One Strike, You're Out

As a food writer, the rule of thumb is that if you have a bad experience at a restaurant, you should give it another try, but when both the food and service are below average, I feel it would be a disservice to send someone else there to spend their hard-earned money in these tough economic times.

Positioning themselves somewhere between the budget Olive Garden and the pricier Carraba’s, the Macaroni Grill offers similar fare and a faux-Tuscan atmosphere. I started with a cup of Chicken Toscana soup, which turned out to be a great deal at $2.99 as it was actually a bowl of soup with some fresh, hot bread. It was a hearty soup with bow-tie pasta, spinach and other veggies, and chunks of white meat chicken and was plenty for a light meal.

Unfortunately, my appetizer, a Shrimp and Artichoke dip, was disappointing in many ways. It arrived late, about 10 minutes after my soup, and instead of being a rich, thick dip, it turned out to be more of a watery soup consistency with some tiny shards of shrimp and some spinach, and no artichokes that I could see. The accompanying crostini was so hard I was afraid I would break my teeth on it. When I expressed my disappointment to my server, his response was “Well, nobody else has complained about it today.” Not exactly a testament to Macaroni Grill. My waiter never offered to replace the dish or take it off my bill, so I’ve taken Macaroni Grill off my list.