So, I hit Macaroni Grill this weekend. Imagine my surprise and delight when the menu included a separate sheet with all the nutrional info for every dish! Sure, there were the usual shockers (1600 for a piece of chocolate cake, really, 1700 for parmesan crusted sole, really?) but there were some nice choices too.

I ended up getting some absolutely delicious beef skewers over roasted vegetables for 410 calories (and I realize that's probably an estimate, but it's not a bad ballpark). The whole dish was ABSOLUTELY delicious and fabulous. If I'd been a little tougher and resisted the bread completely, it would have been a great, onplan meal. Even with the small bread indulgence, it was just fine.

So kudos to another big restaurant chain for:

1. Having the stones to put the nutritional info right in the menu so patrons can make an informed decision

2. Having a really delicious low cal choice available

If you're interested, the menu I saw at the restaurant is here (or it's very similar, I got the rosemary spiedini with beef and it's not on this menu!):

http://www.brinker.com/gr/Nutritiona...nal_Insert.pdf

Yay for nutritional info at restaurants! I will add to the list that I ate off the Applebee's new 550 calorie menu this weekend, and had a tasty shrimp pasta that I couldn't even eat all of. Thanks, Applebee's!

I don't understand because Eat This Not That bashes EVERYTHING at this place - even the good for you stuff. Of course sometimes they go over board in their articles. It would be great to know there are some good choices there. Thanks for posting...

Thanks for the heads up. i had MG on my nono list. Glad to add them back on.

I appreciate all places that make their nutritional info readily available...am finding it more and more!

but bummed...about Macaroni Grill....lol

Their Shrimp Portofino used to be "to die for!"...had a ton of calories...almost or over 1,000 if I remember correctly...it was AWESOME!!!

then they changed it...to around 500 calories I think...it isn't too good now...

sure it's better for me...'cept now I don't like it....I really looked forward to that once a year treat....

all in all...Good for Mac Grill but I may not go back...didn't really care for much else there....but truly appreciate their info!

great job Mac Grill!

I used to eat the Penne Rustica. Wow, was that fantastic and absolutely terrible for me...

Working in the restaurant biz, i know that it is hard to post completely accurate info because no person is the same every time on prep, but I do think it is possible to post a pretty close estimate and to teach portion control in prep. Kudos to Macaroni Grill.

This is a new change for Macaroni Grill, and I'd bet 90% of their reasoning was the beating they were taking frm Eat This Not That. They also changed their scallop salad recipe to be much lower calorie.

My son-in-law is a cook at the Macaroni Grill in Portland. We go there once a year when we visit and I enjoy it so.

The only thing I like at Macaroni Grill is the bread which means I can't go there

I just looked at the nutritional info, and the dish I used to get is listed at 980 calories now, according to my spreadsheet I made a few years ago it was listed at 1960 back then. Is there a chance that they just changed the portion size, or an entree is listed as '2 servings' somewhere now?

The info does look a lot better - they were getting totally hammered on a lot of the websites for the terrible-ness of their products.

Shannon, serving size says 'as served'. Although sodium says 2830... wow.

I noticed this the last time I went there and thought it was awesome also! I ordered the Scallops and Spinach salad and it was AWESOME. I absolutely love scallops and it had nice hunks of garlic in it that I also adore. I did end up picking some kind of meat out of it that looked like ham, but other than that, it couldn't be beat for only 360 calories. But like almost all restaurant dishes, the sodium was through the roof.

I love their chicken marsala. (and a glass of wine there is mighty large )

We were there last week and I can tell you the portion sizes were DEFINITELY smaller and there were a lot of changes in the meals even of old time standard meals.

For me the biggest thing I noticed was the kids meal because back before nutritional info was in the menu the full kids mac n cheese meal including dessert was >1350 calories. This time the m& c was a reasonable size for a child and the ice cream was 1 scoop instead of 3. Still about 900 calories but a huge improvement.

I really enjoyed having the nutritional info. I was really pleasantly surprised by the calorie count for the stuffed mushroom appetizer so dh and I split that instead of getting a side salad and I was so much more SATISFIED and feeling like I really had a treat dinner.