Romano’s Macaroni Grill

FOOD POISONING. I visited this restaurant

Went for daughter’s birthday with a small group of about 18 people. Service was AWFUL! The waitress who helped us was brand new, therefore, I can’t blame her for the bad service. Me and my friend were one of the first ones there but they lost our meal ticket and we were never served while the rest of our party was. As if that weren’t bad enough all of our checks were mixed up and it took about an hour for the management to TRY and rectify our bills. and still we were charged for the entrees we didn’t receive. The food that was served wasn’t appetizing. Will definitely NOT be returning there again!

I’ve been here about 4 times and the food has always been very fresh and flavorful! I signed up for their emails and I get sent some pretty good specials, today it was 2 express lunches for $ 10! Amazing deal! Riley I believe was our servers name was very helpful!

Again, this place did not disappoint. I’m honestly surprised by the low/​negative reviews.
Last week, at the last minute, I put together a small Saturday celebration for my baby’s birthday and the Staff was beyond (beyond) accommodating and patient with the planning/​setup. They even allowed me to come by a couple of days early to choose where and how the tables would be set up.
Once again, because of the recent Unilocal reviews, I foolishly became nervous that the food and service was going to be subpar… but decided to go ahead with the plans. Seriously, sooo thankful that I did! They allowed me to bring a birthday cake and table decorations… I even created a birthday menu from theirs…
Eric was our lovely server, who calmed my silly nerves by assuring me, in so many other words, that «he’s got this». And wow did he ever… talk about top of the notch Downton Abbey service!
The house bread/​appetizers/​food that was brought out to us was beautifully plated and beyond hot and delicious.
Also, their house red –imported from Italy– was «wow». I’m not a fan of red, but since the birthday guests raved about it, I tried it and immediately said «bye» to Stella (after finishing it, of course).

So I’m updating my review based on my latest dining experience…
Busy Saturday evening with about a 30 minute wait for our party of 4. Understandable, except for the fact that almost all of the booths along the back row were empty. Maybe they didn’t have enough to wait staff, idk?
The young lady who greeted us and sat us was friendly. No complaints with our server, he checked up on us throughout our meal and tended to the extra requests that comes when eating with young kids.
Pros—
The ambience is pretty, yet casual at the same time. Also, Their appetizer (tapas) deal is a good offer, pick any two for $ 9.99. We ordered loaded fries (super cheesy) and bruschetta. Both are satisfying and a good portion. Their kids mac&cheese is a generous portion, creamy and tasty!
Their bread that they serve is warm, soft, toasted, yet moist… But we actually had to ask for ours when other tables were served bread automatically.
Cons—
My other kid had Alfredo with farfalle (bow tie) noodles, and the noodles seemed undercooked. It was not al dente, it definitely needed an extra minute or so in the water. It also looked like it could use a little more sauce, it was a bit dry. I had the chicken Marsala with veggies instead of noodles. The chicken was 3 small flat pieces hidden in oily sauce. The flavor actually wasn’t too bad, but it was incredibly oily, and the chicken was a bit tough. The veggies it came with were even more oily. Very very oily. The oil was literally pooling in the overcooked veggies. I’m attempting to eat «healthy» and there aren’t any good options. My hubby ordered «mamas trio» it’s a dish he was happy with during a previous visit, but this time it seemed to fall flat. Everything on his plate seemed like it needed more sauce. The lasagna was all ricotta. There were little bits of meat here and there, but not evenly distributed.
Overall a disappointing dinner experience.
**and on a side note… While walking to be seated at our table, we walked past the kitchen area where I hear a server asking the cooks to «throw it back in for another minute or so». Basically asking to reheat food that I don’t think was even brought out to the customer yet. Smh.

Where to begin? We walk in the door and are seated quickly as the restaurant was not busy. Only a few tables had people at them. We are greeted by our server, Joe, and asked if we would like something to drink and he pointed out a deal with appetizers. We notice the dressing is left on the table but there is no bread.
After quite some time bread is brought out and our orders are taken. We order the Fettuccine Alfredo with chicken and the Mama’s trio. Joe asked if we would like a Caesar salad or greens with it. When he asked he made it seem like it came with the meal, but it was really an extra charge of $ 3.20.
We finished our salads and the bread and put the plates aside. Our server walked by multiple times and looked over but never picked them up or checked on us. I can understand if the place was busy and he had many tables but it wasn’t. It took about 20 minutes for our meal to come out after we finished our salad and bread and when it did the food was cold.
By this point, we didn’t finish most of our food and were waiting for our check. Our server brought our check and then had walked out the door (I assume for his break). We had to wait for another server to come over and take our card. I realize we all need a break but it would be nice to make sure your tables are covered.
Overall, the salad was good, but the rest was not the best. Add bad service and I will not be returning.

SO I want to say that two people in this restaurant hands down deserve the full five stars. It is the restaurant itself that gets the one star.
J.D. was our waiter and he was on point the entire time. ***** In fact it seemed that he was having to be on point for majority of the other servers which is why I did not get upset with him at all for any of the issues we had with our meal because I quickly realized it had nothing to do with him and everything to do with management not taking care of what needed to be done with the staff and making things work for the customers who were in the restaurant at the time. (Mind you, it was not a full house, it was moderately packed and there were plenty of servers that could have been working more than they were.)
The menu: I like me some soup-​and there is soup-​but not anywhere on the menu was the soup seen. I have eaten here before and have seen soup on the menu and in fact I have ordered soup from the menu-​pretty big printing mistake made on that one! My daughter had ordered a meal that said nothing on the menu about it having any spices (and I mean spicy) in it. It came to her (mind you this was a birthday dinner for her as well) and looked amazing, then she bit into it and said, «Mom, this is really spicy, I can’t eat this.» Needless to say we replaced it with a basic fettuccini alfredo. My soup– well my tomato soup was, let me say, I thought I was given a bowl of marinara sauce. It tasted good, but not soupy. We ended up dipping the famous bread into it as an appetizer.
April, the hostess also gets ***** she was amazing when she brought us to the table. The entire time you could tell she was doing her job.
Macaroni Grill, my suggestion to you is that you do a major management/​staff training session to get them to start working. Review your menu and revise the issues on it that are not accurate.

Got a take out order is past Thursday afternoon. Online ordering was down so I called to place my order. Two appetizers– prosciutto wrapped in bacon and mini meatballs — and two entrees, Italian bake and lasagne.
Had to wait a bit for my order after I arrived so my wait time was quite a bit longer than quoted. However, they do take out well here, ensuring that you have everything you need and not rushing the process. I particularly like this, even if it results in a short delay. I had all of my fixing, plates, cutlery, bread, oil, pita bread, menus, dressings, you name it…
Food was on point — one small problem was the prosciutto was a bit over cooked (maybe microwaved!!!) so a bit tough but everything else was great. That Italian bake was huge and had plenty of yummy meatballs and sausages!
Had plenty of leftovers for the next day or so.
Like this place — consistent and really stellar at take out orders. Keep up the good work.