Romano’s Macaroni Grill

On Sunday, February 28, 2016, we voted as a family to have dinner at Romano’s Macaroni Grill, the one on 2575 W Higgins Rd in Hoffman Estates, IL. We got there around 4:30PM and once we settled, my wife and I ordered Chicken Florentine and our two boys ordered Fettuccine Alfredo, we also ordered a calamari appetizer. The server was nice, and took good care of us. The food was good, the calamari appetizer was a bit small for the price but it was good. We thought that the Chicken Florentine didn’t have much of the orzo pasta, capers, olives, and pine nuts. Unlike the previous times when we had it there, it used to be much more balanced; this one was mostly chopped spinach. It was good though and we shared some of the chicken with the kids. We paid, and left the restaurant before 6PM. That night, at around 1AM, both my wife started to experience abdominal pain and subsequently suffered from severe diarrhea that lasted throughout the night and well through midday Monday. Our tummies didn’t hold anything in them for the following 24 hours and as you can imagine, we both didn’t go to work that day but still had to drop off and pick up the kids! Very tired and upset, the only in common food that we both had was the Chicken Florentine and it seemed that it was causing this whole thing. This is the first time that this happens at this restaurant, which we go to regularly. So, we decided to call them and let them know what we’ve experienced. A host picked up the phone at the Hoffman Estates location and we explained the situation to her and what went down. We reiterated that we only want to let them know that this looks like a classic case of cross contamination or that the spinach simply wasn’t washed well. We didn’t ask for anything, whatsoever. Not a refund, not a discount on future visits, nothing. The only thing that we wanted is to let them know so they can take care of the problem and prevent similar episodes of taking place with other customers. We felt that since we really like this restaurant, we should give them a chance to fix things! The lady took our names and contact information and said that she’ll convey the matter to the manager, who according to her will also call us to follow up. One week has passed and we didn’t hear anything from them, no apology, no calls from anyone. Believe or not, once you experience something like this, your tummy will take a long time getting back to normal.

My husband and I decided to come here for a belated Anniversary dinner on our way home from the Chicago Auto Show. We hadn’t been here for a few years and went because it has never let us down. And there was no disappointment tonight either! Our service and server were awesome. Quick and very attentive. My husband ordered his favorite, Chicken Parmesan and I decided to try something new. Tonight I had Carmela’s Chicken. It is now my new favorite! The onions gave it just the right amount of sweetness and the chicken was moist and tender. I’m soooo glad we decided to come back and I assume we will be back again soon!

If you like high priced over rated pasta this is the place for you. The waiter, pretty up tight. Prices are out a hand. As far as pizza they want you to get this huge thing for individual when it’s enough for 3 people. Very limited menu. The place was empty at 4:30 p.m. on a Saturday so that tells you something. Weird bread with oil for starters eww, where is the butter??? Strange Yuppy food beware!!!

This was by far the worst dining experience of my life. The wine was overpriced as expected but worse off was that they didn’t even get the order right. I chose build your own pasta, the waiter gave me the check list of what I wanted to order and they didn’t even get that right… They gave me a checklist and needed that up how hard is it to follow a list? The manager was rude and served me cold mushrooms (the missing ingredient) on the side and didn’t even apologize. I was debating between Moretti’s and macaroni grill and really wish I chose Moretti’s. Learn from my mistake and skip over this insulting excuse for an Italian restaurant. I could also hear the management complain about me not being satisfied that they messed up my order.

I love macaroni grill. There are new restaurants around the area but I still prefer this place over the new restaurants. I always have a positive experience here.

Quality has slipped. Lasagna with «beefy chunks» is not how this dish used to be. Complimentary bread was first over cooked, then replacement was icy in the middle. Create your own pasta was coolish and meatball tasted and felt like rubber. Remember good times at this restaurant in the past. Disappointed.

We arrived and was promptly seated. Our waitress was very sweet and informative. Unfortunately our stay was cut very short. We inquired to the cost of a captain and coke. The cost was a reasonable $ 6.50. Just as we were about to order it the waitress said if we want it on the rocks it would be $ 0.50 extra. At first we thought she was joking but she was not. When we asked the manager about the up charge she had no answer.
Who in the world charges extra for ice in a drink that comes standard with ice? While $ 7 is a price we would have paid the fact that it was not the price and the up charge for ICE what just ridiculous.
You may be ok with hidden ridiculous charges but it does not sit well with me. Just charge $ 7 not nickel and dime your customers. Do be surprised as you lose market share close locations and be on the verge of going out of business. It is unfortunate. I was looking forward to trying their food.

