Romano’s Macaroni Grill

The food here is great !!! Better than Maggianos any day. Its fresh and its hot and its very tasty. The sole is amazing as is the pork shank and pork chop. Really everything is very very good and nicely priced.

Our server was extremely inefficient. We gave a gift card and cash as payment and she gave us not enough change back and said that was all the change she could give us while holding a wad of singles in her hand. We realized later that she had deducted a 20% tip from our bill on her own. My blood orange Cosmo was warm and flat and had no garnish and wasn’t even correctly made. My Parmesan encrusted fish lacked Parmesan and was extremely tasteless and cold as well as oily. Our waitress didn’t even try to offer me something else to eat and said she couldn’t find the manager to have it comped. It seems like this location is going downhill in general.

6:15 reservation. Table not ready until 6:50. Walked out. This place is understaffed, ventilation system not functioning, and all around poorly run. Why do people keep going back??? Avoid at all cost. Save your money and your sanity.

Love Macaroni Grill. Had the Parmesan Sole which was flaky and delicious. Bob had the pork shank which is totally melt in your mouth. One of the nicest early September days so took advantage of eating in their patio. Missing the baked olives which were our favorite appetizer. Service was quick, always a plus.

Macaroni Grill is odd. I expect chain characteristics from chains, but this one was just… strange.
We were met by the young host (16?) and then brought to a table. He chose one by the kitchen, and I suggested another. He was happy to oblige, and unaware, I think, that no one wants to sit next to the kitchen.
Once seated, we looked around. There was a center section of bars with water and wine (there’s a Last Supper theme here, I’m sure.) The wine menu area said: «Honor System Wine»…which we assumed meant the wine on the center bar next to us was… um, up to us to serve to ourselves? Honor System? We also assumed that we should serve our own water, as that was on the bar next to the wine. Honor System Water? It was all a bit confusing, considering that no waiter came around to explain any of this, for quite some time.
So, I stared at the host. He looked back at us, appeared concerned, and went somewhere… for a period of time… and did not return. So my husband went and got 5 waters from the (maybe?) Serve Yourself Honor System Water Bar. (Suddenly, employees appear like ants. «Can we help you?» Well yeah, 10 minutes ago.) Meanwhile we waited for a waiter.
At last, a very tall longish haired dude named Mike showed up. We knew his name was Mike because he grabbed a blue crayon (there for the kids, or anyone who wants to scribble on the paper tablecloth) wrote his name (Mike) backwards on the table cloth, and tossed the crayon back on the table with a bored hipster flourish. Hey Mike, nice intro (not really) and nice hair, but I think you should pull it back into a ponytail. When you lean your locks over my food, well, I’d rather you didn’t. Mike was nice, overall, but in the end, he did little but add to the oddness of the place.
Meanwhile, my husband ordered a drink along the lines of a Vodka lemonade. It was ridiculously sweet… with sugar on the rim, to add to the diabetic wonder. Two of us ordered beer. We received bottles. This isn’t a dive bar. Where are the glasses?
Appetizer: The bruschetta was a weird mixture of tomatoes and… butter on the side. No olive oil. Butter on Bruschetta? Just wrong.
The entrees were average at best. My meatballs were clearly frozen. (Costco comes to mind.) My companions also observed that their entrees tasted frozen. (You can tell.) All in all, much of what we ate here was inferior to Olive Garden, but more expensive. Take from that what you will.
So, in the end, the experience was just too odd, and the food too below average, to earn a return visit. Maybe if it was near an exit on some super highway and we needed something to eat after a (very) long drive… and there was no truckstop. Or Stuckey’s. Otherwise, probably not.

It’s quite a shame. I can remember when this restaurant was the most popular one in Wheaton. Now the food quality and service is just not there. Most times you can find the parking lot and thus the place about ¼ full. Even still I keep giving this place a chance and every time I do I regret it. Pasta dishes are too dry and lack flavor and the meat portions are small. I can easily see why folks avoid it.

Food is good but be aware of using your debit card to pay. Our waiter was away with my debit card for an extremely long time and she copied my card and charged things up with it. Reason we found out it was her was because that’s the only place we used it at. Had to get things situated with Chase bank. Be very aware when waiters are gone for a long time with your card if you do decide to use your card!

