Roman Cucina — Restaurant in Allen

I had high hopes for this restaurant after reading so many glowing reviews. After years of driving by, I finally decided to give it a try. This was one of the worst dining experiences I have had in my life.

The Bread - The best part of the meal.

The Bruschetta: An absolute disaster. The bread was soggy, completely ruining the texture, and the tomatoes were cut into massive, unmanageable chunks, making it nearly impossible to eat. No flavor at all.

The Sauce: I am convinced this is the same ready-to-use, straight-from-the-can sauce that Chuck E. Cheese uses. Not only was it utterly disgusting, but it left a lingering aftertaste—one I can only compare to the smell of engine oil. Sauce was not even hot, but maybe lukewarm. As a matter of fact all the food was like that, and we didn't wait too long for it to say it had gotten cold.

The Chicken Parmesan: My daughter ordered the chicken parmesan, and I was shocked by what arrived. The chicken itself was paper-thin, flavorless, and clearly low-quality, while the plate was overloaded with pasta—an obvious attempt to make up for the pitiful portion of chicken. Having worked in restaurants in my younger years, I can confidently say this was frozen, pre-made chicken parmesan that had simply been reheated. The breading was lifeless and soggy, with none of the crispness you’d expect from a freshly prepared dish. She barely touched her food and just ate more bread even though she was starving. That tells you something.

The Eggplant Parmesan: The eggplant was paper-thin to the point where it barely had any substance. It was also far too uniform and consistent looking, making it painfully obvious that it wasn’t fresh.

The Cheese: No true Italian restaurant would serve low-quality mozzarella, yet here we were. The cheese on both the chicken and eggplant looked and tasted like plastic, immediately reminding me of the processed cheese from CiCi’s Pizza back in the day. At that point, I couldn’t believe how packed this restaurant was. Do people genuinely enjoy this food, or are the rave reviews paid for?

Final Thoughts: Perhaps the non-red sauce dishes are better here , but I wouldn’t come back to find out. The gross taste of the sauce is still lingering in my mouth. The food was not even HOT, but rather warm when it came out. The engine oil aftertaste of that sauce is still lingering in my mouth (my daughter had the same thoughts). This was, without a doubt, a "never again" experience.

There is no need for a owner response here. The fact is the food is just gross and obviously all bought frozen and reheated, maybe the non red sauce dishes might be better, but an italian restaurant is judged by the sauce and cheese and you fail in...

We held our personal event at Roman Cucina. The banquet room has lots of space, great food, and lighting was surprisingly great. Very simple set up they do for affordable event pricing was good enough to bring out that luxurious dining vibe. Lighting also can be brighter or dimmer depending on how you want it, and I loved the bright set up. The pictures of this banquet room don’t do the justice especially the ones on their website….. I almost walked away from it. It is much better in person. It’s definitely not Instagram suitable room though. It has very interesting floor space/layout, so you would need to rent the backdrop/props or some creative thinking to bring out that Photo Booth like wall space if that’s what you want. Staffs were all very nice. The assigned server/butler took care of the guests well and were easy to communicate. Planning and communicating with the owner for the event wasn’t as easy as talking to some of the other franchise restaurant banquet coordinators though. It threw me off in our early conversations when I didn’t have many things decided yet and was trying to see what are the options. Normally I get banquet coordinator giving me full presentation of options with price tag, but Giovanni doesn’t do that. He gave me a list of what they do and what I’m not allowed to do. Everything else was pretty much up to what I wanted. I told him what I wanted and what I needed, he made time to communicate, confirm, and set up in timely manner. Just a very different business style, which I think it makes more sense. He doesn’t make this a big deal out of it and charge you arms and legs for it. They also had the most variety of vegetarian option for my guests with restricted diet out of all the places I’ve checked. I would definitely recommend this place for any kind of big...

I saw great reviews on it and decided to try it out since my go to place is closed on Sundays. Walked in and the place was dark and romantic looking. Great for a night out with your significant other. I went with my family and as I walked in, already thinking "shoot, I didn't make reservations". Was greeted by the hostess and she ask how many people in my party. I said 6 and she came back with a manager who said, they had lots of huge parties tonight and if it would be okay if he sat us in the round booth. Of course it was okay and the 6 of us fitted comfortably in that booth.

The manager seated us and said that our waiter is with a large table and she will be right with us. But he went ahead and took our drink orders and told us the specials they had. Gave us a few minutes and the waitress came and took our orders.

The drinks came and bread came together. We started with the Calamaris which were delicious. My boys loved it. My husband and I ordered each of the specials. Sorry, forgot what it was but all I remembered is that it was good. Lots of sauce and very creamy, that is how I like my pasta. My brother got the lemon cream sauce and shrimp, my boys got the pasta bolognese and sausages and peppers pasta. Everyone said theirs tasted really good. Just a fair warning, the portions were huge.

Overall, everything was great from the decor, to the manger, waitress, and food. Oh and the price is very fair for a great Italian restaurant. We had a great experience. The best part was that the waitress was awesome. She explained everything to us and was so attentive to us even though we saw that she had a table of like 20 right next to us but still came and check on us. I wish I remembered her name. Will definitely be back. Sorry for not having any pictures. Next time, there will...