Noodles & Company

Noodles & Company is a casual fast food eatery chain that offers different types of noodle dishes from around the world.

San Diego hosts a couple of locations, including one inside the UTC mall. I previously visited once and tried the Pad Thai noodles, but wasn’t very impressed. However, I have been meaning to come back to try the macaroni and cheese and Mediterranean noodle dishes after several readers told me that those are much better.

As luck would have it, I was offered two free vouchers to check out Noodles & Company. So one tired Sunday evening, FH and I went to carbo load on pasta.

You place your order at the counter and then they bring the food out. We decided to take our food to go. We waited a few minutes, and then a cheerful employee brought out our food in a big brown paper bag.

Truffle mac with baby portabellas (signature mac and cheese sauce spiked with white truffle oil, sauteed baby portabella mushrooms, and topped with Parmesan cheese and house-made toasted breadcrumbs)

I was immediately hit with the truffle oil aroma as soon as I opened up my bag. The macaroni sauce was creamy without being too cheesy.  The portabella mushrooms paired well with the truffle oil. The toasted breadcrumbs added a nice finished touch to this dish.

Pesto Cavatappi (Curly pasta, basil pesto, garlic, mushrooms, tomato, wine, cream, parmesan and Italian parsley)

I’m in love with pesto and anything green, so even though I enjoyed the mac n cheese, I preferred this bowl of pasta. The curly shaped noodles was an added bonus. The pesto wine cream sauce was light, clinging to each noodle piece.

Overall, we liked both noodle bowls. While you can’t expect this to be at the quality of pasta served at a nice restaurant, it is a great option when you are looking for something fast. I think the prices are reasonable, the menu selection quite large, and the portions are just right. I personally would stick with the American and Mediterranean choices.