My family frequently dines at the Fairfax Yu Noodles ~2-5x a month ( this includes take out). The food is great, and we always try to tip 15-20% (rounding to a whole $).
What irks me though is that our card will be charged more than what we sign for. After being scammed a few years back, I'm hyper diligent about writing the total on my copy of the receipt and reconciling my receipts against my monthly statement. This doesn't happen every visit at Yu Noodles, but at least 3 times since August and from my records also twice in 2023. It hasn't happened when we take out, only dine in so far. For example, our total including tip for our last visit was $44.52 but my card got charged $46.52. It's always a couple bucks but it's so irritating out of principle and they're probably doing this to many customers.
Each time, I've reached out to Chase Bank and asked what type of organization or agency I could talk to about this and Chase Bank said there's nothing they do on their end with the business but that Chase Bank would credit the difference back. Basically enabling this fraudulent behavior from the restaurant to continue multiple years. I've also called Yu Noodles twice and asked to speak to a manager about the situation and both times they said the manager wasn't in that day and hung up on me.
I get that times are tough for everyone and we're doing our best to support this establishment but it feels unethical and illegal that they're charging more than patrons are consenting to. Is there anything I can do to report this fraudulent activity? I heard the BBB doesn't do much to investigate cases but it seems like this restaurant is due for an audit to figure out if this is activity from a specific server.
Can’t believe you continue to go there.
Insanity!! I can’t believe this isn’t the top comment! They are enabling the behavior by continuing to patronize this business!
Lol OP blaming Chase for crediting them back with no evidence as enabling theft to continue for years, but does not accept responsibility for being a repeat customer also enabling such behavior.
yeah, they're telling the business it's ok, charge me more, we'll keep coming!
Doesn't the state attorney general's office deal with consumer fraud like this? Check their website; I think they have a complaint form (and contact information).
Exactly! I just did a little digging at they have a hotline and you can file a complaint online. I had the time, because this is the type of shit that pisses me off 😂
Consumer Protection Hotline: 1 (800) 552-9963 M-F: 8:30 am-5 pm
https://www.oag.state.va.us/consumer-protection/index.php
Thanks for the link & number! I'm going to contact them on Monday!
The commonwealth does have a state office for consumer complaints, but because you live/dine in the most populous county in the state, you could also address this locally with Fairfax County’s Consumer Affairs. THEY will make sure they get hold of a manager and may likely bring them in for a mediated settlement which should get the attention of the restaurant.
Thank you for this lead! Was hoping there was a more local authority who would help with this!
This!
We are regulars at Yu Noodles McLean. I haven’t noticed similar shady behavior there but will start monitoring my credit card.
Sounds like one employee has set up a skimming operation. A couple customers need to meet with owner.
Let me know what you find! I hope it's not franchise-wide because I really do like the restaurant and enjoy eating there and think it's one bad apple.
We had this happen the last time we ate at the Herndon location. But it was way more than two dollars. I’m starting to think an employee there is trying to skim. Regardless, we don’t eat at Yu anymore.
…
It’s a recurring issue and they either won’t put the manager on the phone or the manager is avoiding dealing with issues.
The simple fix is to no longer support this business.
Editing to add: no the BBB does nothing. It is nothing but a platform like yelp done up to look like a government agency that depends on fear to try to get businesses to pay to be in “good standing.”
The BBB is Yelp for boomers. It's amazing anyone still thinks it has any authority or that it "investigates" anything.
lol I was thinking the same thing about BBB! Who really takes them seriously these days?
Others are aware of this/have had it happen to them?
Tbf about BBB; when a brand was very delinquent in sending a replacement product from a recall, after contacting BBB the brand suddenly replied to my emails. Not sure they’d help in this case, but they’re not totally useless
They're useful when the business cares and wants to do what's right. Useless when the business doesn't cooperate.
We'll be so sad if that ends up being the only solution because we enjoy the food here. I'm trying to give them the benefit of the doubt that management might not be aware if one employee is doing this.
They know exactly what they are doing. Stop supporting their business if they are stealing from you
Wait, are you saying you haven't contacted the restaurant manager to let them know? Why not?
