Macado’s

So we came here with family and friends (a group of 5) on Sunday evening. I’ve been to other Macado’s locations and thought this one would be no different. I will start with the good news: the service was outstanding! Our waitress was Jillian, and she made sure that we were well taken care of. We were there for about 2 hours socializing, and she made sure that we had drink refills and that the ones drinking alcohol always had a drink in front of them. My nephew, who is 10 really enjoyed the pizza. So for the bad? I wasn’t too hungry so I ordered baked potato skins and they were not flavorful at all! They were burned inside and tasted like they had been sitting there for days. Everyone else in our party felt the same way about their dishes. I think we may try the downtown location again next time.

While I have been to this place many times I only go when forced to choose something besides better places in the area.
— wait staff are usually not knowledgable about the menu and what’s on tap
— it is a major ordeal to find out what beers are available. Last time (today) was told ‘normal domestics and craft beers’. When I asked she guessed and I had to request that she go check on a one for me. You would expect that she would come back with a list of sorts but no her answer was ’ it’s just to much to keep up with’.
Wait for for food is long and no one checks on table. Even though bar and over half of tables were empty.
Better places in Salem to go that treat customers right.

One of the best restaurants in Salem if you want variety. Great sandwiches and salads. Staff friendly. Courtney is at the bar area and always fast and friendly. Would recommend to anyone.

I am a business owner so I know how difficult day to day operation and management can be… I get that. in fact this is the first time I have taken my time to review a truly bad experience. We were a party of 8…3 adults and 5 kids… wait time to be seated about 20 minutes… great right? No problem there… Wait time to actually order food once we had decided…30 minutes. not so great! Wait time for food after ordering…45 minutes… completely unacceptable… no offer to give the kids chips or crackers or whatever… if you have kids you know what I am saying… finally food arrives my wings were cold through and through… not just on the outside but inside disgusting. My friends sandwich was cold and it wasn’t supposed to be… manager not once came through even though the waitress told him about the cold food which he so graciously took off my ticket… oh thanks a lot. I asked the waitress about a manager and still nothing or no one came to us… in fact another waiter came to our table to collect the check for this horrible experience. Excuse was that they were short staffed… it happens I get it but you don’t ignore the customer and you always always do what you can to make a situation like that better… ie, bringing a pack of crackers, bread or something for the kids… so this tells me all I need to know about this place… won’t be back Ever and will not recommend this place to anyone.

Macados… all of them… dirty, usually poor service, smells, HUGE MENU of average food. Pricey for what you get.
‘Nough Said.

On 81??? Oh weary traveler — No! Travel further, do not stop. At our own peril we ignored the fair warnings on Unilocal and impulse-​chose… This is a place for high school buddies and college kids to get nachos with squirted cheese. This is a place where the service speed is fine if you’re drinking, and not wearing a watch,. .. and drinking some more. The wings were passable, although we were so hungry after waiting nearly an hour for them that we snapped them up like a bunch of half-​starved wolverines. The sandwiches (which arrived with the appetizer) were OK, but kind of bland. I chose ‘chips’ with my sandwich and my table-​served chips were in a sealed single-​serve bag on the plate. Again, fine if you’re seventeen, but not worth leaving 81 for…

Frozen food but good location and drinks

We were told there was only a 15 – 20 minute wait. An hour and 20 minutes later, we assumed this must mean the food is AMAZING. Boy were we wrong.
I got the (slightly racist) «Oriental Shrimp Salad,» which was described as a salad with shrimp teriyaki, almonds, noodles, lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers. Their version of «shrimp teriyaki» was fried shrimp with cheap ginger sesame dressing to pour over. And by «noodles» they meant those tiny crunchy fried noodles (possibly from a can) and not actual noodles. It was mediocre at best.
My boyfriend got the pretzel hot dog with everything on it. Little did he know it was essentially just a pig in a blanket with a tiny cup of chili and a tiny cup of cole slaw to dip it in. And the chips it came with were just Ruffles in a bag. Completely overpriced.
My mother got the reuben, which was so disgusting she couldn’t finish it. She gave the rest to my boyfriend, and while he was eating it he noticed a BEATLE in his fries. This, on top of the hardly edible sandwich, caused him to bolt outside and throw up.
We had to constantly REMIND our waiter for refills. The ceiling was leaking and constantly dripping on my back and head. And when I asked how long it would take if I ordered some macaroni and cheese (after hardly being satisfied with that pathetic salad) I was told I might have to wait because the kitchen was really backed up. Clearly nobody there had their sh*t together.
Absolutely NEVER coming back.

