Kaydara Noodle Bar

Great food. They seem to have a problem venting the smoke. Tummy happy. Eyes burning.

Kaydara is one of my absolute favorite restaurants! Every time I go I am blown away by the amazing flavors. My current favorite is the wheat noodle bowl but my favorite could also be the sweat and sour chicken, the brussel sprout fried rice, or the the udon stir fry. Honestly you can’t go wrong with anything on this menu. Very highly recommended!!!

Had a bridal shower here for my daughter and it was beyond excellent on every level. The space is very upscale and cool. The service was top notch. Jennifer and her staff attended to every need and request. Truly a pleasure. The drinks were fantastic– our selected specialty drink was the Mojito. Perfect. But the food was what everyone loved and said they would come back for! The Brussels sprout rice is my favorite. We will be back often. We very simply loved everything about it. Thank you Kaydara for making this day so unique, wonderful, and fun!,

I love a great bowl of phở, unfortunately that is not what I got tonight. The portion size was great for the cost, but there was no green onion or cilantro and very little Thai basil. Where you would typically taste hints of star anise there was only nutmeg. In addition to being disappointed by the food the restaurant was filled with smoke from the open kitchen.

I was hard pressed to rate about average with Kaydara’s Noodle Bar. The staff is always nice and the place has a great location, but the food is expensive and hasn’t been worth the price to me. However, that’s before I had the mushroom udon noodles…
The phở here isn’t bad, but it isn’t the best. There is a hint of sweet cinnamon or something in the broth, but the overall flavor is intriguing for a second and then somewhat forgettable. But those udon noodles: pure perfection. Udon noodles served here and thick and have a hardier texture than say the rice noodles served traditionally with the phở. The dish is also topped with crunchy bean sprouts, just like the phở is.
The udon noodles options are for either beef, chicken, pork, tofu, mushroom or prawn (the mushroom and prawn are pricier; a small dish being $ 13.50 and a large being $ 16). I went with the mushroom because I’m a «fun guy» (joke from my high school years). The dish has an awesome spicy kick and I would recommend it to anyone wishing to break up their regular lunch time blandness.
If the udon noodles are you choice at Kaydara’s, a fine choice that would be. All that’s left for Kaydara that is in order is either for the prices of the food to come down a smidge OR for the restaurant to add a back room to host Russian roulette parties or cock fighting competitions, as Hollywood would have us believe predominantly happens anywhere you go in the ‘Nam.

Thee BEST Thai Noodle Bar in Buffalo!!! I am obsessed with the Udon Noodles and I always order them with some «spice» to it. Delicious. I promise it won’t disappoint. If you’re in the area make it a point to check it out.

The food is absolutely delicious. I ordered the wheat noodles and my boyfriend ordered the ramen. The wheat noodles were recommended by our server. It was his favorite and I’m so glad he suggested it. It was udon noodles in a somewhat spicy chili soup with beef that has been simmering in the soup for 72hours. It was so soft and tender. Writing this has got me craving for it right now! The server also seemed quite knowledgeable with the food and the ingredients in it. With winter coming, I’m sure we will be back!

Kaydara is an interesting place. It’s not exactly a dive but it has all the good quirky qualities I love in a dive. It’s not exactly posh (you can see them cook the food) but it has a certain upscale charm. I first went here for an anniversary dinner on a recommendation from my friend Gina. I asked her, is it a romantic place? She said, «I think it is … but we’re weird like that.»
The food is peasant food at its best. This is the cheap filling stuff that most of the world lives on given an upscale hipster twist (and a bump in price).
That is not to say the food is bad, In fact it is excellent. Light and full of flavor.
I went with the spicy phở, a beef broth with noodles and beef bits. The menu says its raw but that just means they throw raw meat in the broth and it cooks there. The beef is really a medium well. It was not overly spiced but it did open up my sinuses by the end. I tried to be daring and use the chopsticks … which just meant I ate all the noodles first. (Face palm)
I got a medium bowl which was huge. I can’t imagine the large… and I am not a petite man.
I also got dumplings. There were four to a serving. Chicken, Beef or a combination. Being adventurous I got both. The flavor was similar to what you get at any of the chinese-​ish places around town but the texture was far superior. Nice, light, not greasy at all and surprisingly filling. Usually when I see four of anything on a plate I think, I better order two. Not here. I left stuffed.
To drink I polished off what I thought was a complimentary bottle of cucumber water. Turns out it’s $ 2. I probably would’ve ordered it any way but … Lunch set me back $ 19 but I was full and happy.

