Pasta-In-A-Box

I knew this place would close eventually, but was hoping that by some miracle it would stay open. Oh well. It was a great idea, in theory, to serve affordable pasta dishes in a fast food setting. However, the execution is much more difficult.
The location of this place was great. The staff was nice enough. There were plenty of options on the menu. The pasta dishes tasted great and were filling. The prices were dirt cheap. However, it just takes too damn long to prepare each pasta dish.
Each person’s order took about 5 – 7 minutes to make. They only had a couple burners, so they could only prepare two dishes at a time. That’s two customers every 5 – 7 minutes paying ~$ 5 each. In the mean time, Chipotle has served about 20 people paying about $ 8 each. Pasta-​In-​A-​Box never stood a chance.

Today is a day that I will look back on 30 years from now and think, wow, Pasta…
In a Box… it’s so brilliant, I can’t believe that its closed. But alas, this amazing restaurant is now closed for good. I was quite the regular, falling first in love with the Bellagio and having the Chicken Parmesan as my mistress. This… This…
No other words can describe the beautiful concoction that the Chef and Alex created every time I walked through those doors this past year except one. Perfection.
As Pasta In A Box’s first customer, I am very saddened that this day had to come. But I know deep in my heart, I will be reunited with Pinab one day. If heaven is anything that people say it’s like, Chef will surely be cooking my lunch every day.
Thank you Pinab, for servicing me with countless delicious meals.

Cheap and filling. The staff who helped me out was incredibly friendly with this first-​timer. The pasta is pretty decent. If you want better tasting pasta, try somewhere else, but if you just want some pasta for a meal without hurting your wallet and/​or spending time in the kitchen, this is the place to go.
3 stars for the pasta, +1 star for the service

Step one… put pasta in a box…
Step two… put some sauce in the box…
step three… let her open the box…
IT’s pasta in a box!

Pros:
–Extremely cheap — perfect for the poor college student.
–Prime location.
–Owner is suuuper nice! While I was waiting for my food to be prepared, he came in the store and greeted me with a huge smile. We had a small conversation and his friendliness just made my day.
–Pretty good pasta for the price.
Cons:
–Takes forever! I waited probably 25−30+ minutes for my pasta, even though there was only one couple in front of me. Definitely NOT «fast» food.
–The other workers are so unfriendly, definitely seemed like they hated their jobs.
–You can’t see anything through the tall box displays! I could barely look over to talk to the workers. I sneaked a peek through the display and saw a bunch of pasta sauce cans. So, the sauces are definitely not fresh.
Come here if you want a cheap, filling meal. The salmon pasta is under $ 5, which is super rare anywhere! I’ve been here twice already, and I’ll probably keep coming back because of its cheap price and location.

Pasta in a Box uses fresh ingredients and makes your pasta and sauce when you order it, not sitting in a bowl all day under a heat lamp, like quick student stops on telegraph.
Judging by the quality you get, your pasta comes out in a relatively short time, perfect if you are on the go. The price is great for the quantity and quality received, $ 3.60 for a marinara, count me in.
The staff is very friendly and will quickly memorize your order if you are a regular. Pasta in a Box is a boon to the students at Cal because lets face it, when you need something in a hurry or want to take a quick bite before class, Fat Slice and the rest get old, not to mention Blondies which has gotten so terrible in the past years.
Granted most college students can make a pasta on their own, but not this fast, not this good, and not this cheap.

I grew up eating real home cooked Italian food and my boyfriend is full blooded Italian. Now, really it’s literally ‘Pasta in a Box’- However, don’t kid yourself… Our pasta was THE BOMB DIGGITY!!! It was so delicious!!! He got the Pesto Bacon and I did a Maranara/​chicken sausage– I pray this place is open my next trip to Berkeley, I will get extra to take home! The pasta was perfectly aldente’, the sauce was fresh and ‘just right’ and the Price? Ha!!! Less than a super-​phoofy-​coffee!
Advice– pick up a box to-​go and take it with a nice bottle of red wine somewhere you can enjoy it– we enjoyed ours in the outdoor garden at the Berkeley City Club Hotel. Yum!

