Mainely Noods — Restaurant in Portland

This review is based solely on my experience and opinion:

me and my colleagues went to the Mainely Noods on 6/29/21.

Be aware, this is NOT a fast food restaurant, by any mean. if you decide to come dine here, make sure you ha e time for it. we did not know that and we ended up get back to work later than planned. Also, if you get there and you see a lot of people, just turn around as you might have a chance not to be served at all (appened to my friend).

FOOD: in this place you literally buil your own noodle soup... you choose the ingredients and that is exactly what is going to be in your noodle soup. now, if you have no clue of what you are choosing to be in your soup (which was my case) you end up with with a Noodle soup that has a weird/bad taste. for those of us who picked up the right ingredients, the soup tasted good. pretty much everything is prepared/cooked in real time, so fresh. they have a small refrigerator for the drinks, with a very limited choice and everything is very sugary (exeption made for the water, of course).

STAFF: the boy and the two girls working there are nice, but too young and inexperienced to run a place like that. They really try their best to get you a good meal, but they are too inexperienced. They did not warn us of the preparation time, so we needed up being late for work. Also, they have no clue of what are the right ingredients to make your noodle soup taste right/good. they are not able to advise or help, they just take the order, prepare and serve. If you wanna go, make sure you have a certain recipe in mind. last but not least, they are not organized... some of us never got all the ingredients we ordered and some of us got different ingredients in their soup. we did not complain as we understood that they are young folk trying to make some bucks.

PLACE: the place is small, very small and is not clean or neat. at some point all of us realized that our table was sticky and sort of greasy to the point that my shirt sleeves got stuck. I told one of the girl that the table was sticky and greasy and she goes "Sir, I assure you that I cleaned the table, they are cleaned, as for the stickiness...it is just the way they are" guess what, two of us got a oil/grease stain on the bottom of our sleeve.

PRICE: it is not cheap as one would think, check the prices before you go. the "Add what you like" system can get you a pretty big check.

CONCLUSION: the place has potential but as of now, inexperience is...

The cashier with the bandana and braids working today, 9/29 was so rude to me when I came in, and I have no idea why. Maybe because I couldn’t hear her well but I am literally hard of hearing, I wasn’t rude I just said the same thing two maybe three times no attitude at all I just know I don’t always hear things so that’s not a knee jerk reaction to me, I wanted to make sure I was paying, and I didn’t see her scan a drink and she had a mask muffling her voice; so by the time I realized she was saying that she got the drink in the total she was snapping at me, she talked too fast and quiet when it was loud in the place, for me to hear, after that it was condescension. I was already having horrible day but she was the tip of the iceberg. She was short with me, impatient, unwelcoming even in how she was asking for my ID - she had a very demanding tone imagine the most condescending. “OKAY and IM GOING TO NEED SOME ID”, I’d just asked for the drink I was getting out my ID. As if I was about to not give it. After that interaction I felt super low, I tried to brush it off and enjoy my meal but she kept watching, like we were doing something wrong for being in there, the whole time during our meal, I felt like “what did I do wrong?”, she even went and changed the music on the one song we were obviously trying to enjoy; we began talking about it and she was standing right in front of us. The way she turned toward it after we were speaking on it looked it felt very intentional. She put a song back on that had just played two song before. I left this establishment in full blown tears because I drove 35 minutes to have one good piece of my day, having a terrible day and her treatment toward me was out of pocket and uncalled for, I did nothing to her, I was completely shocked by it. My friend saw this too, I wasn’t mean or rude to her at all. I don’t plan on going back and I loved this place, but I’d now sooner drive to...

For years, my route home has been graced by the modest exterior of Mainely Noods. Its unassuming presence had faded into the backdrop of my daily commute until one day, curiosity prevailed, and I decided to finally venture in.

The moment I stepped in, the door handle gave way - an inauspicious start, I thought, as a wave of concern washed over me. I questioned my decision, anticipating a mediocre dining experience at best.

However, my initial apprehension quickly dissolved upon the warm reception from the Mainely Noods staff. Despite the vast array of options on the menu that left me feeling somewhat overwhelmed, the restaurant's friendly and knowledgeable team seamlessly guided me through their offerings, making thoughtful suggestions that catered to my palate.

I eventually settled on their Ramen with braised pork and 5 spice broth, along with Udon in a comforting peanut sauce. As I dove into the bowls, the unexpected happened - each spoonful of the Ramen was a revelation. The robustness of the 5-spice broth, paired with the tender braised pork, was nothing short of a culinary triumph.

The Udon, too, was a delightful surprise. The peanut sauce was smooth and rich, beautifully complementing the chewy noodles. Each bite was a testament to the careful balance of flavors that Mainely Noods had managed to perfect.

To say Mainely Noods exceeded my expectations would be a gross understatement. It is a rare gem that marries humble beginnings with an extraordinary dining experience. The broken door handle incident, rather than foretelling a letdown, had instead opened the door to an unexpected culinary journey – one I wish I'd embarked upon much sooner.

In the end, the charm of Mainely Noods is not just in its delicious food but also in its ability to turn initial skepticism into hearty recommendations. I can only urge you not to make the same mistake I did. Don't just drive by; make a stop at Mainely Noods –...