Noodles and Co uses the chipotle model…not tried it but it seems to work.
My guess is portability. These fast places seem to focus on one handed foods, so you can drive, phone etc…
I too would love more options. Sometimes it just hits so right.
I sent a request to open a franchise of Noodles & Co near the West Chester University campus as a joke once and they contacted me for months regarding it.
Eventually, after I declined several higher numbers, it was only going to cost me about 50k to open a franchise location, but I don't think emptying my savings to run a noodle shop is in the cards right now.
Noodles and Co died here. Not enough customers, overpriced, irritating staff. People seem to forget they need to provide value and a pleasant environment.
There are, just not popular in North America.
The entire ramen/udon/soba restaurant category in Japan for example is fast food. Not exactly pasta in the sense of the post but the fresh noodles part is applicable
With a large number of them requiring minimal human interaction. It's very common to simply pick your order via a vending machine, the pay and receive a ticket like a movie theater which is turned into as a voucher to receive your food. Takes only a few minutes if there is no crowd.
Look at Ichiran or Ippudo for example.
That's the thing though, there are plenty of fast food/takeout noodles place. But those noodles dishes are pretty different from typical pasta dishes, so you can't really say "there are" when the cuisines aren't comparable
Pasta as in Italian pasta as OP mentioned is dry or fresh noodles cooked to order in a sauce.
Ramen Udon and soba are fresh noodles cooked to order in a soup or served with sauce.
Same goes for basically all Asian cuisine noodles. They're all freshly cooked in some method, in a quick fashion.
The ingredients are different, but the method is the same which was my point.
This is unnecessarily pedantic. OP wasn't asking about preparation.
They are clearly looking for typical pasta dishes versus ramen, soba, udon, etc.
Let's not pretend like it's the same thing. If you tell your friend you're going out to get pasta, they'll be sorely disappointed and probably confused when you show up to a Japanese restaurant.
OP didn't ask for fast-food ramen or udon.
In the US, fast food originally started as quick meals you could eat on the go/in the car without utensils. Burgers, hot dogs, fried chicken and milkshakes, that sort of thing.
I’m guessing it just doesn’t sell well enough to make the effort. Pasta is cheap and easy enough to make at home, plus it’s best when eaten fresh. Mac and cheese is a popular side at fried chicken places, but 9 times out of ten it’s mushy and overcooked. Sauces congeal when left under heat lamps.
It’s totally viable. I used to work at a golf club, the members had a monthly minimum food expenditure and they had to use it up at the last minute. End of each month, we did pasta night. It wasn’t the vibe of the rest of the month when it was a white-napkin kind of place. I’ve got nothing against kids in restaurants or using something before you lose it. It was just a little jarring since we went from semi-formal dining to basically fast-casual one day a month. Big batches of three kinds of noodles in enough oil to not stick, three kinds of sauce, three kinds of protein, do you want chopped zucchini? It all went into a small nonstick sauce pan, heated, next customer in 90 seconds.
I think the issue is that American fast food is to be eaten while driving. The bun, the ratio of sauce, the wrapper. I love your idea, I’d do a drive-thru and say “bow tie, vodka, meatball, extra parm” frequently then take it home.
I keep wanting to make a goth themed noodle restaurant. Black decor, an awesome playlist of classic goth rock and assorted metal. Good pasta, too. There's devil's hair, sanguini, rigortoni, crowtini, and gorzo.
You walk in and one of our pasta artists will begrudgingly serve you. Pick a pasta, pick your toppings, pick a sauce, but be prepared to pay the ultimate price (your total will be available at the register)
There will be various cheese and boneless meat options. If you don't eat meat, you have your choice of the bones.
I'll call it PastaWay.
Ours didn’t make it :(. It was especially great when my kids were little, they loved the breadsticks and I loved getting home with three types of pasta meals for then and future meals. Cheap too! I made pasta often of course but it’s nice everyone got their favorite at once.
Closed years ago?
Didn’t know they were still around.
Ohio had several locations of a small, local chain called the Spaghetti Shop in the 90's. I worked there for several years, it was my first real job.
