Dining critic candidate No. 4

I’ve been to Macaroni Grill on many occasions and have had fairly good experiences. This night, with a small group of friends in tow we decided to each try something new. We began our meal with the fried mozzarella appetizer. It was tasty. The mozzarella was crispy, contrasting with the creamy inside. The sauce was a bit tangy, but was a nice compliment for the dish. We wanted something small to tied us over, and this was a very small portion for 4 people. It would have been nice to have 4 slices on the plate instead of 3 so that we could have had one slice per person. The bread was warm and soft with a crusty outside and was delicious. The Caesar salad was excellent, crisp lettuce, garlicky croutons, and tangy dressing. The sausage and bean soup had great sausage but was overwhelmed by the beans. I usually have the Chicken Marsala, which I love, but this time I had a dish that had been recommended to me. I think I would have enjoyed it more had it not been lukewarm. The combination of shrimp, mushrooms, and pine nuts was very good. The spinach was a little tough, but had the shrimp mixture been hot when it was poured over the spinach it would have wilted the spinach. One friend had a new dish, seared scallops with a lettuce, feta, prociutto salad with a citrus dressing. The scallops were outstanding. The combination of feta and prociutto along with salty breadcrumbs were too much salt for the salad. Another friend had the Honey Balsamic Chicken, which I thought was wonderful. The only drawback was the broccoli served alongside was hard to manage and required much cutting. She, on the other hand loved the Chicken Parmigiano that another friend had. It was done well and could easily have served 3 people. The service was hit and miss on this night. Our server was attentive and did offer to take my dish to be heated or to replace it. On the other hand when refilling water glasses it is better to fill them all and not leave one empty. We did, for the most part, enjoy the food. We loved the soft singing and most of all we enjoyed the good company.