My daughter and I went to a Noodles location to celebrate the end of her dance season. We placed our order and found a table to wait for our food. During our wait, I noticed that there were several other people waiting – Some impatiently. My daughter and I happily talked about our day and I didn’t mind the extra one-on-one time with her one bit. In the end, however, it took 25 minutes for our food to arrive. Once it arrived, I was more than disappointed that our potstickers were cold to the touch. Although they weren’t that great due to temperature, we ate them. I moved on to my entree – The Alfredo MontAmore. My dish was ice cold and inedible. I checked in with my daughter, who was pushing her food around, to find out that her mac & cheese was also cold. Complaining to an already stressed-out, possibly understaffed, clearly struggling kitchen would only complicate the wait times that the frustrated families around me would feel as they all impatiently discussed the inappropriate wait time. My daughter and I left without being able to eat our meals, and headed home to find something to eat. I am disappointed that this is the experience that we had on a night when the intent was to celebrate something fun. I am sad that I spent $30 on food, and ended up not being able to eat it. We were so excited to have a Noodles & Company move to a location close to our house. Sadly, it didn’t leave a great first impression….
Update: After filing my online grievance, I was personally contacted by the GM of the location I visited. Not only did he profusely apologize, but he sent me a gift card to comp our previous meal and to offer their store a chance at redemption. I will whole-heartedly say that their service has stepped up. The “new restaurant” jitters were calmed and they redeemed themselves. I went in during their weeknight dinner rush – as our first trip was – and the service was quicker and our food piping hot. I’m glad we gave them another chance… And you should too 🙂
Sorry to hear you had a bad experience, but how nice that the manager contacted you to make it right! That is the sign of a good business manager – that they want to fix things if something went wrong.
When Noodles and Co. first opened in my town, everyone (including me!) went crazy for it. The servings were a good size, fortunately the wait times were short, and the staff was friendly. My all time favorite there is the Pad Thai! I had to stop going there for nutrition reasons, the food is delicious, but too much added sugar for me. Everytime I drive past the restaurant, the parking lot is packed, so they must be doing well.
I was definitely impressed by the manager and him wanting to reach out. Like I said, our second visit was much better and we’ve been back since (also good!!). I LOVE Noodles and Company so was excited to have one so close to us. Pad Thai sounds great… I might have to try that next time 🙂