Customer Reviews

Lello 2730 3000 Pro Pastamaster Pasta Maker

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I checked out several brands before deciding on this one. I followed the directions exactly, and the pasta came out perfect. it makes up to 3 pounds of pasta each time.That's a lot of pasta. But, you can freeze the leftover that you don't need right now. the noodles are not sticky and they cook fast. the fettucine cooked in 3 minutes after water boiled. I have no regrets.

This machine was recommended for pasta with freshly milled whole grain. Does an excellent job with 1/2 kamut and 1/2 soft white. I use eggs instead of water, and follow the measurements exactly. I'm sure that it would do a great job with white flour.

I am not impressed. I recently purchased this machine with high hopes that technology had advanced enough to out perform my old worn out, long retired early 90's vintage "Pasta Express From CTC".
There are those instances when time is short it would be nice to not make pasta by hand using a more traditional pasta roller/cutter. So I decided to give this machine a try thinking Lello may have got it right by watching what designs didn't work with other vendors of similar machines over the years. But after three uses it is in my opinion a marginal improvement.

First the good points...
It's mixes the flour into pasta dough very well. The design of the stirring paddles do a decent job of mixing the flour and water together. Using Semolina and whole wheat blend you can generally get perfect consistency dough in about 10-15 mins.
Single direction operating motor for both mixing and extruding. Gone is the need to flip a direction switch for each operation.
Simple operation to swap out extrusion die, and its metal outer ring makes cutting off the pasta easy with a single scrape of a knife blade.
Solid construction. This machine is heavy and definitely stays put on the counter top when operating.
Clean up is pretty simple (use the let it dry dirty method) and all parts disassemble easily. The extrusion auger chamber was the only component that was hardest to clean.
Well written recipe instruction booklet.

Now the not so good points...
Yep... it's made in China (did you expect no less?).

Very noisy. When in operation the motor reduction gears are really LOUD! My first impression was perhaps the unit needs some time to "break in". Nope... the idler gear for the extrusion auger is rattling away sounding like it's in dire need of some grease. The noise this thing makes when mixing dough made me wonder if I shouldn't take it down to the nearest AAMCO transmission shop for a tune up. This is a food processing appliance but it sounds like a gravel yard rock crusher. It had me reaching for my ear plugs. However when under load i.e. extruding pasta it seems to quite down a tiny bit. This machine is one of the noisier appliances in my kitchen, second only to the blender.

Extrusion speed. Can you say sloooooooooooooooow ! I've literally made a ton of pasta over the years using other techniques and this machine is painfully slow. It seems to take forever auto-loading the auger slot and produce pasta on the other end. Once it gets going the pasta oozing from the extrusion die creeps along. Many times the stirring paddles in the mixing bowl fail to push enough material into the auger slot to keep the extruded pasta coming out at a constant rate. This requires you to frequently stop the machine, rearrange the dough, and start it up again. Not very "automatic" in my view, more like semi-auto. Lello definitely needs to rethink how to improve the auger/extrusion chamber components, especially the dough feed slot. This in my view is it's weakest design point.

Smelly. My new machine smelled like paint fumes when operating. Not sure exactly what is causing the odor, but once the motor had been running for a few minutes (empty or full mixing bowl) and the reduction gear oil or motor windings got warm, it smelled like old lead paint. Not very appealing when making fresh delicious pasta. Now the components that are in contact with the food appear to be mostly food grade polycarbonate plastic. But when you smell paint like fumes wafting out from the motor ventilation holes, it definitely evokes thoughts of the recent issues regarding lead tainted plastic in products coming from China.

All in all I give this unit 2 stars. I find mixing the flour in a bowl or mixer and using a traditional pasta roller/cutting machine is overall quicker, and much more straight forward. Plus there is nothing like getting personal with the food you eat by using your own hands to prepare it. Sure it's a wee bit messy, but the time spent making your pasta manually and cleaning up after will overall be less than the time it takes to make the same amount using this machine. I sent my machine back for a refund. Perhaps I'll wait another 15 years before trying another "automatic" pasta maker again.

I got this machine from my husband for my birthday and tried it last evening for the first time. I followed the directions exactly for one pound of the white flour pasta, weighing, not measuring the flour. This is an important distinction because a cup of flour can vary in weight by several ounces. I think the instructions are good, though they don't exactly tell you what consistency of dough you are seeking to achieve. I would describe it as dough that holds together but isn't wet or sticky. I had perfect pasta extruding from the machine after twenty minutes and two adjustments for more liquid.

