Honest Review Of Viral New Minnesota Eatery Roni’s Mac Bar

At the end of April, a unique new eatery opened to the public in Minnesota that's centered around macaroni and cheese.

The new Twin Cities food destination is called Roni's Mac Bar, a custom macaroni & cheese, grilled cheese, and loaded baked potato chain that opened a location at the Mall of America in Bloomington this spring.

The company has earned a viral reputation on social media, thanks largely to the wild, customizable takes on comfort food classics that you'd usually only find simple versions of hidden on the kids' menu at most restaurants.

So, does the food live up to the viral reputation? Here's my honest review.

The Roni's ordering process and what I ordered

Roni's Mac Bar calls itself the "Chipotle of Mac & Cheese", which makes it sound like you'd walk along a toppings bar line and ask for toppings, also like what you'd do at a Subway location.

READ MORE: Learn More About Roni's Mac Bar's Minnesota Location

In the case of the Minnesota Roni's Mac Bar, you actually just order from a touchscreen. While you don't get the interaction with an employee or the option to decide as you go, the touchscreen menu ordering process is pretty easy and straightforward.

You can choose one of their classic dishes and customize it as you see fit, or you can start from scratch. Either way, it's pretty easy to order and pay from the touchscreen.

I decided to go with their classic buffalo chicken mac & cheese and got it without any extra customizations. I did add on a piece of garlic cheese bread and a drink to make it a meal.

How was the food at Roni's?

I'll break it down, looking at both the mac & cheese and garlic cheese bread separately.

The garlic cheese bread isn't overwhelmingly garlicky and comes with adequate cheese on it. While it isn’t the best I’ve had, I’ve had far less memorable. It felt on par with something I could make at home with one of those Texas Toast cheese bread kits, adding some extra cheese and doctoring it up a bit.

I'll give Roni's garlic cheese bread a 7.5/10 score.

The buffalo chicken mac & cheese comes with pieces of chicken, diced up onions, and a buffalo sauce drizzle.

The buffalo sauce had a little "warmth" to it, but it wasn't very spicy. Pretty fitting for the average Minnesotan's palate, but I would have preferred a little more heat.

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If you like really "saucy" cheesy mac & cheese, the standard order isn't very saucy. They have a liquid cheese sauce that they add to the noodles, and then they melt some shredded cheese on it. You can add more for an extra fee. Without adding the extra, I'd say it was decent, but if you like your mac & cheese really cheesy, you'll want to add some extra.

As far as the flavor goes, it was solid, though it did have the feeling of being a "mass-produced" and "mass-appeal" product, and lacked a little something I can't quite put my finger on that would have taken the overall flavor to the next level.

Maybe a few small touches, like maybe a bit more cheese sauce and maybe seasoned bread crumbs, would help bring up the score. Again, you can customize (for an add-on fee) however you’d like. The “stock” option was pretty good, but not flashy.

I'd give the buffalo chicken mac & cheese a 7.5/10 score.

As far as portions go, the portion is adequate, but if you’re extra hungry, get a couple of sides. I just got one, which was about perfect for me to get dessert somewhere else (but they do have cookies on the Roni's menu).

Overall thoughts beyond the food about Roni's Mac Bar

It’s a fun novelty to be able to customize a mac & cheese, and it certainly hit the spot, but I think what makes this place buzzworthy is the uniqueness of the menu offerings and the novelty of customizing it or ordering pretty much any dish as a mac & cheese bowl, loaded baked potato, or grilled cheese sandwich.

I'd certainly go back again, to try another dish, but I feel like the novelty I just mentioned is the more memorable piece of dining at Roni's over the food itself.

When it came to the staff, they were very friendly and fast, quickly serving everyone in line. That said, you don’t really interact with them until someone calls your name to get your order, since you just order from a touchscreen while the crew makes your food in the back. That said, I'll still give them a 9/10 score.

Where can you find the Minnesota Roni's Mac Bar location?

Minnesota's only Roni's Mac Bar can be found on the third level of the Mall of America in Bloomington.

It's on Level 3 in the South Food Court between Popeyes and Sbarro, right down the hallway (or through the wall, depending on how you look at it) from Bubba Gump Shrimp.