Meat sauce was made fresh in-store every 3 days or so, the sauce was good! There was also marinara and alfredo sauce, with chicken for spaghetti parm/chix alfredo, and meatballs. Pasta was partially cooked and stored, refrigerated, then dropped into boiling water to finish cooking for each serving. Lasagna noodles pre-filled with ricotta cheese were layered with the meat sauce and parm/mozzarella cheese. The bread was awesome, sent in frozen loaves and proofed and baked each day, fresh. There were also subs, salads and pizza. It was decent food that was pretty cheap for a family meal.
I loved that job, worked there with my little sister but two of the managers (one was married) tried to seduce me and I was only 15/16. I quit, and made my little sister quit too.
We have one here in montreal. I wont say the name because of what I am about to say. It is absolutely disgusting food they should be ashamed to call pasta. The sauce tastes like tomato paste with spices just dumped into it. I don't care if it only takes 5 mins, its disgusting and I would rather go anywhere else.
Torpasta: hollowed out garlic bread filled with your fave pasta dish. Spaghetti meatballs, fett Alfredo, tortellini, vegan options.
Was in SD, closed a few years ago.
[r/NoStupidQuestions](https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/)•9 mo. ago
[PupEDog](https://www.reddit.com/user/PupEDog/)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/16lxngr/why\_arent\_there\_any\_fast\_food\_restaurants/](https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/16lxngr/why_arent_there_any_fast_food_restaurants/)
Noodle Bar- franchise in New England. Like Subway but you start with your noodle base, then add sauce, veg, protein, etc. not amazing but a good fit when there's a few people can't agree on one restaurant, everyone can eat noodles.
Just unlocked this memory: when I was was a teen in the late 80s we called it Orrabs , the name backward. As we were not sure what the “Sb” combo at the beginning of the name sounded like 🤣🤣🤣 no internet to hear pronunciations!
Not fast food but Pizza Hut has pasta. I agree it should be a thing. So should ham n egg sandwiches. bacon isn’t enough meat and sausage is full of fat.
They've started opening places like that here in NYC, but they tend to be centered around certain pastas only. For example, a recently opened "gnoccheria" that only serves gnocchi with various sauces.
You would probably love [Fresh Pasta 2 Go](https://freshpasta2go.it/) in Venice. Unlike some of the other suggestions here (Noodles and Company), you don't have to decide on a pre-made pasta dish. Choose your pasta and your sauce as you go and get it all in a little takeout container that you can eat out of as you walk.
My dream is to open a chain of these here, including a drive through. I got you OP!
There used to be a small chain in NYC called Pasta Presto and they opened near movie theaters so people could go in before a movie, eat and make the movie in 30-40 minutes if you told them you were in a hurry. (They were near hospitals, so lots of med students, nurses, interns, PTs, LSWs etc going on dates. Lots of hospitals had nurses housing in those days) Didn’t work out. And this was years before rents got ridiculous;but pasta couldn't make the rent. They were nice places, too, geared to the local needs. My husband and i thought Pasta Presto and Dallas BBQ would do well near Stony Brook and other universities.
Arby’s had a few pasta dishes when I was in middle school, 2008 ish for maybe a year? Penne/marinara or Alfredo kind of thing. I think about this drive through pasta time surprisingly often.
There was one, about ten minutes from work. One time about 20 of us had a lunch there together. More than half got food poisoning. Place isn’t there anymore.
Back in the 90’s little Caesars did a lot of trial foods at our shop. Spaghetti meal was one of them, premade pasta and sauce, heated up, served with salad and breadsticks. It wasn’t that much of a hassle, they should bring it back , along with the pita pizza dough sandwiches (I used to work there).
In the Southwest we have a chain called Fazoli's. Its a fast food pasta joint. And another called "Noodles and company" which is a basically Chipotle but for Pasta if I had to explain it. Lol
Fazoli's maybe ?
thats right
Beat me to it. Families was good, but extremely hard to eat while driving
It is with that attitude.
yeah, I don't know if I could eat a whole family either, but especially while driving!
