Noodles & Company

I always get the Pad Thai whenever I go to Noodles and it’s always delicious.
The staff is friendly and there is always plenty of room to sit down.
The last time I was there I received the wrong order, but the server quickly fixed their mistake and brought me a new plate.

This restaurant is supposed to be fast-​casual style so with that in mind, the food is going to lack in flavor as far as noodles and pasta go. I don’t know if this concept works for pasta and noodle dishes. The wait here wasn’t super quick either so it would have been the same at a sit down restaurant where they actually take the time to prepare your pasta/​noodle dishes.

I’ll get into the details of this specific location, but first the chain…
This chain wants be a restaurant, but wants to cater to the fast food market even more. In the end, I’m not really sure what you would call this sort of dining. Perhaps «college campus diner» or «Panera meets Sonic» is a better label for this style of dining? You order at a register like a fast food place, choose your own seating arrangement like a fast food place, but then wait for the server to bring you your food and bring you extras such as condiments like a restaurant. However, you don’t tip. So perhaps it’s a best of both worlds arrangement?
This location…
Decent for fast-​food. An above-​average seating area for fast food, and better than average service for fast food. The cashier, who also ended up bringing our food out to us, was polite and friendly. The tables were fairly well cleaned, and the location as a whole was clean, but the soda fountain service area was a wreck: little garbage can overflowing and lids everywhere.
1.) Japanese Pan Noodles. This is what I ordered. Everything in it was good, all of the veggies were fresh, and the dish was good for fast food standards. A couple drawbacks: the sauce is good and spicy, but a little too strong (too salty from the soy sauce) on a few bites. The noodles are supposed to be «caramelized» just a bit when they cook them. However the line cook must of confused this description for charred. Because about ¹⁄₁₀ of the noodles had thick burn marks on them. I have a feeling the cook doesn’t really know how to caramelize anything, so they just let them sit in the pan too long to burn. Still, most the dish was fine. The chicken I added to mine was pretty good. I was impressed that it was real pieces of chicken instead of processed chicken.
2.) Pad Thai. My wife loves pad thai, but she was not so happy with this dish. Unlike mine that had almost too much sauce, hers didn’t have enough. The noodles were good, and ingredients fresh, but the dish overall was very bland for her. The shrimp she added was good.
3.) Chicken noodle soup. My wife added this to her dish, and I tried it. It was pretty good, but not that much better than canned soup. The only difference is that the noodles and chicken were not as mushy as canned soup, so this is a little more fresh. Not nearly as good as Panera soups though.
Some other notes… the soda fountains are the newer, Coke-​owned ones with touchscreens. That’s nice to see. Also, they only have a few boots here, so if you’re a fan of cozy seats, grab one while you can. There were two booths open when we arrived, and I’m glad I grabbed one with our order number stand before getting our drinks, as the place picked up with more customers soon after. The prices for meat add-​ons varies a lot. Chicken is only $ 2.50, while Shrimp is around $ 4.

The Food: (Average)
There is nothing extraordinary about this food, however the taste is delicious and texture usually great. The noodles, vegetables, and soups are all satisfactory, however all fall short in some way. My favorite dish — and my new usual for lunch — is the Pesto Cavatappi, which has amazing flavors with a modest amount of calories.
The Atmosphere: (Average)
It is a fairly pleasant lunch environment with a clean dining room and outside lunch area. Although I would not recommend the restaurant for a date, it is not a bad choice for an affordable lunch with the work peeps.
The Price: (Excellent)
This is the part where Noodles & Company shines. For a decent lunch meal and drink, it is only about $ 6. Compared to other relatively healthy food options in the area (e.g. Fiddlehead, Starbucks, etc.), it offers the lowest price for a adequate lunch that is only around 400 calories. Also, considering they have the fancy soda machines that allow you choose from many many different flavors of your choice, the drink is worth the price.
The Service: (Below Average)
The cashiers/​waiters/​waitresses border between happy and complacent. I never felt like the staff was very personable or remotely concerned about how much I enjoyed the meal. On the other hand, they definitely are not rude either.
Overall: Good for a daily lunch of low-​ish calorie, good-​priced noodles.

My favorite place to eat in State College. I have probably been here 50x and I’ve loved it every time.
They have free wifi so its a great place to grab food alone and do some work. They’re always super fast & friendly!
The Penne Rosa is delicious and the Med Salad has an amazing spicy dressing! Best Tomato Basil in State College.
Tip: Get the smalls, they’re big enough to feed you if you add on a side salad or soup for only a dollar. You won’t spend more than ~5 bucks and you’ll be satisfied.

Underrated, decent food. But not the best food I’ve had around here.
My first visit was after a vigorous hardcore workout. So I was starving, everything tasted amazing and I ate far more than usual. I thought very highly of this place!
Gave it a second try. This time it wasn’t post workout. I got a more realistic taste of the food. It works in a pinch but overall, it’s just meh. If you want Asian food, go to an Asian restaurant. If you want Italian, go to an Italian place. Get the real deal. It costs the same, but tastes better. Noodles and co is basically fast food.

The Truffle Mac used to be the bomb but they don’t make that anymore. I tried the BBQ Pork Mac and it was so bad that I couldn’t finish it. This Noodle Co used to be great but I feel the quality has gone down during my last visit.

So I got another free bowl coupon in my email and had it for lunch today. Same thing but with parmesan crusted chicken. It wasn’t as good as the steak.
Also there was a slight mis-​taste in my dish. Like somebody drizzled lemon juice on it. Maybe it was too much white wine.
I also noticed a lot of appealing dishes today while I was staring at the menu.

Apparently this place is a chain establishment. If so, then I really am perplexed on how this place is still in business. Noodles and company serves up soup, salad, and various types of noodles. From pad thai to spaghetti, you really have a wide spectrum on what you can order. As far as the layout goes, it is very fast food-​esque in the sense that you do order up front. The difference is that they actually bring the food to your table. If you’re on the hungrier side, then you can opt for a combo, which includes a bowl of noodles and a side of soup for around $ 10.
I decided to order some beef stroganoff and a tomato bisque on the side. Now before I get into the specifics of each dish, this place is pretty gross overall. The tomato bisque wasn’t horrible, but it tasted right out of the can. Put some parsley and some pepper on a bowl of Campbells soup and you pretty much have the same thing. Now as far as the pasta goes, it was just pretty flat out disgusting. The meat in my pasta did not look nor even taste remotely close to how meat should. It literally looked like dry brown cardboard, and tastes pretty similar to cardboard as well. The sauce was just doughy and if you gave me a box of Hamburger Helper, I probably could make something that tastes better. Luckily this place is located in a college town, because 18 year old kids probably won’t even know the difference.
Overall, Noodles & Company is relatively overpriced for what you get. Save your $ 10 because I’d rather eat bread and water than come back to Noodles & Company.

Food took forever to make. When the food finally came, it looked like it only took 30 seconds to slap together.
i ordered the Mediterranean Gyro, they used a dried up flat-​bread that ripped in 2 pieces when it was folded.