Went there for lunch today and had the phở. Soup was pretty good, broth had a nice rich flavor. There was very little beef in the soup however and I don’t like that they don’t give you all the ingredients on the side like most phở restaurants. For phở I will keep going to 99 noodle on Bailey avenue, IMO they are the best around. I didn’t try any of the other menu items so I cannot comment on that.
The main reason for the low rating is the restaurant itself. The place was absolutely filthy, so much so I almost didn’t stay. The floor was sticky and littered with crumbs and dirt. The table top was sticky. The kitchen exhaust system is obviously not working correctly or at all. There was a haze of smoke filling the building which gave me and my friend both watery eyes not to mention smelling like a fryer when we got back to work. I don’t know if it’s the owner not caring or not being around enough to stay on top of staff but regardless that is one sure fire way for a business to turn what would be return customers into one time visitors. I hope they get these easy to correct issues taken care of.
Service was ok. Our server seemed kind of out of sorts but everything made it to our table as it should and she was nice. Maybe she was just a little flustered because from what I could tell she was the only one of the two doing any work.

Downtown Buffalo is lucky to have a Phở place with fresh perfectly seasoned asian cuisine. I have visited this place weekly for the last few months and their food is consistently delicious. I am hooked on their pork udon and will eventually branch out and try other things.

Wonderful meal at Kaydara. The flavors are enticing and appetizing! Thanks chefs! Chris provided great service. On street parking. Close to all the main attractions downtown.
Try one of the homemade beverages. My pear lime was exceptional!

Lunch with the girls here this afternoon was amazingly delicious. Kinda expensive for soup but I guess you get what you pay for. Waiter was awesome. Food came out quickly, all 5 of us were very happy:) Also not many restaurants I go to do I hear Depeche Mode, nice treat!

Amazing food!!! Would definitely go back — great service, music and best phở in Buffalo.

As others have commented the smoke on the dining room is a bit much and I’m usually not too annoyed by that sort of thing. But it was excessive.
Service was ok but our waiter did stop mid special list recital to go answer the phone. Granted he did pick up exactly where he left off so props for that.
As for the food we had the pork udon, pot stickers and steamed dumplings. The pork udon sauce was way too sweet and fairly boring with fairly generic vegetables i.e. chopped red and green bell peppers. It felt like something I could have made at home. The pot stickers were just mashed potatoes and maybe scallions? in a fried wrapper. Beyond boring they were actually bad. The steamed dumplings were actually good but still nothing to write home about. All of this I would be less of a problem if it weren’t so expensive there.
This place tries too hard without even having the basics right. Also, not even having read the reviews I sensed that the cucumber water wasn’t going to be free and went with tap. I could just tell that this place is over reaching to be way more cool than its is.
This is the second time in over a year I’ve been here and had more or less the same experience both times. I won’t go back.

