Republic: Think Noodles

Think Noodles: Fresh, Fast and Affordable. Our innovative and stylish noodle emporium seats 150 in a crisp, graphic space. Come enjoy a bowl of noodles!

Republic is a trendy but affordable noodle shop at Union Square. The restaurant is bigger than you'd expect once you get inside, with cafeteria-style communal table-and-bench seating, but it is a cool atmosphere. The pictures on the walls were poster-sized black and white photos of people with noodles in interesting positions (like, noodles for hair).

I ordered the BBQ pork, which our server told me was a cold dish with vermicelli noodles, bean sprouts, scallions and cucumbers. The pork was kind of a thin slice of a pork chop sliced into strips. It was pretty good, but the cooler temperature made it a little odd to me. Plus the noodles were really short, I'd say 2-3 inches, which made eating them with the chopsticks a little difficult.

V tried the glass noodles, which came with chicken and cilantro and a ginger dipping sauce. The dish was hot and very flavorful (the bite or two I tried, I liked better than mine). I think that the temperature of a dish can really affect the flavor, and the contrast between V's noodles and mine really evidenced this.

We dined with B & B, who tried the tofu udon, and the pad thai. I didn't try their dishes, but heard good things! We also had a pitcher of the Asian sangria, a unique and well done twist on typical sangria - with white wine, pears and fuji apples. My only complaint was the service: slow and fairly inattentive, though we did get lots of water refills! I see more I'd like to try on the menu, and for a cheap dinner in Union Square, Republic does a good job.

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