Yo! Bowl to open second North Texas location in Plano this summer

Yo! Bowl will open its second North Texas restaurant in mid-July at 4701 W. Park Blvd. #105 in Plano, bringing the Carrollton-born noodle shop’s Southwest Chinese flavors to a larger Collin County market. The move is not just a simple repeat of the original format. In Plano, the family-owned restaurant will offer its first full-service dining experience.

The concept built its following in Carrollton after debuting there in 2024 at 2700 Old Denton Rd. The menu centers on mifen, a traditional southwest Chinese rice noodle, served in customizable bowls that let diners choose broth, protein, vegetables, toppings and spice level. That mix of flexibility and a dish many North Texans had not seen on suburban strip-center menus helped Yo! Bowl stand out in a crowded dining scene.

The Plano location marks a shift in how the business wants to grow. Carrollton’s original setup was primarily kiosk-based ordering, while the new restaurant will add table-side service and a more traditional front-of-house experience. For Xinran Xu, the founder, the expansion reflects more than demand for a second address. It shows that a concept rooted in a specific regional dish can build enough loyalty in one suburb to justify another, larger investment in the next.

Xu, who was born in China and raised in Japan for 15 years, has said Yo! Bowl grew out of a simple gap in the market: mifen was familiar to her, but still unfamiliar to many Americans. She also said customers were already making the drive from Plano, Frisco and other parts of Collin County to Carrollton for the restaurant’s slow-simmered broths, customizable bowls and homemade yogurt. That built-in traffic made Plano a natural next step.

The timing also fits the county’s growth pattern. The U.S. Census Bureau put Plano’s estimated population at 293,286 in July 2024, compared with 135,456 in Carrollton. Local Profile reported that Collin County added nearly 43,000 residents between July 2024 and July 2025, reinforcing the larger customer base that specialized restaurants are chasing as they move east from one fast-growing suburb to another.