Read the post. Op addresses that in the op.
This is sad because I love their restaurant and also always tip 20%+. I do not like hearing this shady stuff. :(
I would leave a yelp and google review to let people know what you find. Maybe it will give others a chance to look at their own receipts and provide feedback as well.
I can think of maybe one other option. Yu Noodles is a chain. And it appears to be franchised. So there's one original location and owner.
Googling says this: "Started by Andy Qiu and Tony Cai in 2018, Yu Noodles opened its first restaurant in Rockville, Maryland".
So, call Rockville, and see if you can talk to either of them directly. Let them know one of their franchisees is ruining their reputation on social media.
I wouldn't mention any specifics of your issue, just tell whoever answers that you need to get in touch with Andy or Tony about possible fraud at one of their locations. If you don't go further than that, it might get them on the phone. If not, at least they can't spit in your food if they don't know who's calling or where you eat.
This is a great suggestion, thank you! I'm going to try to speak to Andy or Tony.
And if that doesn't work, post a review on Yelp mentioning the added tips and never being able to talk to a Mgr. The same thing happened to me at a different restaurant after I had left a cash tip (also called multiple times) and only after I posted did a Mgr finally reach out and offer to make amends. The story was the Mgr was out of the country for a few weeks, who knows.
Wait, are you saying you left a cash tip at a different restaurant and they inflated the charge price or that they added on a credit card tip as well? I thought about doing cash tip the next time I'm at Yu Noodles but didn't think there was another avenue for them to scam me.
Yeah, I left a cash tip and on top of that they added a tip to my credit card. But I think servers adding a couple bucks to a credit card tip after one has already noted the credit card tip happens more often than people realize. It's crazy but there was a span where it happened to me at three different restaurants in a row. I used to work at a credit card co. -- always save your receipts. For some credit card cos, that's the only way they'll make it right for whatever you buy.
OMG 3 different restaurants in a row is insane. Please feel free to name & shame.
This is a good idea. I love Yu Noodle and would hate for the restaurant to suffer especially if this is the fault of one sketchy employee.
This happened to me at a restaurant I like, so now when I go there, I pay cash. I don’t trust them with my credit card anymore.
Which restaurant?
Thank you for naming and shaming
To be honest, a police report wouldn't be inappropriate given how many times it's happened and your efforts to address it with the business.
I second this. That’s pure theft and if they don’t address it then get the cops involved
Jesus Christ no.
Cops will do one of two things here: do nothing or wildly overreact. In 2025 there is no option where the cops get involved, a detective does a forensic accounting, and the person stealing pays a reasonable fine or does a reasonable amount of jail time. It’s either nothing happens or eight waiters get deported.
In an ideal world you could count on cops to investigate minor quality of life crimes like this and set things right. But people thinking about involving the cops need to take a good hard look at the world they’re actually living in.
Exactly file something with the state Attorney General’s office. But regular beat cops aren’t going to be able to do shit about this.
You think the state AG’s office doesn’t work with the police??
That's the key phrase right there.
You need to get to the Upper echelons of a single district before the AG gets involved.
You'd need hundreds, if not thousands of reports before the State AG steps in
E: tell me I'm wrong. The AG does not have the capacity to investigate every. single. claim. made in every. single. district of VA. They can only handle so many complaints at one time.
AKA: they'll only handle the most high profile cases.
Disagree. This is bank fraud. If they do this to a 1,000 people a week it's a major crime.
[removed]
I’ve been in the service industry for 20 years, the thieves make us all look bad! Kinda wild you assume the thief must be an illegal immigrant too. Do your safe a favor and delete your comment, don’t use the lords name n vain either.
How the fuck am I being downvoted? (Not that I give two shits) op was saying calling the cops could result in deportation! In my head I assumed the thief was a citizen lmao yall are wild
I wouldn’t mind if you were deported
Me neither tbh this country is run by a bunch of idiots. Mexico seems real nice
I just moved out the country a few days ago, couldn’t be happier tbh
So you make my point, the land of the fee and home of the slave. The state has been turned into the plantation and we have the illusion of freedom. You own your home? Better not miss that tax payment
I have nothing left here in the states. I’m completely free. Had to leave before shit hits the fan, I can see it coming from a mile away. Never thought I’d see the day that America was ever compromised to this extent, but here we are.
