Romano's Macaroni Grill - September 19, 2007

Her perspective: F
His perspective: F

We do not give out an F lightly. The experience has to be truly horrible for us to give out an F.

That being said, let's start with how we were seated. The only wait we had was that the hosts could not seat the tables fast enough; no big deal. As we were waiting in line, William noticed that the bar area was not as crowded as the restaurant, so it would be a bit quieter. When the manager came to seat us, we asked for a table in the bar and were seated immediately. However, we noticed that the manager, in telling the bartender that he would help him out if need be, they got into an argument. We're not sure if they were arguing because the bartender was too busy with 5 tables to take another one or if the bartender was upset that he wasn't getting to take another table. Either way, we had a server named Erin. Until we got greeted, we were thinking of leaving and going somewhere else if it was such a problem for us to be seated where we were.

Looking at the menu, I noticed that they carry Asti Spumante. It is extremely rare to find a restaurant that serves sweet sparkling wine, much less my favorite, so we ordered a bottle. The server was attentive at this time and gave us plenty of opportunity to decide. We both ordered caesar salads, but mine had a lot of the white part of the lettuce, which I don't like, and didn't have much dressing. William ordered a combination dinner called "Mama's Trio" which includes chicken parmesan, nine-layer lasagna and canneloni. I ordered a filet with broccoli substituted for the asparagus. Let's start with the positives, of which aren't much. My steak was cooked perfectly and had a tasty sauce. Now for the negatives. My potatoes were very bland for being garlic mashed potatoes and my broccoli was cold by the time it got to the table. William's whole meal was horrible. The chicken parmesan was like it was chicken pieces pressed together, breaded and frozen. The meat in the canneloni and the lasagna tasted burnt and the cheese was the consistency of snot. He stopped eating and pushed the plate to the end of the table where it sat for at least 15 minutes before the server came over to ask if he wanted a box. He explained what was wrong with it, and, rather than taking the offending plate away, she left to get a manager. The manager came over and William had to explain it all again. She apologized several times and agreed to take his meal off the bill. She then asked me how my meal was and I replied with my issues. She told us she would adjust the bill accordingly. Considering my restaurant management experience, the manager did everything she should have. Unfortunately, the damage was already done.

The server dropped off the check and explained that the manager had taken William's meal and both our salads off the bill to compensate for both of our problems. As I was figuring out the tip, the manager returned to make sure that the server had explained the comps. Even though we replied that she had, the manager still felt the need to explain it again. In doing so, she was keeping us from finishing with our credit card slip so we could leave. Since William wasn't feeling well by this point, all we wanted was to get home.

We have been to this location before, and I have been to other locations in the past as well. I have never had a problem at other locations, but I now refuse to go back to the Rosedale Mall location. Our last visit wasn't exactly problematic, like this one, but it just wasn't very good. I would go to other locations if friends or family want to go, but not this one.

All in all, a very bad experience. Like I said, we don't give out an F lightly, but this visit deserved it.