Noodles & Company

Hey, not bad for fast food. I mostly come for the soup, the salad or the buff bowls, but occasionally I indulge in pasta or a sandwich. Today, I had the Bangkok curry buff bowl, which was actually what I was craving — — just a whole lot of lightly cooked fresh vegetables with a tasty sauce (and tofu). Not something you can usually find at a fast food restaurant. I’d rate that particular item a 4, but since this is a chain food restaurant, I just don’t feel I can go over a 3 star rating (out of principle). All of the others would be rated 1 or 2 star, except Chipotle, the only other one with some fresh options.

It’s never my idea to come here, but when you have kids that love the Mac and Cheese you have to give in every once in a while.
Almost 15 years ago when we first discovered Noodles, it was really good. It was a fresh new idea. Food was hot, freshly made, and tasty. Portioning was very much in line with cost. Fast forward to 2015, and it’s become an abomination. I literally haven’t had a really hot, fresh dish from there in a few years. It always comes out luke warm, pasty, nasty, and looked like it was cooked the day previous. The portions seem to get smaller by the month. Even the Mac and cheese my kids get is old. I realize they aren’t gonna cook pasta to order, but at least hit it in the boiling water for 10 seconds to heat it up. It’s not even hot enough to melt the shredded cheese on top.
The people behind the counter seem nice enough but they are all 16 years old. There just isn’t any proper management to oversee the operation. I remember being 16 and I probably wouldn’t have cared a lick about somebody else’s pasta.
Lastly, the pop dispenser. Awesome idea in theory. Absolutely terrible execution. Try to get anybody that’s not age 15 to 50 to use it and you’re in for a real treat. My kids love it. The 10 people waiting behind us while we try to get their choices right do not. And those that aren’t computer savvy or mechanically inclined look at it like its a robot from the future.
This could be a great restaurant if somebody just started caring. They don’t. The passion is gone and I don’t see it ever coming back. Yet they keep putting one or two in each new strip mall. Recockulous.

Noodles & Company — Cause Sometimes I Don’t Feel Like Cooking Dinner
I don’t really like eating at or reviewing chain restaurants but Noodles & Company is enough of a regular in our rotation that I feel obligated to report that it isn’t the end of the world. Nothing is amazing but I like the Bangkok Curry* enough (and it’s fairly low-​calorie) and my boyfriend always gets the Japanese Pan Noodles with a side of potstickers. I do like that they will customize most dishes by leaving out or adding things, and that nutritional info is readily available. I also like that they claim their tofu is organic and the pork is «naturally raised,» there are plenty of vegetarian options, and there is now GF pasta. I do not like that almost everything is microwaved, and that even though it is a new and unique take on fast food, it’s still bland, mass-​produced, Americanized fast food. But I can only blame myself — well, actually I blame my boyfriend — for continuing to give Noodles my business.
Noodles also offers soup, salads, and sandwiches, but I have never tried them. As an aside, I think the Unilocal categories of «Asian Fusion, Italian, and Comfort Food» do not really apply, but I find it amusing enough to leave it alone. This particular location on White Bear Ave sells bottled beer and has one of those fancy «make your own» fountain soda machines. We always get takeout so I can’t comment on dining in. Customer service has usually been fine/​OK. Sometimes there is a wait, sometimes it goes quickly. I will note that they have Sriracha readily available, which is important. There is a parking lot for you drivers and Noodles is on the 80 and 64 bus lines for us mass-​transportationers. It is near Maplewood Mall.
*it does not meet the definition of any sort of curry I am familiar with

A friendly staff and a clean restaurant would make this a much better experience. I was craving Pad Thai, and had a coupon for a free bowl for my birthday so I thought I’d give it a try. I think I’ve only eaten at Noodles & Company one other time over 5 years ago. I don’t remember what I ordered or if I liked it. I was bored one day and decided to sign up for all the birthday freebies I could find, hence the free coupon here.
I figured like any other place, there would be a lunch rush, so I waited until about 1:30pm to go in. There were two people ordering in front of me, and a few people waiting on the side. When it was my turn the cashiers attitude was the same as her co-​workers, stoic, unfriendly, just like robots. I wish there some enthusiasm or at least smiles. No one likes going to places where everyone hates their job. Makes me feel bad for making them work.
I went with an order of pot stickers and the Pad Thai with sauteed shrimp. Normally, I would go to an actual Thai restaurant for this dish, so my expectations were not high. I requested extra bean sprouts, which was an extra $ 1.25, and I’m pretty sure I only got about 5 extra strands. The total came to $ 14.01 without my coupon, $ 3.22 afterwards. Pretty spendy for lunch, good thing I spent an hour signing up for free birthday stuff a few months ago.
Then I waited, and waited, and waited. I sat down finally at a chair against a wall, set up for people like me who were waiting forever. I started to look around. There’s a lot of seating at this restaurant, with booths all along the walls. The décor was nice, modern, but it was dirty. There was so much garbage on the floor, and on the tables. I get that in the winter time there’s sludge people bring in from outside on the carpet, but this was trash. There were at least 5 workers in the front that I can see, and it was not busy, they could have cleaned up a bit.
My food finally came and I got out of there quick. The pot stickers had a good flavor, they looked crispy, but looks are deceiving. They were also flattened, like someone smashed the heck out of them with the spatula. Even though I liked the flavor, one was more than enough for me, the rest were dog treats. The Pad Thai was decent, but the shrimp was not sauteed, this is false advertising. These were small previously frozen shrimp. The noodles were cooked well, I liked the cilantro, and sprouts of course, but there was way too much shredded carrots in this bowl. However, with some much needed lime and sriracha, I got my fix.
I don’t think I would ever actually dine in the restaurant. I’d give this place another try though, the flavors are good, but I’d maybe go with the Mac and Cheese or Beef Stroganoff, seems like some safe dishes.

