The best Mac 'n' Cheese by whillsjournal on Eaten
Mac 'n' Cheese
26 reviews
AMAZING
1st BUFFALO CHICKEN MAC AND CHEESE
Steny's Tavern & Grill, Milwaukee
Wow!!!! Perfectly cooked cavatappi noodles allow for tons of the gooey and creamy cheese sauce to find its way into every bite. Topped off with a very crispy chicken with the perfect amount of salty breading, this was a masterclass in buffalo chicken mac and cheese!!! The sauce was perfectly spicy, and the only way I would change this would be to coat the chicken evenly in the buffalo sauce.
2nd BACON MAC
Twisted Willow Restaurant, Port Washington
Al dente penne is drenched in a creamy and rich gouda cheese sauce that had me devouring my plate so fast! Crunchy bits for texture and salty pops from the parmesan crisps and large bacon shards were incredibly welcome and flavorful, making this a lovely take on fancy mac and cheese!!!
3rd BUFFALO CHICKEN MAC AND CHEESE
Out & Out, Cedarburg
Incredibly delectable mac and cheese, but a whole new levels of flavor with the buffalo sauce merged right into the cheese sauce. Every single bite is so moist and cheesy and has the perfect amount of heat. This is absolutely worth licking the bowl for!
4th BALLPARK MAC
Out & Out, Cedarburg
Holy cow! The base cheddar mac and cheese is sensational when stadium sauce is mixed in to the sauce and accented by chunks of bratwurst! A great balance of salty and savory, with a subtle spice, this was a phenomenal weekly special to celebrate the return of baseball!
5th THREE CHEESE CHICKEN MAC & CHEESE
Out & Out, Cedarburg
The blend of cheddar, provolone, and feta, alongside the tender bites of chicken and garlic breadcrumbs combines into a HEAVENLY macaroni and cheese. Absolutely amazing!! Speechless. Eat this. Please!!!
REALLY GOOD
6th MEXICAN MAC N CHEESE
Lime Cantina, Cedarburg
A creamy and spicy Mexican cheese sauce works very well here on standard elbow noodles topped with bits of chorizo. Every bite was full of smoky and savory flavor with a mild heat to it. A tasty novelty in the mac and cheese space. Impressive!
7th BACON MAC & CHEESE
Panera Bread, Delafield
An ultra creamy white cheddar mac, this was a decadent bowl of mac and cheese. The bacon offered a welcome element of crunch and salt to really round this out… an absolute treat of a find :)
8th MAC AND CHEESE
Jake Melnick's Corner Tap, Chicago
A nicely done mac that managed to make a creamy cheddar sauce that wasn’t clumpy nor with a processed taste. Served steaming hot in a skillet, this is a cheddar mac lover’s delight! Simple yet effective and tasty!
9th HAM & GOUDA MAC
Out & Out, Cedarburg
A tasty weekly special from the mac and cheese innovators! This was a really nice rendition of their normal mac and cheese, accentuated by a perfectly salted cubed ham and an extra richness from the addition of gouda. Very tasty, but would have loved more ham and gouda throughout instead of just on top!
10th WHITE CHEDDAR MAC & CHEESE
B&C Barbeque, Wichita
Soft pasta coated in a very rich and creamy white cheddar cheese sauce made me wish I had ordered more of this. I would say this was lacking a bit of salt which could have brought out some deeper flavor, but this is a valiant take on macaroni and cheese!
11th BAKED MAC AND CHEESE
Revere's Wells Street Tavern, Delafield
A great mac that was on the verge of absolute greatness if the cheese sauce had more salt!!! Very creamy and flavorful, these cheesy noods had a great salty pop from the layer of melted cheese on top that doubled for a rubbery and crisp texture difference, but also provided the salty bites the creamy base desperately needed.
12th BUFFALO CHICKEN MAC AND CHEESE
Noodles and Company, Grafton
As long as you stir this up before eating, this is really good. It needs to be mixed thoroughly to blend its flavors together and evenly coat the pasta. The chicken is amazingly tender with a crunchy, spicy, and salty breading. The mac and cheese offers a nice cheese flavor with the spice for a surprising find from a chain restaurant.
PRETTY GOOD
13th MACARONI & CHEESE
The Smith, Chicago
A really good cheese flavor here, accentuated by the browned bits from baking in the skillet. Nicely cooked pasta, but the dish overall needed a touch more salt. The cheese sauce was rather thick, stringy, and a touch gritty. I would have liked a smoother or thicker sauce with more body than this had. Despite, this was solid.
