Romano’s Macaroni Grill

Nope. Flavorless food. There is an obvious shortage on spices in this place. Bland and far from Italian food. The waiter speaks Italian big deal, they definitely don’t cook it, so they can talk the talk but cannot walk the walk.

Was there on 03÷02÷12 — was there again 9÷11÷13. The last visit caused me to write a hand written letter and mailed it to the manager — (bad sign #3) and didn’t get a response. Our server was S L O W — in fact, she disappeared (maybe was on a half hour dinner break) who knows, food was good — not as awesome as usual but good. We waited for 25 minutes for a table when two people came in after us were seated. Not crowded, empty tables. Finally seated and then another waiter came along and apologized 47 times for the slow service (enough already) then offered us a free desert for our inconvenience. GF was going to get a free one anyway as it was her B-​day. Not too happy. We’ll drive to the location in Chesterfield rather than go here again.

I tried the trio special they had going. It was ok. It was fairly priced ($ 15). The bread was delicious as always. If you’ve been to Olive Garden, don’t expect as much food here. The appetizer was truly an appetizer.
Service was okay. They weren’t really busy for it being a Saturday night. We had gift cards and ended up going to this place because of that.
If someone wanted to meet up here, I’d go. It wouldn’t be my first choice for places to eat.

My gf and I started going to Macaroni Grill about a year ago and they had one of the best chicken parmesan’s I have ever had at a chain restaurant. Since then the menu has changed, and not for the better. The chicken parm is now a thinly sliced cut of chicken, pounded out, breaded, fried and over smothered with cheese. This great value of a meal went from a flavorful delight to worse than any other restaurant.
I decided to give them a second chance by picking up some chicken parms to go. After I go home, I opened the containers and realized the chicken was way over cooked and the noodles tasted like Chef Boyardee.
As mentioned by a previous Unilocaler, I agree that tonight was my last time at Macaroni Grill… especially the one in south county!

Quite good for a franchise!
The prices are nice (especially the half price wine during the summer and happy hours). I’m a big fan of the eggplant parmesan and the build your own pasta. Service has always been quite friendly, too.

The food and service is never consistent !

I should start this off by saying that I am generally not a complete fan of chains in general, but I go to them when I am with someone that normally does not like to experience some of variety that St. Louis has to offer. Okay, sometimes it’s just nice to go to a place that is the same too, I can be expansive (well… sometimes).
So, Myself and my sister came here before we headed downtown to go to the Peabody last night for some supper. The place was not busy at all for about five-​thirty in the evening so we were seated quickly and our served came soon after that and let us know about their specials and the drinks of the day. After reading some of the reviews here, I was slightly concerned but I guess we came on a good day because she was attentive, and friendly and talked to us through the meal.
I ordered the Carmela’s Chicken and My sister ordered the Carbonara. The waitress told my sister how the pasta would be more al-​dente since it’s fresh and it was that, and tasty! My chicken was rather good, with lots of onion goodness (i love onion and garlic!). Both were good and eaten with gusto (it’s good to have a good appetite!).
I only gave it three stars mainly because it is a chain and would be more if it was an independent restaurant much like those on the Hill or anywhere else that was a mainstay to St.louis. I figure that it should be good since it’s done over and over all around the country so therefor it’s middle of the road, which it was!

Sat for nearly 20 minutes after being seated before we asked who our server was, since no one was over since seating. To our suprise we hadn’t been assigned one. The restaurant was empty. However once we were assigned a waitress she was more than accommodating and apologetic, she even offered us free desert however we decided so she decided to comp our beverages.
Overall the food is better than Olive Garden, and not quite to the quality to some of the great places on the hill. Overall prices are a little on the high side, but then again they do offer cheaper options. Given a choice I would pick someplace else

I came here with the parents last night for dinner. My first experience with this chain happened years ago, & I didn’t like the food at all. This time was just like I remembered. Not delish at all. Being lactose intolerant & high fat intolerant, I found it a bit hard to deciding on what I could eat. So, I settled on bruschetta & Mediterranean olives. Even though there wasn’t any cheese on the bruschetta, there was an abundant (I mean insane amounts) of diced tomatoes peppered with chopped fresh basil. There was simply no taste. Absolutely zilch. The bread that this monstrosity was on the same bread that they give you while you wait (rosemary bread). By no means I am a fan of rosemary, but really using the same bread? How about using some real plain Italian bread? If I remembered correctly, bruschetta has a small amount of tomatoes with freshly chopped basil and some mozzarella. Clearly, either I have a bad memory or this is simply a disastrous attempt. On to the disaster of olives. Simply toooooo salty. I love salt, but not toooo much. The olives could have used a soak or too to get rid of the excess salt from the brine solution. Seriously, the citrus marinade couldn’t save this dish. Honestly, the next time I or my parents want to have decent Italian food, we’ll definitely make the drive to the Hill. It is totally worth it. After this horrid tasteless dinner, I was still a bit hungry. Didn’t take any leftovers home.

