Roni's Mac Bar - Waco — Restaurant in Waco

THIS IS THE MOST DELICIOUS MAC & CHEESE I’VE EVER HAD IN MY LIFE! I highly recommend this place! I’m from Colorado, and I first heard of Roni’s about 6 months ago, after seeing viral videos on Tik Tok. When I had the opportunity to travel to Waco for the first time for a conference, I knew I had to stop at Roni’s. I can confirm— it really is worth all the hype! I got the Texas BBQ mac and cheese with pepper Jack sauce, brisket, BBQ sauce and jalapeños. Amazing! So delicious. Through no fault of the restaurant, just beware that parking can be hard to find because it is located in “Union Hall” which I can only describe as an upscale, fun, food court with small business and local vendor selections. Which means if you’re traveling with others and they don’t want mac and cheese they can easily visit other vendors (which range anywhere from pizza, to burgers, to pasta, to Chinese, salads, pie, cookie dough, coffee, tea, milkshakes, and more). Service was quick and I took mine to go but there’s also seating areas nearby. They do have some vegetarian options but it did not seem as if they had any vegan or gluten free options (which is just fine for me— but may be a deal breaker for others). I recommend skipping the garlic bread though— it’s not bad but it’s also not that special. If I had the chance to do it again, I’d order mac from Roni’s, and grab drinks and dessert from other vendors— so many amazing selections! Proud to support...

Update: After the owner Frank reached out we tried it again and had a much better experience. The food was great, the staff was super friendly, this was the experience we were hoping for. I'm glad we gave them another chance and will definitely be long time customers!

Original review: Mixed feelings about this one. I feel like the experience could be better but this one was not great. I have been watching their videos on YouTube for a while I was living in Alaska and was really excited to try them now that I moved back to Texas.

We drove 3 hours for this and I ordered a Mac and a grilled cheese. While I was waiting I interrupted the staffs debate about going to work somewhere else to ask a few questions about the restaurant and tell them how excited I was. A few minutes later she told me it was going to be a while because they forgot to put the chicken in my mac. They remade it bagged everything up and I left. When I sat down to eat at a park I noticed the bag contained my correct macaroni as well as the wrong one but no sandwich. The 2 employees there were obviously distracted and messed up literally my entire order. I guess they have better things to do...

I will say the one thing I did eventually get that was correct was very good. I just wish I could have tried everything I paid for and had...

I had high hopes for this place. I was looking for a good alternative to Franklin Mac House since it became a food truck. I've been here twice and it was disappointing. There weren't very many selections for something that claims to be BYOB. The precooked meats were rubbery and didn't have good flavor. The pepper jack cheese tasted gritty. The chili was extremely bland. Even adding jalapenos it was somehow still very lacking. The saving grace was the gouda cheese which was very nice and the employees weren't terrible. They were out of Dr. Pepper both times I went. I gave three stars because I like the concept. There's a lot of room for improvement. I might come back in a year and see if they upgraded their ingredients and added selections. In the meantime, there are a lot of other decent brick and mortars in Union Hall that have tasty food like Wacool Taco and Koko Ramen if you're looking for something tasty and you're out exploring the area. Just be warned the parking for Union Hall is a garbage fire. I would try this just to say you did if you aren't from here and came just for their social media hype, but to me it is definitely overhyped just like The Silos. I think this place needs to grow a little more in regards to flavor because they seem to just be surviving on their social...