Romano’s Macaroni Grill

Yum!
…and we could draw on the table!!!

The best Macaroni Grill! The new chef Juan is awesome and made sure that we were happy with our meal, which we were.

This restaurant clearly has management problems. For the second consecutive visit, we gave waited too long on a take out order. Tonight there were servers just wandering around the dining room while the takeout server was drowning in customers. The manager of this location needs to figure how to utilize his/​her staff better on the takeout window!

Been here a hundred times with in-​laws that like it and I have yet to find something consistently good. Most of the sauces are overloaded with foreign spices and so do not taste like you expect. Mushroom ravioli was so potent I almost got sick. I’ve ordered cream sodas several times and get something completely different each time — entire ingredients missing. The complimentary bread is pretty good but has to be torn by hand. Water glasses on the table were dirty the last time. I overpay for plain spaghetti which is not even as good as Olive Garden.

Blackened chicken Parmesan and eggplant Parmesan were both excellent.
Great service: our waiter Ray was exceptional.

We both almost threw up in the bathroom. Raw lamb chops. Salty chicken marsala. Got our order wrong twice and then pitched an attitude.
By the next day we were both very sick. Had to miss work because of food poisoning. Thank you macaroni grill.

First time coming here on my lunch break. My waiter made me feel like I was a problem the moment I walked in. The water is not good, even with lemons and that is all I drink or I would of ordered something else. I got the chicken ceaser salad, it didn’t come under 7 minutes but I didn’t say anything because my waiter already seemed angry about life enough. The food was OK, the bread they bring out was great! I’d like to try a pasta sometime. The patio experience was great.

I meet some friend there for lunch on 04/​22, the waitress seemed to be to busy to wait on us as we look around there wasn’t very many customers, we asked what their specials were and she totally acted liked she didn’t hear us, then she left and came back to take our order, brought out our salads and ran off while I was trying to ask her asking for ground pepper, I finallly got up and asked for the manager to get another waiter to help, it seemed she was to busy or something, food came out it was the wrong order, we sent it back and waited for the correct order (I could go on) meals should of been comp or something, it was a terrible experience (food was very good) the only thing I could say that was good.

The service here is always amazing. The food is on point and I enjoy that they have rotating new appetizers. For an entrée I always get the eggplant parmigiana. It’s always yummy.

Came here with family on a Tuesday evening after 7 p.m. The restaurant was virtually empty with only a handful of tables were occupied.
We were quickly seated in a booth at the far corner of the restaurant and our server Gabrielle was friendly and welcoming.
The restaurant was clean but things started going down hill as soon as we got our glasses full of water and placed our drink orders.
Issues:
— — — -
First, the water glasses were clearly DIRTY. I know what dirty is, but these glasses looked like they were just picked up from the trash bin and water poured on them and brought to our table. I quickly told our server to take them away and get us clean glasses.
Second, we placed our drink orders ($ 7 Bellini-​Ultimate & $ 7 Red Sangria) and we waited for almost 10 minutes before the drinks were brought to our tables. Gabrielle apologized saying there was a mix-​up at the bar.
Third, we placed our food order ($ 15.50 Shrimp Alfredo & $ 14.50 Penne Rustica) and again, it took FOREVER for the food to get to the table. The manager (I believe) came by to apologize for the delay saying that the cook had to re-​do one of the dishes. 20 minutes later the food was at the table, but at that time, my young boys were ready to go home and we just had a quick taste of the food, got our to-​go boxes, paid, and left.
The Good:
— — — — -
Restaurant was clean, Gabrielle our server was friendly, manager personally apologized for the delays, dirty glasses, and took off a food item from our bill. The kids pepperoni pizza was good. The 7 Bellini-​Ultimate & $ 7 Red Sangria drinks were really good.

I haven’t been to Romano’s Macaroni Grill since 2003 and I decided to try it again recently.
I have to say that I was very impressed with their food this time. I thought that the selection on the menu was very good and my food (I had Portobello mushroom fries and Pasta di mare) and service were excellent. The portion was big, so I had to take some home. I will definitely come back here again.

