Romano's Macaroni Grill — Restaurant in Nashville-Davidson

TL;DR - This was a wholly bad experience. Many food options nearby. Go somewhere else. Do not fall into the nostalgia trap I did!

Sunday dining. 5pm.

Place was mostly empty with various employees milling about. This should have been a red flag to me. But I ignored it. I havent had Macaroni Grill in years due to the chain collapse and I was super excited.

But this was folly. This was like having a good friend you were really close to. Then one day they disappeared. Years go by and you bump into them on the street. They look rough. You barely recognized them. They tell you about their divorce. Their meth addiction. You can smell alcohol on them. They ask if they can crash at your place until they get on their feet. After you hug and part ways you realize they stole your wallet.

Thats how this felt.

Hostess showed us to a dirty table. We asked for a towel to clean off the crumbs and whatnot. Should have left then.

Glasses were dirty. Very noticeably dirty. Like they were run through a wash cycle without soap.

Bathrooms were a wreck. Both bathrooms. My girlfriend confirmed with me that the ladies room was equally in poor condition to the men's.

Penne Rustica. You broke my heart with this. It vaguely resembled the dish I loved for many years prior to the chain collapse. Chicken seemed boiled, or something. It absolutely was not char grilled. Everything under the seasonsed top part was just bland and unenjoyable. This was peak comfort food that your loveless cooks have turned into the culinary equivalent of a light beige, soul-less joke. A mockery of everything people savor.

This whole experience hurt. Our server was friendly and fine enough. (Shout out stephen). But good lord. Maybe you have your weakest employees working Sunday dinner and I didnt get a good sample of your quality. But as someone who has worked and managed in hospitality, this resembled a trainwreck. As I said at the beginning, there was almost no other guests when I arrived. There's no excuse for the filth.

The food quality is another topic. Even the bread lacked any flavor or freshness. I dont know how things get sourced since the closest location to here is like Chicago I think. So maybe thats difficult to get right consistently. But try harder.

Clean the bathrooms. Clean the floors. Clean the friggin tables. Put someone on glass polishing sidework. No one cared though. I returned a barely touched entree and it was met with zero questions. No one cared. And thats a reflection on leadership. Whoever was managing Sunday should take notice. Or if they just dont care then find another...

This was truly the worst restaurant experience I have ever had in Nashville. I made a reservation for eight people on Tuesday of that week for Saturday, which is well in advance. When we arrived at the restaurant only ten minutes early for our reservation, absolutely nothing was prepared and our table wasn't even set yet. The hostesses attempted to scramble everything together and set us up at the table right in front of the door. Due to our party of eight, we requested to be seated at another table because we didn't want to disturb the foot traffic coming in and out of the restaurant. The hostess seated us at a booth that wasn't even clean. There were crumbs and bits of food all over the table, and the hostess chose to put white paper over it to cover it up. When we were seated, we weren't immediately given menus. A manager had to come around to give us our menus minutes after we had been seated, and we were given bread before our drinks. The waiter didn't come to get our drink order until much later. After we finally ordered, we waited 1 hour & 10 minutes for our food. When our server finally brought our food, he only brought half of the party's dishes. Then, the other half had to wait an extra 15 minutes just to receive their meals. My friend and I chose to order the mushroom ravioli, and when we received it, it was completely burnt. The cheese on top looked like it had been torched and it was black. Somehow the chef managed to also burn the cream sauce over our ravioli, which made it unbearable to eat. I was finally able to speak to the manager about the issue, and luckily we were able to order something else. My friend and I ordered the chicken alfredo and it was still extremely underwhelming and fairly tasteless. When the manager came to give our party our bills, she realized that our waiter had mixed up everyone's bills. Our entire party was in the restaurant for over two hours, and by then we were definitely ready to leave. It was quite obvious that the waiters and hostesses didn't know what they were doing, which made for a terrible experience. As a previous hostess and server, I completely understand that waiters make mistakes, but when it's a Saturday night and reservations have been set far in advance, you need to step up your game and have everything prepared. Overall, I would not recommend this restaurant to anyone, especially if you're looking for a nice dining experience in Opry Mills. Save your money and go...

I recently dined at Macaroni Grill at Opry Mills in Nashville with a reservation for four, and I wanted to share my thoughts on the experience.

First off, it was nice to be promptly seated after making a reservation, and our server, a friendly young man in his mid-twenties, was very helpful throughout our meal. However, I must admit that I had high hopes for this visit, as I had fond memories of dining at Macaroni Grill in the early 2000s. Sadly, it didn't quite live up to those memories.

One of the things I always loved about Macaroni Grill was their peasant bread with olive oil and fresh ground pepper. This time, though, the bread looked fresh but tasted old and had a rather unpleasant hardness to it. When I requested balsamic vinaigrette for dipping, I was brought balsamic glaze, which wasn't quite what I had in mind.

Moving on to the main courses, the lobster bisque was passable in terms of taste, but it appeared as if it had been sitting under a heat lamp for too long, which affected its presentation. The real disappointment, however, was the penne rustica. Normally, it came with a creamy sauce, penne, ham, chicken, and shrimp in a generous portion. However, this time, it arrived in a smaller dish, with the creamy white sauce barely visible and an unfortunate, greasy appearance. There were even some rogue spaghetti noodles that wound up among the penne. No offer of freshly ground pepper or freshly shredded parmesan cheese. A colleague who ordered the chicken alfredo had a similar experience, and she used to work at a Macaroni Grill during college, so her disappointment was particularly disheartening.

To make matters worse, when we decided to order a to-go meal for a friend, it took a whopping 40 minutes to arrive, and to our dismay, it was the wrong food. It seemed like the staff was unaware of the mix-up, and it left us feeling rather frustrated.

Overall, I have to say that this visit to Macaroni Grill at Opry Mills was a letdown. It's possible that this was just an off night for them, but it was definitely not up to par with the wonderful experiences I had at Macaroni Grill in the past. From the looks of the other reviews, I'd say it was not an off-night but a consistent pattern of sub-mediocre cuisine. Sadly, I'm afraid this might be our last visit, and I hope they can improve their quality and service...