Ok food. Horrible service. I have tried and retried but can’t get past the service. Ignored, slow and just rude. It doesn’t matter which one you go to it’s the same story. Bad service!

The sandwiches here are great and the chips and French dip are addicting! Good lunch spot to order out from or eat in at.

My husband and I took our guests there on Saturday night at 7 pm. There was a large crowd of what appeared to be students sitting at the tables in the window. We were several tables from them. It was so loud we could not hear ourselves talk.

I went here with my family. As we were outside we could see in the kitchen thru the window. Wow it was nasty so we stopped and watched for a few minutes. The cooks were not wearing gloves. One was eating frys while the other was scratching at something in his beard. It grossed me out, looked like a monkey digging An animal off its self. We decided to go elsewhere

The food was delicious. My husband thought the wings were the best he has ever eaten! I had the Mac and cheese with chicken and broccoli and it was extremely yummy! We would definitely come back when in town.

Friend took me here while visiting Salem raving about how good the sandwiches were, I was not disappointed! I had the Rin Tin Tin, chicken with buffalo sauce and blue cheese. Perfect combination and wasn’t overly tangy like buffalo sauce can tend to be. Definitely would recommend this place, and there is a great selection of beer. Service was great even though it was fairly busy. Only downside is the amount of choices on the menu, but that really isn’t a downside I suppose

Sorry, first time here and anyplace that has «pour on» cheese (you know the crappy convenience store crud) on their nachos, needs to have 2 star. Give 3 because did not try anything else, bartender was nice, beer was good.

Half price hindys and $ 5 pitchers on Mondays. What more could you ask for.
Good sandwiches and atmosphere perfect stop in for a lunch or dinner and drinks.
Great prices good food.

Delicious! Had the Betty Boop and it was fresh, hot, and tasty. Service was quick and friendly. Nice atmosphere and décor.

We stopped in Salem to eat at Macado’s while on a long road trip. We were greeted promptly by a friendly waitress (Sandra) who knew the menu well. She advised us to wait a few minutes until after 4pm to get the half price Hindenburg — one of our party of three wants to eat the whole thing even though it is ostensibly for four!
We told Sandra that we were hesitant coming here because of the two bad recent reviews — but in the end the overall good reviews prevailed. She apologized for the bad reviews, was glad we came anyhow and said that she would pass that along to the manager — the infamous Amber from the earlier review. Sandra said she has worked here 5 years and loves the restaurant, menu, food and customers.
Our appetizer — the pretzels — came out promptly, were hot and delicious!
Just after we finished our appetizers Amber stopped by. She was very nice and glad we chose to come to Macado’s. All she would say about the incident referred to by the previous reviewer was that they made a decision not to serve more alcohol based on the bar tenders observation of behavior. I find that bar tenders usually get that right.
In addition to the Hindenburg, we ordered the Chicken Fajita’s and the Titanic. They were all fantastic! The only thing unexpected was that the Fajita’s were not prepared the way I think of Fajita’s — meat, onions, peppers served on a sizzling skillet with tortilla or other flat bread served on the side to put the sizzling mixture of goodness on. Their version is basically a pizza. My wife pointed out that it was listed under the category Flatbread Fajita’s and flatbread these days is shorthand for a small pizza. Fair enough — my fault. Although it was unexpected, it was excellent — I would order it on purpose again!
We ordered the Cinnamon Sensation (cinnamon roll with icing and ice cream) and the Macawich (a cookie based ice cream sandwich) for dessert. Huge portions. My wife commented that the cinnamon roll was the first she has had in a while that has strong and good of a cinnamon flavor as this one.
At under $ 50 for three people it was a great value. The bottom line is that the staff did a great job and the food was fantastic. We would definitely come back to this and other Macado’s. It also teaches us a lesson about relying only on the most recent reviews. We did the right thing basing our decision on the totality of reviews and will do so again.

I’ve been a Macado’s fan FOREVER… I simply love all the food. I use to work there one summer a long long time ago… I’ve tried every sandwich on the menu over the years.
I’ve been during the week, to watch sporting events, birthdays and other holiday events and its just a cool place to go…
Even though I don’t live in VA anymore — I always make it a point to stop by and get something when I go to visit!

Went there for lunch. An old place with good food. They have a loooong menu which takes time to go thorugh. Most of the entrees are priced between 6 — 10 bucks. And the portion sizes are huge. I had the Chicken Broccoli Alfredo. The chicken was cooked to perfection. Nice and juicy.
Good for a lunch break. Not sure how things change in the evening.