Restaurants

My Macaroni Grill Usual - Pasta Milano

My 91-year-old grandmother’s restaurant of choice is Romano’s Macaroni Grill.  I think she’s partial to it because there’s this cute young waiter that not only puts up with her sass (which she argues she is entitled to at her age) but flirts with her to boot.  It’s kind of cute, you know, in a slightly disturbing kind of way.

There’s another reason we often go there – the food.  There’s something on the menu that even the pickiest eater can enjoy.  And the portions are pretty darn big.  It’s a place I definitely like going when I’m back in the states visiting family.

But now I don’t even have to wait until I head back to Texas to get a big plate of pasta Macaroni Grill style.  What is every American Soldier and Airman in the Rheinland-Pfalz area of Germany talking about these days?  The opening of a brand spanking new Romano’s Macaroni Grill at the Kaiserslautern Military Community Center on Ramstein Airbase.  Needless to say, it’s been packed since it made its debut a few weeks ago.

Now, despite my American food cravings, I’m not usually one to try to find American restaurants (or more likely, a strange facsimile of an American restaurant) over here.  Frankly, it just usually doesn’t work.  The restaurant experience isn’t just the food – it’s also the culture.  Germans handle restaurants, even the American chains on an American military post, a little differently.  And those differences can totally change your meal in ways you might not expect.

But then my grandmother’s birthday came around.  And since I couldn’t celebrate with her back in Texas, I thought I might have a little Macaroni Grill (and perhaps even some inappropriate flirting) in her honor.  And you know what?  It was really good.  It may not have been identical to the experience I would have had back in the Woodlands but it was pretty darn close.

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Romano’s Macaroni Grill
1155 Lake Woodlands Drive
The Woodlands, TX 77380
Tel:  281.367.3773

Romano’s Macaroni Grill
Kaiserslautern Military Community Center
Ramstein Airbase
Ramstein, Germany

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Photo courtesy of Kayt Sukel.