Pasta Buckets — Restaurant in Waite Park

We tried them out recently. Unsure of what to get, we went with the Alfredo, penne and hot sausage. Our thought was we make a pretty kickarse spaghetti or red sauce ourselves and as to Alfredo we went against the normal chicken.

Very good! The sausage was outstanding. Had a garden salad, also very crisp, good, excellent. All good.

Next day I finished the leftovers. There was a bit more pasta than the other things but that could be on us and I did find when I had the last bit of pasta without anything with it, I felt it pretty flavorless and so I think the sausage, bites of salad, etc. was where the flavor had come from.

Service was great! Food was hot and fresh, there is no inside seating, I couldn't tell from the reviews I had read but there isn't.

As far as review stars on atmosphere, there really isn't atmosphere because again no seating, etc. but the guy taking the order at the counter was great.

We will go back and try something else, and what we had was GOOD but again I realized next day pasta and sauce were not overly flavorful once I was eating some by itself. That sausage though, YUM. IT is casing sausage, NOT ground sausage. Juicy, plump, awesome.

They are a chain by the way, I think I saw someone say independently owned small business. Look it up, they are not the only one that exists.

Still, very good, however one does pay a fair price too.

All in all, I would go again but it is not something I'd get every day. We shall see.

There are not many pasta options in St. Cloud. So right there is a plus.

And that sausage...

Don't let word "buckets" throw you off. It almost made my family pass on reading the reviews and menu!

It is important to support family owned operations. I get it - sometimes when traveling to unknown places, the major food chains can give one a sense of trust that the food will be up to certain standards, the price will be competitive, etc.

It is so nice to find a family owned restaurant like Pasta Buckets.

We ordered the family meal deal (it says "serves 3 to 5 and they are correct) order of 2 lbs of pasta (with the garlic bread, salad, and cookies) - One: Penne with their meat sauce. The other Penne with Alfredo sauce. (We ordered four sausages as well).

As New Yorkers, we can be really snotty about Italian food (You can't throw a stone and not hit a good Italian restaurant where we come from - not to mention just great home cooked Italian meals as a norm). The meatballs were phenomenal, and the alfredo sauce was one of the best we have tasted. The portions were perfect for the hungry five of us. Excellent price for the quality and quantity of food.

We dealt with Jesse (I hope I am spelling his name correctly). What a kind, well spoken, and helpful person. From what we can tell, these people take their business seriously and I hope that my review helps people find Pasta Buckets and patronizes a well-run...

First thing I noticed when I walked in was the smell of really old over heated oil that made me wonder if the place had been cleaned. When I walked to the front one of their staff was on the phone taking a big order. Apparently the customer didn't like the price and backed out. The staff member then proceeded to cuss out loud multiple times within earshot of me. I went through the menu and looked at the options all of which seemed over priced. I looked at the bucket sizes and decided to give it a shot. Prep was quick and the staff even came out to check if I wanted the side of chicken on the pasta. The bread was lack luster, not bad but a little tough. The pasta was well cooked and sauce a good consistency but was nothing to write home about. The worst part was the portions. Pasta is a cheap ingredient but the mac and cheese personal I ordered was less than half full of pasta. I paid $20 for the bucket with added chicken. I would have valued the whole thing at $10 maybe. Very disappointing.

Ways to improve Price pasta appropriately Add some seasoning like pepper and garlic to the mac and cheese sauce Lighter seasoning on the chicken Clean the...