One pound makes alot of pasta, more than enough for a main course dinner with enough leftover to freeze. We really enjoyed it. I will make another kind of pasta, perhaps semolina, soon.

Holly Sean

I have been using an old CTC pasta machine that is on it's last legs. I liked that I could make a hearty, all egg, semolina flour pasta with the CTC. The Lello requires bleached flour at all times, either 100% or at least partially with semolina or other flours. Plus, all flour must be sifted and weighed. As an experienced pasta machine operator, I am familiar with the different and certain consistencies that seem to work best. The Lello seems to require a more moist yet lighter dough mix, with smaller coagulations. I had a difficult time getting the mix to fall into the 2nd stage auger for extrusion. While I feel that the Lello may make decent lighter and basic pastas, it failed at making the heartier, all egg, semolina pasta that I enjoy.

I wore out my first pasta machine a few years back and since I can't find replacement parts anymore I bought this one. First time out I had perfect pasta! This is not the kind of machine that you just load and turn on though so please don't expect that. Anytime you are working with flour the room temperature and humidity level will effect the mix. Don't be afraid to adjust for perfect pasta. Since this thing makes enough pasta at a time for 3 meals for us I am making great use of my freezer.

This is fun for the whole family! Reiterating other reviewers, as long as you follow the instructions on measurement, ingredients, etc., pasta comes out great. We've tried angel hair, rigatoni, lasagna, ravioli noodles, among others, using egg noodles, flour without egg, semolina flour and regular bleached flour, and all have come out superb. You do have to leave yourself some time for prep, and it can take several minutes for a full 3lb batch to mix and squeeze out into noodles, but it's actually a fun family and friends event to watch the pasta come out and cut and hang the noodles. I'd recommend getting a pasta drying rack (we went with the Norpro, $12.99 on Amazon), and a good digital kitchen scale.

There really is a difference in taste between boxed and fresh pasta. Fresh out-of-the-machine pasta does a much better job of clinging to and absorbing the various pasta sauces, which really enhances the flavor in cream-based and marina-based sauces (compared to boxed pasta, where sauces tend to slide off the pasta).

We've also made spinach pasta and pumpkin pasta, which make fun gifts as well.

Two good books to accompany the pasta maker: "The Complete Book of Pasta and Noodles" by Cooks Illustrated, and Marcella Hazan's "Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking", the latter a must for budding Italian cooks.

My husband and I had never made pasta before and were wanting to start. I was worried when I could only find one fully automated machine. It is my nature to want more of a choice. And after reading the reviews on this machine I was also a little worried about the people who hated it and wanted to throw it away. But most of the reviews just told you to read the directions and follow them very carefully. Well, we followed the directions and our first batch was a HUGE success. We have since then made spinach and olive pastas. It is a fun machine and we are looking forward to moving onto rice noodles soon. The reviews were right...Just follow the directions!!!

This unit replaced two wore out Simac pasta makers. Pretty much a straight forward replacement. Uses same pasta dies & same book. The Simac book had pictures of what the product was supposed to look like when mixing. That is helpful to someone new to these. Weighing the flour is the best way. Be accurate on ingredients. Let the noodles dry for a short time before cooking as it will help keep the pasta separated for cooking. Way faster cooking times. If you think it's almost ready, it is. I cook my pasta after making it & have a problem of eating the fresh cooked pasta as is. Use plenty of salt in the water unless you can't for health reasons. As for noise, it's a machine. Plenty stable on the counter. Let dry & then clean method works best. Remember the glue we made from flour & water as kids? That"s what you will get if you try to clean it right away.

If you weigh the ingredients, you'll find the dough is perfect with no fiddling required. I've done all-purpose flour with egg, all-purpose flour with water (reminds me of asian noodles), semolina with a 1/2-1/2 egg water improvisation, and they've all turned out great (tried about 1/2 of the included dies to date - no problems with any).

It appears to be built very well.

To the review of the person who ditched it said they need to constantly push the dough into the auger. I usually have to do this 1 time per batch (takes less than 10 seconds), so I'd chalk that up to operator error.

Its slow to extrude (at first!) About 1 minute after the pasta starts coming out of the die, it goes PLENTY fast enough.

No question - this machine is loud... not loud enough to ding it a star however... I just jack the stereo up louder!