Editorâs Note: This is a new and hopefully informative column written by residents for residents. Our columnists are not trained or paid professionals, nor do they get complimentary meals from the restaurants they visit. They arrive unannounced and do not reveal that they will be doing a review. The criteria for evaluating each dining experience will include the following; quality, variety offered, and quantity of food vs. dollars spent, service, ambience, and desire to return. They will usually be accompanied by one or two other couples whose opinion will be included in the evaluation.
This weekâs review is of Macianoâs Restaurant, located at 3091 US Rt. 20 in Elgin. It is just west of Randall Rd., on the south side of the road. This restaurant is one of 5 suburban Chicago family restaurants under this name. Visiting with us were fellow N-33 neighbors Esther and Stan Auster. We heard about this place via another Sun City, Huntley, resident, Terry Johnson, who gave it rave reviews, so we decided to give it a try. We were seated promptly in a very comfortable booth and greeted by our server, Morgan, who took our drink orders, then brought us delicious hot, fresh bread along with olive oil and grated cheese. It was tough to stop eating bread that was so good. Morgan said there were no specials, but the menu was filled with various appetizers, entrees, and pizza.Esther ordered spaghetti with marinara sauce and a small house salad with balsamic dressing on the side. Her salad was large enough to share with her husband. She said the salad was very good with excellent dressing. Her comment on the entrĂ©e was that it was very tasty sauce with the spaghetti served al dente. This isnât how she cooks spaghetti, so it was a change for her. The cost of her entrĂ©e and salad was about $10. Stan ordered a house specialty, Frutti de Mer, which is seafood with a white wine sauce on linguine. His comment was his dish was âtops.â It was priced at $14.
Judy ordered the Chicken Limone with angel hair pasta. She said the chicken portion was small but enough for her, and she especially loved the light lemon flavoring in the pasta. The cost of this dish was about $10. Sam loves veal dishes and saw that they had Chicken Piccata on the menu, but not veal. He asked Morgan if they would make up the dish special for him, and she said âof course.â It came with a huge portion of veal, enough to share some with Judy, and angel hair pasta that was a perfect partner to the veal. This entrĂ©e was priced at $13. Sam was not charged extra for the veal substitution.
Following the meal, we ordered and split a dessert to die for: 2 banana Xangos and 2 chocolate Xangos, which are pastries filled with a cheesecake mixture and lots of sugar and cinnamon on a flaky crust. They were a fantastic finish to a fine meal for each of us.
General Consensus: excellent quality and quantity of food from the hot bread to the wonderful desserts, perfect service, excellent value for the dollar, a variety of reasonably priced dishes, and a warmly decorated family atmosphere with pleasant background music. One other real plus was that we could talk in normal tones and easily hear each other. The portions were large enough for each of us to take food home. We all enjoyed our experience at Macianoâs and plan to make future visits, perhaps for the pizza next time.
Geezers Grade: Definitely an A and definitely worth the trip.
