Mac and Cheeza

I tried to go to Mac and Cheeza yesterday to find that they have CLOSED. They have a sign up stating that they will reopen in the coming months and that they are still serving up Mac and Cheese at Mom and Dem’s Soul Food on H street.
I went to Mom and Dem’s and they didn’t have the rice noodles, they didn’t have the soy cheese and they basically just had a side of unimpressive Mac and Cheese.
Take my advice and wait for Mac and Cheeza to reopen.

The food here was really good. However, I’m sure this restaurant will go out of business. Therefore, I am writing this review for the owner. You have a REALLY good idea for a restaurant and the food was really good. However, the restaurant was unkept. The rug and floor were dirty, the trash was overflowing, the tables were not wiped clean after customers were there. There were only 3 cookies and one slice of cake in your display case (it was very empty for advertising that you also sell sweets). There were no spoons and the server ran out of plates when we were there. It took a long time to get our food even though there were only two other tables of customers in the restaurant. The problem with everything became evident when I went to order dessert; the server came out from in the back after I stood at the counter for at least 2 minutes waiting to be helped and apologized and said that she was in her own world (and didn’t notice that I was waiting for service). You need to hire new staff and focus on cleanliness and customer service and you should have a thriving business because the food was really good! I will probably not return b/​c my overall experience was not good enough despite the tasty food!

SO SO SO GOOD! Mac N Cheese so good it makes you wanna slap yo Momma!
Great staff– Fun and friendly! Great location in downtown Bakersfield. Say goodbye to strip mall restaurants and say HELLO to Mac & Cheeza!

Hmmm. well what you see is what you get! This place serves up hot, cheesy macaroni and that’s really all there is to so about that.
I had the Baby Mac with real cheese and ham. It was delicious, but not anything special I have to say… If there were available side items that balanced out the heaviness of the pasta and cheese, it may have been a complete meal, but as is I just felt that I had consumed a rather heavy and unhealthy lunch. They do give you a lot of vegetable options to add-​in your mac & cheese, however. And they offer rice noodles instead of pasta and soy instead of cheese which I may try next time.
The ambiance of the place left something to be desired. It was pretty stark and cold up in there. One note of advice to the restaurant — if it’s 50 degrees outside, I think it’s safe to say that you can turn the ceiling fans off.
I was very impressed by the choice of desserts. They had some enormous red velvet cupcakes that looked mouth-​watering. I give it 3 stars because it’s a welcoming addition to Bakersfield: it’s different, kind of cutting edge meets hometown cooking, and it’s not a chain.

Best mac and cheese ive ever had! The atmosphere is a little lacking but the food and service is great. I plan on making this a regular.

It was alright tasting but made me quite ill

I love love love Mac and Cheeza! I go a few times a month for lunch. I always get the baby mac with the regular noodles and cheese (not the rice or soy cheese) with bacon and it is delicious. I always finish it even though I know I shouldn’t, but it is so good.
I’ve tried the red velvet cupcakes as well. It was pretty good, but there wasn’t enough frosting and it definitely wasn’t worth $ 6.
I wish I could have tried the corn bread waffles and chili, but I was informed they don’t make it anymore. I was kinda bummed. :(

Remember that 3 stars = A-​OK. We’d enjoy going again as it is a unique dining experience, but the food was just OK.
I was expecting the mac and cheese to be more gourmet, with a richer sauce and al dente pasta. But then it wouldn’t be traditional comfort food, would it?
The add-​in BBQ chicken was good, although I could barely taste any of the spiced walnut topping.
The cashier politely declined my $ 10
gift certificate, instead offering 20% off. He was nice about it, so I didn’t push it.
The bottled root beer was good, but I too felt bad about the bottles and utensils not being recycled.
My two-​year old enjoyed the blackboard. :-)

My first visit to Mac and Cheeza left me feeling — well, bloated and a little miserable. I had ordered a baby mac with vege sausage and mushrooms and a banana pudding.
Stay away from the banana pudding — it is DISGUSTING. It was grainy, gritty, and more of a liquid than pudding texture. I complained to a friend who asked me why I, the girl who can «cook the s*** out of s***», was going to pay an arm and a leg for noodles and cheese. Honestly though, I think it was the pudding that made me sick the rest of the day.
I had to admit though, those noodles and cheese with plenty of topping stayed on my lactarded mind (I’m a bit lactose intolerant, but I’m a glutton for punishment when it comes to my love for cheese — hence the bloated aspect of my trip)
So, I went back for more — ordered another Baby Mac with vege sausage and mushrooms and a soda.
That vege sausage rocks, and the mushrooms are nice big chunks cooked all the way through — winning combination! No stomach ache that time! I personally like texture of the cheese blend. I’m going to have to try the rice pasta and soy cheese sauce one of these days just to compare, but for now I’ll stick to the real thing.
The Baby Mac is large enough to share with a friend of mine who joins me for lunch on a regular basis — this probably isn’t true for anyone else but maybe those under the age of 10, or if you plan on getting dessert.
I have no beef about the interior, so what if it’s Ikea sparse, I’m there to eat and watch people walk by, the place is clean, that is all that matters to me!
What I do wish is that rather than expensive bottles of soda they had a soda fountain and adding an extra topping wasn’t the same price across the board — like the Baby Mac should only be 50 cents for each additional topping, then $ 1 for the other two seems much more fair.
I also agree about the recycling … there could be a can for the tins, a can for the bottles, etc — then those of us who are conscientious about such a thing would happily chuck our empty tin into the correct bin.
All and all, I’ll be back!

