I love Noodles and Co in Chicago and the suburbs. I grew up essentially hanging out here with my friends in high school, getting fancy with our buttered noodles with different sauces each time..
However, this was a sore disappointment. My husband and I have been here several times and each time it's mediocre at best. Tonight (8/4/15) I had the BBQ Pork Sandwich with a cup of Chicken Noodle Soup. Unfortunately, the pork tasted fairly bland (except for that burn of pepper in the back of my mouth) and it felt like it had been shredded, then under a heat lamp, drying it out and making it super chewy. It even looked like how pork looks when it's been sitting on the edge of a slow cooker for hours... Very unappetizing.
The chicken noodle soup EVERY TIME has been super salty. If you like really salty stuff (my husband does), then go for it. However, I think it's just their generic recipe that's way too salty. I think it's the same chicken that they put on top of all the other dishes so that's salted, then salted noodles, and salty broth.. Ugh. This is the third time I have had the soup specifically. I've complained in the past about it being salty and the manager said they had to follow the recipe set by corporate.. :/
Staff has always been friendly, although a bit spacey. The cashier (young blonde girl) didn't really have any knowledge of the products. The person ahead of us wanted recommendations and the only thing she could say is "it's good!" to everything. I get that you don't wanna bash your company's food but you can at least say "they are both good BUT I prefer the pad Thai.." Or something like that.