Fast-casual chain Noodles & Company is about as far from an authentic izakaya as it gets, but it’s confident you’ll want to eat ramen there anyway.
The cuisine-agnostic noodle chain serves everything from carbonara to pad thai and mac and cheese, but now it’s betting big on the Japanese casual dining staple. The company just announced that ramen would earn a permanent category on its menu following the success of a limited-time chili garlic ramen menu item last year. Noodles & Company called the dish one of the most successful menu launches in its history, noting in a press release that the ramen rollout introduced 156,000 new diners to its brand.
“We’ve spent more than 30 years exploring what’s possible with noodles, and ramen gives us another incredible canvas for flavor and creativity,” said Tina Massey, vice president of culinary innovation at Noodles & Company. “What I love about this lineup is that each bowl delivers a completely different experience.”
Like the rest of the restaurant’s menu, even the ramen selection draws on many flavors from around the world. The company will introduce three options that manage to evoke Italian, Korean, and Japanese cuisine, all in a very American setting. Its new Gochujang Carbonara Ramen Noodles, Sweet Sesame Steak Ramen Noodles, and Spicy Korean Steak Ramen Noodles—each offered as “brothless” bowls—might not be exactly authentic, but the chain’s enthusiastic ramen-seekers don’t seem bothered.
Fast-casual casualties
Like many of its competitors, Noodles & Company has struggled in recent years. In 2025, the chain shuttered 42 of its locations, citing a long-term plan to get the business back on track. In January it announced plans to close between 30 and 35 additional restaurants, trimming down its footprint considerably.
“Decisions like this are made thoughtfully and with a long-term view of the business,” Joe Christina, president and CEO of Noodles & Company, shared in a press release at the time. The plan appears to be working. In its last earnings report, same-store sales were up by 10%—a sign to executives that the decision to jettison underperforming locations is beginning to pay off.
Fast-casual and fast-food chains have scrambled in the inflationary post-pandemic years, as rising costs scare off customers that once didn’t think twice about a quick meal on the go. The trends have humbled onetime-towering chains, including the ubiquitous burrito bar Chipotle. Noodles & Company had to trim some fat to make its own math work, but now it’s counting on menu innovations like its brothless global ramen experiments to bring new diners into the fold.
“The incredible response to Chili Garlic Ramen showed us that our guests are hungry to see what Noodles can do with ramen,” said Noodles & Company interim CMO Dwayne Chambers. “Making ramen a permanent part of our menu is just the beginning of what we can do with this incredibly versatile noodle.”