Came here with my family for my bday & the food was great. They came out with rosemary bread, oil for dipping and I asked for parmesan cheese. My Mom got the blackened chicken parmesan (which was good), my 10yo daughter got the kids mac n cheese (velveeta cheese sauce), my youngest son got the pepperoni pizza which was good and my middle son got the spaghetti and meatballs and it also was good. I got the Carmella’s chicken and it was fantastic! Even my Mom said she’d get that nxt time! I would highly recommend it. It was a far drive for us (40 minutes), but it was a nice and pleasant for a change. For my bday they gave me the chocolate cake with warm ganache and whipped cream topped with toffee pieces. Very rich and delicious! My mother got the tiramisu and the piece was large abd tasted great and served with 2 ladyfingers! Each kiddo got vanilla gelato for $ 1 each scoop and no leftovers! We will be back. Thanks for a tasty bday lunch!

This is a nice restaurant with a warm, welcoming atmosphere. The appetizers are great and there is a special that is worth getting two for under ten bucks. My wife and I went for our anniversary and had a great time. I would highly recommend to anyone who has never been here before. A little ways away from the city but worth the drive.

Awful. The restaurant smells like this weird spice, and ALL of the food I ordered smelled and tasted like it too… bread, pasta, meat, even the butter! It was a very overwhelming taste and was not good at all. The only thing remotely good about this place was the house red wine although I will say I will never go back.

I remember coming here a few times when I was a kid. All I really remembered was that I used to enjoy drawing on the paper table covers with the provided crayons. I didn’t have any particularly strong feelings for or against the restaurant based on that, so when my sister suggested this for Mother’s Day dinner, I figured why not. We had a group of 9, and our reservation was ready right on time.
While Mother’s Day is a popular holiday to eat out, I figured our 2:30 reservation would be fairly safe as it is not a prime dining time. Despite the restaurant being half full, the service was absolutely awful. It took our server 15 minutes to bring waters and another 15 minutes to bring the wine 6 people at our table ordered. We ordered the «honor system» wine where they supposedly leave a bottle on the table and you let the server know how many glasses were consumed at the end of the meal. Well, I guess we did not appear very honest because the bottle was not left on our table even though we saw many neighboring tables with bottles. I think my mom and MIL would have liked more wine, but the server’s appearances at our table we so few and far between that it was very difficult to get anything from wine to water refills to cheese.
In the 80 minutes it took for the meal to arrive, the 9 of us ate the two small pieces of bread (which is very tasty and even a little warm) that were left on the table. We were never visited in between ordering the food and the food arriving, so we couldn’t ask for more bread. My MIL ordered a salad and ended up not eating it. She asked to take it home, but the server never brought a box.
The food came in 4 batches. I’m not sure when there wasn’t a food runner, manager, or another server helping the waiter bring our food — it was just our server making 4 trips back to the kitchen by himself. My the time the final round came, it was 8 or 10 minutes after the first round, so those of us polite enough to wait were digging into fairly cool food.
Our party gave the food mixed reviews. The best thing at the table appeared to be the pork chop with a glaze, some roasted potatoes, and broccolini. 2 people at our table had the squash ravioli, which were very sweet. I had the cannelloni with bolognese sauce. There was only about a tablespoon of the bolognese — the rest of the plate had a cheese/​cream sauce, so I was eating cheese-​filled pasta with cheese sauce. Too much cheese. My sister picked the restaurant because she wanted a vegan-​friendly option. She had angel hair with marinara and veggies, but I don’t see why any Italian restaurant couldn’t accommodate that request.
Also, I usually feel like Italian restaurants give huge portions. After all, pasta is very cheap, so they might as well give you plenty. No one at the table had any left overs, so the portions were not particularly big.
There were two pluses of the end of the meal: We mentioned it was also my brother’s birthday, so the waiter brought a piece of tiramisu. Although between the 9 of us, we only ate a few bites as it wasn’t that good. Also, the waiter realized the service as sub-​par and did not add an 18% gratuity to the check so that we could tip fittingly. We still left a decent tip, but I appreciate that the waiter acknowledged the less than satisfactory service.

We’ve stopped by this particular restaurant twice in the past couple months and while our first visit was not too shabby, our visit last night was absolutely phenomenal.
We requested a darker table since our previous visit felt like we were sitting in a spotlight. Our server, Jose or Joe as he introduced himself, had no problem putting us in a secluded portion of the restaurant and we certainly appreciated the privacy. He asked what we were celebrating and we announced that we had a baby sitter for the night – and if you ask me that is plenty reason to celebrate when you have children.
Our dinner was relaxed. He dropped in from time to time to see how we were doing, we ordered a bottle of wine, the calamari appetizer and some complimentary bread. The first loaf was a bit on the hard side but after mentioning it Joe made us a fresh loaf and it was perfect – just like how I remember it to be. Soft, salty, warm, delicious, perfect! We split the bibb & blue salad which I highly recommend over the standard Caesar, then also split the Penne Rustica which was VERY tasty. We appreciated that they separated both the salad and our entrée into two dishes since we were sharing. It just makes things so much easier.
We wrapped up a while later, no dessert for us, but we were both shocked and beyond appreciative when our waiter told us he was buying our bottle of wine! I’ve never seen such generosity in a server in all my life. He said he knew where we were coming from having 6 kids of his own and just wanted to give something back. This guy rocks!
Fantastic dinner, fantastic atmosphere, and second to none service. We will be coming back time and time again.

