Entry No. 43 — the Pittsburgh file — filed under: hand-pulled noodles
Everyday Noodles
The kitchen at 5875 Forbes is behind glass, at eye level with the dining room, and the restaurant's own pitch is that you watch a cook turn "a muscle of dough" into noodles while you wait for your food. Next to him someone pleats xiao long bao by hand, which is the slower and more hypnotic half of the show. Owner Mike Chen opened it after a meal in Toronto convinced him Pittsburgh was short on the real thing, then went to Taipei to recruit cooks; they rotate through on roughly six-month stints, working with the Taiwanese government, and each one arrives with different specialties. That means the menu's edges shift over a year even though the noodles and dumplings never move. It runs late for Squirrel Hill — 9:30 most nights, 10 on Friday and Saturday.
→ Three more weird eats & drinks in Pittsburgh — never the same twice
The story
The restaurant is organized around one window. At 5875 Forbes the kitchen sits behind plate glass at eye level with the dining room, and Everyday Noodles' own pitch is the chance to "watch the action behind a plate glass window as a cook transforms a muscle of dough into noodles during their meal." That is precisely what it looks like: a rope of dough stretched, folded back on itself, slapped against the bench and folded again, until one lump is a hank of strands going into boiling water. Next to him someone is pleating dumplings, the slower half of the show and the more hypnotic — noodle pulling comes in bursts, the pleating essentially never stops.
What makes it possible is a hiring pipeline rather than a stunt. Owner Mike Chen ate something on a trip to Toronto that convinced him Pittsburgh was short the real version, then made several trips to Taipei to cherry-pick cooks, working with the Taiwanese government to bring them over. They come three at a time and stay about six months, after which they go home and three new cooks with different skills replace them. The people behind the glass are on rotation, and so is whatever they happen to be best at.
You can read that off the edges of the menu rather than its middle. Every noodle soup asks you to pick thin or wide flour noodles or rice noodles, and the broths run from braised beef and beef tendon through oxtail and lamb consommé to Taiwanese dan tsu, $13 to $16. Soup dumplings arrive eight to a steamer at $14, or $16 with crab, and a shrimp-with-loofah version appears only on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. The core never moves; the periphery turns over with the cooks. It also runs later than most of Squirrel Hill — 9:30 on weeknights, 10 on Friday and Saturday.
What it's like
It is a walk-in room and it fills from the front, because the tables with a sightline to the glass are the ones everyone wants; a 7 to 8pm weekend arrival means standing inside the door for a while. Go around 6 on a weeknight and ask outright for a window-facing table. Service is brisk rather than leisurely — steamers land first, food comes fast, the room turns over. Order in two halves so you see both halves of the kitchen: one steamer of soup dumplings to share, one hand-pulled noodle bowl each, with the noodle width chosen deliberately. The dumplings are hot enough to hurt, so give them a minute in the spoon before biting. Watching is expected and nobody minds; leaning over other people's tables to watch is a different matter.
The move: Get there around 6 on a weeknight and ask for a table with a sightline to the glass — the noodle pulling is on and off all evening, the dumpling pleating is near-constant. Order one steamer of soup dumplings to share plus one hand-pulled noodle bowl each, so you get both halves of what the window is doing. Then walk it off down Forbes and around the corner onto Murray for dessert.
📍 Before you go Hours are Mon-Thu 11:30am-9:30pm, Fri-Sat 11:30am-10pm, Sun 11:30am-9pm; phone (412) 421-6668. Walk-in restaurant, and the window-facing tables are the ones everyone wants, so a 7-8pm weekend arrival means a wait. Takeout and delivery are on the website, but ordering out defeats the entire reason to come. Metered street parking on Forbes and Murray, plus the Squirrel Hill public lots off Forbes.
- 📍 Pittsburgh
- 💸 $
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: 5875 Forbes Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15217
Hours: Added 2026-08-26 — confirm current hours before you go.
Pair it with
- Amazing Books and Records — Directly across Forbes at 5858, and its Sabbath-shaped hours make it a Saturday-night move — it reopens an hour after sunset and runs to midnight, which is roughly when you'd be finishing dinner.
- Jerry's Records — Around the corner at 2136 Murray, a second-floor walkup holding about a million used records — the same more-than-anyone-can-file energy as the kitchen window, applied to vinyl.
- Lipstyck Lab — Up Murray at 2713½, a custom lip-color bar where you blend your own tube — a bookable, precise hour that sets off an unbookable noodle dinner nicely.
More weird in Pittsburgh
Good to know
Do I need a reservation?
No — it takes walk-ins only, which means the wait is the booking system and the window tables go first. Weeknights around 6pm are the softest arrival; Friday and Saturday between 7 and 8 are the hardest.
What does dinner actually cost?
Cold appetizers run $8–$12, steamed soups $11–$14, dumplings by the eight at $10–$16, noodle soups $13–$16, dry noodles around $11, desserts $5–$9. Two people sharing a steamer and taking a noodle bowl each land comfortably under $50 before drinks.
When is the noodle pulling actually happening?
On and off through the whole service rather than on a schedule — they pull as orders demand it. The dumpling pleating is close to continuous, so if you sit down between noodle batches there is still something to watch.
Is anything only available on certain days?
Yes. The shrimp-with-loofah soup dumplings are listed for Saturdays, Sundays and holidays only. Steamed vegetables are seasonal, and Chinese watercress is priced at market rather than fixed.
How do I get there and where do I park?
5875 Forbes Ave in Squirrel Hill; the phone is (412) 421-6668. Metered street parking runs along Forbes and Murray, with the Squirrel Hill public lots off Forbes as backup. Takeout and delivery exist through the website, but ordering out removes the entire point of the room.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Official site
last checked: 2026-08-26