I’ve been to Kaydara a few times — once for dinner with my wife and a few times for lunch. My wife still fondly remembers the vegan phở she had at Kaydara years back!
Most recently, just last week I had lunch there with a friend.
While the food was decent, the pricing structure left a bad taste in my mouth. Case in point: when I came in, I was asked «would you like some cucumber water?» Okay, sure. Just last week, I dined somewhere and they put a bottle of complimentary cucumber water on our table. It was nice :). I thought this was the same sort of thing, but when I received the bill later there was a charge for it. $ 2, not a huge deal at all. I did feel slightly cheated though because I wasn’t given a heads up.
I informed the waitress in the kindest tone I could muster at the end of the meal…“I think you guys should let customers know you’re going to charge them for the water when offering it,” and her response was «Really? You think we should?» to what I perceived to be an almost incredulous tone, followed by a kind: «Okay, I’ll let the owner know. I just do what I’m trained to do.» To me, and this is just me… it feels like a sleezy car sales tactic of sorts and «nickel and diming» that I just don’t appreciate. The environment for lunch was also a bit sterile and very smokey (from the open kitchen) as well as cold (it was a bit of a blistery day), kind of an odd combination. However, around dinner time the atmosphere and ambience takes on a rustic and more interesting form and the lighting is a bit better.
There were some other upcharges (like +$ 2 for pork) because my friend asked for pork and tofu in the Udon noodles. 1 app and 2 entrees was $ 45, which I thought for lunch was a bit pricey. if not for those small upcharges, it would have been a bit more palatable at $ 15−20/person. I know it’s kind of taboo to talk about pricing at times, but it’s important to me. That’s why I also don’t enjoy shopping at Teavana and try not to set foot in the store. They have similar «sales tactics» which I just can’t appreciate, but hey… I guess a business has to make money.
Now more on the food, we shared some gyoza dumplings and I had the special — their ramen for the day. The gyoza dumplings were very good. Juicy, tasty and pan fried just right and golden brown. The ramen was sweet. I haven’t experienced much sweet ramen before in my day, but I enjoyed the noodles in the soup and the boldness in making the ramen sweet, although the marinated egg I did not like. I like eggs in ramen to be a just a tad soft boiled, it takes a little extra time and care but it adds a nice flavor to the comforting bowl.
My friend had the Udon noodles which, as far as I know… she enjoyed quite a bit!
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More on my other dining experience here with my wife was when they first opened. We ate at the bar and she had the vegan phở, while I enjoyed the regular phở. The vegan phở she absolutely loved and raved about for days. If you’re a vegan, I would highly suggest you try it! I had a few sips and enjoyed it. I thought my phở was pretty decent at the time, but it’s been a few years so I can’t remember too much.
Overall, I’m personally a bit turned off from dining here based on the pricing tactics, but the food can be very good and the chef does a great job and the owner works very hard and is passionate, kind and interesting from my dealings with her. I wish them only the best!

This is my 2^nd review of this place after not eating there for about a year and I have to say — I’m not gonna be in a hurry to go back. Between the annoying blasting of the worst pop music (Katy Perry — really?), the near eye-​tearing air quality (you can actually see smoke haze in the air,) the ugly art on the walls, the dead plants, and one waitress during lunch time — why?
The food is good, but even though this restaurant is classed as «Asian fusion,» there’s an insistence to classic dish formulations. I heard the woman who runs this place (and lone waitress) tell people from 2 different dining parties that «my chefs are from Laos,» and to one guy who was a little surprised that his phở had beef in it he wasn’t expecting. Apparently because her «chefs are from Laos,» that means they don’t have to tell you ALL their phở has beef in it. I for one have eaten plenty of phở without any beef in it. This IS America in the 21^st century, after all. Do their chefs also cook with monsoon rainwater (like they do in Laos?) Any snake dishes on the menu?
Also, they can’t manage to shovel the little bit of snow that piles up in front of their entrance. That’s just lazy, and even though I know it’s difficult to keep a restaurant open and profitable, a little forethought and initiative could easily have a few food service interns in there at the very least just to help out.
And as I type this review I can still smell smoke from this place on my clothes, ugh.

I really love the atmosphere of this restaurant and the location is awesome downtown. I had the udon noodles and loved it! We got wok-​fried broccoli on the side as well which was delicious. I plan on coming back soon!

