В супе было мало вермишели, но мне всё равно понравился вкус.

Because в can mean either in/inside or into, and the case depends on the meaning:

• в + prepositional = location: in
• в + accusative = direction: into

Here the soup is the place where something was, not the destination of movement:

• В супе было мало вермишели = There was little vermicelli in the soup

So суп becomes супе in the prepositional case.

This is very common with quantity words like:

• много = many/a lot of
• мало = little/few
• немного = a little/a few

In sentences like this, Russian often uses neuter singular past tense:

• было мало вермишели
• было много людей
• было немного времени

So было does not agree with вермишели in the way you might expect from English. The whole idea is more like there was little vermicelli, where the quantity expression acts as the center of the statement.

After мало, Russian normally uses the genitive case.

So:

• вермишель → вермишели

This is the same pattern as:

• мало времени = little time
• мало сахара = little sugar
• мало денег = little money

Here вермишель is being treated like a mass noun, so Russian uses the genitive after the quantity word мало.

Grammatically, it is a singular mass noun here.

Russian often treats foods or substances as singular mass nouns, even where English may use a countable or less clearly singular form. In this sentence, вермишели is the genitive singular of вермишель.

So the idea is not few vermicellis, but more like little vermicelli.

Here всё равно means:

• all the same
• anyway
• still
• nevertheless

So the sentence means something like:

• There was little vermicelli in the soup, but I still liked the taste.

It shows contrast: one detail was disappointing, but it did not change the overall reaction.

A useful thing to know is that всё равно can also mean it makes no difference / I don’t care, depending on context:

• Мне всё равно. = I don’t mind / It doesn’t matter to me.

But in this sentence, it clearly means still / anyway.

Because the verb понравиться works differently from English to like.

Russian structure is basically:

• Something pleased to someone

So:

• мне = to me
• понравился вкус = the taste was pleasing / appealed

That is why the person who experiences the liking is in the dative case:

• мне понравился вкус = I liked the taste

Compare:

• мне понравился фильм = I liked the film
• ей понравилась музыка = she liked the music
• нам понравилось блюдо = we liked the dish

Because понравился agrees with вкус, and вкус is a masculine singular noun.

Past-tense Russian verbs agree in gender and number with the subject:

• вкус → masculine singular
• therefore понравился

Compare:

• мне понравилась еда = I liked the food
  (еда is feminine)
• мне понравилось блюдо = I liked the dish
  (блюдо is neuter)
• мне понравились супы = I liked the soups
  (супы is plural)

So in this sentence, the thing doing the grammatical “pleasing” is вкус.

Because вкус is the grammatical subject of понравился, so it stays in the nominative case.

The pattern is:

• кому?
  • понравился/понравилась/понравилось
    • что?

Here:

• мне = to me
• понравился = was pleasing
• вкус = the taste

So вкус must be nominative.

This is about aspect.

• нравиться = imperfective
• понравиться = perfective

In many cases, понравиться is used when talking about a completed reaction: you tried something, saw something, heard something, and then formed an opinion.

So:

• мне понравился вкус = I liked the taste / I ended up liking the taste

If you used нравился, it would sound more like an ongoing or repeated liking, depending on context.

For a single completed impression, понравился is the natural choice.

Но simply means but.

It connects two ideas in contrast:

• В супе было мало вермишели = There was little vermicelli in the soup
• но мне всё равно понравился вкус = but I still liked the taste

So the logic is:

The amount was disappointing, but the taste was good.

Yes. Russian word order is flexible, and changing it often changes emphasis, not the basic meaning.

For example:

• Но мне всё равно понравился вкус.
• Но вкус мне всё равно понравился.
• Но всё равно мне понравился вкус.

All of these are possible. The original version is natural and neutral enough, with a nice flow from the contrast word но into the experiencer мне and then the main result понравился вкус.

Russian has no articles like a or the.

So вкус can mean:

• taste
• the taste
• sometimes a taste

The exact meaning is understood from context. In this sentence, English naturally uses the taste because it refers to the taste of that soup.

Not always. It depends on whether the noun is countable or uncountable in English.

• with mass nouns: little
  • мало воды = little water
• with countable nouns: few
  • мало людей = few people

In this sentence, вермишель is treated like a mass noun, so little vermicelli is the best translation.

Yes, absolutely. That is a very natural English rendering.

Even though вермишель is grammatically singular in Russian here, English may translate it in different natural ways depending on style:

• There was little vermicelli in the soup
• There weren’t many noodles in the soup
• The soup had very little vermicelli in it

All are compatible with the Russian sentence. The grammar point in Russian is still the same: мало + genitive.