Noodles & Company

Visiting the Madison, WI area and stopped in before 11am to have lunch. We were the second table in the restaurant this morning. Ordered three meals… they all came out wrong. Spent $ 30 for nasty half-​servings of food.
All orders were approximately half-​size portions but I paid for full size.
The Thai Hot Pot had chunks of the hard, bitter core of the cabbage. The chicken was just nasty and they didn’t give me bread or lime wedges.
They did not bring me a side salad. I had to go back up for that.
The full size grilled chicken Caesar salad I ordered came out in a small bowl with NO chicken. I took it back up to the counter and asked why such a small bowl for a full size order, and they said «we are out of the big bowls» (they had just opened half hour earlier and we were 2^nd customers). They did add some chicken after I took it back up.
The place was dirty. The area around the soda machines was disorganized and dirty. The entry rugs rolled up and laying in the hall way by the bathrooms.
We eat at Noodles & Co a lot in our hometown and it’s never been like this place!

Had a lunch outing at the University Ave Noodles & Company. I ordered the pesto with chicken. The pesto had a different taste than I had it before. It wasn’t bad it was just different. I long for consistancy of flavors.
The biggest disappointment was the potstickers. I mean, how flat can they get? They are supposed to be pillows that are fried on both sides for a crispy factor. The press that they go through here takes all the air out of them and the filling inside is really lost to the pancake-​ness of the dough. I try not to get them but my friends are always hoping for the best. The potstickers are not worth the money, not when you can get better ones at Double 10 or Dumpling Haus.

My kids love this place — they say it’s the best Mac n cheese ever. I always struggle to find something I really like. I typically order a salad or the Thai hot pot. If you get a salad I would recommend requesting the dressing on the side — there’s way too much tossed in. My big kids usually split a regular size and it’s plenty of food which makes it a very reasonably priced meal for us. The service is fast, which is nice with kids. Can’t ask for much more in a fast food chain. We’ll be back as long as my kids keep craving the Mac n cheese :)

Quick and delicious fast food noodles. Always busy but never a long wait

This place is very dirty! I went here and there were about 5 open booths/​tables, all of which had been «cleaned» but there were still pieces of cheese and pasta all over! The food is pretty good for a fast food restaurant. But the service is bad. I ordered a steak stroganoff with mushrooms and got no steak. The person who served us our food also spoke to us multiple times, but we could not here a word he said. Would not recommend unless you don’t care about bad service and a dirty environment.

Discustingly dirty! Barely a single table in the entire place was bussed. It was well after the lunch rush and they didn’t appear to be busy. I have never seen a dirtier soda fountain, ew. I had to use the restroom but was afraid. I have been to noodles before many times in the past but I strongly advise against this location. My husband ordered the pesto chicken. There was hardly any pesto. The staff were college guys who didn’t seem to really care about anything. It really grossed me out and I will never be back!

If you like the smell of a dirty restaurant and eating on tables that don’t get washed after guests leave, then this is the place for you! I cringe to think about the kitchen. Have been there several times over the past few years and it’s always the same. Today, there were more workers than customers, not one table without crumbs and food, worker came out, picked up dirty dishes and left… didn’t clean tables. Didn’t come back out to clean tables. This was late afternoon and no excuse for dirty tables. Managed by Rebecca Mehring (in case she manages more than one in the area).

Don’t come here expecting gourmet noodles — it’s a fast food restaurant technically. However, the food is pretty good — nothing too special, though. I usually get the buttered noodles or macaroni and cheese, which is satisfying enough. The other dishes I’ve tried, though, were not tasty, which is why I stick to my regulars.

After years of avoiding he chain, my resolve faltered and I gave it a try. The dishes I have tried were the japanese pan noodles with steak and the bangkok curry with pork. I don’t want to get into details as I feel I may just come off as ornery but suffice it to say the flavors were bland and predictable and the vegetables undercooked.
I don’t believe I will ever ever return. The success of these type of restaurants could be the source of an interesting philosophical discussion on what people expect from their food, what are common food standards of homemade dishes, etc.

This is my favorite Noodles location. It’s right down the road from where I live and SO convenient. I just pick up the phone, make my order, drive down the road and my food is ready for pick up! The whole process takes less than 10 minutes during peak lunch hour. There’s no place as simple as this and you still got hot delicious food.
I always get the spaghetti with braised pork. I love the way they cook and season the pork to make it moist and flavorful. The spaghetti sauce is savory and just perfect. It’s really comfort food at its best.
Some reviewers did not have a pleasant experience which I find strange. Most of my visits, I’ve been greeted by friendly staff who are super efficient and get me what I needed right away. Love it, keep it up!

Here and Panera are my go to places to pick up food on the way home. They’ve got great asian noodles and awesome salads. The soups are good too, and its easy to wait a couple minutes for food or order online to easily pick up. Big fan of the Penne Rosa, Greek Salad, and Japanese Pan noodles. I’m sure the american style dishes are delicious as well, but they always look overwhelmingly rich to me.

