If you’re expecting this Romano’s Macaroni Grill Chicken Marsala with Linguine dinner kit to taste like the stuff you can order in one of the many Macaroni Grill Italian restaurants across the United States, known for their poorly-lit dining areas, long waits to get a table and servers who have the unnatural ability to write upside down, you might be disappointed and use bread dipped in olive oil and pepper to drown your sorrow. However, it’s significantly better than pouring Ragu sauce over some noodles and chicken.
The dinner kit includes dried linguine pasta, Marsala sauce seasoning, seasoned flour, and Marsala cooking wine. All you need to provide to make this meal complete is boneless skinless chicken breasts, vegetable oil, hot water, butter, your appetite and the ability to turn on your stove.
Preparing the meal is quite simple. All you have to do is cut the chicken into pieces, dip it into the seasoned flour (which smells like powdered alcohol), brown the chicken in the pan, pour in the cooking wine (which smells less alcoholic than the seasoned flour), stir in the seasoning, let it simmer and then enjoy.
Light dimming optional.
Despite all of the alcohol-ish ingredients, it doesn’t have an alcohol taste, which probably burned away during the cooking process, so you won’t get ripped. And I know this because I’m a pussy when it come to alcohol and I was fine after eating it, if you consider singing Journey songs in my boxers “fine.” But, to be honest, I pretty much belt out Steve Perry tunes every night after dinner. It helps with digestion, especially the long notes in “Don’t Stop Believin’.”
Strangers waiting/Up and down the boulevard/Their shadows searching in the night/Streetlight people/Living just to find emotion/Hiding somewhere in the niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight
Although the packaging says is makes five 1 cup servings per container, this kit provides about three normal servings of food (or two normal Macaroni Grill restaurant-sized portions). I felt there wasn’t enough sauce to slather the noodles provided, which makes eating the noodles not so exciting. Thankfully the chicken in the sauce soaked up a lot of it, providing most of the flavor, which was quite good.
Like I said at the beginning, it doesn’t taste like the dish you can get in the restaurant, but it’s quite flavorful for something made from a box. However, for the price I paid for it and the preparation I had to go through to make it, I think I’d prefer a complete frozen version that includes all the ingredients in a bag that I can stick in the microwave or conventional oven and then be like SPLIDOW!!!
(Nutrition Facts – 1 cup (prepared) – 330 calories, 13 grams of fat, 3.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 5 grams of polyunsaturated fat, 3.5 grams of monounsaturated fat, 60 milligrams of cholesterol, 450 milligrams of sodium, 23 grams of protein, 10% iron, 20% thiamin, 10% riboflavin, 50% niacin and 15% folic acid.)
Item: Romano’s Macaroni Grill Chicken Marsala with Linguine Dinner Kit
Price: $4.99
Size: 10.1 ounces
Purchased at: Target
Rating: 7 out of 10
Pros: Quite good. Flavorful. Awesome source of niacin! Use of the term “splidow” in a review. Singing Journey songs to aid with digestion. Provides monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. Being able to write upside down.
Cons: Its preparation. Having to provide half of the ingredients. Not enough sauce. Nutritional content in normal servings. Not microwaveable. The poorly-lit dining areas and long waits at Macaroni Grill. Me in my boxers singing Journey songs.
Marvo,
I love you. Boxers w/ Journey songs and all.
This sounds kind of interesting, although I wonder how much it would cost for the ingredients to make it up yourself from scratch. Probably take longer, though.
I prefer singing the Trogdor theme song to help with digestion, myself. And the Trogdor comes in the NIIIIGHT!
It looks really good! Not commenting on the boxer shorts lol. If your providing most of the ingredients and the cost of a box is $4.99 isn’t it just cheaper to just go to The Macaroni Grill in person? I have never eaten there in person so no I don’t know if it is 😛
Good use of a good word 🙂
I’m thinking this is a great product for the price, I mean that’s less than a value meal at a fast food joint. I must say though…I hate Macaroni Grill nearly as much as I hate Cheesecake Factory….one of the many reasons being their over-the-top fatty, grease, cream, sugar laden huge portions.
Hmmmm that actually looks pretty damn tasty, and I do appalaud your use of “Splidow”
It does look very yummy and I like the fact that you can 3 decent size portions for a reasonable amount of calories.
@ bear- I seriously think that Cheesecake factory food pic should be on http://thisiswhyyourefat.com. Probably the same for Macaroni Grill
I would rather have a big steak at Ruth Chris then this garbage.
THAT IS ALL
“Don’t Stop Believin” is the best song ever written by mankind.
And the garlic and herb Mac Grill flavor is way better than the marsala.
I once threw up after eating at Macaroni Grill. It was also the only time I ate there. I think it was something to do with the high level of sodium and obesity inducing portions.
I do like the idea of a meal kit though. Home pad thai all the way!
@bear
you forgot to mention the high level of screaming children at birthday parties to go with that fatty grease sugar cream
Seems like a lot of work for a meal from a box, id give up and just sip on the wine all night….yes, cooking wine.
Marvo, when you have girls over and cook for them, do you scare them with your digestive aiding techniques? That would make an interesting date
huh. the macaroni grill here in the godforsaken desert where i currently roost must be a step above, somehow (not many things in this town are, believe you me). the wait is never very long and the dining areas aren’t too shabbily lit. is shabbily a word? too bad i’m using it anyway. though i do have to say it’s unnerving when the PA in the bathroom is trying to teach italian while you’re doing your business. do not want. though, on topic, that chicken kit doesn’t look half bad. the end.
i guess marvo’s single.
… base on his home cooking.
I’ve eaten at my local Romano’s three times, each time was progressively worse than the previous. Their food tastes like stale expired tv dinners with freezer burn so your prepared entree using raw chicken was actually more from scratch than their nasty food ever will be. Bleah. (I see you’re using the cute, feminine dishes with the flower motif that I like again. You’re so soft butch! Wink!)
Those are some tasty looking chicken pieces!
I think I’ll give this kit a try and pretend like I cooked.
I grew up in a very Italian town, so I never got into the Olive Garden/Macaroni Grill scene, but this actually sounds pretty OK. And it’ll make me look like I actually give a shit about making dinner for my boyfriend.
@orb205 – That’s the only plus point of those places 🙂
looks like dog barf to me
R U kidding me this one crosses the line for me – $5 for about 10 cents (if that) worth of actual product.
$5 and you have to add the main ingredient(chicken)? I hate those so called “Frozen Dinners” that you have to add to.
This product needs to make up it’s mind. It’s too much work for a frozen entree, and too low end for an upmarket gourmet entree.
I love this stuff, but Walmart and Food Lion don’t carry it any more.
my whole family loved the macaroni grill boxed dinners! they were later produced under the progresso name and then discontinued! amazing how many people miss them!
My family and I miss this this a lot. Wish it was still out.
do they still make this? havent seen it in the market for quite some time….
can you cook this without the chicken?
Why dosn’t Walmart or Food Lion carry this anymore??