Lulu's Thai Noodle Shop (Crossroads)

Lulu’s Thai Noodle Shop is a longtime, family-owned Kansas City Thai institution founded in 1997 by owner Malisa Monyakula, serving Bangkok-style street food; its Crossroads Arts District location anchors a small group of metro restaurants built on recipes passed down from Monyakula’s grandmother.

Description

Lulu’s Thai Noodle Shop is a family-owned Thai restaurant group in the Kansas City metro, with its flagship-area location in the Crossroads Arts District at 2030 Central Street. The restaurant specializes in Bangkok-style Thai street food, and frames its food as crafted “the same way they were for the family table back in Bangkok.”

The menu is built around traditional Thai recipes that trace to owner Malisa Monyakula’s grandmother. Across its locations, Lulu’s has served Thai noodle dishes, curries, and street-food staples to Kansas Citians “for generations,” and the brand is widely regarded as one of the metro’s longest-running and best-known Thai restaurants.

Beyond the Crossroads, the business operates additional locations in Westwood, Kansas, and Overland Park, Kansas, and has expanded its civic footprint as a culinary partner — including a partnership with the Kansas City Current at CPKC Stadium.

Ownership and history

Lulu’s is the vision of owner Malisa Monyakula, who founded the first Lulu’s in 1997. According to the restaurant’s own history, the concept grew out of Monyakula’s desire to recreate the experience of gathering as a family in Bangkok while building a life in the Midwest; every recipe began with her grandmother (“yâa” in Thai, Khun Ya), and she learned Thai cooking from her father.

The first Lulu’s opened as a single location in Lawrence, Kansas, before the business moved closer to downtown Kansas City around 2000. The base-data working note had guessed the owner as “Lulu Tang”; this is incorrect — the verified owner is Malisa Monyakula.

Tier classification

Tier 1. Lulu’s is a deeply local, family-owned immigrant-heritage Thai institution with roughly three decades of continuous metro operation under founder-owner Malisa Monyakula, built on recipes passed down through her family in Bangkok. Long tenure, owner-operator continuity, and family-rooted authenticity are exactly what Tier 1 measures.

Menu

Last verified: 2026-07-24 · Source: official site (menu page); official Toast ordering links confirmed on same page · URL(s): https://www.lulusnoodles.com/menu · Confidence: High (full main menu with descriptions and prices captured from the official site; official happy hour/lunch specials, seasonal, gluten-free, no-meat, beverage, and catering menus are published as PDFs on the same page but not itemized here)

Bangkok-style Thai street food built on recipes from owner Malisa Monyakula’s grandmother, recreating the experience of a family table in Bangkok. Most dishes are prepared to a medium spice level by default.¹

Street Food

• Lulu’s Sampler — 2 Vietnamese spring rolls, 4 crab rangoons, 4 pork dumplings & 4 veggie dumplings with dipping sauces — $18¹
• Thai Hot Wings — tossed in a sweet & spicy sauce — 6 pc $10 / 12 pc $16¹
• Gai Yang Chicken Tenders — six Thai-seasoned tenders, house-made honey sriracha and Lulu’s hot sauce, side of fries — $10 / $16¹
• Lulu’s Rolls — Thai-style pork rolls fried & served with sweet chili sauce — 2 pc $6 / 4 pc $11¹
• Vietnamese Spring Rolls — tofu, lettuce, carrots, scallions, cilantro, rice vermicelli noodles, peanuts & peanut sauce — 2 pc $6 / 4 pc $11¹
• Tempura Vegetables — tempura fried vegetable medley, sweet chili sauce & cilantro chimichurri — $9¹
• Thai Lettuce Wraps — seasoned chicken or tofu; carrots, red cabbage, bean sprouts, cilantro, peanuts & ginger peanut dressing — $11¹
• Dumplings (8) — pan-fried or steamed — pork $10 / vegetable $9.50¹
• Crab Rangoons — hand folded with real crab meat, sweet chili sauce — $10¹
• Vegetable Rangoons — freshly blended vegetables in a cream cheese base, sweet chili sauce — $9¹
• Satay (4) — with dipping sauce & cucumber onion relish — chicken $9 / beef $10¹
• Calamari — sweet chili sauce & sriracha aioli — $12¹
• Low-Carb Satay Plate — 2 chicken, 2 steak & 2 shrimp satays with dipping sauces & a side of Tom Yum Soup — $12¹