This place is the cheapest restaurant within a few blocks south of the Berkeley campus. For $ 4 – 5, you can buy a small portion of pasta (in a box, of course) with sauce and meat. However, any home cook could come up with better-​tasting pasta; their sauces are not house-​made (they scoop cream out of a can) and the meat does not taste freshly cooked (probably pre-​cooked from a grocery store). The tall containers with pasta and boxes try to conceal these facts and makes it seem like the owners have something to hide…
For a college student with no cooking skills and a tight budget, this place is heaven. For anyone else, I recommend heading to Gypsy’s a block away.

Extremely nice owner :)
He really makes his pasta for you to enjoy.
I hope they stay in the area since it’s such a clever idea.
Price is AMAZING.

I’m a big fan! haha. i wish i lived closer cause i would SOOOOO order this for delivery when im drunk/​hungry.
the prices are AMAZING. $ 3.60 for all the pastas, $ 4.95 when you include some type of meat like bacon, chicken, or sausage. i was expecting them to just toss in some precooked meat, swish it around, and hand it to us. but instead, they sauteed it and seasoned it and definitely took some time to prep it. i was very pleasantly surprised.
we ended up getting the pesto with rigatoni and chicken/​bacon. it was YUMMY. warning, the bacon arent traditional bacon bits. it is more like ham. but it was really delicious, i would get it again in a second. if only i lived closer! also got a drink for ONE DOLLAR.
this place is definitely a college students’ dream come true.

Location: Conveniently located on Telegraph
Pasta: It’s okay. Nothing really stood out, except for the fact that my favorite pasta, cavatappi (those swirly noodles) are no longer offered!
Price: Cheap
Service: It’s still slow. Not really the grab and go type of place, unless you are willing to wait around 10 minutes for the food.
Serving Size: huge and can easily be split into 2 – 3 meals.

Service: Always a friendly experience. They mix the sauce and noodles after you order, so the wait is a little longer than most expect.
Value: Under $ 4 for a heaping box of pasta? When I’m feeling frugal, this is my go-​to destination for lunch or dinner. It’s not the best pasta I’ve ever had in my life, but the price is right.
Location: Right on Telegraph and very close to campus. Not sure if they validate parking.
Seating: None
Quick tip: They charge you an extra 40 cents for using card.

Ok, let’s be fair here. this place is honestly cheap. It’s great for starving college students and people who just want a quick bite. I came here earlier today and my experience was pretty good! I mean the whole layout and ordering is basic and quick but the problem here is the amount of employees. There were only two people working; one taking orders and one cooking. Now, its common sense that if this place is already cheap and they can expect a ton of customers at once, I would think there would be a couple guys cooking the pastas. I like how they cook from scratch here BUT like I said, there needs to be an extra cook. My pasta along with my gf’s took at least 15 mins. That may not seem long but trust me. when you’re here, you can feel the time drag.
The selection for pastas isn’t much BUT that’s ok because this place is suppose to give you a quick meal in a box. I wouldn’t change anything about the menu. The portion is actually a lot in this huge box. It is definitely worth the $ 5. I would come back here to grab a quick bite again!
Oh yea… by the way, my #5 pasta selection today was too damn spicy LOL… I don’t know if this was suppose to be this hot but damn, I couldn’t finish my food because it was too strong. A bit of a turn off!

WHAT KIND OF BUSINESS IS THIS… I’ve tried coming here three times, at reasonable hours, and not once have I actually managed to actually get pasta. Maybe I just have terrible luck — twice it’s been closed without explanation and once half the menu was unavailable because they’d run out of ingredients. Really? Place doesn’t look half popular enough to warrant a shortage. It’s like the owners don’t know the meaning of proper business practices or something. Or maybe they’re actually ignorant.
Whatever. Three attempts are more than enough for me. Good luck.

