Romano’s Macaroni Grill

The ambiance is good. Actually it is a huge place.
Food is Costly… less portion and tastes just OK.

Shoe leather steak, but they comped me a dessert which I appreciated. Sometimes waiters just shrug their shoulders, so three stars. My companion liked her eggplant Parmesan. Everything was over salted for my taste.

Only giving this place a star because Unilocal forces you to. If possible, I would have left no stars because I received no service! My girlfriend and I came in here on a Sunday evening around 7PM and were seated quickly, but that was the extent of the service we received. In a room of roughly 100 tables only 8 – 10 were filled, but no one ever came by our table. We sat at our table for a solid half-​hour and saw 2 – 3 waiters go by, none of them stopping at our table or acknowledging that we existed. Was it the way we were dressed? Did we say something as we came in the restaurant? Did we offend the hostess? Are we invisible?
Either way, got up after a half hour and walked out, still not being acknowledged by anyone. No one said «hey, were you ever served??» or «don’t go, we would love your business!» However, we did pass the hostess who was sitting at the bar near the entrance to the restaurant. The only positive part of this experience was the fact that we never gave this restaurant any money for anything. I probably would have regretted paying to be served after sitting for a half hour.
Happy bounced over the On the Border next door, service was great. So were the margaritas.

I think I’m. Going to. Puke. We remind ourselves over and over not to come back, but we unfortunately forget that each visit is worse than the last.

I was initially hesitant to book the Macaroni Grill for our wedding rehearsal dinner because it wasn’t the glamorous fine dining experience I’d envisioned. However, with a guest list of about 60 people, we knew we had to find a reasonably priced restaurant to accommodate us. I can’t explain how thrilled I was with the amazing waitstaff, delicious food, endless wine service, warm ambiance, and organized management at the Macaroni Grill. I was absolutely blown away, and our guests had a relaxed, fun evening the night before our big day. I am so grateful to the hardworking staff at the Macaroni Grill for transforming a chain restaurant into the white glove service I’d always wanted.

My experience at this Romano’s Macaroni Grill was just as awful as forecasted by previous Unilocal reviews. I was guardedly hopeful when I visited during lunch a few weeks ago and ordered takeout. I liked the décor of the place, but that’s pretty much the only thing it has going for it. I went up to place my order and the employee swiped my card 3 times, claiming his register was not working and that he didn’t know how to access it. After 5 minutes of standing around, he finally realized he had to log on to the system to be able to access it… seriously?
It took 30 minutes for my food to be ready for takeout. 30 MINUTES. I might as well have eaten it there… it was inexcusable too because it was really empty when I visited. What was taking so long? It’s not like I even had a complicated pasta dish…
I ordered:
–Bruschetta (grilled ciabatta bread, whipped ricotta, Roma tomatoes, garlic, basil). This was OK, but definitely dry and full of too much garlic. There were whole cloves of unchopped garlic bits in there…
–Mac n Cheese Bites, Truffle Dip (toasted four cheese pasta, truffle dip). Where was the truffle??? There was absolutely no truffle to be tasted and the mac n cheese was dry and tasted old. I’ve had Easy Mac that tasted better than this.
I won’t visit this location again.

VERY SMALL PORTION. Chicken Alfredo is smaller than what you’d get from a kid’s meal. An order of fries is smaller than a McDonald’s small fries.
I don’t pick quantity over quality. But I don’t expect to pay $ 13.50 for a pasta dish the portion of an appetizer and call it a meal.

I love the Goat Cheese Peppadew Peppers, toasted breadcrumbs & honey balsamic glaze, and the Spicy Ricotta Meatballs beef, veal & ricotta meatball, caramelized onions, red chile. I also tried the Blood Orange Cosmo
ketel one oranje, blood orange, soooo goood. I had the Valoroso Toscano IGT
Red Blend as my final sip for the night.
Friendly bar (I’ve never sat in the dining room), and great service.

Mediocre at best. This was my first time here and it will most likely be my last.
I don’t know what it is about northern Virginia restaurants, but service has been crappy at most places I’ve dined. Macaroni Grill was no exception. My family and I had a waitress who could care less about serving us. Getting water refills was the biggest pain.
It was also extremely difficult to find something gluten free here. Even their chicken parmesan crusted salad has gluten… According to the waitress at least. The waitress tried to tell me I could get a «gluten free» dish that had gluten… I had to show her on the allergen guide that her suggestion was in fact NOT gluten free. Also, most of the allergen guide dishes listed, did not match their new menu. That’s really terrible! If they change their menus, they really need to make sure they update the allergen guide.
I ended up getting a shrimp dish that was overpriced and only decent tasting. I don’t know if Macaroni Grill has just gone down hill in general, or if it’s only this location that is disappointing.
On the plus side, at least the young male hostess did a good job. I hope your manager reads this, kid.