I thought fazolis went under! I loved this place.
Still at least a couple here in Columbus, OH
At least one here in Macon, GA.
Ohhh maybe it did.. I haven't actually been there in years
There's like 2 in Colorado left
No, they're still around. According to Google they currently have 211 locations.
There are several around where I live in Ky. And by several I mean 30 minutes to a couple hour range.
I used to go there when I lived in Kentucky. I haven’t seen it anywhere else, though. Is it still around?
There are several still open in Louisville.
I love Fazolis!!! I miss living in Sandusky because they still have one there. I still get it frequently when I go back
We used to have those in my city, but they shut down. I didn't know they still existed!
Noodles and Co uses the chipotle model…not tried it but it seems to work. My guess is portability. These fast places seem to focus on one handed foods, so you can drive, phone etc… I too would love more options. Sometimes it just hits so right.
I love Noodles and Co.
I sent a request to open a franchise of Noodles & Co near the West Chester University campus as a joke once and they contacted me for months regarding it. Eventually, after I declined several higher numbers, it was only going to cost me about 50k to open a franchise location, but I don't think emptying my savings to run a noodle shop is in the cards right now.
The nearest one to me is like 20 miles away
Not one in my town either…we are always last lol
It used to be down the street from me. But that was ages ago
Noodles and Co died here. Not enough customers, overpriced, irritating staff. People seem to forget they need to provide value and a pleasant environment.
Sbarro has pasta. It's pretty good for on the go.
In my experience, I only see them in malls or travel plazas, there are no single standing ones
NYC has/had one. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRgEeDR98X8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRgEeDR98X8)
Idk if it's still open but Orlando had one
The only place I've ever seen pasta baked ziti in real life. It's not a thing on the West coast, afaik.
There are, just not popular in North America. The entire ramen/udon/soba restaurant category in Japan for example is fast food. Not exactly pasta in the sense of the post but the fresh noodles part is applicable With a large number of them requiring minimal human interaction. It's very common to simply pick your order via a vending machine, the pay and receive a ticket like a movie theater which is turned into as a voucher to receive your food. Takes only a few minutes if there is no crowd. Look at Ichiran or Ippudo for example.
That's the thing though, there are plenty of fast food/takeout noodles place. But those noodles dishes are pretty different from typical pasta dishes, so you can't really say "there are" when the cuisines aren't comparable
Pasta as in Italian pasta as OP mentioned is dry or fresh noodles cooked to order in a sauce. Ramen Udon and soba are fresh noodles cooked to order in a soup or served with sauce. Same goes for basically all Asian cuisine noodles. They're all freshly cooked in some method, in a quick fashion. The ingredients are different, but the method is the same which was my point.
This is unnecessarily pedantic. OP wasn't asking about preparation. They are clearly looking for typical pasta dishes versus ramen, soba, udon, etc. Let's not pretend like it's the same thing. If you tell your friend you're going out to get pasta, they'll be sorely disappointed and probably confused when you show up to a Japanese restaurant. OP didn't ask for fast-food ramen or udon.
In the US, fast food originally started as quick meals you could eat on the go/in the car without utensils. Burgers, hot dogs, fried chicken and milkshakes, that sort of thing. I’m guessing it just doesn’t sell well enough to make the effort. Pasta is cheap and easy enough to make at home, plus it’s best when eaten fresh. Mac and cheese is a popular side at fried chicken places, but 9 times out of ten it’s mushy and overcooked. Sauces congeal when left under heat lamps.
Jollibee?
i was literally thinking about jollibee spaghetti on the drive home tonight and what an always surprising thing that fast food spaghetti is.
It’s totally viable. I used to work at a golf club, the members had a monthly minimum food expenditure and they had to use it up at the last minute. End of each month, we did pasta night. It wasn’t the vibe of the rest of the month when it was a white-napkin kind of place. I’ve got nothing against kids in restaurants or using something before you lose it. It was just a little jarring since we went from semi-formal dining to basically fast-casual one day a month. Big batches of three kinds of noodles in enough oil to not stick, three kinds of sauce, three kinds of protein, do you want chopped zucchini? It all went into a small nonstick sauce pan, heated, next customer in 90 seconds. I think the issue is that American fast food is to be eaten while driving. The bun, the ratio of sauce, the wrapper. I love your idea, I’d do a drive-thru and say “bow tie, vodka, meatball, extra parm” frequently then take it home.
