Romano’s Macaroni Grill

We just ate there and have eaten there for years. I cannot believe it is closed. It is usually busy even in the Winter.

I am so glad to see this place closed. It was terrible — both the food and the service (mostly the management, not the servers). I was here some time in September or October 2014 and the food was cold, not probably made, and overall did not taste good. When we asked the manager to redo the order correctly, she said she would but the food never came. Terrible experience.

i had dinner with my folks here just last month, and now that i’m posting a review, i see that it’s closed!!! i even called the listed phone number and see that they are indeed closed… it makes me wonder b/​c everything seemed just fine when i was there, plenty of customers at dinnertime with no incidents.
at any rate, i ordered the mediterranean branzino which consisted of a pair of pan-​seared fillets with lemon chardonnay sauce. it also came with a side of veggies, and on that day, the vegetable of the day was broccolini. i requested no butter and salt in the sauce b/​c i know that restaurants normally douse an otherwise healthy food with lots of sodium, oil, and fat to enrich the flavour of the food. they obliged by lightly broiling/​grilling my fish without the sauce, instead, giving me a side of lemon flavoured sauce on the side. i also requested the broccolini without salt and butter, and was happy to see that it was presented lightly grilled with some oil. i enjoyed my fish and veggies, sans sodium and butter.
prior to my main entrée arriving, we were brought a basket of warm bread rolls, baked fresh in their kitchen. the roll was lightly salted (oh well) with a bit of oil and tasted delicious! dad enjoyed the bread so much that he requested a second basket and ended up packing most of those to eat at home!
i especially appreciated the fact that one of the managers came out and asked whether i had any food allergies and whether there was anything else they could do to ensure that the food was prepared to my needs/​expectations. this was a really nice gesture and they definitely earned points on excellent customer service from me!
i hope that they re-​open, or at least, open another location in rockville/​gaithersburg soon as my family really enjoys dining here!

AWFUL! The primary reason I’m giving this review 2 stars and not 1 star is that though the food and experience were bad, the food was still minimally edible. Also, I reserve my 1 star reviews for the truly horrendous. Though Romano’s Macaroni Grill came close to that, it still deserves an extra star.
I visited in a large group on a Saturday night a couple weeks ago. There was parking out front and they could seat 9 people at 8pm on short notice. So far, so good. But everything went downhill from there.
I’ll just list everything that was wrong with this place:
–First of all, the food is NOT AUTHENTIC and was awful. As hard as the restaurant tries to be Italian (the creepy Italian language lesson that plays in the bathroom; the Italian «singers» that come by your table), it truly fails at authenticity. I ordered the eggplant parmesan and it was the driest Italian entrée I have ever eaten. It was barely edible. The cheese was all stuck together and tasted like it was several days old. Even the eggplant was tough to eat. The pasta it came with was cheap and dry. I was very afraid of getting food poisoning (thankfully, I didn’t, but I do have a hardy stomach). What everyone else ordered looked equally unappetizing. The appetizers also seemed/​tasted old. The bread was super tough. Just awful.
–Awful, unprofessional service. The food took FOREVER to come out! Our waiter got things wrong. Oh, and he was creepy as heck. He came over and leaned over me to pass a to-​go box to someone across the table when he could have just walked up to them. Completely unncessary, unprofessional, and inappropriate. There was also something off about him generally.
–Poor accommodations. There were two 2 year-​old children at our table and they only brought out one high chair. The other kid had to sit on a regular chair.
–Dirty bathroom. And the corny Italian language lesson playing on repeat further cheapened everything.
Overall, this place is awful. This is the second Romano’s Macaroni Grill restaurant location that I’ve given just 2 stars to. I doubt I’d want to visit another in the chain again. Just not worth it.

