Talk about a fall from grace! This used to be a favorite for us and it had impeccable service. The host usually greeted well, made you feel welcome and then the servers were just awesome. Well, that was then! Our last visit went like this - we wait by the reception desk for a good few minutes while servers and staff walk by. Not a word. More than half the place is empty. It gets to the point where we are wondering if we should leave. Then a lady shows up, no hello no nothing. Just straight to the table. And then, we wait. Servers walk by other tables, not a peep or offer for water. After a good 10 mins we begin to wonder what's going on. My wife walks up to the reception lady asking if someone could serve us. We wait more and still no one. Eventually we get up and leave. As we walk past the reception the lady notices us, and not a word. No apology, nothing. It's a shame - this used to be an awesome place. We're not showing up here again.
Glen F.
I usually don't review a restaurant as I know there are ebbs and flows in the biz. But after reading a few reviews that more or less matched our experience I have to speak up. We arrived at 7PM, and waited almost 20 minutes before a waiter showed up. Then the kitchen screws up the appitezer, and that should have told us something. It was 8:15 before we got our main entrees after I had a few words with the 'manager'. He claimed that several waiters and cooks called in sick, and it was obvous he wasn't much into team building by how he was treating his wait staff and cooks. If you know what you are doing you always have extra wait staff and cooks, and let your wait staff co-odinate with the kitchen. So Ifelt we were being gaslighted by him. We have been going to this restaurant since the mid 1990s for my wife's birthday. As the prices went up the service went down. Until the owners, or someone who knows what they are doing gets involved and get a better management in there we won't be going back. It was obvious they had to scramble to do anything. I hope their corporate or franchisee wakes up soon and makes some positive changes, or this place is going to be, sadly, an also ran.
Fred Jr
Loved the food here. This was my wife's first time eating here and she absolutely loved it as well. We went during lunch so it was quiet and not very busy. Will definitely be going again.
flybear36
Still very good but miss the " old" Macaroni Grill. They were more generous with wine. Caesar salad small but main course very generous. The Chicken Scalopini was excellent.
Marylee Anderson
Ate dinner there February 16, 2020. My husband asked if there was any sausage in the dish he had ordered, Sausage Rigatoni. Server replied sometimes it is ground and sometimes it is sliced. I replied if this ground you can't even see tiny bits if sausage or any taste if it. She said " I will bring you some sliced". Did ask if we wanted it, just brought it. I am amazed that we were charged $3.00 for 4 little slices and I mean little without being asked if it was even wanted..
Darla Marburger
Despite a light evening with very few diners, our service was consistently slow and disappointing. The bread and entree were tasty, but we had to wait a long while to get the bread. The salad was partly frozen. When we asked for balsamic vinegar, we had to ask twice and when it finally arrived, the bottle was sticky and grody to handle. Actually, only one of the two entrees was tasty because the chef skimped on the sauce. It could have been so, so much better. I won't be going back.
Alicia C.
It's 5:50pm, this place is empty, and I'm waiting inside for my to go order. It was due to be ready at 5:35pm but no one showed up to work the to go stand so they've got a host doing double duty. The management is running what used to be a very nice restaurant into the ground. No more curbside delivery of your to go order. No one even acknowledged my existence for 5 minutes after I walked in. Staffing is obviously a problem for them. Id guess that's a corporate issue because it's been a problem for over a year now. Makes me sad to see how far downhill this place has gone.
Richard Dwyer
Worse Valentine's Day date experience EVER! We arrived at 8:10 pm for a 8:15 pm reservation. It took us 20 minutes, standing in line, just to check in for our 8:15 pm reservation. We were finally seated at 9 pm. We ordered and the waitress (who apparently was filling in from Round Rock) tried her best, but at 9:37 we were told our appetizer would be another 10 minutes. At that point, we decided to leave and went to la Madeleine just down the street. I shared our experience at Romano's with the la Madeleine staff and they comped us our dessert! I will probably never eat at Romano's again. Apparently, there are serious management issues at the Romano's Arboretum location. Unfortunately, I did not check the reviews before making the reservation. I used to eat at Romano's often when I lived in So. Cal. and never had a bad experience like tonight. As a matter of fact, I can't even remember the last time I walked out of a restaurant. I have a total of 39 years of marriage, between my late first wife and my current wife and NEVER had a Valentine's date experience like tonight (and I am one of those guys who never forgets Valentine's, anniversaries, or birthdays - don't like sleeping on the sofa ;-). Someone at Romano's corporate needs to clean house at the Romano's Arboretum location.
