I really wanted to like this place. It's a lunch spot that offers an alternative to the sandwiches and burritos that are so prevalent downtown. I love the comfort of a good bowl of macaroni and cheese and there are so many ways to interpret it and make it a unique experience.
It was obvious that they have a lot of kinks to work out. The macaroni is heated in hot water, topped with cheese sauce and your chosen ingredients and then poured into a bread bowl. It's then sent into a conveyor oven to heat up and placed on a plate.
Since they heat the macaroni in water, a lot of the water ends up getting mixed in with the cheese sauce making it very thin. They use bread with a round bottom, so when the watery macaroni enters the bowl, it gets flattened and macaroni falls onto the heating plate. If you're unlucky, some of your meal falls into the oven. Once it comes out, they push the bread onto your plate and scrape everything that's fallen off back onto your now flattened bread which is no longer visible.
I ordered the Philly Mac and Cheese. The cheese sauce was under-seasoned and watery. The texture of the macaroni was okay, but the whole point of the macaroni's shape is to have the centers full of sauce, not water. Bread is not a good accompaniment for macaroni, let alone a poorly shaped vessel. It is very pricey considering that I paid $3 more on top of the basic price just to have them add a few strips of onions and peppers and a bit of beef. They do have a decent variety, but will need to do more to justify the gourmet prices.
I believe that Cleveland needs more places like this that are willing to take a chance on a unique concept and hope that they improve their product and methods.