Yu Noodles, a fast-growing chain named one of the Washington, D.C. area’s top casual restaurants, is continuing its rapid expansion with a new location in Columbia just months after launching a branch in Baltimore.

The restaurant had its soft opening Saturday at 6478 Dobbin Center Way. Part of a growing roster of new dining options in Howard County, the storefront sits in a shopping center that includes a Roggenart and First Watch breakfast eatery that was previously home to Pei Wei Asian Kitchen.

It’s the second Baltimore-area location for Yu Noodles to open recently; another branch on York Road, just south of the county line, arrived less than a year ago.

The restaurant is known for its soup dumplings as well as its Chongqing noodles, which sit in a spicy broth garnished with peanuts and bok choy. The menu also features an assortment of brothless “dry” noodle options, as well as dim sum specialties like steamed pork dumplings and sesame balls filled with red bean paste.

Owners Andy Qiu and Tony Cai started the chain in 2018 to showcase the street foods of Chongqing, China, a city abbreviated as “Yu.” The Washington Post ranked Yu Noodles No. 2 on its 2022 list of the best local casual eateries.

In a review months earlier, critic Tim Carman praised the diversity of the restaurant’s menu, including “the barnyard funk of the flounder with sour pickled cabbage, the five-spice undercurrent of the hot and sour foon, and the supreme sesame-seed nuttiness of the Yu village cool noodles, a dish served exquisitely cold.”

During a visit to the new Howard County location this week, I appreciated the calm and modern design of the dining room and luxurious touches like a full carafe of water infused with cucumber slices.

A side cucumber salad topped with chopped peanuts helped me cool down from the signature spicy Chongqing noodles. The noodles, generously portioned and topped with herbs, peanuts and a fried egg, offered a good value at just $9. The soup dumplings, served in a bamboo steamer with a side of chopped ginger, were well-seasoned and meaty — though I was glad there was no one else to notice when soup squirted across the room during one bite.