Pasta Press — Restaurant in Boulder

We reviewed initially via email link from receipt. Received an unapologetic reply from PastaPress-defending the meal, and snarking we did not review correctly. We're sorry! I'll include that correponspondence below, and their reply. Rachel asked 'what can we do to make it better?" (since she felt we were wrong in our opinion)…but Rachel clearly assumed ..ha, nothing!!, as her email was from a No-reply address. Now,, this just seems insincere. Normally wouldn't make the effort to post all this, but that response was worse than if you just didn't respond at all. The meal was so bad, but to be scolded in response, now that I just couldn't oblige.😉

Here's the thread, and what we tried to respond, that bounced.

Your Feedback shared on August 22, 2025 NEGATIVE: Food quality Comment: First carbonara was dry, with maybe 5 pieces of meat. Staff remade, that was saucy but absolutely flavorless. Tasted like thin, liquid egg product warmed and tossed with pasta. No fat, no salt,no cheese (except little cup ) pretty awful

Email reply from PastaPress: Hello, You'll be happy to know we do in fact, include fat, salt, and A LOT of cheese in our egg sauce made from scratch in-house. It is, of course, also egg-based -- we use the traditional recipe from Italy. On top of which we include another ounce of in-house grated cheese we import from Italy. It sounds like the team fixed their mistake but you chose to reveiw the one made incorrectly. What else would you like us to do to make this better for you? Thank you, Rachel.

Our response, which could not be submitted since Rachel just have forgot to add a valid email to respond:

Thank you for responding, Rachel! You stated we "chose" to review the first dish? Oh! Absolutely not. We reviewed the remake. And It was totally flavorless. We are 2nd Gen Italian, my email name is shortened, but my last name is 13 letters of juicy Italian.

We are truly sorry for incorrect review. It seems you may have misread, we did say the remake as flavorless. There was no cheese in the sauce. Pecorino or parmigiana, whichever you use, is pretty distinctive, and was noticably absent. As that review was unfavorable, we'd like another chance to make it up! 😀 As for the original dish offered, When I inquired kindly, 'Is it always supposed to be this dry"? The staff said, "I'm not sure, let me read the recipe. "... 🫨 Sooo, draw your own conclusions there. Let the record correct, the first order was cold and claggy with no sauce, no mouthfeel, still no cheese flavor and peekaboo pancetta) I omitted reviewing it, since staff took it away while my companions ate, leaving me sitting awkwardly while staff remade it. I spared mentioning the first order and service, but since you defended it, I'm glad you brought it up! So, remake...No mouth feel, so no pancetta fat. It was a thin, watery egg sauce, reminiscent of pasteurized egg product. Perhaps the staff, clearly unfamiliar with recipe, over-added pasta water. And omitted fat. Oh, and cheese. And flavor. Oops! We *do know the traditional recipe, but thanks for the reminder. Not sure your tradition, Rach, but ours has cheese. And pancetta fat, oh, and pancetta! (Or guanciale) and real eggs and yolks. My father in law had pronounced yours "Madigan"!!! Which is colloquial Italian for "American", and distasteful American at that. We laughed, but. Yeah. Madigan. We ended up at Boulderado Hotel to eat after this: effectively paying for an evening meal twice, to make sure we were fed satisfactorily. What could you do to make it better? Whelp, I guess that was rhetorical, per the no-reply email, 😅and the markedly unconcerned tone, buuut, you could refund the meal, and/or consider *not insulting your customer or defending a poor experience. Or, you *could acknowledge or even consider that just maybe your staff may not have been on top of how to prepare the dish that night, and apologize. In fact, an apology for poor food and service experience, was distinctly omitted from your reply.

Sincerely, Italian Colorado natives, 2nd Gen of...

Oh this is absolutely the most wonderful concept for Italian I have ever seen. Noodles and Company doesn’t even come close. I came on June 12, 2025 to try their small “Bimi” bowls and came back on June 13th, 2025 as I was impressed enough to try a full meal.

On The Food

The noodles are made to perfection. Having been to Italy on vacation a number of times, this is truly the closest I have ever gotten in Boulder to good tasting Al Dente noodles. The photo I have presented is the Gricia which is about 35%-50% consumed. The guanciale was crispy and perfect in every way, the pecorino is also wonderful.

On the Service The people who work here are doing a fantastic job. When I went on the 13th, there were three extremely hard working people. The owners are hopefully treating these people well. The fun part is watching the workers go about their tasks.

On the Atmosphere

While a relatively small location, it gives the appearance of a hip and trendy fast-casual chain restaurant for young adults such as noodles and company. The single bathroom is nice and modern for a fast-casual restaurant. The music isn’t too loud either.

Drawbacks

The only drawback here is the wooden fork with which I ate my meal.

Conclusion

This is a fantastic dining concept that rivals Noodles and Company. While slightly more expensive, one must remember that it is Boulder and that the ingredients here are quality ones. I will happily...

Ordered from the website once but never got my food and they wouldn't give me a refund for a $100+ order. When I ordered online I clicked the 'delivery' option, but immediately after placing the order realized they weren't actually doing delivery and forced it into pickup without any notifications. I called them as soon as I realized to cancel, but they would not answer. I called them constantly over the next ~45 min and even left them voice messages, but they never called back. Finally, around 10 min after they had closed, they called me back asking me where I was and had quite a bit of attitude. I told them I had been calling for 45 min trying to cancel, but no one would answer, at which point they were complaining about what they were supposed to do with all this food with a lot of attitude again, and saying 'well I guess we'll just eat it then.' They said they would refund me, but never actually gave the refund, and apparently ate the food that I had paid for. Never ordering from here again, incredibly unprofessional and rude staff, and they essentially stole $100+ from me.

edit: Yes, please issue a refund as you initially said you would. This is EXACTLY what I told you on the phone. At no point did I say I 'didn't want to pay for an uber', I stated pickup would not be possible with the expected travel time, as you were already closed for ~10 min by the time you...