what don't you like about Bacco? I was there for a happy hour and the apps. tasted pretty good. Don't know about the full meal experience though.

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I've been tempted to go to Bensi...and haven't been tempted to go to Bacco's because I've heard not good things about that place.

And, yes, that is the place just below Wawa on 202.

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Phillyweather.net
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It has been my obseravation, that many times a new restaurant chain will come to town, and people will rush out to to see how they are. They get popular for awhile and only remain popular if they are worthwhile. Most times if they aren't it will catch up with them and they will go down the tubes, such as Boston Chicken, which keeps reinventing themselves did. I went to one Macorinis, and had better Italian food out of a Chef Boy-ar-Dee can.

I knew it! I went there when they first opened and had such a crappy meal and service that I never went back. Since I seemed to be in the minority opnion I chalked it up to it being newly opened and shut my mouth. Good to see I'm not alone.

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"Deep down, I'm pretty superficial." Ava Gardner
"Well, I've wrestled with reality for 35 years, Doctor, and I'm happy to state I finally won out over it." Elwood P. Dowd

The one in Mt. Laurel, NJ is terrible, too. The food was tasteless. I serve better food to my dog! The dirty plates and flatware were a major turn-off. However, this was the clincher. My daughter and I were seated in a booth for two in the bar area. Our waitress was doubling as the bartender on a late Sunday afternoon. I ordered a glass of Kendall Jackson Chardonnay. Because of where we were sitting, I could see our waitress/bartender pour the glass of wine. It was not a Kendall Jackson bottle! I tasted it after it was served and, it was not Kendall Jackson Chardonnay. I know the difference because it is my favorite wine, not because I'm a wine snob. I called our waitress/bartender over and politely told her that the glass of wine she brought me was not Kendall Jackson Chardonnay. She had the balls to say that it was! When I then told her it was not and that I saw her pouring it at the bar and it was not a Kendall Jackson bottle, she abruptly took the glass away, brought a new glass and an unopened bottle of Kendall Jackson Chardonnay to the table and proceeded to open it and serve me the wine I ordered. Is that unbelievable, or what? Their caesar salad was the worst I have ever had, too. The romaine lettuce was rusty! And they could at least put a cruet of olive oil on each table instead of the actual bottle. We had to ask several times for cracked black pepper, too. No matter what they do, Macaroni Grill will never be competition to Carrabas.

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"Public opinion is a weak tyrant, compared with our own private opinion." Henry David Thoreau, 1854

"Either you're part of the solution, or you're part of the problem." Eldridge Cleaver

I went to the Macaroni Grill in Plymouth Meeting in October 2006 bcz that place is so good in Maryland (where I used to live.) I got my regular Penne Rustica and ended up with excrutiating(sp?) stomach pain that left me screaming in the ER I tried to drive myself to the hospital and nearly crashed my car, at which point, my dear friend came and drove me to Chestnut Hill (the closest) where they had to wheel me in because I could no longer walk upright.

I'm glad they closed.

aw, i used to like macaroni grill in PM (for whoever was wondering, its almost exactly the same as carabba's, right down to the plates and decorations...)

now the bertucci's in the plymouth meeting mall...THAT place is a ****-hole.

There is a pretty good Italian place on Ridge Pike in Whitemarsh. I can't recall the name of it but I haven't been there for a few years. Why would anyone go to a chain when they could get something more authentic?

I agree, but--depending on the area, sometimes chains are the only real options. That's especially true in newer sprawl suburbs, which are primarily dominated by chain restaurants.

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"And again, the Internet is not something that you just dump something on. It's not a big truck. It's a series of tubes."

--U.S. Senator Ted Stevens

Maybe you're thinking of Sorrentos. Not too bad, and a BYOB

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"Deep down, I'm pretty superficial." Ava Gardner
"Well, I've wrestled with reality for 35 years, Doctor, and I'm happy to state I finally won out over it." Elwood P. Dowd