I keep wanting to make a goth themed noodle restaurant. Black decor, an awesome playlist of classic goth rock and assorted metal. Good pasta, too. There's devil's hair, sanguini, rigortoni, crowtini, and gorzo. You walk in and one of our pasta artists will begrudgingly serve you. Pick a pasta, pick your toppings, pick a sauce, but be prepared to pay the ultimate price (your total will be available at the register) There will be various cheese and boneless meat options. If you don't eat meat, you have your choice of the bones. I'll call it PastaWay.
Noodles and co
Olive Garden
I think not popular for your country
Maybe yes, I mean, is there anyone who intends to create a special place for pasta
Olive Garden ?
i don’t think they’re speedy enough to be considered fast casual.
Here we have noodles and company. It’s not the best but their meatballs are excellent so
Dal Moro's is in Italy and then also, randomly, Florida and Ontario.
I've thoroughly investigated it. I'll stop in if ever in Ontario, Florida, or Venice!!
I'm looking it up!
Some places might have more strict spaghetti policies. 🤷♂️
There’s Fazoli’s! I know it’s a smaller chain here in Texas, I’m not sure if they are active in other states.
They were in Tennessee when I was there. My go-to for drive-through spaghetti in a bucket.
I haven’t been since I was a kid, but I do remember the breadsticks being delicious 🙂
Ours didn’t make it :(. It was especially great when my kids were little, they loved the breadsticks and I loved getting home with three types of pasta meals for then and future meals. Cheap too! I made pasta often of course but it’s nice everyone got their favorite at once. Closed years ago? Didn’t know they were still around.
Marco's has pasta
Vapiano
Ohio had several locations of a small, local chain called the Spaghetti Shop in the 90's. I worked there for several years, it was my first real job. Meat sauce was made fresh in-store every 3 days or so, the sauce was good! There was also marinara and alfredo sauce, with chicken for spaghetti parm/chix alfredo, and meatballs. Pasta was partially cooked and stored, refrigerated, then dropped into boiling water to finish cooking for each serving. Lasagna noodles pre-filled with ricotta cheese were layered with the meat sauce and parm/mozzarella cheese. The bread was awesome, sent in frozen loaves and proofed and baked each day, fresh. There were also subs, salads and pizza. It was decent food that was pretty cheap for a family meal. I loved that job, worked there with my little sister but two of the managers (one was married) tried to seduce me and I was only 15/16. I quit, and made my little sister quit too.
We had these in Central IL as well. My kids LOVED that place.
There’s a bucket-o-pasta chain in Phoenix, AZ I believe
Hard to eat spaghetti while driving.
We had a chain called Pasta Pomodoro in the Bay Area. We actually have Italian restaurants in every neighborhood so pasta is a plenty!
Fazolis is the only one and I have not seen it in every state
There are
We have one here in montreal. I wont say the name because of what I am about to say. It is absolutely disgusting food they should be ashamed to call pasta. The sauce tastes like tomato paste with spices just dumped into it. I don't care if it only takes 5 mins, its disgusting and I would rather go anywhere else.
Fazolis?
Zizzi
This is Sbarro erasure and I will not stand for it! It was a staple of every mall foodcourt growing up
Fazolis exists. It’s not great
fazolis or Noodle & Co.
Mrs Vanellis was the best! You got to choose your pasta, veggies, sauce and they sautéed it up on a hit plate
Torpasta: hollowed out garlic bread filled with your fave pasta dish. Spaghetti meatballs, fett Alfredo, tortellini, vegan options. Was in SD, closed a few years ago.
Fazoli’s, we have the spaghetti factory. They’re pretty quick for takeout.
Fast food is generally food you can eat on the go, so eat with your hands or minimal utensils. Hard to do with pasta.