syed vaseem
Horrible valentine weekend dinner. We were told there was 30 minutes wait. After being seated it took another 15 to get our server to acknowledge us and another 5-10 minutes for drinks. The kids entree came out late. Eggplant permesean was undercooked and bread was cold. They were clearly short on wait staff and chefs. Our server was nice but can't blame him for being overworked. I wish they could have told us they can't accommodate us or it will be quite slow service. I was actually looking forward to dessert but decided against it. I wanted to speak to the manager but I ran out of patience to wait for them . I will not return Romano Grill. They be out of business if they don't fix these issues. All of us Very disappointed!!
Diego Garza
Consistently a good place to eat. Food is on point and service is usually on point as well. The only reason why I don’t give 5 stars is because of the wait. But even then they offered to comp our next meal. Which we declined.
Placed order online. They canceled my order and would not honor price. Refused to give a refund for said order. Said it wasn’t their problem. No food and no refund. Would give it a lower rating if I could.
Maybelifeistooshort
The food wasn't great, and it took forever. I kept from giving one star because there was some live opera and that was cool. She sang one song...then stopped.
Daniel Garza
Ordered the chicken parm. Food was really good. 3 stars for slow service, and no soap in bathrooms. Diner took about 10 min longer than it should have. Tables were only half full. About 15-20 min wait for chocolate desert and to go boxes
Nicki C.
Gracie was our server and she was very kind and helpful! I ended up not liking the Alfredo sauce like I thought I would (it's my go-to) but without being bothered, she quickly replaced my meal (something she suggested, and it was good!) The bruschetta appetizers and bread were delicious and fresh! We ate there on a Thursday late afternoon, which was perfect! (Barely anyone there) This place has no booths fyi (others do) but still great service! Definitely recommend!
David Jones
I got the order to go and portions are smaller. The food and service were both good.
Talk about a fall from grace! This used to be a favorite for us and it had impeccable service. The host usually greeted well, made you feel welcome and then the servers were just awesome. Well, that was then! Our last visit went like this - we wait by the reception desk for a good few minutes while servers and staff walk by. Not a word. More than half the place is empty. It gets to the point where we are wondering if we should leave. Then a lady shows up, no hello no nothing. Just straight to the table. And then, we wait. Servers walk by other tables, not a peep or offer for water. After a good 10 mins we begin to wonder what's going on. My wife walks up to the reception lady asking if someone could serve us. We wait more and still no one. Eventually we get up and leave. As we walk past the reception the lady notices us, and not a word. No apology, nothing. It's a shame - this used to be an awesome place. We're not showing up here again.
I usually don't review a restaurant as I know there are ebbs and flows in the biz. But after reading a few reviews that more or less matched our experience I have to speak up. We arrived at 7PM, and waited almost 20 minutes before a waiter showed up. Then the kitchen screws up the appitezer, and that should have told us something. It was 8:15 before we got our main entrees after I had a few words with the 'manager'. He claimed that several waiters and cooks called in sick, and it was obvous he wasn't much into team building by how he was treating his wait staff and cooks. If you know what you are doing you always have extra wait staff and cooks, and let your wait staff co-odinate with the kitchen. So Ifelt we were being gaslighted by him. We have been going to this restaurant since the mid 1990s for my wife's birthday. As the prices went up the service went down. Until the owners, or someone who knows what they are doing gets involved and get a better management in there we won't be going back. It was obvious they had to scramble to do anything. I hope their corporate or franchisee wakes up soon and makes some positive changes, or this place is going to be, sadly, an also ran.
Loved the food here. This was my wife's first time eating here and she absolutely loved it as well. We went during lunch so it was quiet and not very busy. Will definitely be going again.
Still very good but miss the " old" Macaroni Grill. They were more generous with wine. Caesar salad small but main course very generous. The Chicken Scalopini was excellent.
