Romano's Macaroni Grill — Restaurant in Florida

First time I've ever decided to eat at a Macaroni Grill (since the locations have always been pretty out of the way for me), and will also quite likely be the last. Our experience with Gabe was extremely poor overall, and while I'm usually pretty forgiving, there were too many missteps to look past:

-We were asked if we were familiar with the menu, and when I responded with a "no", he didn't actually DO anything with that information outside of him saying "Oh, I'll give you a few more minutes to look then." -Both of our soups were extremely delayed due to the kitchen apparently running out of the lobster bisque, which normally wouldn't be a problem. However, it seemed that we were being avoided as our server didn't check in at all to inform us of the delay, nor did he bring us the bread originally promised (and asked for MULTIPLE times) until the bisque itself was finally ready and brought to the table lukewarm 10-15+ minutes after our orders were placed, when he finally informed us of the issue. To add insult to injury, I repeatedly watched him check in on his other tables during this time and then go back to the kitchen pick-up window and just stand there. -One of our entrees was burned and had to be remade, which resulted in us seeming to yet again be avoided and were not informed about this until the service manager came over to apologise for the multiple delays (the aforementioned bisque and now the entree). At this point, I informed her that we hadn't seen our server in quite a while, and that we'd have thought nothing of the delays had they been communicated in a timely manner. -The food itself was okay - not great, but not terrible - but for $20 a plate I was definitely expecting higher quality than the Italian food I can get closer to home/to-go for half that price of less. -The menu's verbiage made us think that unlimited soup came with all entrees, or salad for a $2.50 upcharge. Because of this, both of us elected to get the soups when normally my companion would've opted for the salad while I would've just opted for neither. As a result, when the check arrived, I was very surprised to see two $2.50 upcharges for "Unlimited Soup/Salad". Okay fine, maybe we both misunderstood the menu, it happens. I then asked about the charges when our server returned to collect the check, to which responded which something to the effect of "Oh, the promo ended a few months back, but at least we don't charge the full $6.50 it normally is without an entree." You would think with all the mishaps that he would've been a tad more empathetic with something along the lines of "Oh, I'm very sorry that wasn't clear!" or "Y'know, with all the issues you guys have had tonight along with this misunderstanding, let me check with my manager and see if we can do anything for you guys," and comp the surprise $2.50 charges given the multiple kitchen mishaps throughout the meal. I'm not even that concerned about the $5.00, but some kind of empathetic gesture to make us feel like valued customers would've gone a long way towards me not writing this.

Long story short, I expected an experience and quality on par with Carrabba's given the similar menu and pricing, but I instead learned to do business there (or even Olive Garden for half the price) instead.

P.S. - I was originally going to leave 2 stars considering the food wasn't terrible, but after seeing how long my list of things to complain about actually was at the end of typing it all out (I actually ran out of character space and had to cut some), 1 star seems like the only fitting option. If someone from Macaroni Grill cares enough to reach out and try to make things right, I might consider giving them another chance and revise this review. Otherwise, this first visit will most certainly be my last as well, because I haven't been this disappointed with a...

Not a good visit by any means. Did not feel welcome at all. We felt like an inconvenience, we were not difficult by any means. As someone who works in the restaurant industry as a server/bartender for 15 years, I don't think we will be back. I hate writing bad reviews but the visit was not at all pleasant and we were not difficult . My girlfriend and I came in. No one was there, we still waited a good minute to be greeted at our table. I won't name drop our server, he may have been having a bad night or under the scrunity of bad management. We told him we were looking forward to having Macroni Grill, my girlfriend was craving it and it was our only night off together (date night). He seemed to be in a rush and did not attend to us very well. The menu had a bug on it. We weren't offered any bread and had to ask when he came back after not getting any to begin with. We ordered pretty quickly so we didn't hold him up, it seemed very hard to get him back to the table. My girl had a sweet tea and he never gave her a refill on it, I put the glass at the edge of the table for him to see it but nothing happened, she ended up just drinking my coke. We finally got our refill once she finished my drink as our entrees arrived. I stacked both glasses and still had to say hey can we get a refill and he said oh. She ordered a salad that never made it out, he told us he was sorry. She asked when the entrees came if she could get some grated cheese and black pepper. He never came back for that so I got up myself, found the black pepper and did it myself for her, couldn't find the cheese so I found him and said hey can we get the grated cheese please and he then came over (he was rolling silverware) and did it. I would have done it myself if I had known where it was. We weren't enjoying ourselves at that point and felt unwelcome so we had our server get us to go boxes and the check. I pre-bussed the table, since he didn't. $65 check for an unsatisfactory expierence to say the least, not happy. Didn't even want to stick around for a manager, let alone desert. The food was decent but I had a feeling after seeing the restaurant sign and how there were only 4 letters lit up, that the restaurant may not be taken care of (saying in the industry). I don't know what else to say, wrote a note on the table in crayon. Hope this helps better the next person's...

Update Corporate reached out in less than 24 hours after this review was brought to their attention, extending their apologies and resolutions to improve all future dining experiences. The gentleman that called was very apologetic and sincere - I look forward to giving Macaroni Grille another shot in the near future.

Decided to have dinner here on a Friday night at around 6pm with my parents, but overall we were disappointed with the food, atmosphere, and service. When we approached the host stand, there was a man seemingly complaining to an employee for about 5 minutes before we were acknowledged and the line behind us started building up. Then, we found that the A/C was broken and we were seated next to a large fan that was blowing almost directly at us, making our hair blow everywhere. Our waiter was okay in the beginning, but we had to ask for refills and my mom’s chicken had a bad texture (almost inedible), along with her sangria being tasteless. The waiter was overworked and was not very attentive as we waited about 10-15 minutes after we were clearly finished eating before we had to ask for the check. It’s just frustrating to spend over $130 on sub-par food & drinks with no air-conditioning (After reading past reviews, it looks like the A/C has been broken for over 8 months) We’ve been longtime patrons of this particular restaurant, used their catering numerous times, and brought large parties to dine in the past several years and always loved the experience. It is disappointing to have to write a poor review, but we hope in doing so that the management and/or the owner will make improvements as we’d hate to see this Macaroni Grille...