I know many people who scoff at chain restaurants and don’t consider Macaroni Grill as authentic Italian food… but come on! I love consistently good service and consistently delicious food!
No, they don’t make their own pasta in the window like Filamena’s in DC or offer the best olive tapenade gratis like Il Pizzaco… but I go gaga for their rosemary foccacia. Have them grate some parm in your olive oil and I swear it is a little taste of heaven!!!
I have been a fan of Macaroni Grill (MG) for years and of this location for most of that time. In fact, many of all time favorite dishes are ones that used to be offered by MG. If you google «tie sugo bianco» you will find a list of copycat recipes for their former pasta dish. When they took that off the menu (the manager once came by and told me I could still order it) I tried their balsamic glazed pork chops with mushroom risotto. OMG, that was heaven on a plate. Always served with broccoli that looked like little trees. My go to dish for years until they took this one off the menu too. I admit that unlike a traditional restaurant, they will rotate items off the menu for corporate reasons (the only reason this is not a 5-​star review)
I have tried many of their dishes and all have been delicious. My sister loves their fettuccine alfredo and I must admit they make the best meatballs. Nothing worse than getting a bowl of dry meatballs. Whether big or small, MG meatballs are always moist, tender and flavorful!
In order to be more rustic and with the advent of calories listed on menus, MG has revamped their menu a few times. At one point they offered spiedini chicken, beef and salmon (grilled meat on a skewer of rosemary) but I don’t see that anymore.
They have stuck with the classics and what they do cook, they do well!
My favorite appetizer has always been their delicately fried calamari and a close second are the tiny goat cheese peppadew peppers with their fabulous balsamic glaze. Start with a sampler so you can try a couple new ones too.
Their bibb and bleu salad is yummy if you like gorgonzola and crispy pancetta (I do!!!). The buttermilk dressing is really yummy and you can ask for it on a regular green salad if you don’t want all the extra calories.
Best bet for entrees is of course my favorite ricotta meatballs and spaghetti but you can’t go wrong with Carmella’s chicken which has this to-​die-​for marsala cream sauce! My other sister always chooses the Penne Rustica because it is baked and has shrimp!
Save room for dessert because the chocolate ganache cake is to die for and I am not a chocolate fan! Come with dollops of coddled cream… best birthday cake ever! Of course, if chocolate isn’t for you, the tiramisu is yummy here too.
Just be sure to go in with an open mind… but at least go. Once.

Went there for lunch after a long time. My past few visits had not been that good in terms of food and service, but this time it was better. The «build your own pasta» option turned out to be very good for a colleague, my pizza with mushrooms and truffle oil was also quite good. So things may be looking a bit better, but I still reserve judgement.

I guess it should have been an indication of bad things to come when I unrolled my silverware and had a dirty knife. But I put it off to the side and didn’t really pay attention to it. The food wasn’t anything special, but not terrible. The problem, friends, was the rat. Yes, I said RAT. Both my friend and I took pictures of it so we could show the manager. Unfortunately, the manager handled the situation really poorly. She said «we don’t have a problem with rats». Well, lady, we have two sources of proof that you do, in fact, have a problem. She didn’t offer to comp our meals or anything, so I finally said «ma’am, I would prefer to not pay for food I’m going to force myself to throw up when I get home». She got the message after that.

Left without ordering. Restaurant was empty. Dirty. And disgusting. Dont go there. Much better italian in the area

We were prisoners of an overbearing waiter and fed stale overcooked food.
The food was not good. Mushrooms cooked to rubber were hidden in all of the food (next time throw them out and don’t add them to slop for us customers). Chicken parmesian tasted like it had been cooked the day before (edges were dry and hard).
The real problem is with the staff. When we arrived no one was manning the hostess station. My mother has a heart condition and we tried to seat ourselves after yelling for someone to come with no answer. We were then accosted by a waiter Marcus who refused to seat a party of five at a table for eight and insisted, by grabbing and pulling on my mother, that we move to a table for five. As you can tell from all the reviews the restaurant was empty so grabbing my mother was not necessary and not called for.
Marcus was also our waiter. I think he has some type of dominance issue. I forget the first argument I lost with him but he badgered us throughout the meal. It seemed like every time I turned to talk to my mother I had his crotch in my face. He needs to stand away from the table when talking to patrons. At the end of the meal our politeness with him was not rewarded. We asked for some to go boxes. Marcus, after being told to leave them on the table, grabbed our dishes and started clearing off our plates. He did this to my mother while she was still eating to where me and my sister had to yell at him to put her plate down.
At the end of the meal a man walked close to the table and yelled out «How was the meal» and we said fine and he continued on. I’m not sure if I’ve ever experienced drive by management before? It does explain the lack of training/​attentiveness with the staff.
I have waited tables during college and the job of a waiter is to watch the table from a distance and only to arrive when something is needed. You never argue with the customer. You ALWAYS listen to the customer’s direction. You absolutely never pull a plate out from under a customer who is eating to shove it into a to go box which is the height of rudeness.
Marcus’ demeanor was pleasant so I would say this is a management/​training issue with him.
The real oddness about the way we were treated is that it is almost like they are trying to go out of business.