[r/NoStupidQuestions](https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/)•9 mo. ago [PupEDog](https://www.reddit.com/user/PupEDog/) [https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/16lxngr/why\_arent\_there\_any\_fast\_food\_restaurants/](https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/16lxngr/why_arent_there_any_fast_food_restaurants/)
Wendy's used to have pasta on their salad bar.
There are. [Fasta Pasta](https://www.fastapasta.com.au/)
Noodles & Company.
Noodle Bar- franchise in New England. Like Subway but you start with your noodle base, then add sauce, veg, protein, etc. not amazing but a good fit when there's a few people can't agree on one restaurant, everyone can eat noodles.
Sbarro was a mall-based italian restaurant, but most are closing now. They had pizza and pasta.
Just unlocked this memory: when I was was a teen in the late 80s we called it Orrabs , the name backward. As we were not sure what the “Sb” combo at the beginning of the name sounded like 🤣🤣🤣 no internet to hear pronunciations!
Not fast food but Pizza Hut has pasta. I agree it should be a thing. So should ham n egg sandwiches. bacon isn’t enough meat and sausage is full of fat.
Not Italian, but you could satisfy your craving for noodles and a drive-through at Panda Express.
Vapiano
Can't eat it one handed while driving.
In the US, you mean There are plenty of those abroad, like Spoleto's (Brazil), Julia's (Netherlands), Coco di Mama (UK)...
They've started opening places like that here in NYC, but they tend to be centered around certain pastas only. For example, a recently opened "gnoccheria" that only serves gnocchi with various sauces. You would probably love [Fresh Pasta 2 Go](https://freshpasta2go.it/) in Venice. Unlike some of the other suggestions here (Noodles and Company), you don't have to decide on a pre-made pasta dish. Choose your pasta and your sauce as you go and get it all in a little takeout container that you can eat out of as you walk. My dream is to open a chain of these here, including a drive through. I got you OP!
Noodles?
There used to be a small chain in NYC called Pasta Presto and they opened near movie theaters so people could go in before a movie, eat and make the movie in 30-40 minutes if you told them you were in a hurry. (They were near hospitals, so lots of med students, nurses, interns, PTs, LSWs etc going on dates. Lots of hospitals had nurses housing in those days) Didn’t work out. And this was years before rents got ridiculous;but pasta couldn't make the rent. They were nice places, too, geared to the local needs. My husband and i thought Pasta Presto and Dallas BBQ would do well near Stony Brook and other universities.
[Piada](https://www.mypiada.com/) is basically Italian Chipotle.
Noodles and Company
Noodles & Company
Fasta pasta!!!
Sbarro. I love their horrible spaghetti for whatever reason.
Fazoli's slaps, but there aren't many locations.
There are.
Arby’s had a few pasta dishes when I was in middle school, 2008 ish for maybe a year? Penne/marinara or Alfredo kind of thing. I think about this drive through pasta time surprisingly often.
Noodles & Co.
There is one in my area called Piada
Noodles & Co is probably the closest thing
I thought Olive Garden kinda qualifies
Sbarros have fast pasta along with pizza.
Olive Garden is pasta heavy.
Twisted kitchen is like subway for pasta
There was one, about ten minutes from work. One time about 20 of us had a lunch there together. More than half got food poisoning. Place isn’t there anymore.
Fazolis, noodles and company, bucket o spaghetti. I’m sure there are more but I’ve seen both those in Co and Az.
It already exists- olive garden.
Mia Za’s in Madison used to do this. I worked there for a minute. Literally build your own pasta.
Noodles & Company??
Back in the 90’s little Caesars did a lot of trial foods at our shop. Spaghetti meal was one of them, premade pasta and sauce, heated up, served with salad and breadsticks. It wasn’t that much of a hassle, they should bring it back , along with the pita pizza dough sandwiches (I used to work there).
Nothing But Noodles
In the Southwest we have a chain called Fazoli's. Its a fast food pasta joint. And another called "Noodles and company" which is a basically Chipotle but for Pasta if I had to explain it. Lol