Saturday: Hey, why not?

I decided today that I had to go to Ala Moana.  I don't ever like going there, but I need a new work notebook, and I like to use the art sketchbooks that B&N sells.  Since the Kahala B&N is gone, this leaves pretty much only one option left.

This also meant that it would only make sense to have lunch at Ala Moana as well.  Since I like Italian, and there aren't many places that do that in Hawaii, I decided to go back to Romano's Macaroni Grill.

"Go back to"?

Yeah.  I have been to an RMG twice before.  Once was the same day I saw The Incredibles in the theater, placing that trip to late 2004.  The second time was at the AM location, something like four years ago.  I have not been back because that visit was kind of a disaster, as they served me chicken parm that had the skinniest crap bits of chicken that had then been so far overcooked that they were inedible.  I sent it back, suggested they learn how to cook, and left.

Anyway, I figure four years is enough time for them to fix things.

I forgot that they do the "crayons and paper" thing.  I drew the soccer game they had playing.

See?

Anyway, food.

Fried calamari that I only got because it was "happy hour," and they were like half off.  Bread that they served "go fuck yourself sliced."

The calamari was calamari.  They stuck in fried banana peppers, which I think is what you do if you're a dick.  The spicy sauce was good, though.  In case you're wondering, "GFYS" is when they don't slice the bread at all, and then douse it in oil, so you're getting oil all over your hand, no matter what you do.  It was big on sage, though, and I like sage.  I took the bread leftover home.

 Main:

I went with the "just give me all of your things, so I can taste the things all at once, and do it in one visit."  Chicken canneloni, chicken parm on undersauced spaghetti, lasagna.

The cannelloni is weird.  I can't figure out the flavor.  It's a combination of white wine and some herb, where the herb has a note that's nearly cilantro, but not quite so bad.  I almost want to blame some bad basil, but that doesn't seem quite right.  It wasn't bad, but not something I'd get again.  Mushrooms?  I guess this was chicken and mushroom cannelloni?  I brought this leftover home too.

The chicken parm was done well.  Crispy outside, juicy inside, I shouldn't have to complement them on one of the easiest dishes in existence, but they did fuck it up last time, so.  So.  But yeah, that spaghetti is just a mound of nothing-but-pasta.  This thing has a slab of lasagna, you could probably get by with a third of the spaghetti, and then the sauce wouldn't be tasked with an impossible mission.  This got left, although I ate the chicken there.  It's hard to reheat fried chicken and have it come out very well.

Lasagna.  I had two bites.  This will likely be tomorrow's dinner, because that brick of pasta, meat, and cheese is basically a meal by itself.

So was it worth it?  Meh.  I wanted Italian, this wasn't a disaster, it passes on that point.  Would I have preferred something like a Fazoli's or a Noodles instead?  Yes.  I just want some tasty pasta, made for me quickly, with a minimum of hassle.  However, those are both "fast-casual" style restaurants (Fazoli's apparently has a more fast-casual-y version they're testing), so we can't have them in Hawaii.

• None of the places on this list of fast casual restaurants at the bottom of this story have a location in Hawaii.  In addition, for the bests from the chart for fast-fasts, "Carl's Jr" halfway down burgers has two locations, "Quiznos" in sandwiches (a few), "Popeye's" in chicken (not so bad), and "Taco Bell" in burritos.
• We do have Panda Express, and this is such a brilliant idea, I'm now wondering why it took so long.
• I fixed my DVR playback system today, so I caught up on Adventure Time.  This is one of my favorite scenes.
• Jill Trent, Science Sleuth, and her friend Daisy Smythe probably don't have permission to straight up murder suspected criminals, but that doesn't make this any less awesome.
• Pain.
• Sushi cat is probably angry because that spicy sauce is going to be a surprise.
• Koalas.