Kaydara, what is going on? When you opened you were exciting and full of promise, and I was so happy to be getting udon in my belly. Then things started heading south, I came last week hoping to fill up on some noodles, no such luck, the waitstaff seemed more interested in clearing a table, figuring out the cash register, and walking past us when the place was pretty dead instead of quickly giving us a seat and then taking care of tables while we read the menu. (I know that is coming off really whiny, but if people are standing at the door of a restaurant that has at most 4 tables seated, long enough to think of 2 or 3 new options and debating the merits of each, then they’re waiting too long).
Then last night, full of hope and really really really hungry for noodles, I came, I ate, and I was really unimpressed. Compared to how the food was when they first opened I can honestly say that it seems they’re taking a bunch of backwards steps and not really improving or keeping the consistency of their food. The udon I got was great, but the meat and the veggies that were stir fried in were greasy and super soft, not a lot of texture, and all the flavor seemed one note. I tried a bite of the kimichi and while it brought a nice bunch of spice, it didn’t seem to taste all that great, and nothing like other kimichi that I’ve had before (maybe it was the bean sprouts?).
I don’t know, I really want this place to succeed, it’s a great building, in an up and coming neighborhood, and the idea of a noodle bar sounds so great, but as time goes on it just seems like maybe Kaydara isn’t the right restaurant for this spot.

Come here at least a couple times a month, although usually do takeout, I have eaten here a couple times before. Love the food and usually try different things. Have yet to have a bad meal (which happens once in a while even with my favorite places).
The only two negatives I have are that it can get a little pricey, if you do more than just two noodle dinners, and the parking. Even for take out, there is a fire lane that you are not «supposed» to stand in when picking up food, but there’s not a lot of options, especially if Shea’s has an event that night. I wish they had Curbside pickup, so you don’t have to get out of your car and risk a ticket.
With that said… still awesome.

I REALLY make an effort to pack a healthy, well balanced lunch each day for work. Really. Yet, like everybody else, I often drop the ball and find myself searching for somewhat nutritious, convenient and decently priced lunch places downtown. Sadly, because of lack of options or lack of parking, I frequently end up driving to Wegmans on Amherst St. and hitting up their salad bar. Even though I am in love with the prepared foods section at Wegmans (another post for another time), I also feel better supporting small businesses when I eat out.
Enter Kaydara.
I have heard mixed things about this place for the past year. Some dislike the atmosphere, while others have complained about the high prices. After having a really tasty and enjoyable lunch here, I did not feel that either were an issue. The décor in the restaurant is minimal and has an industrious vibe, but I thought it was chic and urban rather than cold or unwelcoming. The service was also great. Our server immediately welcomed me. Once I took my seat, she recommended the sweet ginger tea. Since it was frigid outside, I decided to try some in an effort to warm up. Although the flavor might be too intense for some, I really enjoyed it! I’ve never had anything like it before. It’s only been a day and I am already dreaming about going back for more.
This was admittedly my first time eating at a noodle bar, so I am by no means an expert. Also, I’ve only had phở once before, so I do not know what truly separates the good from the mediocre with this type of cuisine. With that being said, my lunch was awesome. I ordered a small bowl of udon noodles with chicken. The bowl was packed with the thick wheat noodles, veggies, flavorful sauce and tender pieces of chicken. The small portion was more than enough for lunch and I left with a doggie bag. Honestly, I couldn’t wait to go home so I could tear into the leftovers! To me, this was worth the $ 10!
Extra points for Kaydara because our server did not judge me when I threw in the towel with chopsticks and requested a fork. :) Also, it’s worth mentioning that I was able to find a spot right on Main St. within a block of the restaurant without a problem. Just bring quarters for the meters during business hours!
Concluding thoughts: My lunch was actually so yummy that I have already recommended this place to a number of my coworkers. Hopefully they enjoy breaking the Wegmans streak and trying something new as much as I did.