I have been here twice. Both times the wait was ridiculous. One cashier and a line out the door. I will not eat at this location again.

Solid food. But 15 min wait on a slow afternoon for a salad? The staff were ok. And the food is consistent. Employee A has been very nice and apologized for the wait, offering me a cookie. Employee B just had to ask me a question that made me want to turn around. Probably should probably wait for me to go out the door before asking your coworker «was she pissy».

I like it when businesses go above and beyond the call of duty, and tonight, the fellows at Noodles did just that!
I’m already a fan of Noodles and of this location. The food is consistent. They take special requests (I like the Indonesian peanut sauté, but with the whole grain noodles); they are friendly and fast… over and over again.
And then tonight, my husband wanted to surprise me for my birthday by having Noodles waiting for me when I got home (at 10:15pm, because I had missed dinner). It was 9:55pm, and the young men inside were mopping up. My husband thought it closed at 11pm, but it said 10pm. Only the 3 employees were inside. He peeked in and asked if they were still open. They could have said they were closed, but they enthusiastically said, «Yes!» and took his order.
This was probably an inconvenience, but if it was, they never let on. They gave wonderful service, acted like it was a pleasure, and the food was… as always, DELICIOUS!

I’m a big fan of Noodles & Co. because of their variety of food items and beverage choices. I really like to get the Indonesian Peanut dish, and I’ve tried a few other things here and liked them, too. Their pricing is really reasonable– my husband and I ate here for about $ 12. We had a large pasta dish and two small sides and a beverage. The service is good, and they have sriracha bottles everywhere.

3 stars because the prices are more expensive than I think they should be. We had dinner here Friday night and ended up paying over $ 30 for what is essentially noodles & sauce in a bowl.
For dinner we had: Pasta Fresca with parm. chicken breast, Pad Thai with shrimp, a bowl of spaghetti & meatballs for the youngin’, a small curry soup and a small tomato & cucumber salad.
It grinds my gears that they don’t offer kid’s portions. I mean, what kid doesn’t love mac & cheese or pasketti & meatballs?
All the pasta dishes were good, I enjoyed the pasta fresca a lot and the chicken was cooked well. Hubs seemed to enjoy the pad thai, I didn’t get to try much.
The service was very good. We had at least 3 people stop by our table to ask if we needed anything and bring us napkins and a water glass so we didn’t have to go up front for them.
Bonus points for the coke machine with all the flavors — I love that thing!

I clicked back and forth between the three and the four stars on this one.
I Like Noodles Food. I love their Pasta Fresca with Feta cheese. I love their pot stickers. And their mac & cheese is the ultimate winter comfort food.
That being said I hate going to Noodles. When I went for a noodles this week at lunch I had what I feel is a typical experience. I waited in line. I had to ask the order person to repeat himself over and over because the place is loud and he didn’t give a crap about his job so he didn’t try and make things easier. Then I sit and wait for my food to be prepared so i can take it out to my car to eat because it is VASTLY better to eat in my car than in their dining area. All I can think is they designed it to be loud and cold and uncomfortable to encourage diners to make a hasty retreat.
My ideal situation is to have someone go get me a noodles and bring it back to me. I occasionally had a co-​worker offer to get noodles for anyone who wanted it which was really nice. Of course by the time they got back the pasta was cold … but whatever. It is better than having to deal with them myself.
Add to that that it KILLS me to pay $ 6.00 for pasta with no meat. Are you kidding me? The cheapest food on the planet and you charge that?!? Of course then I take a bite and think — Yeah. You can have my $ 6.00.