I really wanted it to be good. And the mac and cheese was pretty good. But that’s about it. First off, they do not use plates and utensils — all plastic, non-​recyclable utensils and containers. Aluminum for the mac and cheese. No signs that they recycle anything. This place is not eco-​friendly, which I find really disturbing. Wash some dishes, big deal. Or let us know that you recycle everything. (I don’t think they do.)
The red velvet cake was HORRIBLE. That is the worst recipe I’ve ever tasted. They have it so wrong there are no words.
The atmosphere is cute — very urban. The girl behind the counter was nice. But unfortunately, I won’t be back.

I was pretty excited to hear earlier this year that there was a new place downtown that served macaroni and cheese exclusively. Shortly after it opened, however, I started hearing a lot of mixed feedback about it. I finally got around to checking out Mac & Cheeza and, go figure, my feelings are mixed.
The interior of Mac & Cheeza is pretty ramshackle. The tables and chairs are pretty basic, and it’s nice that they have a chalkboard wall dedicated to the patrons, but the whole place looks like it was thrown together in a few days tops. The look comes off as cross between hipster café and an LA fro-​yo joint.
After examining the menu choices for a bit, I ordered a Baby Mac with standard noodles and cheese. I added black olives, tomatoes, and chorizo. The macaroni itself was a nice al-​dente, but the cheese they used coagulated, rather than melted, which gave the dish an odd texture. The flavor itself was somewhere between frozen meal and your little sister just learning how to cook, which isn’t a good thing, but not completely repellant either. The Baby Mac along with a strawberry soda ran just under $ 11.
One thing I did like about the place was their promotion of «cane sugar» sodas. They have those in a variety of flavors right in front of the register, while they keep the standard Coke and Gatorade tucked away in a corner. However, three bucks for a bottle of strawberry soda is a wee bit steep.
On a whole, Mac & Cheeza didn’t impress me much. The food and atmosphere was pretty blah, while the service was a bit standoffish. I will admit that I’m intrigued enough to go back and try some of the other flavor combinations at some point, but it’s definitely not going to be a regular stop.

Amazing!!! Also, super great cusomet service!!! Basically the best service in town!

Bland and rude employees.
I am all about supporting local businesses especially those in downtown Bakersfield, however, I will be surprised if this place makes it past 6 months with the quality and taste of the product and customer service.
I ordered the Mama mac as the only two out of four sizes available were the Mama and the Baby. I choose regular noodles with cheese, BBQ chicken and collard greens with spicy walnut topping.
The girl who helped me was friendly but not to me, but to the guy who was making my mac & cheese. When asked about any desserts they offered, she replied «we do carry desserts, but he ate them all». I settled for just the mac & cheese and then waited while the employees continued to ignore me while my food was prepared. Even when I attempted to engage them in conversation, they answered with one word and then went back to ignoring me and talking amongst themselves while two other employees peered at me from the cut out window in the back.
When I got home to eat the creation, it was bland but edible. Noodle and cheese does not make mac & cheese. I ate half the Mama mac, which like the previous review states is «enough for two people’ but threw the rest away in the trash.
Save you money for better tasting food elsewhere.
In short, mac & cheese sucks!!!

This is a fun place for lunch. Mac & Cheese, sweets, and bottled drinks — simple and soulful.
It’s customizable mac&cheese…you pick the size (baby mac, momma mac, daddy mac, or big daddy mac), the noodle (rice or regular) the cheese (soy or real), and the extras (vegetables, meats, crunchy topping). They will combine and bake your options and voila! Pipping hot delicious noodle dish. For desserts, you have the option of red velvet cake, banana pudding, sweet potato pie, or peach cobbler. Be forewarned… you will have to wait for the peach cobbler as they put it through their conveyor-​belt-​like baking oven.
Is it THE best? nope. But it is pretty darn good and satisfying. And it’s nice to have a place like this in Bakersfield. I had the soy cheese/​regular noodle/​veggie sausage/​spinach and the real cheese/​regular noodle/​spinach/​mushroom combination. Both were great; however, i got the soy combo because i thought it would be vegan, but I left feeling questionable about it. I forgot to ask. But for all the Vegans out there: be sure to ask for no cheese topping! Because they will slam some of the real stuff on top of it to bake. A Baby Mac ($ 5) was just enough for one person. Momma Mac ($ 10) could easily feed 2.
The peach cobbler was amazing… hot and gooey, with an unkempt appearance (which is part of it’s charm) as the peaches peek from underneath a delicious golden blanket of crust.
Other Pros: big ol’ chalkboard, tag it up as you please. clean bathrooms. nice staff. hot sauce on the side. great, tasty, hearty mac & cheese! DELICIOUS desserts. And it’s LOCAL (sorta, there’s also one in LA, but that’s it). A very straight-​forward, casual restaurant with a specialized menu and decent prices.
Some Cons: Vegan-​ness of veggie options questionable. no option to get tap water. everything except the black tray your food comes on is disposable, so it’s pretty wasteful. since the food containers are aluminum, it’d be nice to see some recycling in their near future.
I am definitely going back.