Soups & Salads

• Egg Flower Soup — light chicken broth with silky ribbons of egg — small $4.80 / large $6.50 / add-to-meal $3.29¹
• Tom Kha Gai Soup — chicken, carrots, snow peas, cilantro, lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime & coconut milk broth — small $6.40 / large $8.70 / add-to-meal $4.39¹
• Tom Yum Soup — tomatoes, scallions, cilantro & straw mushrooms — small $4.80 / large $8.70 / add-to-meal $3.29; add shrimp¹
• Lulu’s House Salad — greens, carrots, red cabbage, cucumbers, scallions & bean sprouts; ginger peanut, sesame balsamic, or chili garlic vinaigrette — $5 / add-to-meal $3.29¹
• Bánh Mì Bowl — seasoned chicken or tofu, jasmine rice, chopped lettuce, bean sprouts, pickled daikon, carrots, avocado, hardboiled egg, sriracha aioli & cilantro chimichurri — $5 / add-to-meal $3.29¹

Pad Thai

With chicken or tofu (substitute protein for an additional charge).

• Pad Thai — scallions, bean sprouts, egg, peanuts, tofu & rice noodles in Lulu’s special sauce — $17¹
• Khun Ma Pad Thai — green cabbage, scallions, egg, bean sprouts, peanuts, tofu & rice noodles (the variation found most often in U.S. Thai restaurants) — $17¹

Signature Wok Dishes

• Spicy Beef Jantaboon — steak, bean sprouts, peanuts, scallions, cilantro, jalapenos & rice noodles — $18¹
• Curried Coconut Shrimp & Chicken — shrimp, chicken, red onions, peas, Thai basil, cilantro & rice vermicelli noodles in house-made green curry sauce — $18¹
• Pineapple Shrimp Fried Rice — pineapple, shrimp, cashews, golden raisins, onions, egg & scallions wok-tossed in house-blended soy sauce — $18¹
• Thai Cashew Chicken — chicken, scallions, onions, green beans, cashews & jasmine rice — $17¹
• Pepper Beef Basil — steak, green & red bell peppers, Thai basil & ground peanuts with jasmine rice — $19¹
• Crab Fried Rice — lump crab stir-fried with jasmine rice, egg, scallions, yellow onion, cucumber slices & fresh cilantro — $20¹

Custom Wok Dishes

Choose a protein or enjoy as listed.

• Whans Se Eu Pak — vegetable medley wok-tossed in garlic ginger soy sauce, sesame seeds & jasmine rice — $17¹
• Rainbow Peanut Noodles — red bell peppers, scallions, carrots, bean sprouts, cilantro, peanuts, cucumbers & rice noodles in peanut sauce — $17¹
• Basil Fried Rice — red bell peppers, scallions, peas, Thai basil, egg & jalapenos — $17¹
• Pad Se Eu — broccoli, carrots, egg & rice noodles — $16¹
• Drunken Noodles — Chinese broccoli, bell peppers, Thai basil, peanuts, bean sprouts, scallions, lemongrass & egg wok-tossed with wide rice noodles — $17¹
• Fried Rice — carrots, onions, peas & egg (with or without ginger) — chicken or tofu $13 / steak or pork $15.50 / shrimp $17 / shrimp, chicken & steak $18 / vegetable & egg $12 / no protein $12¹

Curries

Choose a protein or enjoy as listed; brown rice available on request.

