Fare game

The year: 2005. Our Best New Restaurant winner: Romano�s Macaroni Grill

By Steve Lange

What We Wrote Then: “.. All we can do is walk into a place like Macaroni Grill, forget there’s a busy mall instead of an ocean next door, and soak up the indoor ambiance. The waitstaff doesn’t speak Italian, but they know how to make you feel like you’re eating in a quaint Tuscan villa. ... You can watch chefs preparing a wide variety of Italian-style fare at the rear of the restaurant through a large, arched opening to the kitchen. ...”

How They’re Doing Now: They’re not. Rochester’s Macaroni Grill closed its Rochester doors in March of ‘08.

What Those In The Know Say: “I think it had a following in Rochester, and it was a pretty decent place—nice atmosphere and the food was OK,” says current reporter and former P-B food guru Matt Russell. “It closed last year, but that was one of those big-picture corporate decisions that don’t make sense to people locally. I don’t think it was really a reflection of how well the restaurant was actually doing in Rochester.”

Our Take: Sure, the location wasn’t actually in the mall, but still brought all the hassle of the mall parking lot. And, yes, we thought it was pretty strange that a place with macaroni in the name didn’t even have macaroni on the adult menu. But we had high hopes for a restaurant that actually opened a month earlier than expected (in Sept. ‘04), a rarity for the Rochester restaurant scene. They seemed to draw well, and we heard the standard chain reviews—solid fare that met expectations. We agree with Matt Russell (and believe the company’s PR flacks): The pending sale of the brand and the tough competition in the “casual dining market” made these cuts a corporate decision.