I used to love the Macaroni Grill. And I remember how busy it used to be. You couldn’t even find a parking spot. That is not the case anymore. Came here for dinner on a Thursday and walked into a nearly empty restaurant. We sat down and ordered and were completely underwhelmed with what we ordered. The spaghetti was blah. The Mac and Cheese was not the best. The only thing that was good was the rosemary bread. Good thing there are other places to get good Italian food since this place was a huge disappointment.

I hope this establishment never goes out of business. We live in the neighborhood and frequent Macaroni not only because we love the food, but also to support them. In my opinion this restaurant is by far the best in the Hoffman area. The food is always fresh and healthy. We can never get enough! Their house wine is very good as well smooth tasting. I highly recommend Macaroni Grill! Thank you Macaroni for staying consistent!

One word, EXCELLENT! We have been dining at Macaroni for years. Consistency is key and this restaurant has it down to the T. The food is always fresh and healthy. Waiters are friendly, atmosphere is cozy. House wine is very smooth. Best restaurant in town! Highly recommended.

I’ve loved macaroni grill since 2003. In love with everything worked there for a year loved it. Love and crave pasta Milano. Go every chance I get especially my birthday.

The wait staff was friendly (they even had an operatic waitress singing happy birthday), the veal Parmesan was ok. The sauce could use a little more flavor. Other than that, everything was good.

I have always been hesitant to go to Romano’s Macaroni Grill… just because it is a chain and to be honest I didn’t expect them to have good food. I was relatively correct.
First of all, the wine list is not good. They had one house wine (everything else was way overpriced). Fun fact, if you get the house wine you don’t get a real wine glass. You get a water glass. Classy. They do, however, leave the bottle at your table and let you fill up your own glass and keep track yourself. Seems crazy to me, but whatever.
The food sounds a lot better on the menu than it tastes. I got the Penne Rustica. That actually wasn’t too bad, but I tried my friend’s pasta and it basically had no flavor. The bread was delicious, but they don’t have parmesan cheese on the table for you to make an olive oil dip with. You have to keep asking them for cheese. Other places I have been to just have a bowl of cheese for you to use at your discretion.
The service was fine at first, but for not being very busy, we hardly saw our waitress towards the end. She never filled up our waters, and for a while we thought she forgot about us. It took forever to get our check.
Honestly I would rather go to Olive Garden or Biaggi’s over this place any day.

Restaurant review
Great service and excellent bread. Although this time I was stuffed from eating a large lunch at a other restaurant and I ate tiramisu and coffee while my wife enjoyed her birthday dinner. They have a large selection of italian dishes that I personally believe are well done. It may not be as amazing as custom made pasta, but it is cooked al dente and the bread is simply amazing with olive oil. Our server was nice and didn’t care that I had dessert as my dinner.
Pro: friendly, good italian food, free bread
Cons: lots of carbs in all the dishes, not light salads that have fruit
Hidden gem:
Sign up for the email savings, they have coupons that come out weekly i.e. 5 – 10 dollars off your dinner

Let me tell you first off — décor and the staff are both brilliant. I thought the staff was really friendly and helpful. Very patient since we had a team lunch and there were about 30 odd people. They give bread and olive oil/​cheese as appetizers. The entrée I got was a Penne Rustica, heavy even though portion looks small.
Celebrated one person’s birthday and one’s going away party sort of. We had a cake with chocolate syrup — which was awesome and one of staff sang «happy birthday» in italian, which was cool. Lunch combo would have been good here (that’s what I understood from menu).
The best part of the table is that, they had CRAYONS and a paper on top, where you could draw etc etc, I am not sure since it was special event or if it’s usual, but that was a lot of FUN: D

eh; not the best.
I’ve been here twice, once a few years ago, and most recently, this past weekend. I wasn’t to impressed the first time; and even less impressed the second.
The restaurant’s feel is pretty authentic; but hardly original. It comes across as your typical ‘chain’ Italian restaurant trying to pull in elements to inspire the feeling of Italy. The seating is a bit awkward as it’s mostly open with a few booth seats around the perimeter of the large, banquet style room. It’s most likely designed this way to accommodate larger families.
The wait staff was boring; no one was ‘excited’ to see us, nor made us feel welcome when we walked into their establishment; and everyone we saw was sluggishly walking about as if waking from a long night of restless sleep. Not one employee looked thrilled to be apart of the experience, and the lack of smiling made that apparent.
The food is sub-​par at best. I admit, I can, at times, be a bit picky; but there was something about my dish I just didn’t like. Taste or perhaps the texture; I’m uncertain. My friend ordered a large noodle dish, which, when tasted, was discovered to be under cooked. My friend; who is a bit of a foodie, and was once a restaurant auditor stated the noodles, which looked freshly made, were cooked without first being separated, which let them clump up and left parts of them raw. We exchanged the dish, but we are unsure the server understood our ‘complaint’.
My friend really wanted the dish he had originally ordered, only done correctly. Instead he was asked to pick a new dish, wish he did; leaving the rest of the dining party awkwardly picking at our food until his arrived as to not ‘leave him behind’ in the dining experience.
At the end of our meal we tried to use coupons; unfortunately, to our surprise, they were expired. The manager was kind enough to take out 9 $ appetizers off as a way to appease the awkward discovery. Unfortunately, she didn’t ask us how our food was, nor did she apologize for my friend’s food being under prepared. She seemed uninterested in our service, or our comfort; and again… there was NO smiling!
Will I come here again? Eh; If I want Italian food; I’ll head to my friends place; at least there we’re encouraged to laugh and enjoy our experience.