14th BUFFALO CHICKEN MAC AND CHEESE
Cardinals Nation, St. Louis
A very creamy but sadly bland Monterey Jack cheese sauce that would rate much lower standalone. This dish is massively saved by the buffalo chicken: tender, savory, salted, and coated in a good buffalo sauce. Without the flavorful chicken, this would have been a disappointment, but instead was fairly solid (once stirred and some salt was added).
15th MAC AND CHEESE
Double B's MKE-Style BBQ, West Allis
An allegedly award-winning macaroni and cheese that functions well as intended, but I don’t see this as a grandiose macaroni and cheese. The cheese sauce is thin and almost watery instead of creamy and rich. I really only taste cheddar and a slight sense of processed cheese (perhaps a Velveeta, or just sodium citrate for emulsion). The pasta is cooked nicely, but the sauce is borderline bland and needs flavor, salt, and improved texture.
16th MAC STACK
Aunt Tina’s Kitchen, Elmhurst
A decently creamy mac but lacking salt and a proper cheese flavor topped with a tender pulled pork with a rich and smoky bbq sauce with a distinct dijon flavor that almost detracts from the good things going on here.
17th MACARONI AND CHEESE
Cousins Subs, Port Washington
A fine Mac and cheese that nails the creamy texture that utterly needs salt to bring out some flavor from the cheese sauce. Fine fast food mac, but definitely far from the elites. And sometimes, like here, thats totally okay.
18th MAC & CHEESE
Stack'd Burger Bar, Milwaukee
A side offering at a reasonable upcharge. Pasta was cooked perfectly, cheese flavor was good, but a bit gritty of a texture. Breadcrumbs were good though!
JUST OK
19th TWISTED PIG
Fork & Tap, Port Washington
A liquidy but somewhat bland cheese sauce topped with a thin and crunchy sheet of pulled pork that was… more like a single piece of pork jerky. The BBQ sauce was good, but this was sorely lacking in the flavor and ease of consumption departments overall.
20th MACARONI & CHEESE
Lakefront Brewery, Milwaukee
Sticky beer cheese is flavorful but a slightly off texture. Got cold pretty fast. Very average.
21st MAC AND CHEESE BITES
J'Sports Bar & Grill, Saukville
These are fine for bar food, but meh in the grand scheme of things. Mac inside was reminiscent of Kraft boxed macaroni encased by a golden battered shell that was largely unseasoned. Fine for the bar, but… meh.
22nd BEER MAC AND CHEESE
Copper State Brewing Co, Green Bay
An uninspiring and fairly bland mac and cheese that is clumpy in texture. Lacking salt, the only somewhat redeeming element of this mac is the slight amount of heat from red pepper flakes. Can’t say it is worth the time.
23rd MAC AND BRIE
Moonlight Tavern & Supper Club, Port Washington
I just don’t understand how anyone could fathom making mac and cheese with any type of cheese and deciding no salt was required. Furthermore, shaving slices of fresh Parmesan does not constitute as integral salt. Sigh. Just entirely bland. The chicken served as protein, but whatever it was seasoned with, I couldn’t tell. Everything outside of the block parmesan slices on this plate was entirely bland and disappointing.
24th BEER CHEESE MAC
Foxtown Brewing, Mequon
There’s just no salt. A fine creamy texture and cavatappi noodles are sorely underserved by a beer cheese sauce that is nearly devoid of flavor. Disappointing!!
25th MACARONI AND CHEESE
Water Street Brewery Grafton, Grafton
A fairly creamy mac that lacked some salt until getting to the tiny bits of ham strewn about. Was a fine side, but not noteworthy.
NOT FOR ME
26th PIZZA MAC
Out & Out, Cedarburg
I love this venue dearly, but this was an absolute whiff of a weekly special. The promise of mac blended with marinara, mozzarella, and pepperoni was sorely unmet. I’m not convinced there was any marinara in this, just a few small pieces of tomato. The mozzarella, if there, was unnoticable. The pepperoni was perhaps the biggest culprit, as it was a really greasy and off-tasting low-quality cut. The lingering aftertaste is even worse. This is fortunately not a permanent menu item, but I am still left with the aftertaste from this.