A good friend of mine and The Ninja's won one of those fish bowl drawings that restaurants have. You know the ones... drop your business card in here and you could win a lunch for you and four friends or something like it.
Well, months ago she dropped hers in at Noodles & Company and won. She and asked us with another couple to join in a dinner for free. FREE! My favorite word, especially when it comes to eating out. The catch is you have to eat in off peak times, so our dinner was at 7:45pm. Actually not that late for us because most times Lil Ninja isn't home from activities until then anyway, so I was cool. We did do something I will regret and agreed to drinks first at Old Chicago's at 6:30 on a friday night... say whaaaayt. Old C's was so packed we agreed to sit on the patio even after the rain and with the little sun peaking out. But a snakebite (for those who don't know what that amazing concoction is, it's hard cider with Guinness floating on top) later and warmed us right up. Then we saw pirates walking down the street, but more on that later.
By 7:40 we were off to our free dinner. I am going to give you some of our realizations of the overall experience before I dive into the dishes and whether they were good or not. First, none of us had ever considered family style dining at a place like Noodles & Company but it is a place where it worked well. Secondly, when you share not only your table but your dishes with other people you have a lot more to say and a lot more that starts to bring you together. I love that about food in general. Lastly, even if a dish had an ingredient in it that someone didn't like "normally," for the sake of the group they worked around it so the others could still have a good time. Pickyness was not an option.
To start with, the manager brought out their Ciabatta and Flat bread with butter and a large serving of the Chicken potstickers. The breads were warm, fresh tasting and chewy. They are a great add-on to a meal there. I didn't know they made potstickers there so I was surprised to see them on the table. Lil Ninja loves Asian dumplings and I bet if she had known she would have been ordering these for years. Watch out if you are sensitive (what we call chez-whitie in our family cause ketchup is too hot for you) the dipping sauce packs a kick. Not like a Asian dumpling per se. They were flat and very crispy. You could taste the chicken and cabbage in the filling with a little seasoning going on but they were much tastier with the sauce.
Round one of the tasting were dishes chosen by us. We chose Penne Rosa with Parmesan Crusted Chicken breast, Pad Thai with Shrimp and the Med Salad.
The Penne Rosa is described as a spicy tomato cream sauce over penne with mushrooms, spinach and a bit o wine. Your choice of feta or parmesan on top.
Spicy, well I guess a bit. It's not going to send you to your glass to cool your mouth off after every bite spicy. It has a little red pepper you can taste in the sauce that it is getting its heat from. It was The Ninja's favorite dish but I have always found it plain. It's noodles and red sauce. You can tell them you want it spicier or less spicy to your taste and maybe more spice is what it needs to wake it up. The parmesan crusted chicken is a great addition to the dish because it has a lot of flavor in the breading, crispy crust and was moist inside thanks to the breading. Everyone at the table agreed it as a real winner.
Rice noodles stir fried with scrambled egg, carrots, cabbage, sweet chili, splash of citrus and topped with crushed peanuts, Asian sprouts (aka bean sprouts) and cilantro make up the Pad Thai. I liked the flavor of noodles; you get the citrus, sweet chili and soy without any one flavor overpowering another. The flavors were balanced and simple and the dish was very enjoyable to everyone at the table. We ordered it with shrimp which were cooked perfectly. Not that barely transparent pink you get a lot of times but meaty and not chewy.
The Med Salad, a choice of mine, had mixed greens, romaine, tomato, cucumber (not peeled which some may not like), red onion, kalamata olives, and cavatappi noodles. All is covered in a spicy yogurt dressing and topped with feta cheese. The dressing is spicy, so be warned but has really great flavor so order it on the side and dip so you can still get the lemon creamy herby and yes spicy goodness that the dressing provides. This is, as one at the table said, "a perfect way to have salad and noodles. You don't have to choose between the two." It isn't a "pasta" salad. It is a green salad with pasta as a topping and it works.
The second round of dishes was chosen by the manager and included Bangkok Curry, Pasta Fresca with grilled chicken, and Mushroom Stroganoff with braised beef.
The Bangkok Curry I believe was everyone's most hesitant try, but biggest surprise because of how great it was. If you haven't had it you must try it. The menu describes it as sweet coconut curry, broccoli, carrots, red pepper, onion, mushrooms and a light portion of rice noodles served with cabbage and topped with black sesame seeds. The menu description is like something from a Indian restaurant and you are thinking bowl of stuff swimming in curry sauce. Nothing could be further from so. As the picture shows no swimming ingredients. In fact the flavor seems to come from the ingredients themselves as if they had been marinated in the sweet coconut curry. Also, you think curry you think spicy and here it just not so, it is flavor. The coconut is balanced with so many other things going on that I want to say it is complex but I hate when people say that and then can't start picking out the flavors in what they taste that makes up the complexity so I am not going to say that--just that it is good so you should try it.