Ate dinner there February 16, 2020. My husband asked if there was any sausage in the dish he had ordered, Sausage Rigatoni. Server replied sometimes it is ground and sometimes it is sliced. I replied if this ground you can't even see tiny bits if sausage or any taste if it. She said " I will bring you some sliced". Did ask if we wanted it, just brought it. I am amazed that we were charged $3.00 for 4 little slices and I mean little without being asked if it was even wanted..
Despite a light evening with very few diners, our service was consistently slow and disappointing. The bread and entree were tasty, but we had to wait a long while to get the bread. The salad was partly frozen. When we asked for balsamic vinegar, we had to ask twice and when it finally arrived, the bottle was sticky and grody to handle. Actually, only one of the two entrees was tasty because the chef skimped on the sauce. It could have been so, so much better. I won't be going back.
It's 5:50pm, this place is empty, and I'm waiting inside for my to go order. It was due to be ready at 5:35pm but no one showed up to work the to go stand so they've got a host doing double duty. The management is running what used to be a very nice restaurant into the ground. No more curbside delivery of your to go order. No one even acknowledged my existence for 5 minutes after I walked in. Staffing is obviously a problem for them. Id guess that's a corporate issue because it's been a problem for over a year now. Makes me sad to see how far downhill this place has gone.
Worse Valentine's Day date experience EVER! We arrived at 8:10 pm for a 8:15 pm reservation. It took us 20 minutes, standing in line, just to check in for our 8:15 pm reservation. We were finally seated at 9 pm. We ordered and the waitress (who apparently was filling in from Round Rock) tried her best, but at 9:37 we were told our appetizer would be another 10 minutes. At that point, we decided to leave and went to la Madeleine just down the street. I shared our experience at Romano's with the la Madeleine staff and they comped us our dessert! I will probably never eat at Romano's again. Apparently, there are serious management issues at the Romano's Arboretum location. Unfortunately, I did not check the reviews before making the reservation. I used to eat at Romano's often when I lived in So. Cal. and never had a bad experience like tonight. As a matter of fact, I can't even remember the last time I walked out of a restaurant. I have a total of 39 years of marriage, between my late first wife and my current wife and NEVER had a Valentine's date experience like tonight (and I am one of those guys who never forgets Valentine's, anniversaries, or birthdays - don't like sleeping on the sofa ;-). Someone at Romano's corporate needs to clean house at the Romano's Arboretum location.
Horrible valentine weekend dinner. We were told there was 30 minutes wait. After being seated it took another 15 to get our server to acknowledge us and another 5-10 minutes for drinks. The kids entree came out late. Eggplant permesean was undercooked and bread was cold. They were clearly short on wait staff and chefs. Our server was nice but can't blame him for being overworked. I wish they could have told us they can't accommodate us or it will be quite slow service. I was actually looking forward to dessert but decided against it. I wanted to speak to the manager but I ran out of patience to wait for them . I will not return Romano Grill. They be out of business if they don't fix these issues. All of us Very disappointed!!
Consistently a good place to eat. Food is on point and service is usually on point as well. The only reason why I don’t give 5 stars is because of the wait. But even then they offered to comp our next meal. Which we declined.
Restaurantji Recommends
Placed order online. They canceled my order and would not honor price. Refused to give a refund for said order. Said it wasn’t their problem. No food and no refund. Would give it a lower rating if I could.
The food wasn't great, and it took forever. I kept from giving one star because there was some live opera and that was cool. She sang one song...then stopped.
Ordered the chicken parm. Food was really good. 3 stars for slow service, and no soap in bathrooms. Diner took about 10 min longer than it should have. Tables were only half full. About 15-20 min wait for chocolate desert and to go boxes
Gracie was our server and she was very kind and helpful! I ended up not liking the Alfredo sauce like I thought I would (it's my go-to) but without being bothered, she quickly replaced my meal (something she suggested, and it was good!) The bruschetta appetizers and bread were delicious and fresh! We ate there on a Thursday late afternoon, which was perfect! (Barely anyone there) This place has no booths fyi (others do) but still great service! Definitely recommend!
I got the order to go and portions are smaller. The food and service were both good.