Pastafina Review

Pastafina is a product which is advertised as a way to cook pasta in as little as three minutes. Read our Pastafina review from editors and readers.

About Pastafina

The official website is buypastafina.com which was registered on November 22, 2013. This domain has been used in television and internet advertising.

Contact info for Pastafina includes:

• Address: Pastafina, 400 Returns Rd, Wallingford CT 06494
• Phone: 855-818-8296
• Email: [email protected]
• Hours: Mon-Fri, 8am to 10pm Eastern

Below is a screen shot of the official website, captured in January 2014.

Television Commercial

Below is a recent television commercial for Pastafina, featuring “Chef Tony.”

Transcript of the commercial above:

To make pasta on the stove, you boil, stir and toil, and watch out – it’s sure to make a mess. Then you strain. Oh what a pain. 
Making pasta’s not a chore anymore. Hi, Chef Tony with Pastafina, the new way to make great pasta in as little as three minutes. Simply add your pasta, pour in boiling water, and snap on the strainer lid. In no time Pastafina cooks your pasta to perfection right before your eyes. Pastafina’s unique vertical design surrounds the pasta and uses thermal control to maintain the ideal temperature for perfect pasta. Now, just pop the top and drain. No lumps or clumps. Spaghetti, farfalle, rigatoni, ravioli, macaroni, even tortellini. All in as little as three minutes without the mess. And pasta’s just the start. If you like veggies, Pastafina makes them fast and fresh. Peas and carrots, asparagus, even mixed vegetable medley. And look, we cooked broccoli the old fashioned way and the Pastafina way. Look at the water. There is all your flavor and your nutrients, but not the Pastafina way. Look at the water. Oh yeah, and look at the broccoli: bright, brilliant, and bursting with flavor. Cook veggies and spaghetti at the same time. Mmmm pasta primavera. Even cook macaroni and sliced hot dogs together. Add cheese, toss, for mac and cheese that’s sure to please. And for cleanup, just a quick rinse or rack it in the dishwasher. For a limited time, my Pastafina and complete recipe guide are yours for just $10. But wait. Order in the next five minutes and we’ll send a second Pastafina and recipe guide for you or to give as a gift. Just pay separate processing and handling. You get two Pastafinas and two recipe guides, a $40 value, all for one low price. Kitchen-tested, Chef Tony approved. Call or click now. 
“The new way to make pasta in as little as three minutes.”

How much does Pastafina Cost?

The advertised cost is $10. There is, however, an additional $7.95 shipping, for a total of $17.95.

They also offer a “free” second Pastafina and recipe guide for another $7.95 shipping. This means that the $10 offer is in reality $25.90.

Note that when ordering online, you can’t opt out of this second “free” unit.

There is a money-back guarantee, less shipping, which means if you return the product, you’ll get back your $10, but not the $15.90 you paid in shipping costs.

Please see our article entitled The “Get a Second One Free” Marketing Ploy regarding this common tactic used by As Seen on TV advertisers.

Our Pastafina Review

When we spotted the recent television ad (above) featuring pitchman Chef Tony, the product immediately looked familiar. Although Pastafina is advertised as a new way to make pasta, it is essentially a re-boot of an As Seen on TV product from 8 years years ago called Pasta Express. Take a look at the 2006 Pasta Express commercial below, and note how similar the product and the claims are to Pastafina.

Oddly, the website used in the commercial above, pastaexpress.ca, is now parked and Pasta Express does not appear to be available anywhere.

Boiling Water

Keep in mind that you still must lug out a pesky “old-fashioned” pot to boil the water to be used in the Pastafina. Another point to mention is that as soon as you pour the water into the cylinder, it is no longer boiling, which is not ideal for “cooking” pasta. Chef Tony can be seen handling the Pastafina sans oven mitts in the commercial, which is also not recommended. The shortest “cook” time is three minutes, so the tube can still be quite hot when handling it minutes after pouring in boiling water.

The Cook Test

We found that cooking pasta in Pastafina yielded mixed results. While it does, surprisingly, deliver cooked pasta as an end result, the time required in our tests was far longer than 3 minutes. It was, in fact, closer to 15 minutes. Those following directions to the letter will often find themselves with under-cooked pasta.

Bottom Line

Pastafina attempts to solve a problem that doesn’t exist. Boiling water and dumping in a box of pasta does not constitute a chore for most people. At about $26, a plastic cylinder with a strainer lid hardly seems a worthy “solution,” especially when it may take longer than than simply cooking pasta in a pot.

Your Pastafina Reviews

Have you used Pastafina, or the older Pasta Express? Give us your Pastafina review in the comments below.

Updated February 28, 2014