So we’re on the same page my friend. Doesn’t matter whether it’s trump kamala Hillary they all work together to oppress the American people. The worst part is they propagandise us to hate each other. So to reiterate I don’t vote I refuse too. My rights come from a higher power not whatever puppet is in office
You didn’t even vote. Get the fuck out of my face.
Welp, glad to know who you voted for without you explicitly saying...
BTW Fuck ICE
Lmao, i dont vote. feel sorry for the people stuck in the left vs right paradigm. World is a stage my friend. Divide and conquer. 2 wings of the same bird. Ones taking you off the cliff at 120 mph the other at 60.. notice we always have to choose between the lesser of two evils?
Congratulations! You just figured out why the First Past the Post system is arguably the worst voting system!
"The Spoiler Effect: the better a third party candidate does, the more it hurts its own voter by guaranteeing a loss for the party they most agree with."
Source: CGP Grey
Additionally, if you don't vote, you don't get to have an opinion on how the state/country is going.
If you view the country headed in a right direction, you don't get to take credit, because you didn't vote.
If you view the country headed in the wrong direction, you also don't get to criticize, because again, you did not vote.
Listen real close, I don’t wanna vote cuz I don’t want to be complicit in whatever bull shit either party wants to portray on its constituents! I take no part in the cult of personality that either party portrays.. each side gives you a bit of truth with poison. The pendulum swings left than right, the truth gets lost in the middle! Like the art of war the only way to win is not play! I absolutely have a say cuz I’m a child of god and my rights come from the almighty and not whatever puppet is center stage
Bro just take the mask off already lmao
This is the most "I believe in Jesus but don't actually follow his teachings" coded posts I've ever come across lmao
What gives you that impression?
And also
Compare your writings to
Deuteronomy 27:19:
Cursed is anyone who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow." Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"
Or even more importantly Exodus 23:9:
"Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt.
I am a Christian as well and I also read your ranting the same way. You're a Christian but following His words mean little to you.
Oh and just as a double tap:
Read Matthew 25: 41-46:
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
lmfao 24 hours with no response.
Just admit that
1) you got dunked on
2) you ain't a real Christian
3) if you had a real rebuttal, you'd use it. But the silence is evidence you don't.
PS: I love using scripture against so called "Christians" cause it's clear you 1) don't read the bible or 2) you only use selective quotes to further your agenda.
Fight Me.
And who do you think the state AG office will send to investigate a minor case of tip fraud?
Namaste restaurant on 6138 Rose Hill Drive, Alexandria, VA did the same thing to me several years ago. They added more than what I wrote and when I called them about it, the “manager” basically said he cannot find the receipt. I called my credit card company to report the theft but doubt anything came out of it. It’s the principle and these thieves count on the fact that they’re small variances from what you wrote (hoping you won’t notice) but when they do this to many customers and over time, they’re making a good amount.
Yes exactly! And most of the time even if customers are aware it's such a small amount to chase but it builds up across customers & over time! Even if stop patronizing the business as others suggested doesn't stop them from doing this.
A business is ripping you off time and time again and you keep going there? Even after they hang up on you?
You really should keep trying to get in touch with a manager first, but if that is unsuccessful, you have the threat of escalating the optics on this issue depending on how far you want to take it: leave a negative review, post on socials and their business accounts to warn others, invite a local news station to cover the story, etc.
If your family continues to be patrons there, make note of the specific waiters and keep the receipts for documentation.
When I get the courage to confront the manager in person I'll need to prepare for that day to be my last time there cause anytime after I feel like they might retaliate by spitting in my food. I'm so torn on bringing that much poor publicity on them because the food is really great and most of the time I haven't had an issue. I just want to eat my beef noodle soup in peace without having to worry about fraudulent charges.