Cute atmosphere, decent food, friendly service. I ordered a pasta where I could combine it myself (garlic olive oil, pasta, spinach and tomatoes) and it was a little bland — even with parmesan cheese sprinkled on top of it. When it came to having our checks split and adding the $ 5 coupon code you can use when you sign up for the first time with your email, the waitress said she couldn’t add both of our coupons to the system, that it wouldn’t allow it, so we combined our checks and only used of our coupons. Maybe she was telling the truth or didn’t know how or whatever. I would still go again for a date or even with friends.

My girlfriend and I came to grab a quick bite a this location after having a good experience the first time. I ordered the lasagna bolognese and she had the Carmela’s chicken. The lasagna was just right. Our server had noticed that my girlfriend had barely touched her plate. Her pregnancy senses were kicking in and the smell of the onion didn’t allow her to eat her food. Without hesitation the server recommended a different plate, the shrimp portofino. She loved it. 5 stars for extraordinary service, delicious food, and extraordinary service again. 100% sure we will be returning to this location.

I always enjoy trying new places to eat but I didn’t find this place to be impressive. I have tried this place only twice and I don’t think I will be coming back again. The service is horrible, they take forever to take your order, bring you food and they aren’t friendly. The menu was kind of small and there aren’t many things to choose from like other Italian places. Since I didn’t find any of the things on the menu to be appealing, I decided to do the «create your own pasta» the pasta isn’t even that great, kind of plain. The one time I went with my boyfriend he ended up getting good poisoning because his meat wasn’t cooked all the way.

We came in tonight for dinner, and I must say, our server was terrible. The food was fantastic, but our server had such a bad attitude it seemed like she was being forced to work there or something. She truly had no charming customer service skills, and was very inattentive to our needs. Even though the food was great, I have to give two stars because we left feeling disappointed with our overall experience.

The menu isn’t very big for an Italian joint, that’s very disappointing. The reason for the one star is thanks to the food poisoning the cooks so generously gave me by serving undercooked meat. I got the create your own pasta and got the meatballs which made me vomit a short time later. Will not be back.

Went there on Monday and what a disappointment, Ordered Penna pasta with sausage
and Feta cheese food came and had goat cheese, instead of feta Ask the server why did they put goat cheese on, His response was we don’t have any feta so the cook put goat cheese on Well the food went back to the kitchen and a new plate was brought out no less than 4 minutes later and the pasta was hard, under cooked My wife had bowtie pasta and was really disappointed also This will be our last time we go there, There standards have gone down the hill,

We were just here in February and everything was great, unfortunately this time it was very disappointing. Out of 8 people in our party 3 of us could barely eat our dinners. They replaced my husbands salmon and took it off the bill, which was appreciated. My lasagna tasted like Dinty Moore pasta, and my daughter didn’t like her spaghetti. The service was great and the manager was accommodating but I will hesitate before going back again.
I will say the chocolate cake was fantastic!

I’m really surprised at the negative reviews for this place. Personally, I’m a fan. I’ve been here several times and each time has been great. On a whim, we decided to come here on a Saturday night which is pretty busy anywhere you go. Knowing that, we decided to call ahead. Wait time for a table was 45 minutes, so we asked if we could make a reservation. They asked for a time and said it was okay. That may have been because it would be about 45 minutes until we got there, but at least this ensured that we would have a table upon arriving.
It’s a pretty nice area with wine bottles lined everywhere and a kitchen you can see into. The tables are lined with paper and the waiters draw their name in crayon. They also leave the crayons behind so you can doodle which helps pass the time. I ordered the chicken parm for $ 13. While we waited for our food, we were served some bread which was one of the best breads I’ve ever had. It’s drizzled in olive oil and salt and has such a great flavor to it and it’s super fresh. Dip it in some more oil and please your tastebuds.
It did take a while for our food to come but they were pretty busy. I probably should have ordered some wine to make the time go by even faster! But the food is worth the wait. Fresh mozzarella cheese melted on three pieces of lightly breaded chicken and some thin pasta on the side. Grilled cherry tomatoes on top gave it a nice, sweet touch. I probably could have finished my meal, but I wanted to bring some home to have for lunch the next day.
Definitely don’t expect to be in and out very quickly, but if you have time and enjoy yourself, you’ll have a good time.