• Wild Mushroom — red curry, portabella, straw, button & shiitake mushrooms with vegetable medley & jasmine rice — $17¹
• Massaman — potatoes, onions, peanuts & jasmine rice — $15¹
• Kaeng Khiao Wan Kai — house-blend mild green curry, bamboo shoots, peas, Thai basil, red bell peppers & jasmine rice — $15¹
• Yellow — spinach, red bell peppers, mushrooms & jasmine rice — $15¹

Desserts

Prices as published on the official menu page (unusually high for the category — worth a spot-check against the in-house menu at next visit):

• Banana Rolls (4) — $17¹
• Sticky Rice — add mango $3 (seasonally) — $15¹
• Banana Chocolate Rangoons (3) — $15¹
• Ice Cream — 3 scoops of mango or taro — $15¹
• Apple Pie Egg Rolls — make it à la mode with coconut or taro ice cream — $15¹

Takeout via official Toast links per location; full menus (incl. seasonal + gluten-free PDFs): lulusnoodles.com/menu

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Links

• Website: https://www.lulusnoodles.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lulusnoodleshop/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lulusnoodlescrossroads/

See also

• crossroads-arts-district
• Registry

Sources

1. Lulu’s Thai Noodle Shop — official site — https://www.lulusnoodles.com/ — accessed 2026-05-30 (owner Malisa Monyakula, 1997 founding, grandmother recipes, Bangkok street food, locations, official domain lulusnoodles.com)
2. Lulu’s Thai Noodle Shop — Hours & Locations — https://www.lulusnoodles.com/hours-locations — accessed 2026-05-30 (Crossroads at 2030 Central St, phone (816) 474-8424; Westwood + Overland Park locations)
3. CPKC Stadium / Kansas City Current — “KC Current announces Lulu’s Thai Noodle Shop as newest culinary partner” — https://cpkcstadium.com/news/kansas-city-current-announces-lulus-thai-noodle-shop-as-newest-culinary-partner-at-cpkc-stadium — accessed 2026-05-30 (founded 1997, started in Lawrence KS, moved to KC ~2000, owner Monyakula, served “for generations”)
4. Visit KC — Lulu’s Thai Noodle Shop (Crossroads) — https://www.visitkc.com/listings/lulus-thai-noodle-shop-crossroads/ — accessed 2026-05-30 (Crossroads address 2030 Central St, phone corroboration)
5. Lulu’s Thai Noodle Shop — Hours & Locations (re-verification) — https://www.lulusnoodles.com/hours-locations — accessed 2026-06-23 (Crossroads at 2030 Central St listed open; hours Mon–Thu 11a–9p, Fri–Sat 11a–10p, Sun 12–9p; phone (816) 474-8424; Westwood, Overland Park, + The House Bar locations active)
6. Yelp — Lulu’s Thai Noodle Shop, 2030 Central St, Kansas City — https://www.yelp.com/biz/lulus-thai-noodle-shop-kansas-city-3 — accessed 2026-06-23 (listing “Updated June 2026,” 871 reviews; recent activity corroborates active operating status; full page 403-gated, status read from search-result metadata)

Verification

Drafted 2026-05-30 from web research; 4 sources. PASS-4 operating-status re-verification 2026-06-23: confirmed ACTIVE via official Hours & Locations page (Crossroads listed open, current hours) + Yelp recent-activity metadata (“Updated June 2026,” 871 reviews). registry_status held at active; status_last_verified: 2026-06-23 added. No closure/relocation/rebrand found. All citations carry URLs (no bare citations); no dead/hijacked domains detected. Two base-data corrections flagged: (1) the Crossroads address is 2030 Central St (verified via official site + Visit KC), not “1631 Grand Blvd” as in base data; (2) the official website domain is lulusnoodles.com, not “lulusthaikc.com.” Owner is Malisa Monyakula (base-data guess “Lulu Tang” was wrong); founding year 1997 (base-data “late 1990s”) is confirmed. Exact opening year of the specific Central St location flagged. Social links (Instagram, Facebook) confirmed.

Footnotes

1. Lulu’s Thai Noodle Shop — official menu page — https://www.lulusnoodles.com/menu — accessed 2026-07-24. Asserts: full main menu with descriptions and prices; default medium spice; official downloadable PDFs (main Oct 2025, gluten-free 2026, happy hour/lunch, seasonal spring 2026, beverage, catering); official Toast takeout links for Crossroads, Overland Park, and Westwood. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³ ↩²⁴ ↩²⁵ ↩²⁶ ↩²⁷ ↩²⁸ ↩²⁹ ↩³⁰ ↩³¹ ↩³² ↩³³ ↩³⁴ ↩³⁵ ↩³⁶ ↩³⁷ ↩³⁸ ↩³⁹ ↩⁴⁰ ↩⁴¹ ↩⁴²