffed and still had leftovers!We were served a beautiful platter with carved oranges, applesand pineapples--all were sweet and fresh.Lots of families and regulars. Everyone was having a great time and enjoying theirfood.Total bill around $60 with tax and tip!We'll definitely return even when Burma Superstar is open!Yummmmm! Another thumbs up!Thanks Yelpers for recommending The Ark!

Ordered Beef stew Lo Mien, hand pulled noodle.Beef was like rubber!!! I made 3 attempts to bite and my teeth bounced off. The beef also had a lot of artery tubes.Noodles were bland. 2 flies hovered the table. Cross contamination in kitchen because I found an octopus tentacle in my dish.

The food here is pretty decent, but I don't know if it'd be four stars worth because I was kind of expecting more after all the raving reviews I've seen.I guess I would give it three stars- IMO a lot of the food is regular chinese restaurant quality, and slightly oily, but my boyfriend loves it, so we'll bump this review up to a four star review, because yay, we are fans.Parking is no fun, since it's street parking on park in alameda. On a busy night, there can be quite a wait because the restaurant is very small, maybe 8-10 tables for two and two larger tables in the center.We usually get the restaurant's favorites: ark braised tofu and garlic hand made noodles (we ask them to add beef to the noodles). The hand made noodles are exactly what they sound like...noodles dipped in oil and garlic. So I don't see what the great deal about it is, but my boyfriend digs it! I've tried their green onion pancakes, which are a tasty appetizer, but again, nothing too out of the ordinary.Overalll, this is a decent place to check out (I'll probably return to try different dishes) , but really, nothing too special!

I get takeout from here ALL the time--it's one of my favorite Chinese restaurants in the Bay Area. No MSG, just delicious food. Here's what's on my menu rotation:- Seafood beancurd soup- Chicken and broccoli (I ask them to make it spicy).- Tomato beef hand pulled noodles- Minced pork bean paste noodles- Chicken corn soup- Salt and pepper prawns- Xiao long baoTheir hand-pulled noodles are authentic and chewy. You gotta get them. The salt and pepper prawns have the most amazing batter too -- super crispy!

Great place for hand-pulled noodles! Whenever I come here, I usually get one of their noodle dishes and I've been able to try the beef stew noodle soup, beef noodle soup and bean paste pork noodles. My favorite is definitely the beef stew noodle soup! Mildly spicy, strong beef flavor, chewy noodles -- perfect for a cold, rainy day! (or any day, really). The beef noodle soup and bean paste pork noodles are both good as well but nothing too special. Flavored wonderfully, but nothing spectacular.Prices are pretty cheap and decent portions that will fill you up. This place is definitely a family-owned restaurant. It's small, simple and the more you come, the more you recognize the workers and owners (and their cute kids who are often at the restaurant!) Wait has never been too long for me, though it can get crowded because it's a small place. If you don't wanna wait, call in your order to-go! They get it ready within 15 minutes. Definitely worth a try! Make sure you get noodles!

I'm still a fan of this place but today, I decided to try something new: the baked pork chop and rice. I was so disappointed. It didn't look like the dish was baked at all and the tomato sauce, from what I gather, was just bottled ketchup with a few wedges of tomatoes. Stick with the noodle dishes, sauteed dishes and the fried chicken.I kept them at 4 stars because it didn't seem fair to knock off a star for not getting the baked pork chop dish right since there are other delicious items on their menu. However, I thought I should inform my fellow Yelpers of my recent finding.

Chinese cuisine on crack! haha jk, i only mean to say that everything tasted soooo goood!!What: house special chicken wings, beef stew clay pot, fried pumpkin, flavortastic garlic noodles, mu shu (insert meat choice), ugh so endless... The hand made noodles are amazing, each plate saucy and authentic, each strand so delicious! Yes, every strand deserves my attention and gets devoured evenly. Their house chicken wings remind me of the San Tung dried fried wings, so its really nice to not have to drive all the way to SF to get my crispy saucy chicken wings!Only downside is that this place can get crowded, but the servers do their best to get you in and out. They have 2 servers and they're fast and friendly. They actually have a very demanding environment so kudos to them! I never had to wait too long, maybe long, but not too long if you know what I mean. OK, so like never more than 25 min.Some of their dishes maybe typical chinese dishes. but they make it with care. Not to be over or under cooked. I think they take the extra time to make sure the dish is perfected rather than taking it out too soon.I actually dont want to give it 5 stars cuz then too many ppl will come and then I'll have to start waiting "too long"! haha

