Noodles and Company — Restaurant in Provo

Was in the mood for some comfort food. Mac and cheese came to mind. Remembered seeing this place on multiple food ordering apps and it popped in my head. You would think a restaurant with the word “noodle” in their name would know how to make Mac and cheese. It was the blandest, most near-vomit-inducing mac I’ve ever had at a restaurant. It was simply comprised of rubbery flavorless worms with runny “cheese water“ festering at the bottom, topped with a pathetic measly teaspoon of what might as well have been some Walmart-brand bagged shredded cheese. The dish primarily tasted like nothing, if not disgusting. That “Walmart cheese” was the only saving grace of my meal—both on the garlic bread and on the mac; it was the only part of the meal that had any flavor. (Too bad little ratatouille was apparently in charge of adding the shredded cheese tonight, given the minuscule portion on my mac.) Even though a picture of a plain mac and cheese dish is shown on the Uber Eats app, I now realize that regulars would probably almost always opt for one of the meat/sauce options to top their dish, because it’s almost inedibly bad plain. I know negative reviewers always say they’d give 0 stars if they could, but the prep was fast and accurate, and I was in and out of the restaurant as fast as I wanted to be. The food, despite being mostly flavorless, seemed to be made of fresh ingredients. So, I have no problem with the employees—just whoever decided their Mac and cheese recipe as it stands is acceptable under a restaurant name with the word “noodle” in it. I tried one of their cookies (snoodle doodle?) which, other than for its initial taste at the start of each bite, would’ve been really good. But it was ruined with these clashing toffee pieces sprinkled throughout (The toffee part of the description must’ve been cut off in my app when I ordered the cookie.) I keep wanting to branch out beyond the more mainstream chains like Wendy’s and Jimmy John’s but i keep getting disappointed and...

Look. I love the food that is served here. However, the service that I got tonight was beyond unprofessional. As we walked in, 15 minutes before they closed, the person behind the grill said, "tell them no and to go away." We then awkwardly ordered. We asked if we could add chicken to something and another girl said, "tell them we don't have chicken or that the grill is closed." The other girl then said that they didn't have chicken and stared at us for a few seconds with a rude face. We then ordered our food, without chicken, and waited. It came out quickly, but the girl handed it to me and said "have a good night" in a snarky tone and face.

I love noodles and co. Usually. Tonight was not a great experience in the customer service aspect and made me feel awkward being in there. I get the annoyance it can be to have to serve people 15 minutes before close, but there were already other people eating in there, and I know from past experience the grill is always open till 10. Seems like they cared more about getting out of there than being a friendly service provider.

Update: I went back 2 weeks later and the same girl who made the snarky comments (who's name is Emily) ignored us when we first walked in and when a coworker called her name to let her know we were there, Emily rolled her eyes, nodded her head, and came to help us with sass in her voice and a look of dread in her face. Literally the worst costumer service ever. We came in with enough time before close, were kind, ordered quickly, and kept a smile on our face the whole time. Emily needs to be fired or retrained on how to have good...

I order from Noodles and Company's quick pick up service online every once in a while as I work not too far from there. The food isn't bad, it is about what you would expect from a quick service pasta place. Mostly, I get the Med Salad with chicken pretty regularly, and it is good. It is a cold salad with lettuce and vegetables plus some cold pasta tossed in with a pretty tasty, if a little too thick, dressing. The only issue I have with this place is the consistency. Specifically, when I have ordered the salad (which runs about $12 after tax right now with the chicken added), the amount in the to-go bowl varies widely. A handful of times, I have gotten a reasonable or good amount while other times, like today, the bowl is maybe halfway full. Even if it was filled a bit more with the lettuce, I would feel like I am getting my money's worth. But, on days like today, I feel a little bit cheated.

In the end, my guess is there is a bit of a training issue on both the cook and quality staff's part. The guy who looked at my order and handed it to me should have taken a second to look at the bowl and recognize that it did not have enough in it and get it dealt with. Then again, he probably just wanted the order off the table and to move on to the next thing. But it would be great if the staff kept this in mind when getting the orders ready.

As for other foods I would recommend, we do also enjoy the Buffalo Chicken Mac as well as the BBQ...