Romano's Macaroni Grill - Annapolis

It's no surprise that this place has closed. I visited long before the pandemic led to widespread restaurant closures. Upon entering, I found only three tables available, yet the hostess informed me there would be an hour wait. An hour? For what reason? She mentioned they were short on servers, to which I replied, “That's not my problem. Your manager needs to staff better.” I decided to leave. As I was exiting, I saw about four other couples arrive who also turned around after being informed of the situation. They shared their frustration as well. Macaroni Grill, you brought this on yourself.

The Penne Rustica is absolutely the best dish! It’s amazing!

The restaurant was clearly understaffed, yet the employees spent time chatting instead of attending to guests. We waited 30 minutes for a table despite the fact that the establishment was only a quarter full. Our bread didn’t arrive until we were nearly finished with our meals. The waitress seemed more interested in socializing with her coworkers than in serving us. The restrooms were in terrible condition. While the food was decent, it still fell short of expectations. I used to enjoy this place years ago, but I won’t be returning. Maggiano's surpasses it by far now.

Next, my boyfriend's appetizer salad was served, and finally, our drinks came. They were so terrible that I couldn’t even finish a sip, so I requested they be taken back. We then waited another 20-30 minutes for our entrées, during which our waitress mentioned the delay was probably due to a large party (though I didn’t notice one). My entrée was decent, but my boyfriend complained that his chicken tasted like lighter fluid—I tried it, and I can confirm that it really did. Throughout our meal, I noticed the manager going around to other tables, apologizing for the poor service and adjusting bills. Out of curiosity, I looked up reviews for this location to see if our experience was an anomaly, and it turns out that such incidents seem to occur frequently here. When we finally asked for the check, our waitress lingered at our table, waiting for us to pay, which felt quite strange to me. Having been a server myself, I noticed several things she did incorrectly, but since she was nice, I tried to overlook them. As we were leaving, I overheard yet another customer expressing her frustrations to a manager. I genuinely feel sorry for the staff and wonder why this location is still operational when it seems like no one is satisfied with the service, food, or overall experience.

The food was delicious, but unfortunately our server was quite slow. It took a long time just to receive our bread.