My wife and i came to this place twice. The food was great and the service very good.
They have right now a 7 dollar lunch in 7 minutes, or your money back. Also a 9 dollar dinner in 9 minutes.
I am giving 5 stars because the food is very good for the price.
It makes a lot of sense to come to this place often.

This low rating is based on the very poor service we received. Not the food. The food was excellent. We were a party of four celebrating a birthday. When making the reservation, we were asked if it was for a special occasion. We stated it was a birthday, but we didn’t want any «singing» at tableside. We were told there would be a complimentary dessert for the birthday boy.
We arrived at 6:00 PM. There were only four other tables seated at that time. Our server was very inattentive. We had to ask each time we needed drink refills. Once he came and only refilled two of the four glasses, thus requiring us to ask another server to please send our waiter back to us. One of our dinners required a pasta spoon. Our server drifted in range of our table, we signaled him over, made the request, but he handed it to the wrong person! After we finished, he picked up one set of empty dishes but left the other three empty plates sitting on the table. What’s up with that? We had to snag him again to ask him to remove the other plates. Then we waited, and waited for the dessert menu for the complimentary birthday dessert. He didn’t return with it until we went to the hostess and asked her if we could receive the dessert. Of course, by that time the birthday person was saying, «Forget about it.» Finally, we got his cake.
All in all, it was a non-​event. The restaurant was not busy at all. In fact, when we arrived at 6 PM, there were only five tables seated. It was certainly not the service we have come to expect at any Macaroni Grill. Perhaps they need to give a refresher serving course to our server.

One of my favorite Italian restaurants! The food is always good here. Their bread, dipped in olive oil and pepper is unbelievably good! I could eat that alone for dinner and be happy. The salads are tasty and filling and worth getting if you want something lighter than pasta! The house wine is on the honor system and is worth the price if you don’t want to spend a lot on wine.

We came in on a Saturday for lunch. It was actually the day after Christmas. It was crickets in there. There was only 2 other tables. We came because we had a gift card.
The interior is similar to an Olive Garden. It is trying to look like a Tuscan villa. We started with calamari. It was actually the best part of the meal. The two dipping sauces with it were horrible. I think one was tarter and I couldn’t figure out the other one. We asked for some marinara. It took several minutes to come out and by they the calamari was cold. My boys each ordered off the kids menu. One had the fettuccine Alfredo and the other got spaghetti with meat sauce. My son hated the spaghetti with meat sauce and asked for the fettuccine Alfredo instead. How can you mess up spaghetti?
I had a beef salad. The greens were crisp and the beef was tender. Like I said we only came because we had a gift card. Probably would not come back.

Macaroni Grill is a classic that you can go every time and always get a fantastic meal. I order salmon and it is by far the best flavor and cooked so well.
Their staff is always nice and kind as well. Sometimes they have sample menu items that they are testing which is always a nice surprise.

I’ve been a Macaroni Grill hater for years because their food wasn’t good. Until now that is, Romano’s has gotten better with their food quality. I had a BOGO deal for the Express dinner. With the Express dinner you order at the counter and take it home or eat it there. You won’t have a server but they will bring the food to you.
I ordered the Buffalo Chicken pasta and Pork belly and chicken cabonara. I ate the Buffalo Chicken at the restaurant and took the pork belly one home. The Buffalo Chicken pasta was really good! For $ 9 the portion size is pretty big and they are not stingy about the meat. The creamy and medium spicy sauce mixed with spaghetti noodles is what I ate. The chicken adds the protein and calms the creamy sauce down. If you pay a dollar more you get a loaf of their rosemary bread. Carbs plus more carbs! I’m guessing the Buffalo Chicken pasta is their signature because it was under the «Signature Pasta» category. There are a lot more interesting items on the Express dinner menu. If you are craving pasta and not wanting to spend a lot then this place is perfect. Don’t mind the low rating because the new Express dinner is fab.

