Atmosphere: 3/5   ♦   Service: 2/5   ♦   Food Quality: 4/5   ♦   Value:3/5

Times Visited: Once  ♦   Will I Return?:  Yes please

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Wow, sorry, I’ve been gone for a bit. Friends in town and madness at work makes Angie something something…*

So, what’s been happening? Have you found other better blogs to read? Undoubtedly. Anyway, I’m typing today about one my favorite foods: macaroni and cheese. There’s a new mac and cheese restaurant in Oakland called Homeroom and it’s all the rage lately.

I’ve heard people talking about this place nonstop since it opened a few months ago. It was time for a try.

Some friends and I met up at Homeroom after work a couple weeks ago when it was super duper hot outside. The day was beautiful, but Homeroom has no air con. Which would normally be fine, but that day meant that we were a sweating, hungry bunch. And then we ate some hot, dense mac and cheese. It was not the best plan (ex: milk was a bad choice), but we made the best of it and still enjoyed ourselves. And it would have been a great day to enjoy one of their few tables outside (but we didn’t want to wait).

The space is smaller than I expected, for some reason, but is decorated with cute and artsy items all revolving around a school/learning theme (we were in Homeroom, after all). The menu is a single page of paper with instructions on how to fold it into a paper airplane on one side, in case you feel so inclined. The choices are basic: 8 types of mac and cheese, a few sides of veggies, a handful of desserts, beer (including on tap), wine, and other drinks. I really appreciated the simplicity and easily made my decision to reminisce about Rome with the “The Exchange Student: Cacio e Pepe” and a side of carrots.

Both of which were the table winners. I love ordering the winner. Other dishes ordered at our table included: Classic, Mac the Goat, and Mexican Mac. I forgot to ask for mine to be covered in delicious bread crumbs, but it was still wonderful. The others that I tried were good, but not nearly as good as mine. I thought the Mexican Mac was the weak link, but I’m not really a fan of spicy or cilantro, so there.

My carrots were drizzled in some delicious lemony oil that was fab. The broccoli at the table came with ranch and hence was immediately awesome. The desserts are cute and quirky and my “homemade oreos” were 1000 times better than real oreos. But I don’t love real oreos, so that’s not a difficult statement for me to make. Boyfriend’s peanut butter pie was reportedly “interesting” and perhaps not as successful as he has hoped. But I appreciated their innovation with this item.

That day, the place was packed to the brim with a waiting list. I’m not sure if they were shorthanded, but the service was not great. The server himself was very pleasant when he was there, but he rarely came by and we found ourselves wanting things with no one to ask more than once. Another friend of mine enjoyed a dinner there a couple weeks later and raved about the service, so maybe we were just there on a bad night.

I definitely love the idea of a restaurant based exclusively on macaroni and cheese. And I like what these ladies have done with the place. I didn’t think the food was as amazing as I’d hoped, but I think my expectations were higher than the moon, so I forgive. I’d definitely go back and I’d recommend to friends who love cheesy goodness.

*Reference this Simpson’s episode.

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