Restaurant Review: The Mac Shack

The Mac Shack (5395 West Boulevard, Vancouver BC V6M 3W4)
Cuisine: Western
Website: http://www.themacshack.ca/
★ ★

Food ordered [06/25/12]:
- The Royale Regular sized $10.99
- Creamy Pesto Chicken Mac Regular sized $10.99

I ate here for the first time with my family for a quick dinner.  We had a groupon deal for buy-one-get-one-free entrees.  The restaurant's specialty is macaroni-and-cheese, to the exclusion of anything else on their menu barring drinks and desserts.  They do offer the option of gluten-free quinoa substitute and gluten-free sauces for those who don't eat or like pasta.  The restaurant is situated at the far end of Kerrisdale, where an ice cream parlour stood for many years.

Ordering counter.

The restaurant is small, almost cafe-like, and there are only a few tables.  If you come in less than a group of four, you will most likely be sharing a table with other diners.  When you come in, you order and pay for your food at the counter cafeteria-style.  The staff will bring your food out to you, but for everything else its very much a self-serve set-up similar to Nando's.  I don't generally enjoy this in a restaurant-- it may be old-fashioned but I like having a hostess seat you and then a server take your order.

The restaurant was noisy and chaotic for only having enough seating for less than thirty people.  It also took a very long time for our food to come out, especially considering they only really serve one type of entree.  I'm not certain if its always this busy, or if the high volume was due to the availability of the groupon deal.  At any rate, they seemed understaffed although the staff which were there were working quickly and efficiently.

By now, you can tell I wasn't a fan of the restaurant.  I think a large part of it is that the concept of the restaurant doesn't resonate with me.  I don't really see the appeal of a restaurant which only serves macaroni and cheese.  Particularly macaroni and cheese as well-- something I can easily make at home with the right ingredients.  That said, it was about as good as macaroni and cheese can get.  The pasta was al dente, and the other ingredients complemented the pasta.  Not that its difficult to complement pasta.

The restaurant was novel and fun but I wouldn't come back again to eat.

The Royale.

Photographs: Me