Really bad. Got takeout. Food was cold and had been sitting somewhere in the kitchen — definitely not on top of a warm oven.
Concept of restaurant was originally good food at a better price based on smaller portions. Portions were small but the food was really bad.
Having to warm up food in the microwave that you just bought ten minutes ago from an established restaurant is pretty disappointing.
This is my third visit. The case is closed on this chain for me.

So they saved their rating by basically giving my group great deals on everything and having decent food.
The place was surprisingly crowded for a Tuesday night. Unfortunately, I don’t think they’d planned for it either because all the wait staff looked completely stressed out and overworked. 20 minute wait for a table… so we head to the bar… 15 minute wait before our drink order was taken by someone who, for all I know, was actually a sous chef or floor manager. However, my glass of house wine was 3 bucks, so the value mitigated the service.
At the table I got another glass of wine, which was fantastic and tasted better for being half off — another good deal. It took them a long time to take our orders and a LOOONG time for us to get our food, considering two people ordered appetizers as their meals.
My Lasagna Bolognese was very decent. Nice chunks of sausage and melted cheese, overall tasted good, but my one pet peeve (and by no means limited to RMG) is stuff needs MOAR BASIL. When I’m consuming 1400 calories of cheese, sausage, and pasta topped off with a nice thick sauce, 3 little leaves of basil just don’t cut it!!! Trust me, you could rip a huge handful of basil right off the plant and it wouldn’t overseason the dish.
The eggplant dish was good, and large, although my brother had eaten nearly the entire loaf of complementary bread beforehand so your mileage may vary. The balsamic goat cheese fried peppers got mixed reviews, but again not bad by any means. The real surprise came when we got our check. They had very kindly given us some kind of internet discount or in-​store promotion that we weren’t aware of, $ 10 off our $ 50+ meal. So between half-​off wine and a nice coupon we were happy campers. Which more than made up for the disgusting little bit of shit that was caked on to one of my forks when I grabbed it out of my napkin… but hey, because we were all ridiculous ballers they gave us each TWO forks. I mean, that’s classy right there.

My second time coming here.
The server was really nice her name is Bea. She really attended is really good.
The food came to is quick. It was all good.

Ah Romano’s, you used to be solid for so many years.
The menu has kind of changed over the years, and I haven’t been back for a while so it was a nice change. Working in the area now, I decided to grab lunch from the MG and was pleasantly surprised that they have some great lunch combos for ~$ 9-​$ 10! The regular menu seems to be a little on the pricier side for what they offer but hey, maybe it’s outta this world good!
I ordered the Parmesan-​crusted Chicken salad and Carmela’s Chicken pasta. Portion wise, I expected a lot more but I wasn’t too disappointed either considering the price. Flavor wise, they could use some help. I enjoyed my pasta but it definitely could’ve been better. The chicken in the salad was a little too hard for my liking and the prosciutto was missing but I’ll try again just to be sure it wasn’t an off day :)
Everyone was friendly enough inside, though the restaurant was surprisingly dead for lunch time. I’ll be back to try other things!

Wholly uninspired «Italian» food. Service was initially slow but after another customer made a vocal complaint things sped up. However, the food, once it arrived, was either cooked beyond flavor or so uninspired in the recipe that eating cardboard would have been a better meal choice
This used to be a favorite of mine, but it seems that in recent years quality has declined drastically. If you’re hungry and out of options, if go to the corner bakery in the same area rather than pay for food here.