Look...beef noodle soup places are a dime a dozen in this area. I promise you'll find another one elsewhere that's just as good if not better. A business that cheats you out of your money isn't a business worth supporting. If you absolutely have to order and dine there and as a customer you're worried about your food being tampered with because you raised a concern with the manager...then it's no longer the restaurant's problem, it's YOUR problem. I think you need to reassess your priorities and values because this isn't something to mess around with.
the main thing you can do is to stop patronizing them.
also the BBB is not a government thing. it's a private company, and it's basically a legal extortion racket. plenty of legit companies are just not interested in playing their game.
this is what scamming is.
harsh reality, its done more often then one would think in life. I dont like it but you have to mentally be aware of these things
They are counting on people not checking their statements
Yes exactly but I do check my statements and luckily haven't had recurring issues other than at this establishment.
Stop going?? The first time I notice this happens at a local restaurant and I still have my receipt, I am starting a charge back and never going there again.
Hey so my boyfriend is Muslim and we dined there. He ordered Chongking noodles with chicken instead of pork. They brought pork out, so he asked them very politely if they could fix it. Those assholes chopped some chicken and put it on top of the noodles with pork. Then, even worse, they threw the bowl at us. The bowl bounced.
I don’t know if it was racism or just awful customer service, but we haven’t been back.
Seriously one of my worst experiences dining out. Fuck that place. I’m not surprised they’re doing crap like they did to you.
Wow. That’s rude! But to me, Yu noodle isn’t even that good. Idk why so many people suggest that place.
Stop going to places that defraud you.
This happened to us a few years ago at a different restaurant -- I think a "3" had been changed to an "8" which ripped us off for $5 -- and my husband called up, asked for the GM, and read them the riot act. I'm not convinced they cared all that much. But they credited it back, and we never went back.
I'm not surprised if the "3" to "8" or adding additional 0's are common tactics as well but wouldn't the tip and total line not add up?
thanks for the heads up. Now I will think twice about going here.
Go to A&J for beef noodle soup. The thick/wide noodles are handmade, it’s better.
Ugly dumpling is the only decent replacement for the soup dumplings. But the service is whack.
I love Dumpling Queen in Chantilly!
Pay in cash
Sounds like you should stop frequenting there.
If you paid with a credit card are you sure the extra $2 wasn’t a credit cart fee? Lots of restaurants are adding between 2 to 3% to credit card payments. Since the amount is so small, it sure looks like it is.
It's not because it's not every time that there's a discrepancy.
Next time you dine there check your bill before you pay it.
I always check the bill before I pay. That isn't the problem. The issue is after signing for the tip and then the server enters a higher amount than tipped. I manually write in what I pay on my customer copy but they don't give you another confirmation after they run your card and give you the first receipt. My credit card doesn't show the pending charges until about a day or two after.
That’s fraud. Let your CC company know and complain to the owners of the restaurant. I have never had a tip manipulated by a server or restaurant. I guess we will never eat at Yu Noodles.
$2 is not 3% of $44. It’s closer to 5%.
I guess you would have to ask the store/resraurant. Sometimes surcharges are added for a variety of things. During Covid, the few restaurants that stayed open for pickup often had surcharges to make up for their loss of income. I always check the bill if it’s on paper and itemized and question anything that’s unfamiliar.
Yup, I'm super diligent about checking over my itemized bill as I've noticed some restaurants add in extra charges or automatic gratuity. This is not that, otherwise it would still match up what I paid after tip.
That would be included in the bill
Normally yes, but I’ve been in some restaurants where they bring a point of sale machine (still rarely used here, but used since at least 2005 in Europe) and you don’t really get to see all the details. And after Jan 1, we will have an additional 4% sales tax in Fairfax County.
This isn't the case at Yu Noodles and if it was then it would be consistent.
Not surprised they're doing shady shit. Only went there once and I’m shocked they’re still around
Yeah honestly it’s far too pricy
Pay cash or stop supporting the business.
I go to the Herndon location frequently but haven't noticed anything, tho I probably wouldn't notice 1-2 bucks added.
Someone else commented that they had this happen at the Herndon location so make sure to check your receipts!
My recommendation is reach out to Fairfax county government about this, post Yelp and Google review with pictures, and don't go to the restaurant. Why should people support a scummy place like this
walk in with your receipts and your card statement and make a stink.
