Soft noodles and (literally) tasteless sauce. It claims to be “homestyle,” but if my mom was making this “style” of macaroni at “home,” I’d be ordering in every night. Michelina’s is now 0 for 2 on this blog; do I dare institute a “three strikes and you’re out” rule?
Looks: 3.5 out of 5 Taste: 1 out of 5
Looks: Hallelujah, it’s the same as the meal on the box! Well, it’s a little more watery, but that’s it. 4.5 out of 5
Taste: I really like – wait, let me start over. I love macaroni and cheese. It’s possibly my favorite food. So when I saw that this macaroni and cheese looked quite appetizing after cooking, I got excited. I may have danced a little in my kitchen in anticipation. However, my glee was short-lived. Although it looks good, it has only slight cheese flavor, and the noodles themselves are somehow watery. (As in they squish out water when you bite into them.) Don’t make the same mistake I did – don’t get excited over this macaroni. 2.5 out of 5
Looks: The sauce is a bit thicker than pictured (you can’t make out the individual noodles as well), and it’s a little lumpier too. 3.5 out of 5
Taste: SmartOnes is definitely the top of the heap when it comes to microwave meals. This dish avoids all of the traps that microwave macaroni usually falls into: the noodles are properly cooked; the cheese sauce isn’t gummy, but it isn’t watery either; and while it isn’t “bursting with cheese flavor” as the box claims, it does have a cheese flavor. 4 out of 5
Looks: Do you see, on the box, where it says “Enlarged to show quality”? It should really say “Enlarged because there’s hardly any food in this box,” because the “quality” they were showing doesn’t exist in real life. The breading on the fish sticks was slipping off, the macaroni noodles are not the proper scale, and the pudding is dark and lumpy, not smooth and creamy. 3 out of 5
Taste: Disappointing. The fish sticks were chewy, which I didn’t know was possible, because it’s minced fish meat – how can that be chewy? The macaroni was watery and tasteless, and there was so little pudding that I couldn’t find a spoon small enough to fit into the little bowl. (I’m obviously kidding about that; I just couldn’t think of any words to describe the pudding’s taste.) I would never buy this meal again. 1 out of 5
Preaching truth to packaging. Pictures of packaged food, cooked to specifications, compared to the photo on the box.
