Romano’s Macaroni Grill

Romano is stepping up their game lately.
Service has improved and the food quality is gone up. You get some amazing flavor in a mature setting. It makes me question what kind of food the other chain sells.
They have these wonderful $ 7 lunches and $ 9 dinner that are wonderful. They have these bold taste and generous in size. They get to you in 7 minutes for lunch and 9 minutes for dinner.
These are great choices to try them out. Watch out for coupons.
Give it a try for take out.

Hey, I love you this place. Olive Garden ain’t got shiz on Macaroni Grill! Their pastas are so delicious om nom nom. Service is fantastic as always.

Tried to make a reservation, 20 minutes later when we arrived they haven’t writen our name down. Then they said 10 min, after 4 other groups getting seated that arrived after us. I don’t care to give my money to a business that doesn’t care about my time and training it’s hostess correctly.

Meh… Nothing fancy here. Just chain Italian food with average service and average everything. I guess in a pinch they would do, but I really prefer something a step above.
I will say that they have a decent lunch and a halfway decent Caesar Salad… but again, I have had much better elsewhere…

I have eaten at this Macaroni Grill ever since it opened years ago, at least once a week until I retired a couple years ago. It has it’s ups and downs under the different management. After recommending to friends we try it, I had never had a meal as poorly prepared as the one last night. I had Parmesan crusted chicken salad and it was so dry and lacking in flavor I couldn’t finish it. Two in our party had chicken fettuccine. Over cooked chicken and no flavor. Tried a skinny piece of cheesecake, tasted like chalk. Inattentive service as well. Never again. I would have said something to management, but we didn’t have time to wait for a solution. I nearly always look for a Macaroni Grill when traveling. Salt Lake City does not do well with chain restaurants. A big disappointment.

So it is still pretty rare when a company takes customer service and satisfaction seriously. $ 9 meals in 9 minutes or less or your meal is free… My meal was free. No questions asked, no fuss, barely over 9 minutes… and no excuses.
Better yet I really enjoyed a dish I haven’t had before Diavola Scaloppine. Generous portions in a great sauce. Even though I’ve been a time or two to Romano’s I was pleasantly surprised. Was it all perfect? No, thus the 4 stars but I still highly recommend it for both the food and the commitment to customer service.

i’ve been coming here since 2003 and have always loved their penne rustica. i have noticed over the past few months that they seem to be going to more quick service dining rather than restaurant dining. when you get to the hostess booth, they ask you whether you want to be seated in their quick lunch/​dinner service section, or the regular restaurant.
my pet peeve is that sometimes they have gluten free pasta and sometimes they don’t. they have explained to me that corporate has decided to not offer gluten free pasta anymore and that they sometimes will buy it themselves at their location. if that’s true, that’s a dumb move on corporate, since their competitors can accommodate gluten free requests. if they don’t have gluten free pasta i just choose to have broccoli substituted in which is still good.
after my last visit i don’t plan on returning anymore. their service is declining and was especially below average on our last visit. the server first told me she was sure they have gluten free pasta available and then came back to tell me she was wrong. she then told me the flavors of sorbet was vanilla and orange. i declined and asked for the bill. when she came back she told me she was wrong and that the flavor was actually lemon. i ended up ordering the lemon sorbet, which was good, but i was annoyed that our server kept giving me incorrect information. she also didn’t offer any cheese when our entrees arrived and we had to ask for it.
the portion size also seems to be decreasing and the entrée itself has become inconsistent recently. one time i’ll have enough sauce for my pasta and then another time i’ll have no sauce and will have to ask for some on the side. i’ve given this place many chances the past few months and think i will stick to brio or cheesecake factory, who both have consistency in food and service, and also always offer gluten free pasta.

Hungry and driving, their $ 7, 7minute lunch signage caught my eye. It had been years since I’d eaten at MG, so I pulled in — the parking lot had lots of empty spaces.
On my entry and after answering how many in my party and before being seated I was asked if I was there for a express offerings. Since I had no experience with these offerings I said, ‘not necessarily’, after which he would seat me. There was nothing on the menus he supplied me about these offerings. What’s up with that? Bait and switch?
I settled on a spaghetti meal. It was good. I’m not sure it was a great value, but good. Service was prompt and attentive.
Guess I’ll have to try again to find out about the Express menus.

Lousy food. Lousy service. Lousy ambience. Not sure how this chain got as big as it did. We had a free meal from a gift card. I probably would not return even for free.

Five star service here from Armand. Menu covers most Italian delights. Of course home made bread and EVOO and Balsamic with pepper.
Today I have mushroom stuffed pasta yum.

Rude, Poor Service, but amazing food.
As I am sure you can guess from my rating, Service has a HUGE impact on my ability to enjoy my meal.
Service: Unfortunately we were there on a very busy night, but you would think professionals in the food industry would know how to handle the situation. We waited for about 45 minutes for a table (After being told 20 – 25 minutes). Then we were seated at a table in the middle of the first part of the dining room. Sadly, this was nothing more than a fire hazard. There were two large parties on either side of the room and one in the back. So our table was so cramped, and I had to lean my chair forward for even a server to get by (about 16 times throughout the meal, with no apology). One server dropped a knife while clearing the plates and cut my hand. (thanks for taking 5 dollars off my meal for that one). I’m sorry if you injure your customers with a knife, waive the whoile meal and don’t expect them back. The server still had the stones to ask me how everything was when we were leaving.
Food: This was the only enjoyable part. I ordered the «Classic Italian Bake» and it was amazing. The meatballs were perfectly seasoned, the sausage paired so well with the Ricotta, and the rigatoni with roasted tomatoes was to die for.
My suggestion, order food to go and don’t spend any more time in the restaurant than you have to, less you put your life in danger.

I’m not sure how I feel about this place. The food was delicious, but the rest, not so much. Maybe next time, we will not visit on a Friday night, because the wait was long, longer than the 20 minutes they estimated. They crammed us into the center of the large groups, with little breathing room let alone room for the servers to reach not only us but the table squished up against the wall, also in the middle of the large groups. Very poorly designed, and in sure against fire code.
They offer food to go, maybe since the food was great, that’s how we will visit next time… take it home where we can actually move and breath.