Romano's Macaroni Grill - Irvine

Service was friendly and ambience was fine, but food was mediocre. Penne Rustica too salty Grilled Salmon was way overcooked and accompanying orzo was watery. Children's Fettucine Alfredo is $6. We added chicken to it, but were not told it was an extra $5 for 3 slices of grilled chicken. 1 person had a hair in their Chicken Parmesan. While the manager did apologize and it was promptly remade, it would have been nice if the entree was either comped or we received some type of discount or free item. We received nothing.

My girlfriend and I got here about 15 minutes before our reservation time. We waited about 5 minutes at the front before someone finally greeted us. The girl who greeted us wasn't particularly friendly and said we'd have to wait until our reservation time since we arrived before it. This didn't make a lot of sense as it wasn't crowded at all and most of the tables were open. We just had to hang out by the bar area for another 10 minutes until our reservation time to finally be seated.Luckily our waiter and the food were great. I got the chicken parmesan, which seemed like one of the most healthy chicken parmesan's I've had at a restaurant. The fresh sauce with chunks of tomato in it was the best part.The open atmosphere with everyone in each other's faces isn't something I really liked, and the greeting/seating process was bizarre, but other than that, not bad.

Our family of 10 and enjoyed our appetizers, drinks and meals thoroughly. It did take a little while for the bread to come out although the restaurant wasn't very busy. Overall, we enjoyed eating there and having a stop on our way home from Disneyland.

Good food and a decent value. I was surprised it wasn't busier. They seemed to be a bit stretched on table servers to cover everyone. Enjoyable meal and they seemed keen to please.

It was a busy Sunday dinner hour, busy and so accommodating. We chose to sit at the bar, had a cocktail and decided to order dinner. I had the salmon special. It was absolutely delicious. Bartenders were knowledgeable in different food choices. If you're going in for Sunday dinner, make reservations.