Romano’s Macaroni Grill
Romano’s Macaroni Grill
7723 Kingston Pike
To-Go?: YES
Kid-Friendly: YES (Kids menu – includes free ice cream w/ meal, crayons, paper tablecloths to color)
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When I first moved to Knoxville and was living and working in the west end of town, Romano’s was always a favorite eating spot of mine. Having recently moved back to the west side, I decided to revisit it today to see if it still held its old allure. Regrettably, my experience was not that exciting.
First off, the service was a bit slow. Admittedly, it was a busy Saturday lunch crowd, but when the table beside mine was vacated about the time we arrived and still had not been cleared of the dishes by the time our food arrived, I knew that things weren’t moving as smoothly as they should have been. Our server was a bit erratic, alternating between being almost over-attentive (lurking over us every five minutes or so to see how we were doing) and absent-minded (forgetting my mother’s coffee refill after being reminded twice).
The food was not bad, but nothing to write home about either. I was craving seafood, so ordered the Seafood Linguine. It was tasty, though a bit more on the spicy side than what I thought it would be. My biggest gripe was that the shrimp was only half-peeled and, in my opinion, if I’m paying $16 for a pasta dish, I shouldn’t have to wrestle with a sauce-covered shrimp to get the peel off. My little girl ordered the kids’ mac and cheese which she devoured, declaring it to be quite yummy. I was happy to see they they still haven’t stooped to using boxed Kraft mac’n'cheese like so many other restaurants have done. It annoys me to no end to go into a restaurant and pay $3-5 for mac and cheese out of a box. Speaking of annoyances, I do wish that Romano’s would start including soup or salad with their meals. For as much as they charge, one would think that including these would not be a big deal. But….the bread makes up for it, I suppose. I could eat just the bread and be happy.
For dessert, I ordered the Lemon Passion which has always been my favorite. However, it seems that they’ve changed the recipe since the last time I was there. Before, the cake was soaked in lemon syrup and (if I’m recalling correctly), layered with the lemon mousse. Now, according to the menu, it is soaked in sweet cream and the mousse is on top of the cake, which is already topped with a very heavy cream cheese frosting. It’s just not as lemony as I remember and is alot denser. It’s not bad, just not as good as the previous incarnation.
Overall, not a bad visit, but not the best either. I’ll have to return at some future date and try some of their new menu items….the grilled skewers look inticing.