Nothing special. Everything was just blah except the service. Our server was really nice and attentive.
Went here for my husband’s birthday dinner and I was disappointed. This place has change for the worse since I last visited many years ago. They now offer tapas appetizers (2 FOR $ 9) and it seems they have completely re-​done their menu in general. All three courses (appetizer, entrée, and desert) were just OK.
Nothing stood out and I wish I had wasted any other night here, instead of that particular night.

great place for families.
i like the flat bread. i also really liked this new pasta they had but i forgot what it’s called. sorry. they also serve hot bread with olive oil and you can also ask them for cheese! :) bread comes out hot!!! :D

Had a coupon $ 10 off $ 20 so I didn’t want to waste it. I ordered online takeout and it was ready before the time it said it would be ready. Everything was ok, nothing spectacular, didn’t get bread to go I know they give it when your there. They did give me 2 containers of cheese cause I asked for extra cheese. Its definitely good service, they pack everything well for you.
Join the Email list and get specials like $ 5 off no limit

Well well well, another chain Italian restaurant. No surprise here. No feeling that your family here but definitely a flock of staff that are clones of Oscar the Grouch. Seriously?! The food would make my Italian side of the family turn their noses up and take the next flight back to Perugia. We get the cluess waiter who has to be told like a little boy, what we need, what he forgot and to top it off messed up our drinks.
The run down on my horrible meal here:
The bread: a brick! like the kind Mario kicks in Super mario brothers. WTH? Italians dont get brick bread. We like nice warm soft bread.
The dipping stuff! First off we are a family of 6 and one little itty bitty sauce soy type thingy? Dude why you bein soo cheap???
The drinks were a torture. If glasses are empty? what does that tell you? if I push the glasses towards the edge of table what does that tell you? someone please answer because these waiter missed the point.
The food: Horrible. The chicken wasnt fresh. Chicken parm is suppose to be warm and delicious. There is suppose to be cheese on top of my chicken and sauce.
The sauce tasted like it came out of a cheap can of Hunts tomato paste. Anywho, They forgot the cheese! How you forget cheese? They he was like oh we got it mixed up with someone else. By then my blood pressure reached the boiling point. I didnt ask for a replacement meal. Instead, I settled for just bread and had my hopes high on dessert.
Tiramisu: Talk about being mad I was one angry bird that night. I demanded to speak with the manager because really, if your charging an arm and a leg for dessert I better get quality and not a frozen piece of tiramisu. The manager comes. And feeds me the generic Oh we sorry. I was like really?
How far would you go to pass this frozen tiramisu to your guests? I went off from the bad brick bread we got, no refills on drinks to the shitty meal we got. The entire check was was on the house.
Bottom line: Is spare your self. You will thank me later. CPK does a better job sort of… but avoid this hot mess of restaurant.

My friends and I often come here because it’s a great place for groups of people and the crayons are always such a delight! We love the atmosphere, but the food is just okay. The service can be a bit slow at times and they often rush you once you’re done eating. It’s great for birthdays though since they bring out this delicious chocolate cake with a candle in it and sing.
You get great value out of the design-​your-​own pasta dishes, but I’m found the sauce to be a bit bland and the pasta a bit dry. I’ve had the Mediterranean grilled chicken before and also found it to be a bit dry, though the onions in it were good. The food is mediocre, but if you want a place at Rio for a group of people to sit comfortably and have fun, I’d come here.

BP and I just went to RMG last week and each of our entrees were overcooked, that’s why they lose a star.
I was really excited to try their new Lobster Ravioli. BP was surprised to see the huge chunks of lobster in the dish, He said that it was high-​quality lobster, but was disappointed that for $ 16, I only got six medium sized Ravioli squares. I thought it wasn’t too much food either, but I was full so I’m glad I didn’t have to over eat.
BP ordered the Margarita Pizza. I was expecting diced tomatoes, but each slice of pizza had slices tomato. As I mentioned, the pizza was over cooked so the yellowish orange tomatoes didn’t taste like I thought they would.
Our food took sometime to cook, but our waitress was kind enough to offer us more Parmesan crusted bread, so it really was a big deal.
Props to the waitress for recommending the Blackberry iced tea. It was Ah-​mazing!