2 ½ stars (for the price, maybe 3 stars)
I didn’t care for this place. The service was good but the food was as if it was made by Pizza Hut or something. The clam chowder was bland and the bread they served looked good but it tasted as though it was Wonder Bread.
I had the chicken parma salad which was good but it was just a salad. My wife’s chick mushroom cannelloni plate was bland, It just didn’t have «The Taste»
Not a bad place to go to but I’d rather dine else where.
I won’t BB

We came for our 5 year anniversary And LOVED IT! my wife ordered chicken under a brick and she loved it. I ordered the Italian sausage flatbread (like a pizza). We tried wine and we ended up getting a glass of Riesling wine. The waiters sing every 15 minutes or so.
Wendy was out server and she was great. I noticed all the servers were kind and very helpful with any menu questions. If we go back I hope to get Wendy as our waitress again.

I’m so sad to say that this last visit will be just that… my last visit. Over the years the menu has changed (which is ok) but so has the quality of food and service.
We went for an early dinner since we have a baby who eats fairly early. There were a few people there already, which meant it was going to start getting busy. We asked to be seated away from people as my child likes to get out of highchair from time to time. Our request was denied. That’s alright, I understand they’d like to keep sections closed until more people come in.
This is where the problems start to occur.
The waiter lacked personality, common sense, and the desire to perform ones job at a mediocre level.
He took our drink orders but forgot to bring half of the drinks (there were only three of us at dinner). I ordered iced tea… he forgot the sugar, even after asking for it twice.
He brought out the bread after placing our dinner order. But no oil, cheese, etc. the manager actually walked over and performed this guy’s job.
Eventually, when he did make his way back to our table we had to ask for the cheese… again. When he brought it over he was grating the cheese about three feet above the plate instead of bending down to the plate so that cheese would not end up everywhere.
Our food arrived, it was not only plain looking (on effort on display) it just tasted ok. I had the penne rustica. Nothing special. Mom had the fettuccine Alfredo with chicken (sans chicken). There were 2.5 thinly sliced pieces of chicken in the ENTIRE dish. We called the manager over because I wanted to know exactly how they can charge $ 3 extra for such little chicken. Plus, mom really wanted chicken. The manager, Cindy, says «well a
Ma’am it’s supposed to be 4 oz. are you sure there isn’t anymore in there?» What I wanted to say was «that’s what you should ask your chef» but instead my mom showed her that obviously there was nothing else.
Long story short, the meals sucked. Cindy did comp the Alfredo meal but her attitude wasn’t the best. The waiter, Luis, needs more training on the lunch shift before being promoted to the dinner shift.
Overall, this place has declined in every aspect. My best friend and I used to come here a lot but have since abandoned the thought… now I remember why.
Save yourself the trip and headache. Go anywhere else but here.

It’s called Macaroni Grill but they don’t have mac and cheese on the menu — how ironic. Well, not officially at least.
The Chianti BBQ Steak comes with a side of mac and cheese and you can order it by asking your waiter. Surprisingly, the mac and cheese ended up being the best thing I ate out of the dishes that we tried. It came with pancetta, green peas, and bread crumbs. It was exactly what I wanted in a cheesy mac and cheese and more. The only problem was that there wasn’t more of it. I realize that Macaroni Grill is trying to be more like a trendy Olive Garden but this dish should really be a full entrée since it was that good.
For a place that’s trying to be in between Olive Garden and Maggiano’s, I would rather go to either one of these places than eat again at Macaroni Grill. My spaghetti was over cooked and the sauce was watery. I’ve had spaghetti and meatballs that were better at diners. I asked for parmesan cheese a couple of times and our waiter was being stingy. Surprisingly, Macaroni Grill ended up costing just as much as Maggiano’s. Next time, I would rather just eat at Maggiano’s where the portions are larger and the food is much better.
Sorry Macaroni Grill, I feel that you might be destined to face the same fate as your neighbors that closed down.