No hostess — waited to sit in a half empty restaurant. Waited some more for a waiter in a half empty restaurant. Waited some more for bread, as we watched it be delivered to other tables in a half empty restaurant. 20 mins in and I’m not hopeful for a entrée soon. Every time I’m here, it gets worse. Saw the takeout staff (1) covering takeout, hostess stand, and cleaning tables. Only saw the manager once, sweet talking some other upset customers.

The service was exceptional. My husband and I haven’t been in years because we weren’t fond of it before. We got a gift card and decided to go again. From the moment we walked in the door we were treated A+. We cannot rave enough about every single employee. It was truly a team effort by each and everyone that walked passed us. Great job Scotty, our waiter and the entire staff. Can’t wait to return!

Ally K. was awesome. Very attentive, very professional and as usual, the food was wonderful. Every time I visit (which is about 5x’s a year) I’m impressed with the delicious food and nearly always a very good waiter/​waitress. I’m carefule to be specific with my wait staff — telling them I’m in no hurry, in a hurry etc., and how I’d like to be served, i.e., I’d like my appetizer first, then my salad, then my entrée. Otherwise they’ll run you through there quickly.
I’d recommend taking your time, enjoying the fine food and savor the wines.

There was a day when I was impressed with Macaroni Grill for fitting into the category of being «really good for a chain». The food was always consistently good and the service attentive. Then a lot of changes were made to the menu, the flavor of the food declined and after a few forgettable experiences I wrote them off my list.
Then one day I received an email touting a new menu complete with an eye popping photograph of Butternut Asiago Tortellaci. It had been a very long time since I had visited and determined that I would venture once more to check out the new menu based purely on the impressive new look of the email and website.
We arrived around 8 pm on a Friday night and were seated immediately even though the restaurant was very busy. From the new menu we ordered a couple of Italian Tapas, the Bruschetta Crostini, which was described as soft bread toasted with dry salsa on top by the waiter… hmmmmm dry salsa? And the Mac and Cheese Bites. The Brucschetta was completely void of flavor except for the pounds of garlic and cold refrigerator taste of the bland tomatoes. The soft bread toasts were so soggy they could not be picked up. The Mac and Cheese Bites looked really good but were almost tasteless.
I ordered the Butternut Asiago Tortellaci. Overall, the dish was completely lacking in flavor except for the extremely bitter burnt garlic in the sauce. The pasta was dry and chewy, the prosciutto tough and the butternut squash chewy. I appreciated the upgraded ingredients but the outcome was virtually inedible due to the bitterness of the burned garlic. I found myself continuing to eat to see if was really as bad tasting as I thought it was.
My wife ordered the Mama’s Trio of Chicken Parmesan, Lasagna and Chicken Cannelloni. All three of the items were completely overcooked and co burned s that the lasagna and cannelloni top layers were hard as a rocks. She was able to dig down through the layers of petrified pasta to find a few bites of what was at least a discernable flavor of what she had ordered.
I was truly shocked that the staff would have sent both of our dishes to the table knowing how overcooked and poorly prepared they were. In retrospect we should have sent both dishes back, but by then we just wanted to leave. Our hopeful experience had become a regrettable one never to be repeated.
I vowed never to return. Sorry Mac Grill. I tried.

I have not been to Macaroni Grill in about 5 years and now I remember why. The new menu is less than memorable and if my favorites from the past Penna Rustica had very little flavor. At this particular location, the servers appeared less than interested in taking care of the customers. They were busy talking. For a party of 4 the dinner was 2.25 hours long. We had to ask for bread and made our own dipping oil. When we got desert we did not even eat it (very crusty and old for chocolate cake). Pass on this place and move on down the road.

Food is average, i tried going back again but found myself not liking the food again, average food no flavor.