I feel that Macaroni Grille is typical wherever you go. The food is the same but what made this review get to 4 is the service. Our waiter Kelly was on point. He tended to all our needs and my family was pretty loud and threw a lot of requests at him and he was quick to respond and was able to get everything we asked done. He also gave us a lot of bread (especially ones that were fresh and hot). It was a nice experience for Mother’s Day and if I come again I would ask for Kelly.

Came here with some friends for an early dinner yesterday. When we walked in there was only one other table seated right away. We were seated and it took almost 10 minutes for a waiter to come to our table. Apparently only one guy was working the whole restaurant before the dinner shift. The service was disappointing to have to wait in the beginning however he was more attentive after he got our orders. I’m assuming he could sense all of us were annoyed.
We all got the four course meal. Figured we all could have leftovers. Started with the fried ravioli, that was really good. Cesear salad. Spaghetti. By then I am already full! I got the chicken marsala and had only a bite but it was really good. The price was great too. $ 18 for all of that.
I’d come back again but hopefully the service will pick up

This is a nice place for a chain restaurant. The space is wide open which is great for people watching. Sometimes that kind of floor plan can be loud but the noise levels were not too bad.
They have great happy hour specials but note that those are only available in the bar area. The menu is not as extensive as you might expect but it covers the basics and the items we had were good, though not memorable.

Pretty standard food. This location, right next to Reston Town Center, has been around for awhile. The restaurant is easy to get to and has a lot of easy parking right outside the restaurant, unless RTC.
I got the caprese salad, which was yummy. The right amount of mozzarella cheese, beefsteak tomatoes, and balsamic vinegar. I also got the mushroom and goat cheese flatbread, which was oh my goodness humongous! It was way better than I thought. My 3-​star review is for the fact that some of their entrees have enormously high calorie counts, but that is a bit subjective, as most chain restaurants have to display their counts and they are made pretty public. Just be weary of what you order and maybe look at the online nutrition facts before ordering.

Pops loves this place so I eat here often even though I try to avoid the big chains. The steak was OK but the potatoes were a little dry. Overall, the service at the bar was great and the salad here is good. –1 stars for being out of Hennessy when I’m trying to get my drink on and the gelato wasn’t so great… I guess I always have fun when I come here, maybe it’s the company more than the spot but I think the macaroni grillian peeps have something to do with it. Plus they teach you Italian phrases while you are in the bathroom, which would be cool if I didn’t kill my braincells with the Hennessy that they were out of and forget everything. Oh lord, Reviews from my phone while drunk is a bad idea!

My fiancé and I tried this place because of a Facebook offer (buy one get one Entrée), but we would return without subsidy. As a recent transplant to the area I have grown very weary of the food reviews around here on Unilocal,as people seem to consistently be over critical and (IMHO) frequently unreasonable. I think this restaurant is a shining example of such. I feel that a place should be rated against what you paid and what you could reasonably expect. In that regard, this place shines.
I can’t speak from behind the mental framework of nostalgia, but I had never been to this chain before and was expecting something along the lines of an Applebee’s. We were pleasantly surprised upon being seated to discover that we underestimated the quality (the atmosphere and menu simply does not align with what one expects from a «macaroni grill»). We arrived late Sunday afternoon to a fairly empty restaurant, all the staff we interacted with were quite friendly and attentive. Perhaps they wouldn’t be during a busy time, but we’re not the kind of people who would enjoy a restaurant that was packed regardless.
We ordered:
Calamari — my only knock was that the portion was a little small, however it was only lightly breaded and quite fresh. On reflection I decided I would rather have quality over quantity.
Chicken Marsala — Chicken was perfectly tender, Pasta was piping hot, and the sauce was delectable (the roasted garlic cloves were an excellent touch). An excellent sized portion for the price.
Lobster Ravioli — By far the biggest shocker of our order, the lobster Ravioli was the best we had ever tried (much better than everywhere we had tried in Boston). In addition to the fresh ravioli you get large portions of lobster meat on top. If you like lobster, then this is a must try dish. I was amazed it only cost $ 3 more than my Chicken Marsala.
Chocolate Cake — It was mislabeled as Godiva on the chalkboard, but the brand name of the ingredients doesn’t matter as much compared to the delivery. It was fantastic, and we were glad to have ordered it. The cake portion was served in a large ramekin and was hot from the oven. The whipped cream that came with it was cream that was whipped (not foam from a can), and the generous portion size and little details make this a must try (we split an order, I would suggest the same).
All in all this food was well beyond any reasonable expectation of a chain restaurant, and could compete with an upscale Italian restaurant. If you have special dietary wants, perhaps you should custom order for those rather than expect a national chain to predict your particular socio-​economic influenced wants (i.e. a review complaining that their pesto was oily, as a former restaurant cook I strongly encourage you to google an authentic pesto recipe and rethink that complaint).
I strongly encourage any person searching for food on Unilocal in this area to kick the tires beyond the average rating, dive in and determine if these reviewers are the kind of people you would enjoy sharing a table with.