–Price/​Portion is definitely not the best
–Small Proportion
–Bland
Not the best pasta place in the area
IF you dont mind crappy pasta for $ 5, then this is the place to go

Pasta in a Box is fast food pasta, cooked to order
menu: pasta box (3.6), specialty pasta (4.95), salads, sammies,
ordering pasta drill:
–pick pasta (5ish available: spaghetti, elbow?, shell, penne, tri color, trotie (twists)
–pick sauce (marinara?, alfredo, pesto, bolognese, etc.)
–pasta is boiled
–sauce is added
eats: pesto pasta with shell pasta (3.60)
–not enough pesto sauce, pasta lightly flavored
–pasta seem a tad off, not al dente
–good value but not so tasty.
notes:
–all food choices around $ 5 or under
–good value, taste may vary
–no seating in store.

Tips:
$ 3.60 for plain pasta with sauce
~$ 5 for specialty pasta
$ 4.50 for pasta box with a $ 1 soda.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Overall, I think this place is extremely cheap for the pasta that they give. You do get a good amount of food for just around ~$ 4-​$ 5. I haven’t tried any of the specialty pastas yet so I will need to go and update this review. I just got a plain «pesto box» which is just pasta with pesto sauce which is a good quality considering the short amount of time that it takes to boil the pasta and add the sauce.
The management and staff is still a work in progress which is understandable because from what I saw there is only one lead cook and one person taking orders. The lead cook (who I’m assuming is the owner) was very worried about getting the food out as quickly as possible. I definitely think that the service can only get better from here. I’d say the food is worth the price you pay.

3.5 STARS
My first time going to Pasta-​In-​A-​Box! While I wasn’t particularly blown away by the place, it wasn’t too bad either!
Mostly, I agree with everyone else– Pasta-​In-​A-​Box is a ridiculously affordable alternative to Gypsy’s & Pasta Bene. The pasta itself isn’t bad at all and is less than $ 5. Plus, I’m a huge sucker for places with cheap drinks and, well, a giant soda for $ 1? Count me in!
The one thing I really think could be improved about this place is that it’s so tucked in. Seriously, my friend & I walked down Telegraph specifically looking for this place & we almost missed it!):
That being said, I give props, because Pasta-​In-​A-​Box is so new. And I love that it’s already catering to the takeout lifestyle of most Berkeley students. For your debut– not bad!

This place just opened last week! And it’s already becoming a favorite at work for Italian take out for lunch hour! I met the owner, and he is such a sweetheart! He told me he learned his culinary skills from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. And you can tell from his food that he is a PRO! he cooks with great passion which makes his food more delicious!
So far I have had the Chicken Alfredo and some of the specialty pasta which were all scrumptious. If you are looking for a light lunch, I recommend one of their salads. All their ingredients are fresh and their dressings are made from scratch. Next time Im in I will order a sandwhich because I hear they are yummy. Their portions are really good and at a steal! their pasta box’s range from $ 3.95 to $ 6 for a specialty pasta.
Please be paitent everyone because they just opened, I know they are working on hiring more people and having a sit down area for people to eat. The food is worth the wait! I know once they are settled in with the right staff and a dining area, PASTA IN A BOX WILL BE A SUCCESS!
Ciao! Amid io amo il vostro cibo!

I read in the Daily Cal that this pasta place just opened, so I decided to check it out. The presentation on the outside isn’t that great. If I wasn’t looking for it, I would’ve easily walked past it. This place is obviously still getting used to being in business. The cashier seemed really nervous and based on the lack of pasta choices in comparison to what they offer, it seemed like they had a busier than anticipated day and were under staffed.
With all that being said, I think this might turn into one of the regular places I eat at. The pasta is well cooked and very reasonably priced. I paid $ 4.95 for a box of pasta that I ended up having to share with my boyfriend. The owner is also really sweet. He came over from Paris and believes pasta should be affordable and convenient. The owner also told me that they open til 10, which is nice if you want something quick to eat late at night. I can’t wait to see how the restaurant blooms once they get more settled and accustomed to being in business.