It's fraud. I don't know how else to explain this to you, but you don't keep supporting a business if they continuously defraud you for a higher tip than you authorized. Keep your receipts and provide them to your card company. Fraudulent charges being reported to the card company from a specific merchant is an incredibly fast way to get the business penalized.
Reporting this to the BBB is a waste of time so don't bother with that. You could always leave a bad Google review and that's a great way (your mileage may vary) to get an owner to address the issue. You also need to file a complaint with the State Attorney General to escalate this because this is actually illegal—there's no gray area. They might not act on one report, but if plenty of people report it, it's going to be something that has to be addressed.
From now on you need to keep a copy of all your receipts, because if a business this shady continues to do this on the regular, they're going to keep doing it. They'll only tuck their tails between their legs when someone worth a damn starts sniffing around over there.
That being said, go somewhere else? There are countless restaurants in this area. One of the beauties of this area is you aren't hurting for choice.
Someone dishonest enough to add $2 to your charge is a short step from using a skimmer on your card.
I'd never hand my card to them again, knowing someone there is a thief.
Pay cash if you must eat there.
I know a few Chinese restaurant owners across NoVA, and unfortunately, what you're describing is not uncommon. The managers / owners will usually say they're not there and hang up by default (due to language barriers and the multitude of sales calls they get throughout the day).
I've also known of employees (not owners) that do the extra charge thing for dine-in customers. It typically happens in smaller carryout restaurants that have a few tables, but aren't geared towards dine-in. The employees don't want to deal with the extra cleanup, so they take it upon themselves to make sure they're compensated. The owners are sometimes aware of it, but they look the other way, because of how difficult it is for them to find dual-lingual employees to work the front.
It's frustrating as hell and shady AF, but it's hard to address without screwing over the entire business. I wouldn't go the police route, but do whatever you think is appropriate. Yu Noodles used to give a cash discount (not sure if they still do), so as someone else mentioned, that would be the easiest route.
Thank you for elaborating on this scheme. It's what I suspected that this was maybe something one employee might be taking advantage of and it would be unfair to punish the whole franchise if the other employees were unaware.
You can report them to the better business bureau and or the IRS as well
It’s worth it to file the BBB complaint, because even if it doesn’t lead to any financial restitution for you, if the complaint goes through (which it should, since it sounds totally valid) it’ll be posted publicly once everything gets settled and they’ll have to publicly account for the discrepancies and/or at least face the public shame.
It's not really about financial restitution and more about the ethics of what they're doing. I'll also file a complaint to BBB but wasn't sure if anyone uses it other than to complain so the ratings/reviews would be biased, no?
Dispute the charge. Make the business prove you signed for the tip. If they can't, refund, if they try, fraud.
Do the businesses get notified or need to prove anything when a dispute is opened? When this has happened in the past and I opened a claim that I was charged more than expected, I upload the receipt and they credit back the difference and Chase Bank made it clear there aren't repercussions for the business.
No, the businesses aren't notified. Credit card cos. cover these small amounts and it'snot worth their time/resources to notify the merchant. Only when it's a large amount would the credit card co. reach out and investigate and determine whether to credit you back. I used to work at a credit card co.
Thanks for confirming! Just confused how to "Make the business prove you signed for the tip" then.
Yeah, for extra large tips -- let's say $50 over what you wrote -- the credit card co. is going to side with its customer if you still have the receipt showing your original charge and the tip amount.
When customers repeatedly file chargebacks with major card issuers like Visa, Mastercard, Discover, etc., those companies will eventually have to step in and address or penalize the merchant account that's processing those transactions.
If they see chargebacks increasing due to disputes, it becomes a red flag. The restaurant won't immediately feel the impact of those chargebacks until they hit a certain threshold because the processor will absorb them for a while before they start penalizing the merchant.
The restaurant won't notice any issues until about a month later, depending on their setup and whether their back office actually catches the changes or discrepancies in that month's balance sheets. If they're run fairly well (which it sounds like they're not), they'll catch it and might block the card from processing future transactions from that customer.
But honestly, if you actually address the problem directly, it won't get that far anyway. This isn't a complicated situation—just go to the restaurant. It's clearly a big enough issue and you care enough about it that you need to go there and talk with the store manager, general manager, or whoever's actually running the business beyond the staff working at the time.
