Noodle Works — Restaurant in Albuquerque

My husband and I have ordered from this place a few times. I noticed that the food always had very little meat each time. I wanted to give them a another shot. A few days ago we decided to order the same "chicken in garlic" dishes but pay additional and order extra meat. We also ordered pot stickers for the first time. I had my husband pick up the food and when he brought it home I and I opened up the box I noticed that there seemed to be the same amount of chicken as last time if not less! I thought they must have made a mistake so I took a photo of it. It was really late and we were very hungry. So we decided to eat it. I also noticed the pot stickers were burnt. I tried half of one and then threw the rest away. Today, I decided to go in, (it was completely empty, during lunch hour) and let them know what had happened. I told the "manager" that I wanted to reorder the chicken dish but this time I wanted to for sure have the extra meat. I was not trying to get my moneyback but simply have the dish I wanted. I didn't mind paying for it. However, to my surprise he took a look at my receipt and photos on my phone and argued with me. He did not apologize or thank me for coming back or be at all professional. Then another employee, who had a broom in his hand and was busy sweeping decided it would be a good idea to jump in our conversation. He came up and into my face and reached for my phone, and yanked my phone out of my hand looked at the photo and started arguing with me saying that those pieces were not burnt and that my camera took a bad shot. I grabbed the phone back and pulled up another photo still showing the burnt food and that it was not a bad angle. The two employees started to argue with me at the same time. No one asked him for his help and I felt very threated at this point. Half of the pot stickers were burnt and half were not. He tried to say that that is how they are suppose to look. I said, "then why does the other half look, "raw" if that is cooked, and that must not be cooked. Which one is it"?" He had nothing to say. They tried to tell me it was "crispy" They started to gang up on me. The young boy "Nathan" was so rude and started rolling his eyes at me and waving his head and hands at me. At this point I said, "never mind I never want to order from you ever again." This is so unprofessional and I have never experienced this ever. I asked for a manager and that was when I discovered that the one I was speaking with was the manager. At this point Nathan was very loud with me screaming at me. The manager waived his hand at Nathan signaling him to go away. I asked for the main person/owner or someone else because clearly this person was not capable of handling the situation. He said he would take my number down and Brian or someone would call me. I told him I had never experienced anything like this before and that I had worked in restaurants in the past and this is not how you handle a situation like this. Then Nathan who was still sweeping decided to walk back up to me in a threatening way and started yelling at me again saying "yeah tell my boss to fire me. My name is Nathan. I have worked in 100s of restaurants 100s!! It was very chaotic to go there. Nathan appeared to be very young, maybe in his early 20s. Somehow he has worked in 100s of restaurants maybe he gets fired a lot. The most unprofessional service I have ever experienced. If you want to eat only veggies it is a great place, Bad service though. if you want "crispy/burnt pot stickers it is also a great...

Noodle Works is our number one, go to. We LOVE everything that it has to offer.

Short review: AMAZING food, bold flavors. Lovely staff and clean, pleasant restaurant with lunch specials.

Long Review: The food, from what I can tell, is more authentic than your average Panda Express (which we also love! for different reasons). The flavors are really interesting and bold: Sichuan peppercorn, spicy cumin, ginger, all-spice? Not sure all the different kinds or combos, but it is all delicious.

The noodles are SO good. The dumplings and wontons are also my favorites. You can tell they are hand made and made well. The wonton soup is one of my favorite dishes. It has little shrimp in it that give it such a nice umami taste.

The permanent staff/management are all so kind and funny. Very friendly! I always have a ton of questions or requests and they kindly answer or oblige.

The rotating wait staff has been hit or miss... but we had SUCH a lovely server yesterday. She was truly one of the best they have had. Service does not affect reviews for me since it is about the food and management. You can't control every single person's actions or words.

The dining space itself is really nice. It is open, not crowded. Clean and they have a TV that places beautiful scenery that me and my husband watch. I also remember one time, they had a kid in the restaurant and put on cartoons for her. Very sweet staff.

IMO, this is a must go if you are in ABQ and like trying new foods. It has transformed from "new food" to "regular food" in my diet!!

This is the first time I have taken a photo because I dig in too fast usually. Hopefully...

We were very excited to come here and try it out - and we did awhile ago - so this review is the last experience and today's lunch.

Last time we were blown away - the food was flavorful and delicious- we kept comparing it to other local places around town and both enjoyed noodleworks better...well, my fiance did.

I believe the best way to accomplish the best is with consistency- maybe the problem is that noodle works needs more help - more servers. Better communication? Rely less on computers to print things correctly and check on the food - make sure things are going through and coming out ON TIME.

USUALLY the food comes out quickly and efficiently- today, however, my fiance had to wait our whole meal for his food and then in turn we spent about an hour and a half here. Fortunately, for us - costumer service is not lost - we received a 10% off our order for the issue. Which was very nice of them, we are grateful.

Foodwise, with a bit of chili oil - it is very good. Fresh and well-made. I have high hopes for the future to hit that epiphany again - to feel like you are walking on clouds when you bite into the equally fluffy char Sui buns...instead of picking the eggrolls to pieces with upset fingers waiting for an entree for what feels like eternity.

Overall * * * stars. I hope for better...