Wayside Noodles Vietnamese Restaurant

Amongst a row of restaurants near the big AMC movie theater in Natomas you'll find Wayside Noodles. To be honest, I had no idea this was a Vietnamese restaurant until I took a closer look at their sign. The name sounds more like they'd serve some sort of quick American pasta. Anyways, this is definitely a place you can order pho. And wow, I've had pho for the 2nd time in a week! That's definitely rare for me!

Food -
The menu at Wayside Noodles is pretty extensive with many, many items. There are a lot of appetizers, rice dishes, and different types of soups. But since this place has noodles in its name, I was going to try their pho.

The pho here at Wayside Noodles is good. Not great, but it definitely can hit the spot. The pho was presented well and the meat that was inside was left a little rare so that it could finish cooking in the hot broth. I felt that the pho had a good, fresh feel and taste to it. Honestly, I wasn't expecting too much as the Yelp ratings for this restaurant were on the lower side of things, but I would happily come here for pho any time!

The disappointment came with the other two items I ordered. I'm a big fan of Asian crispy salt and pepper tofu. A good version of this dish has a nice crisp outer shell with smooth tofu on the inside. The salt and pepper should make every bite explode in your mouth. That wasn't the case with this dish. The tofu was mushy and had a strange texture. It was more chewy than anything with a bland taste. I ended up just leaving this appetizer 95% unfinished.

My other item as a simple glass of Coke. As many know, my biggest vice in life is Coca Cola. I just love the stuff, but if it loses its fizziness, I'm not a happy camper. Well, the Coke here was very syrupy and lifeless. I was done after a couple of sips.

Service/Atmosphere - 
I came for lunch and the restaurant had a nice, bright atmosphere. Nothing really stands out about the restaurant itself, but it is relatively pleasant to eat in. The highlight of my trip to Wayside Noodles was the cashier/waitress. She was very nice and made sure to make my dining experience a pleasant one.

Price -
Prices here won't break the bank, but I'd say some of the appetizers are a bit on the pricey side. The tofu dish that I disliked was $7! I'd say that's a big high, but overall for the pho it's pretty moderate.

Special Tips and Recommendations -
If you would like a drink such as milk tea, I'd definitely skip the ones they have here and walk down a little bit to the boba tea place. You'll get a much better drink there.

Bottom Line - 
I enjoyed the pho, but just about everything else except for the service here left me wanting more from it. I'd say that Wayside Noodles is a pretty average Vietnamese restaurant that locals can visit if they really want to get a bowl of pho.

Letter Grade

C

Wayside Noodles is kind of an interesting name for a Vietnamese place.

The menu of items you can order is quite extensive.

Finish cooking the meat inside the hot soup broth.

This fried tofu needs some improvement.

Natomas' Ramen Fix!

Natomas has always had a great deal of food options, but ramen wasn't really ever one of them. Koshi Ramen Bar adds this popular noodle dish to the options when dining in this part of Sacramento. Like many ramen restaurants around Sac, I foresee this one as being quite popular - so make sure you arrive before the huge lunch and dinner rushes!

Food -
Koshi Ramen Bar is, of course, a place to get ramen. You can get the usual bevy of soup bases here such as tonkotsu, miso, and shoyu, as well as veggie, black garlic, chicken, and seafood. It's quite a vast selection! Being me, I've already decided I'm a tonkotsu guy, so I go for it on my visit. After selecting the type of ramen you would like you can apply heat to it. Select from four levels of spiciness to get the exact taste you want. I went for the medium spice and I felt it was exactly a medium level!

If you'd like other toppings for the ramen you can go ahead and select more items. Most of the extras like corn are a dollar more, but getting more pork is two bucks as is extra ramen noodles. I'm a big fan of the ability to really customize the your ramen bowl, so this is a great feature!

Aside from the ramen, there is a nice selection of appetizers on the menu. Many of these starters are dishes common to ramen places. You'll find chicken karaage, gyoza, and tempura but also things like lumpia, spam masubi, and even grilled whole squid. The pricing on the appetizers range from around four dollars to eight.

Finally, if you're not in the noodle mood, you can get one of the three rice bowls that are offered. There's chashu and chicken which are pretty par for the course... but there's also unagi on the menu as well! For those of you not in the know, unagi is eel! And it is quite delicious! I didn't get a chance to try the unagi here at Koshi, but I would very much like to in a future visit.

On a negative note, on this particular visit to Koshi, I found that the egg and chashu were a bit cold in my ramen bowl. It was kind of a shock to feel that temperature as I was eating. The two items seemed to be fully cooked so I'm not sure why they had that temperature. This is something I'll have to pay close attention to the next time.

Service/Atmosphere - 
The servers at Koshi Ramen Bar are extremely friendly. I felt that the worker who took my order up front was being very nice. I appreciate the effort to make me feel welcome in the restaurant. It certainly does make the entire experience better.

The restaurant itself is beautifully decorated. The color tones and wall art give the place a modern look that is very inviting. You can tell that some thoughtful design went into creating the dining atmosphere here.

Price -
The ramen bowls are around $10 each - actually a little more. Adding an appetizer and a drink is going to get you near the $20 range. I'd say that if you're on a budget and want to get filled up, this may not be the place for you as every extra thing will be more money out of your wallet.

Special Tips and Recommendations -
Be wise when adding things to your bowl of ramen. At one to two dollars each for extras, the price of just a bowl of ramen can get pretty high pretty fast. Like I mentioned in the price category of this review, make sure you tabulate everything you select and make sure you're willing to pay it!

Bottom Line - 
Koshi Ramen Bar is a great add to the restaurants in Natomas. I'd happily come here for a ramen fix. The service is friendly and the restaurant is nicely furnished. I had a minor issue with my food on this visit, but I don't think it's par for the course. I'm looking forward to the next go-around!

Letter Grade

B+

Koshi is located to the right of the movie theater in Natomas.

Medium spicy ramen.

Nice piece of wood!