The food was fine, it’s their weirdo new «express» $ 9 dinner menu. You can’t order from that menu from your waiter. I get that, since they guarantee the food will be ready in 9 minutes or it’s free. BUT, there are items on the express menu that is not on the regular menu. Some items are, some aren’t. That is totally lame, stupid, ridiculous. I saw something I really wanted but couldn’t order it. The waiter was sympathetic, but those are the rules.
Who thought this one up?

My boyfriends family loves this restaurant so for one of our Sunday dinners they chose this location. There was no wait on a Sunday night at 6:30 so we were sat immediately.
Our waiter was very friendly and talkative but he would disappear for long periods of time so it too us a while before we could order. I chose the Pena rustica with the gluten free penne pasta. My boyfriend ordered the same but with regular pasta. I also ordered a wedge salad to start. The wedge salad came out as shreds of lettuce and they actually left the end of the lettuce head in the bowl. You aren’t supposed to eat that part. They went light on the dressing which was nice but they went really light on everything else so it was basically an iceberg salad with a little dressing.
Our meals took a while to come out. When they finally did the waitress that dropped off our plates told us to be careful because the plates were extremely hot. I touched my plate and it was a little warm but not hot. The cheese on top of my pasta had dried and crusted over. The dish looked like it had sat under the warmer for a while. The pasta was really dried out and sort of crunchy. The dish was supposed to be a mix of chicken and shrimp. I found two tiny chicken pieces and three shrimp. My meal was also really lacking in sauce. My boyfriends looked a bit better than mine. His pasta was dried out and crunchy as well but he had quite a bit of sauce.
Overall not the best experience for me. My food was a miss and service wasn’t the best. Since my bf’s family does like this place I’m willing to give them another try but I might avoid the gluten free pasta and stick with just a salad.

Today in my e-​mail was an announcement and coupon for new lunch meals at this restaurant for $ 7 in seven minutes plus I would receive one free meal today with the coupon attached.. We headed for the nearest Romano’s, which was on Parker Road in Plano. Met at the front by a very nice and cordial hostess to whom I shoed the e-​mail. She escorted us to the kitchen counter and explained that we would have to order at the counter and our order would be brought to our table. There were samples of some of the seven lunches being offered and we tested tow of them. Unfortunately both were cold as we were there at 12:30PM and the samples had apparently been out for quite some time. We noticed vey few customers in the restaurant.
We went to the register located on the bar in the kitchen area and placed our order. I ordered the spaghetti Bolognese which according to menu contained Bolognese sauce and my spouse ordered the Spaghetti Verdi which according to the menu contained spinach, Romano, Parmesan, creamy pesto and spaghetti. Both were served in large bowls and the food was certainly ample for a lunch menu.
That was it folks. No bread, nothing extra. I was advised that bread would be $ 1 extra, as would chips and a cookie. You could also pay extra for a salad. We decided against the side dish offers. You had to pay at the cash register at the counter. Of yes, there was a place for adding a tip for service that you had no ideal how bad or how good it might be.
At our table we noticed there was a $ 10, three-​course lunch which consisted of Mozzarella Fritta, Caesar Salad and one of four pastas. This would have been a much better offering and you could go to a table and sit while having a waitress take your order and give you a check at the end of the meal. We noticed two other couples sitting close to our table that declined the lunch special lunch menu and ordered from the main lunch menu.
The wait serve was excellent and the food was good. It certainly was not the bargain of the day though as there are several other Italian restaurants in the area that have more to offer at lunch time. One location we frequent has a $ 6.95 lunch which consist of hot bread, salad, entrée and drink. Plus the food is excellent.
As we left we noticed very few customers had come in while we were there, yet other restaurants in the immediate area were packed with customers at lunch time.
Summery — I was not impressed by this non-​service process where I had to go to the counter and order my food. Might as well have eaten at McDonalds. Corporate may want to re-​think this process. Secondly I was not impressed by all the «add-​ons» which could easily run the price of your lunch to way over $ 10. The food, while acceptable, is not the best for the price.