The Pasta Fresca with grilled chicken was the disappointment of the night (sorry, it was, and not everything can be good). The chicken was very dry, I used "monstrously dry" at the time but everyone said that was a bit much. They did all agree it was dry and needed seasoning. The pasta was just really tasteless hot pasta salad. A pasta salad no one at the table enjoyed. Noodles & Company describe the dish as Penne with balsamic, olive oil, white wine and roasted garlic, red onion, tomato and spinach. I tasted the vinegar and wine with oil used in the pan to mix everything together but it was not enough to make a vinegrette that would create a tasty dish. Maybe they should amp up the flavors and serve as a cold dish it might be more pleasing? I'd pass as it is now.
Mushroom Stroganoff with braised beef is comfort food for many. I make it at home, or used to before Lil Ninja decided she, like The Ninja, didn't like mushrooms. I had never ordered it because it seemed to be one of those dishes you just made at home, and not ordered out. You might think the same but we would all be wrong. If you see it on a menu and it's cold out and you are in the need of some comfort, try it you may like it. In this case I was torn. The braised beef was fantastic. It has so much flavor and was so moist and fell apart in your mouth. I was wishing I had grabbed more off the communal plate before the boys got to it. I usually steer away from meats because I am wary of fat content and can't see what I will be putting in my mouth (I don't like fat). But this was very lean and I was so happy with it that I will order it again just on something else. Once you finished the great tasting beef you were left with egg noodles in a bland cream sauce with some mushrooms thrown in. Not the strong flavors of a stroganoff you expect like a tang from the sour cream, nutmeg, pepper, onion, and parsley in the sauce. It was noodles in a white blanket.
We all got to finish our meal with cookies (chocolate chip or snickerdoodle) which were soft and everyone enjoyed. While there, I too threw my business card in the fish bowl so maybe there will be a part two to this where we can try even more. We had hoped to try the "Fancy Pants" adult Mac-n-Cheese with truffle oil and portabellas but they were finishing the promotion when we were there. Also they are now carrying sandwiches which looked pretty good and we thought we'd like to try as well. Maybe next time...
Ooh right the pirates... As we were finishing our meal, the place got crazy busy and we couldn't figure out why. Turned out it was opening weekend for the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie. "Aah the pirates," we all said at once.
So next time you take in a dinner and a movie, and Old C's, Macaroni Grill and Texas Roadhouse all have 45 min waits try Noodles & Company. If you're with a group, try it family style and get a little of a few things instead, you may enjoy it more, like we did.
Our soup was a Tofu, Bean Sprout, Pineapple, Celery, Tomato, garlic and Celery Leaves concoction, all in a Chicken Broth. The soup was sweet and tangy with a little spice coming from red pepper flakes. I am NOT a big fan of the Bean Sprout but its flavor did not overpower in this soup so I was ok. Trust me I had my concerns when it was one of the ingredients. The pineapple provides a nice tang to the soup but it was not intense making the soup too sweet. I had big doubts about the soup choice but was surprised how much I enjoyed it. The Ninja was wary as well because he is not a fan of fruit in savory dishes, he too liked it and we both agreed if they could make these ingredients come together we would try any of their soups. 
We then had a starter of Vietnamese Egg Rolls (up till now my favorite had been from Little Saigon and The Ninja and I try them everywhere to compare to theirs) which they hand roll every morning themselves. You can tell these are not frozen pre-made Cosco spring rolls like you get at chain restaurants. How do I know? The meat inside was pre-seasoned before being put in the rice paper and wrapped. It had a great balance of meat, veggies and rice noodles inside with a crispy outside. The fish sauce could have been spicier but it did have the classic flavor there. They have become the new standard to which all others will be compared. I did ask for no bean sprouts on the plate but as you can see they appeared there anyway thank goodness no bean sprouts were inside so no bean sprouts had to be harmed in the making of this review.
I had the Lemongrass Beef, one of my favorite dishes so I get it whenever I see it on a menu to see how good theirs is. Saigon Grill’s is spicy. I do mean very spicy. They are happy to adjust the heat to your taste but I didn’t know that until after and so mine was H O T. The flavors are fantastic, well balanced and the lemongrass really shines. It’s savory and the beef is lean and fall apart tender and moist. My rice was hard but The Ninja’s was fine so some kind of rice fluke.
The Ninja got the Garlic Chicken and again tons of flavor here coming not just from the garlic but a great sauce. Beware though it too was hot hot hot. So ask for it adjusted if you are hot ready for something atomic. I love a place that really prepares their meats. The chicken was lean which meant someone took the time to clean it before cutting it up and making our lunch. That is dedication.