Not sure why this restaurant has such high reviews, or maybe my family went on a bad day. Here's what we had:1. Cumin Lamb - $10, Shredded lamb with cumin seeds, the lamb was overcooked or over-fried I believe, very hard, and there wasn't that much lamb, there was some fried vermicelli on the bottom.2. Ark Braised Egg Tofu - forgot the price, but it was the best thing out of the 4 dishes we tried. Although not the best for my standards, it should satisfy first time tofu munchers.3. Salt and Pepper Pork Chops - $10 I think, slices were thin, so a little overcooked on a few of them. Wasn't really salty as the meat didn't taste like it was marinated in salt water. Not very spicy either. For the price, I guess it's ok for Alameda.4. Beef Noodle Soup (L) $13, my family has been in America for about 13 years, never have we returned/asked for a exchange on a dish, this was the first one. To advertise Lan Zhou La Mian (Lan Zhou Pulled Noodles) and serving this piece of crap is an insult to a person's intelligence. Here's what was in the first bowl: THICK noodles, that were cut, noodles were of different color, THICK sliced beef, LOTS of bok choi, daikon(white carrot), green onions and some cilantro. Just after seeing the dish, we were disgusted by how unauthentic it was. After tasting it, it was even worse. Unless of course you haven't tried real authentic Lan Zhou La Mian.Here's an idea of what Lan Zhou La Mian with beef should be like:1. Thin Noodles that are freshly pulled and cooked, not placed aside and wait for customers. Also, they aren't supposed to be cut to make them shorter.2. Thinly sliced beef that are super tender, not something a person has to chew 10-15times and have to swallow it.3. Not FILLED with bok choi, one or 2 sure, not half the bowl.So we asked for a exchanged bowl, maybe they'll do better. On the second bowl, the only difference was the noodles were not cut and were of the same color. And the beef was more overcooked this time.Our hunch is that they used 2 separate pulled sections of noodles, maybe left overs from a previous order.We also asked how their Xiao Long Bao was made, they said they make it and then freeze it. So we didn't order it.The price was their Onion Pancake was $6.50, I don't know how they can justify that price.Service was slow because we went on a Sunday night, had to wait 15mins for seats too.And nope, definitely not coming back.And yes I realize I could be typing in paragraphs but I rather type as thoughts come into my mind.PS: Google Lan Zhou La Mian in chinese "" and compare the pictures to the ones they have on yelp. Then you'll know what I mean.

Best hand-pulled noodle but I hardly finished, got to share.Try the fried chicken wings in special sauce. The portion is huge and very tasty.

Heard that Ark had freshly made hand-pulled noodles so we decide to stop by for lunch and we each ordered a medium bowl of hand-pulled soup noodles. The noodle bowl come into two sizes: (M $6.99, L $12.99 )Beef noodle soup consists of braised beef, bok choy, diakon, green onions, and cilantro. Beef was mostly tender, but felt the broth was too light and clear. It should have had more of a beef flavor. I've had beef noodle soups that were far better than the one here at Ark. The plus is that it's hand-pulled noodles.Seafood noodle soup consists of mussels, shrimp and pieces of fish, bok choy, green onions and cilantro. The broth was light and clear, similar to the broth used for the beef noodle soup.The noodles had a nice slight chewiness and bounce to them, which differentiates them to regular noodles.Ambiance and service was of a typical Chinese restaurant.Will probably be back to tried stir-fried hand-pulled dishes and entrees.

More like 3.5 stars.I came here for lunch today with three other people. We ordered the XLB, garlic noodle, sesame chicken, and the first Ark soup on the menu (I can't remember the name because it was in Cantonese).First came the XLB. 8 pieces for $6.50. I don't have XLB that often, so I'm not an expert. My Chinese friend who LOVES XLB said that they were pretty good. They were a little on the small side.Next came the garlic noodle. I had asked if they could use the hand pulled noodle to make the garlic noodle but she said no. Not sure why. The waitress said that this was one of the most popular things on the menu. They look very plain, but they were good. $6.99. I would order them again.Then came the sesame chicken, which was served with a few pieces of steamed broccoli. Nothing to write home about, really, but I still enjoyed it.Last came a gigantic bowl of hand pulled noodle soup. Since none of us (even two Cantonese speakers) knew the word in the menu, we had to ask about it and the waitress said it was a spicy soup with mixed seafood and pork. The broth is a pretty bright orange red, but I didn't think it was spicy at all. You could tell that the noodles were hand pulled because of the inconsistencies in thickness. Some bites of the noodles were just okay to me. I thought to myself "those store bought garlic noodles have better consistency" a few times, but there were also a few bites that were a great balance of lightness and chewiness. I didn't care for the broth or the items in the soup, and I wouldn't order this again. My friends agreed. I don't know if it's because we didn't LOVE the soup, but we ended up with a TON of leftover soup. It filled up an entire to-go container.The total came out to $38 before tip, so the value is definitely influencing my rating. I also appreciated the noodle man putting on a show for us when he noticed us staring at him. Parking on Park is also difficult, but not impossible. Bring quarters to feed the meters. The place was completely full today at 12:30 until we left at 2.