Betty's Noodle House

Seth, my friend and co-worker turned me on to this place, right by the downtown Metro station. So it's only fitting we go to lunch and write it up. He lives downtown and was very happy when this place opened a few years ago. As he says himself: "I love soup!"

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For a smaller place, they have an impressive menu of soups, salads, noodle and rice bowls. There's only room for 20 diners or so inside, but they have some tables on the patio too.

When you walk in, go right to the back wall to see all the choices up close. Each dish has a picture and description along with if it's vegan, contains peanuts, etc. You can get tofu, chicken, pork, veggies, shrimp or beef in each one too. If you are like me and can't decide easily, you may be there awhile.

Check out the candy wall! More distractions. So many cool things from overseas here - Pocky, fruit gels, Hi-Chew and more. Good thing we were just focused on lunch. We ordered at the counter and then got some water from the self-service station. There were forks and napkins, but we used the chopsticks at the table. The food was done quickly and the chef brought it over.

First up was the Spicy Vegetable Dumplings ($6.50), which were surprisingly softer than what I expected. They looked like pot stickers, but weren't fried. These must have been boiled or steamed since they almost fell off my chopsticks. Inside was chopped cabbage, carrots, corn and scallions. Outside was a sticky, sweet and spicy ginger sauce. Very good!

Seth got the Coconut Curry Noodle Soup ($7.95) and it was huge. He had to take the second half home and it filled up a quart container (provided by the chef). There was a perfect amount of noodles to broth and he enjoyed every slurp. I have gotten that before and it's a flavorful experience of a curry kick and coconut sweetness.

I got the String Bean Noodle Bowl with tofu ($7.95) and everything was placed separate in the bowl. Why you do this? I prefer it mixed up and luckily, there was plenty of sauce to cover the noodles and sprouts. The beans and tofu were cooked well and the sprouts provided a nice crunch.

Betty's, not to be confused with the burger joint farther down the mall, is a good, quick lunch spot. There aren't many noodle shops in downtown, so it's good to know you can get your fix here. Next time, I will try the Pho and Pad Thai. Great variety, great eats!

Scores out of 10:
Food: 8
Service: n/a
Atmosphere: 6
Value for price: 7
Overall: 7