Noodles and Company Delmar Loop - Visited December 2012

Since we had a group of 8, we were looking for some place interesting where all of us could easily order what we wanted and have a variety of stuff. Since my brother-in-law and family had just visited the Delmar Loop area in University City the other day (they like the Craft Alliance), we suggested going to the Noodles and Company right there on the Loop which is a bit roomier than many of the other smaller eateries on the Loop yet still has a nice "Delmar Loop" feel to it (quite different from the feel of the one in Creve Coeur which we frequent, for example.)

Because it was a Sunday, meter parking was free for the day, so we were able to park our two cars on the street fairly near to the restaurant. I had seen that they now have slow braised pork, so I tried the pork with the Indonesian Peanut Saute (one of my favorites there along with the Japanese Pan Noodles and the Pad Thai.) I am sad they no longer offer the "combination" deal they used to offer, so now I just order a full order of noodles with a meat. That is usually plenty without having to add a soup or salad to the side. The pork was quite flavorful and went quite well with the Peanut Saute. I will now always have to choose between the pork, steak and chicken, all of which are pretty good. My wife, son, daughter and mother-in-law all ordered the mac 'n cheese, some with chicken and some without, since they all love the mac 'n cheese there (I think it's good too, but I like the spicier stuff myself!). My brother-in-law ordered the pan noodles with steak along with some tomato bisque, his daughter just ordered a large tomato bisque, and my sister-in-law-in-law (my wife's brother's wife) ordered the pad thai. The one complaint was that the tomato bisque was too sweet, but otherwise everyone else liked their food. Originally we were the only people there, but more people came in while we ate so there were a few people there for Sunday lunch. The manager stopped by a couple times to ask how everything was and even took away our plates. He apologized for the bisque but he admitted it was sweet and said he personally compensates for the sweetness by adding some Sriracha hot sauce. He sounds like my kind of guy!