I know other people have had some less-​than-​pleasant things to say about this location, but it is my absolute favorite N&C location in the Madison area. First, the staff is über-​friendly, helpful, and smiley. Every time I go, at least one of the staff members talks to me at my table to make sure I’m enjoying my meal.
Second, this location puts lots of sauce on their dishes, so I’ve never had a flavorless meal here. If you know anything about me, you’ll know I love sauce (see the tagline on my profile). I’m especially a fan of the Indonesian Peanut Sauté with Tofu and the Penne Rosa with Shrimp.
Third, this location is very convenient for me — right along University so is between my home and downtown.

Ive been to at least 4 Noodles and Co in Madison and this takes the winner as the worst location oft the bunch. As one of the previous reviews stated, this Noodles and Co is dirty. I stopped in during non peak hours on a Thursday (2:30). There were about 5 people there total, however, a few tables remained uncleaned for the entire time I dined inside which was about a good 30 minutes. They didn’t seem understaffed and there wasn’t a rush of customers. I am not sure why tables couldn’t be cleaned during this time.
I order the large Steak Stroganoff as I always do. My food was delivered to me fast, yet, was barely warm and my steak was a bit dry and overcooked. It was almost as if I got the bottom ends of the steak in the pot or however they keep the food until someone order it. My food wasn’t good. I ate it because I was hungry and went without lunch for the day.
Majority of the staff seems to be college students and younger so I am not expecting the finest food in the world but even for a place like Noodles, I am not sure how you mess up a simple order to where its barely warm.
One last note, I noticed the dude who took my order hands were disgusting. Fingers nails were dirty. I hope he didn’t cook my food. That should have been my first sign to leave.
I am a believer in 2^nd chances but I will skip out on this Noodles location in the future.

This Noodles is close to work, and I have eaten lunch or ordered carry out from this location 25 times in the last 2 years. Service is always prompt, food is good quality, and they’ve only goofed up my carry out twice. The second time I had ordered a med salad with grilled chicken only to find no chicken when I got back to the office. I called and the manager made it right with me by sending 2 free Noodles bowl gift certificates via email. Pretty happy with the way they conduct business, and will continue to eat there. Clean tables and washrooms as well.

Fast, delicious, cheap, but not yet perfect.
Pros:
+Fast, freshly prepared food (I haven’t had to wait more than 10 – 12 minutes after ordering in 3 visits so far)
+Food quality is good, it’s quite delicious, but not «to die for» ;)
+Nearly all entrees are $ 5−7/plate, which is a great deal for the quality: quantity of food
+Not crowded by the college crowd
+friendly waitstaff (for a corporate chain, it’s always nice when the people serving you are happy and kind)
Cons:
–Tables have been sticky, even though they’ve been cleared, which isn’t fun cleaning your own table via water from the drink machine and napkins.
–Crowded by the middle-​class family with young children crowd – always seems to be a single mother or small family with one or two uncontrollable children (in additional to their other little ones). If you’re looking to find playdates for your kids, maybe this is a plus, but otherwise this isn’t why I go out to eat.
–No wifi (this is a silly negative, I realize, but the other N&C locations I’m used to, offer wifi, this one has a password if it even is on, which is ¹⁄₃ times so far)
Neutral (but random)
I’ve seen cops eating here ³⁄₃ times so far, with their significant other while on duty. Depending on your perspective, that’s either a pro or a con, but I think it’s just slightly random, and a little weird, but good on them for finding ways to spend time with their loved one (s).
If you’ve eaten at one N&C shop, you’ll be familiar with the food (even though I live in WI now, and it just seems weird that even in WI, they call it «Wisconsin Mac & Cheese»…), but I would

I love eating at Noodles. The food is delicious, and the service is quick. The only complaint is that this particular location is often times dirty. I mean, really dirty. A lot of families bring their kids, which just means that the place gets messy… and then it stays that way. At least a couple of times now I’ve gone in there and have had to literally stand and look at each table until I found one that was cleaned (this happened today, which is why I’m writing this – in hopes that they might be better about it in the future). The entire time we were there eating, nobody came out to clear all the dirty plates. It was sort of gross (but fun to watch other people play musical chairs, as well, haha). Weirdly, I think it happens usually when the place is slow. When there are lots of people, they’re good about it, but I guess when they’re not too busy they just wait until there are very few tables available before they do a sweep of the whole place.
Anyway, I still think this place is great – the food is better than the Mineral Point location, in my opinion.

Clean restaurant, great service, great noodles… what more can you ask for from a Noodles & Company? We enjoyed our meals and would visit again.

It was getting late and I had a race the next morning — needed something simple and quick — specifically of the carbohydrate variety. I went with a pretty safe (read plain) option; penne noodles, tomato sauce, parmesan cheese, and sauteed mushrooms. Points for fresh ingredients and efficient service but this is definitely not «inventive» food; this is a quick service restaurant chain — definitely not typical fast food, but not an upscale Italian restaurant.
I’ll certainly eat at a Noodles and Company again (we go way back) but it is always when I’m looking for something quick, simple, and casual.