I was sort of hating on this place after they changed the menu, because they removed my favorite dish, the chicken cannelloni, and replaced it with some other cannelloni with mushrooms, and I hate mushrooms. They seem to be trying to make everything a bit more upscale now, and somehow mushrooms are part of that.
However, all has been forgiven since I discovered their lasagna, which I think has also been given a makeover, because it’s much creamier than I remember it having been before. It’s up there with the best lasagnas I’ve ever had. And, as always, they have delicious fresh bread and mango iced tea. My husband likes their make-​your-​own pasta with arrabbiata sauce.
Service at the Reston location has been consistently good, though I should note I only go on weeknights.

I’ve had one good lunch (seafood over pasta) here but I’ve been disappointed, as well. Ordering a custom pasta in an Italian restaurant seemed like a good idea, but it wasn’t. The bowl of pasta was substantial, more than enough for a meal, but the fresh roasted garlic, sausage and spinach couldn’t make their flavors recognizable under the oily pesto sauce. I was unable to catch even a glancing taste of pine nuts or parmesan. Though the ingredients were exactly what I ordered, the excess oil ruined it.
Once the restaurant got busy, service dropped off and we found ourselves doing lots of waiting. It’s surprising that management is not overseeing consistency of product and service. Good thing there are other dining choices nearby.

I’ve come here plenty of times for years and have had somewhat mixed experiences. Usually the service is fine and the food delicious! But other times, sloooow service and cold food comes out after waiting for too long.
The wait is usually not bad recently, when it first opened it was insanely crowded and you would have to wait an hour to get a table. I’m a big fan of the bread w/​olive oil, and they are usually happy to bring you out some more if you request extra loaves. The pastas are particularly good, always a huge, rich serving and enough to bring home for an extra meal. Also the fruity iced teas and the chocolate cake are great!

Since we’re part-​time vegans, we’ve had Macaroni Grill in our vegan days restaurant rotation for quite a while. Usually, we head on over to the Sterling location. However, my husband got the great idea to shake up the routine a bit and try this one. Ok, I agreed, as long as we pop into Red Velvet Cupcakery for some cupcakes to have with our tea tonight :)!
This Macaroni Grill has been around a lot longer than the Sterling location — years longer. Yet, we racked our brains wondering, «Have we ever been to this one?» You can only rack your brains so long so we concluded that if we ever were here, it was ages ago LOL!
Upon entering, we noticed that this one is lighter and airier than the Sterling location, thus it had a nicer feel.
We ordered our usual vegan meals — For me, it’s capellini pomodoro and for my husband, it’s «Create your own pasta». Plus we get a greens salad with balsamic vinaigrette. I like to order an Italian soda with my meal — flavor choices include peach, mango, raspberry or blackberry. I’ve tried them all. However, it depends on who is making them. Sometimes they skimp on the syrup thus there is little flavor to the drink.
We thought the food came out well here. Tonight, we even splurged, and for the first time, tried the Italian Sorbetto dessert. It was lemon flavored — very flavorful and very refreshing.
Service was great. We had a friendly waitress who had a good sense of humor.
All that said, we don’t care for any of Macaroni Grill’s non-​vegan entrees. The last time we tried some, we were disappointed as the meals were eminently forgettable. Yet, we will return for vegan meals.

Just had probably the worst restaurant meal of my life here. Empty restaurant, but took waiter 15 minutes to greet us and take drink orders. Took another 10 minutes to deliver them. After placing a very simple order, (2 spaghetti w/​meatballs and 2 cheese pizzas), he *forgot* and had to come back and ask. Since we were seated *RIGHT NEXT TO THE KITCHEN – literally, inches* we heard him then put our order in 10 minutes later. Our waiter looked like he was walking in quicksand, meanwhile he was yucking it up with the waitstaff (who all had time because there were no customers.)
Salad had brown lettuce, I sent it back. Some rude lady brought our food, didn’t speak and when we said Thank You, didn’t respond. Offered grated cheese, then forgot. Had to ask another server for it. No drink refills even though they were empty. This place must be about to go out of business.
Then, we get home, and my school aged child began vomiting from his food.