Noodles & Company: Healthy Eating Option for Our Family (A Review)

You know how you can drive past a restaurant time and again, but not try it? I do this all the time. Our family is not adventurous when it comes to dining out. We stick to places we know.

I have driven past Noodles & Company in Columbia, Maryland, many times. I assumed it was a Chinese restaurant. We love Chinese food. I never knew that Noodles & Company had such a varied selection of dishes.

I had a chance to take my family to Noodles & Company last Wednesday night. Once I walked in I took in the restaurant vibe. It is a counter service restaurant where you order at the counter for your party, but the food is brought to your table. We chose a booth at the back of the restaurant. I’m not a fan of booths for the 5 of us due to constant getting in and out of the booth…someone always forgets to get a drink! But, we sat in a booth.

I let each person choose their own meal. We had coupons for a free soup, salad, or entree. The person at the register initially told us that we couldn’t use all 5 at once. I told her we were doing a restaurant review for MomCentral. She rang up each coupon on a separate order. The checkout took longer than usual, but we survived. I encouraged the kids to get a dish with vegetables. Two out of three kids complied. Oh well…

Once we were seated, our food arrived in about 5 minutes. The menu is divided in to three sections: Asian Noodles…Mediterranean Noodles…American Noodles. Here’s what we ordered:

Me: I tried the Asparagus and Lemon Linguine dish. I was concerned that the lemon would be overpowering. The dish was delicious. The asparagus was tender. The noodles were tender enough for me to grab with the chopsticks, not slippery at all.
The husband: He had the Pad Thai with chicken breast. He liked it, but probably wouldn’t order it again. He would like to try the Indonesian peanut dish the next time.
The teen: She loved the Penne Rosa. She couldn’t finish the large version. She said the dish was spicy, but not too spicy. My husband and I finished her meal for her!

The tween: She is our least adventurous eater. At restaurants, she orders either a hamburger or Mac & Cheese. Thankfully she loved the Wisconsin Mac & Cheese. She even ate it with chopsticks.

The Kid: Speaking of chopsticks, my son ate his Caesar Salad with Shrimp by holding a chopstick in each hand and picking up each piece of lettuce…one leaf/crouton/cheese at a time. A surprisingly effective, yet painfully slow way of eating. On the flip side, how many 7-year-old boys order Caesar salad anyway??

The Musings from Me verdict on Noodles & Company? We all agreed that we would go back. We might even add it to our rotation of restaurants we go to regularly!

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Noodles & Company and received five Noodles & Company bowl cards to facilitate my review. Mom Central also sent me a thank-you gift certificate.