Two years ago, my wife's family started eating at Macaroni Grill and she convinced me that we needed to try it too.
We got a gift card for Chili's and decided to go to Macaroni Grill instead. Bad idea. Long story short, we tried to pay for our horrible service and bad food with the gift card and then left (without leaving a good tip) and the server chased us down at the door and told us we didn't pay. (We think she jacked the gift card because she wasn't happy with her tip.)
Last night we had another Chili's gift card.....since we all know dinner at Chili's requires bringing cleaning supplies to clean up before you can eat we decided to go to Macaroni Grill. I was nervous.
I called ahead and to my surprise I spoke with a nice girl on the phone who took my "reservation" for 7:15pm and told me they would have me seated within 15 minutes of my reservation time.
We got there and were seated within minutes in a very nice comfortable booth, complete with a set of crayons for coloring on the white paper table cloth with.
It's easy to say the best part about eating at Mac Grill is the option to color while you are waiting. This simple addition to the experience is by far one of the best parts. I drew a race car. Towards the end of the night, my wife and I started communicating by only writing everything upside down in crayon for each other to read. Olive Garden doesn't provide this kind of entertainment.
The FREE bread at Mac is unbelievable. By the time we ordered our dinner we were both already completely satisfied by the crayons and bread. It puts all other restaurant bread to complete shame. (Including you Panera).
We both ordered pizza because we had a $25 gift card and didn't want to go over, my wife also ordered Chicken Toscano Soup. Much like the bread, this was the best soup we ever had. Then the pizza came out. BBQ Chicken Pizza - hands down unbelievable.
I don't think that Mac Grill is the best restaurant known to man, especially since my last visit there kept me away for over 2 years. However, last night Macaroni Grill in a single meal put Olive Garden, Carrabba's, Panera Bread and California Pizza Kitchen to shame. This could be the ultimate restaurant.
Saturday, March 1, 2008
The Ultimate Restaurant
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You know...there isn't really anything too interesting for me at Mac (salad eater, you know) but I really do love the bread there! It's so...weird. I think it is focaccia, like at Panera, but better because it is really fresh. I have heard many more bad stories from there than I have heard good but, truthfully, I usually enjoy myself when I go. I love the girl that walks around and sings an operatic rendition of happy birthday (in Italian...tanti auguri a te...something like that). And that whole design your own pasta idea is fantastic...if you're into that sorta thing. If we're doing a bread rating (Italian restaurants), it would have to be: Carrabba's, Mac, OG. But, quite frankly, OG's bread isn't enough to get me back, whereas Mac's is. Carrabba's just rocks in general, we won't get into that. It's sad that when I think of places to go eat, Macaroni Grill never comes to mind...it's like, the dark horse that never really became a dark horse...?! I'm glad you guys ventured there again....way to utilize the gift card's flexibility
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