Pleasantly surprised

[SMKelly]

Hi all,

A friend took me to lunch yesterday at Romano's Macaroni Grill. It's never been a fave of mine, but I figured I could order a salad as opposed to my pre-Atkins pasta entree.

Well much to my gleeful surprise, not only did they present a full-page nutritional info insert with the menu, but that there were many low carb options!

So I chose the crab-stuffed mushrooms (4 carbs) and the warm spinach salad with bacon, roasted garlic and 6 huge grilled scallops for 16 carbs. It was all devine. Worthy of a single-location high-end restaurant in L.A.

Just thought I'd share.

[dmat28]

Re: Pleasantly surprised

Awesome, I have one near me, I'm going to have to check it out. It's nice to find restaurants with good low carb options.

[Kntrylady]

Re: Pleasantly surprised

WOW, that's good to know. I was pleasantly surprised last week when in L.A., how accommodating the restaurants there were. Eating out every meal for 5 days, and I didn't come across one place that wouldn't happily work with me. A far cry from Northern CA I even went to an IHOP, who happily "offered" to replace the crepe with a thin omelet "yumm"

[Shoe Lady]

Re: Pleasantly surprised

Love getting restaurant info. Thanks.

[SMKelly]

Re: Pleasantly surprised

Hi all,

And as an added note RE: portions...OMG. And I'm not a skinny minnie who eats one forkful and collapses from being full.

There were 9 mushroom caps, each filled with at least a tablespoon of filling--of real crab! As for the salad, at least two cups of wilted/cooked spinach, around 10 garlic cloves (roasted) probably three tablespoons pancetta/bacon goodness, and the six scallops that were 1-inch high and 1 1/2 inches across.

Now I want to go back.

[SMKelly]

Re: Pleasantly surprised

WOW, that's good to know. I was pleasantly surprised last week when in L.A., how accommodating the restaurants there were. Eating out every meal for 5 days, and I didn't come across one place that wouldn't happily work with me. A far cry from Northern CA I even went to an IHOP, who happily "offered" to replace the crepe with a thin omelet "yumm"

I think it's really an "L.A." thing, since restaurants are so used to filling the complicated orders of the Hollywood set. Even if you order a simple sandwich, you're beset with 20 questions...what kind of bread? Onions raw or grilled, avocado? egg whites or whole eggs, etc.

So glad you had a good experience.

Oh, and another thing, for all, my Mom's fave place is Marie Callendar's. (She's 83 and hubby and I and she share a house). So I've honed my salad order to this: A Cobb salad with avocado, bacon, turkey instead of chicken, tossed with Bleu Cheese dressing. FWIW, the chicken is always cold, which I hate, but the turkey is always warm. Which I love. And it's fresh, which I love even more. Now I'm hungry again.

[atkinsgal08]

Re: Pleasantly surprised

Alas, I couldn't find any nutritional information on their website.

What did they consider a serving of the stuffed mushrooms?

This is interesting:

Calories in Romano's Macaroni Grill - Crab Stuffed Mushrooms

[SMKelly]

Re: Pleasantly surprised

If you scroll down to the bottom of the menu page, you'll find a link to nutritional info. It will take you to a PDF of the listing for all the menu options.

[atkinsgal08]

Re: Pleasantly surprised

If you scroll down to the bottom of the menu page, you'll find a link to nutritional info. It will take you to a PDF of the listing for all the menu options.

And then at the bottom of the PDF, is another link ... that takes you to a site that shows the fiber so you can calculate net carbs!

Wondering how the warm spinach salad ends up with 13 net carbs?

[SMKelly]

Re: Pleasantly surprised

I had the scallops and spinach salad, which, if looking at the second PDF link, shows 16 carbs and 8 fiber, for net carbs of 8.

(Forgot to post the net carbs.)

And by the way, the counts were for dishes as served.

[Shrew2u]

Re: Pleasantly surprised

Oh that sounds goooood. Do we have an emoticon for massive drooling?

this ain't cutting it.

[Shrew2u]

Re: Pleasantly surprised

And then at the bottom of the PDF, is another link ... that takes you to a site that shows the fiber so you can calculate net carbs!

Wondering how the warm spinach salad ends up with 13 net carbs?

With a big portion, onions and tomato would add a bit...and many dressings I've encountered on a warm spinach salad contain (dun-dun-DUN) sugar.

ETA: okay, no onion or tomato to be seen -

Fresh spinach wilted and tossed with prosciutto, roasted garlic, fresh lemon and extra virgin olive oil. Topped with toasted goat cheese

Garlic add some, lemon adds a bit, goat cheese will add a bit...it's gotta be the dressing...

[SMKelly]

Re: Pleasantly surprised

Hi Shrew2u,

Sorry for the misunderstanding...I had the scallops and spinach salad. There was no dressing except for the olive oil it was wilted in.

I know. There should be a MASSIVE DROOLING SMILEY for moments like this!

[Shrew2u]

Re: Pleasantly surprised

Hi Shrew2u,

Sorry for the misunderstanding...I had the scallops and spinach salad. There was no dressing except for the olive oil it was wilted in.

Oh yes - I saw the difference when I looked at the PDFs - now I'm just amusing myself guessing what's so carby in the salad you didn't order.

[Kntrylady]

Re: Pleasantly surprised

It also makes me wonder about the caloriecount.about website that J. first posted, and how accurate/inaccurate the site is, and where the info comes from. Since we count on these sites so much, it makes me want to know.