If they're good, they'll resolve the issue right away. If not, then you shouldn't support them and just move on with your life. I wish I could be so worried about what a specific restaurant does with my tip money because honestly there's so much other bullshit in life to deal with than this crap.
BBB, people take pictures of their signed receipts for this reason. Also, why is your cc company not helping you with this issue?
Their solution is to credit me the difference but they said they don't do anything to reprimand the business.
Yes, anything under (at least) several $K isn't considered worth investigating by an issuer. It's always been like this (I remember reading about a $400 charge in the 70s, when that was a LOT more money, with a known perp and...no interest from the issuer even then).
I had stats at one point: fraud losses were MUCH lower--like an order of magnitude--than default/bankruptcy. Brands and issuers want fraud not to rise, but currently it's noise to them.
Maybe it’s a card processing fee
Still illegal. It needs to be clearly stated before the purchase and included on the receipt.
Idk, plenty of places have a sign on the door or register without an employee explicitly telling you.
Needs to be on the receipt as well. Can’t just add a charge after the fact.
It's not because I use the same card to pay every time and only sometimes does the balance not match so any "fee" would be inconsistently charged.
Cash is king
Switching to cash doesn’t address the core theft problem being accused here. It isn’t the consumers responsibility avoid being scammed by a licensed business
That's true. But if you're going to keep going back despite this fact pay cash
I thought the same thing. Yes, what the restaurant is doing is wrong, but doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result isn’t wise. Not going there would be better, but at least cash would stop it if they keep going.
Yeah but cash doesn't give me free money via reward points.
I thought some restaurants will still give you the points as long as you have the receipt and you’d go into their app and follow the directions???
I'm not talking about restaurant points, I'm talking about credit card rewards from the bank. I get what is functionally a 3-5% discount on everything I buy because my credit cards have cash back rewards.
My guy it is the year of our lord 2025 (almost 26)
Who tf actually uses cash anymore?
I can think of maybe 2/100 vendors that are cash only.
And yes maybe a business "prefers" cash, but I'll pay the additional 1-2% to use a card.
Interesting because we would see it in the reviews or when we go
Get your copy of the receipt and confront the manager about it. They can correct it. It could’ve been the waiter/waitress giving themselves extra, misreading the handwriting, or other reasons.
Instead of writing a blog, or reporting to the BBB/IRS like some commenters say (lol btw), just get to the bottom of it in 10 minutes.
Some of these comments are really weird and misinformed.
I don't know why anyone would go eat at Yu Noodle even without the the charge fraud. They offer low quality Chinese food with questionable sanitation (visible black mold on steamer baskets). If you want noodle soup or dumplings, try the food court in Great Wall Fairfax. Better quality food and lower prices.
That’s what I was saying. I don’t think Yu noodles is that good, but everyone keeps suggesting it.
It is worse than you see. Your credit card information is now most likely compromised, having been passed on to a fraud network, from now on one or two dollars will be charged randomly from weird places, but it is a small amount and not too often so you will not worry about it. Report it here, follow the steps, secure your accounts:
https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/police/HowDoI/FinancialCrimes/CreditCardFraud
No lol
https://www.arlnow.com/2011/12/20/credit-card-skimming-investigation-began-in-arlington/
This was the same thing, servers taking one or two dollars more. Not the only case, there are many like it. Credit card fraud is not what a legitimate business does, and not just one employee if manager refuses to talk to you. Answer, of couse yes lol. Complacency is why the US is now under scammer and fraud attack, it has surpassed the illegal drug trade in dollar amounts, 16 billion reported annually to the FBI, and up to 100 billion not reported like you are suggesting OP do here. That is more than Pablo Escobar ever made.
This is a server adding more tips than what was written, not credit card skimming.
Even going 5+ years, never had an issue as described. Often take friends & family when we have visitors. However, 95% of the time I tip in cash & usually 18-22% (with whatever matches the cash in my wallet). We have become “regulars” & the staff is very friendly. Sometimes honey catches more flies than vinegar 🤗
Don’t get them all deported by IcE!!!