Noodles & Company

During a recent lunchtime, they were very understaffed. Tables were not cleared or wiped, food sat at the counter without being delivered. It seems poorly-​managed.

As much as I actually kinda dig noodles & co, this one serves the smallest portions I have seen (like honestly half what is standard) no one seems to bus tables even when it was virtually empty and the potstickers didn’t look anything like potstickers. The service was good though. And parking is available.

Took my 90 year old aunt for lunch last Monday (⁶⁄₂). We arrived at 12:35pm & they were very busy. Half the tables were occupied & the other half were dirty with dishes, glasses, silverware, etc. When we placed our order, the clerk asked if we wanted to eat there or take our order «To Go». I asked if the unoccupied tables would be cleaned & she said «No — there was no one assigned to clean tables» so we cleaned our own table. The food was okay but we won’t go back. You would think that there would be someone to clean tables during the noon rush!

Woo! Noodles!
The best in the «fast food disguised at a sit-​down restaurant» category.
Because it is. Fast food, that is. And there’s nothing wrong with that.
Sometimes you need to eat fast. Sometimes you just want to get your food and stuff your face in the privacy of your own home. Sometimes you’re in a hurry and need to eat in your car while speeding to your next commitment. Fast food definitely has it’s place. Plus, it’s usually pretty cheap.
Anyhow, I stand by my claim that Noodles is the best fast-​food place out there. It’s tasty, filling, not greasy, relatively inexpensive, and there’s something for everyone on the menu.
They have yet to mess up any of my orders here, whether placed online or in person. And 99% of the time, I get it to go, so I’m fairly impressed with their attention to detail. The employees are helpful and friendly, and this location is always clean. Now if I could only avoid the traffic in the area, which consists of soccer moms in their SUVs hell-​bent on getting to Target and don’t seem to care about things like «their own lane» or «red» lights…
The best dish? Indonesian Peanut Sauté. Get it with no sprouts. They’re nasty and annoying, and the dish is better without them.
That is all I have to say about this Noodles.

Love the truffle Mac!

I was a little disappointed that they had more than just noodles on the menu, but I was happy to see the different kinds of noodles. The food was good, exactly what I expected. The service was friendly. We kept having people ask us if we needed anything while we were sitting at the table. And the soda machine! OMG! Sorry, but I was in love with the amount of choices available. Hello, strawberry flavored Sprite.

This is the second time I’ve tried Noodles & Co., and I remembered why I didn’t like it the first time. We went here because my friend wanted to go, but really — I see no reason to come back. We ordered potstickers, which were decent enough but nothing special. Served on a bed of pretty useless cabbage and with a watery sauce, they were alright. Passable at least.
Then I ordered pad thai. Mistake. The noodles were gummy and pretty much glued together into clumps. Then it appeared that they had been seared on a flat top. Really weird and not very tasty. The pad thai came with one tiny wedge of lime, one almost pathetic sprig of cilantro and no peanuts. I don’t need super authentic food from an Americanized chain that doesn’t even specialize in Asian, but this wasn’t even close.
My friend, for what it’s worth, ordered some curly noodles with pesto and seemed to enjoy it. So maybe I just ordered the wrong thing. Giving the benefit of the doubt and two stars instead of one for now. But next time I want Asian food, I’ll go to one of the many Asian restaurants on my All Things Asian list that serve authentic and delicious food.

I am a fan of Noodles and Company and frequent the Roseville location often but a few times in the past few months, I have been in this hood so we ate at this location instead.
The first time, I can not complain because it was when they first opened and I had a free meal for two. If I recall, it was consistent with the Noodles standard.
This last time I ordered online for take out. They totally messed up our order, giving us smalls when we paid for regular sizes. We didn’t notice until we got home so we most certainly were not going to head back over. Also, in my bowl of noodles, I had several stray noodles, an egg noodle, and a spaghetti noodle when it should have only been macaroni noodles. The tomatoes in my dish were huge chunks, not the well chopped little pieces of tomato you normally see.
My guess is it was close to closing time and they were in a hurry, so they were not careful enough and got sloppy.
I love Noodles salads and pastas and I will continue to visit, but probably not this location. Maybe it was just an off night for them.

Whoa!
Like Gary B. I had a coupon for a free meal. Honestly, I would have paid for this meal.
I hadn’t been to Noodles in quite a while, but a friend and I walked down the street to check this place out. The coupon was good for any meal free on the menu. I chose the trio — one pasta, one protein and a salad. I also picked up a DC and a Rice Krispy Treat.
We ordered and sat down. The place was packed with people. I guess the low carb revolution is over? My food came and it was good — cavatappi with pesto, a chicken breast and a cucumber tomato salad with red onion. The pasta was hot, the chicken was good perfectly and the salad was delicious and refreshing. It was nice to see a different option for salads instead of lettuce and crap. The DC was good and bubbly, but the Rice Krispy Treat and was kind of dry and mealy. It needed more butter and marshmallow, but I didn’t need it anyway.
If i were in the area and someone suggested it, I would go here again, but I would not seek it out.

First off: I went there because I got a free meal coupon in the post announcing their brand-​new location next to Target on University and Hamline. I figured «what the heck… free!». That said, even if I had paid for the meal I would have considered it pretty good. If I could give fractions, I’d say around 3.75 would be warranted.
I had the «regular» bowl with Japanese seasoning and steak. The noodles were well cooked, but could have been a bit more «slippery». Yeh, I know that’s a hard thing to quantify but if you’ve eaten noodles IN Japan, you know what I mean. Seasoning was nice and spicy. More Thain than Japanese, though. Vegetables were spot on! Nice and crispy. The ever-​difficult-​to-​cook broccoli was a brilliant green — a sure sign of proper preparation.
In an interesting side note… the restaurant was being used as a «beta» for a new kitchen layout. All the behind-​the-​grill workers were managers! I had a nice discussion with a person monitoring how things were going.
Bottom line: good place!