Redrock Partners, LLCRomano's Macaroni Grill / Parent organization

Restaurants. Brinker International owns, operates, and franchises the Chili's Grill & Bar, Maggiano's Little Italy and It's Just Wings restaurant concepts. They also have a minority stake in Mac Acquisition LLC, the owners of Romano's Macaroni Grill as of 2008.

History. Romano's first restaurant was founded by restaurateur Philip J. Romano in Leon Springs, Texas (now a district of San Antonio), on April 19, 1988.

Denver, CORomano's Macaroni Grill / Headquarters

Romano's Macaroni Grill

Macaroni is considered a traditional Italian dish, often made with durum wheat semolina and served with various sauces. Definitel not Chinese cuisine! Macaroni originated in Italy as Maccheroni. But Maccheroni doesn't look anything like what people know as macaroni: elbow-shaped short tubular pasta.

Romano's Macaroni Grill

Phil Romano founded Macaroni Grill on a simple belief. He set out to create a restaurant inspired by his grandfather's kitchen in upstate New York, where the cuisine was rooted in Italian tradition, but the emphasis was on a place family could gather and have a great time over food made with the finest of ingredients.

Romano's Macaroni Grill is a casual dining restaurant chain specializing in Italian-American cuisine. As of October 2023, the company operates 33 locations in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, and Virginia.

In southern Italy, maccheroni means various kinds of durum wheat semolina pasta, either short or long, hollow or not, smooth or ridged. Maccheroni is a generic name, but every specific type has its own name.

The two iconic authentic Italian dishes that inspired macaroni and cheese are penne ai quattro formaggi – short narrow pasta served with four different kinds of cheese – and maccheroni cacio and pepe, or pasta with grated sheep cheese and pepper.

The first modern recipe for macaroni and cheese was included in Elizabeth Raffald's 1769 book, The Experienced English Housekeeper. Raffald's recipe is for a Béchamel sauce with cheddar cheese - a Mornay sauce in French cooking - which is mixed with macaroni, sprinkled with Parmesan, and baked until bubbly and golden.

So, where did the macaroni pasta shape come from? According to Imhof, the first published record of macaroni was in the 15th Century by author and epicure Maestro Martino from Valle di Blenio in the Duchy of Milano, Lombardy, in what is today Ticino, the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland.