Pink what?

[Update - This restaurant is now closed]

Berry?

Taco?

Molly Ringwald in "Pretty in Pink??

or TC's Pink Lemonade?



Nope to all of the above. Today we went to the fairly new Pink Noodle restaurant for lunch. Had the coupon, which, if you hadn't noticed, said "1 beverages" (not 2). Since this was Hillcrest, parking was pretty craptastic. We were lucky to find a spot  a few blocks away on Robinson Street. No parking meter either, so yay.

Pink Noodle which replaced Kitima Thai, is located on University (between 4th and Brant St), and just a few steps away from the neighborhood sign.

Love the Jimmy Wong's Golden Dragon sign! You can also see the Hillcrest sign in the distance.

Their lunch specials sign...

It's right across the street from Column One, a fountain store which is next to Babette Schwatz (a funky little gift shop). I know I'm dating myself, but a long time ago, like in the late 80's and early 90's, Ralph's Hair Place used to be on this same block. They used to charge $10 for a haircut. They had a "Union Jack" as part of their logo. There was also a Ralph's Hair Place in downtown Chula Vista where N, Astroboi and I used to get our hair cut. Wait I minute, I just checked on yelp and their address is right next door but I don't recall seeing it so they've probably gone out of business (hmmm, the last entry was dated October 2011). Sign o' these depressing times, eh.

Specials board:

The tables and walls were handpainted with flowers and other simple designs. There were also quartets of box framed "art" and I say art in a loose sense because it consisted of hearts and flowers, lace, gems, and other frou frou scapbooky type things you can get at Michael's or Joann's craft stores. It kind of looked like they went wild with trying to look twee and cute. The decor was not what I expected at a Thai place. They did have some Thai decor scattered randomly and towards the back (near the bathroom), there were more Thai decorations. But enough of the decor. Was the food good or not is what I wanted to know.

Their menu:

We all ordered noodle dishes...

Some of the framed stuff (looks like these could be greeting cards)...

Our dishes all looked the same since they were topped with the same garnishes - carrots, bean sprouts, green onions, peanuts, and cilanto. Bert had the Drunken Noodles with Chicken ($7.95), TC had her favorite, the Pad Thai with Chicken ($7.95), and I had their signature dish, the Pink Lady Noodles (also $7.95, but it ended up being free with the coupon). The portions of all of our dishes was just right. Not too much and not miniscule either. Bert also enjoyed his noodles by kicking it up with some of the sauces the provided.

The pink tinted noodles (courtesy of beet juice) had a delicious and fragant coconut broth. I had to ask for a spoon because I wanted to taste the broth properly. It's kind of hard to do that with a fork or chopsticks, ya' know? While the noodles may have looked pretty, they didn't excite me as much as TC's chewy rice noodles in her pad thai. These were the slippery ricy noodles and the texture was just blah to me. But noodles aside, I liked the dish with the sauce and fresh vegetables and cilantro.

A trio of sauces: chili garlic, chili oil, and fish sauce.

One last look at the pink noodles...can you see them?

There is no official website for Pink Noodle, so here are some local reviews:
yelp
SD City Beat

Up next...dessert down the street.