The Mac Shack - Vancouver, BC

I must admit the advance previews from my fellow foodies for this place was not good but the Hungry Piglets decided to try it out anyways, mainly because Mr. Piglet loves mac and cheese.  We had purchased a Groupon a month prior and decided on this lazy Sunday to give it a shot, it couldn't be that bad...

The interior is quite nice, very hipsterish, and it's a self serve type of joint - you order, they give you a number, you sit down and they bring your food to your table.  I quickly grab an open booth seat while Mr. Piglet orders...

West Coast Salad - $5 (Small)

Tossed greens with cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, mushrooms and honey roasted pecans served with our honey lime dressing

Great ingredients but overkill on the execution - the salad comes overdressed, so much so that the ingredients are drowned out.  So sad because the pecans, whatever I can taste of them, would have been delicious.  I decided to get the salad to cut the greasy/heavy taste of the mac and cheeses but somehow, this just compounded it.  Mr. Piglet also found macaroni in our salad...  

Four Cheese - $12 (Regular)

Provolone, Asiago, Canadian Cheddar & aged Cheddar blended to creamy perfection

Looks good when it arrives but as soon as I stick my fork in, I know there's something wrong.

Why is there a pool of liquid in my mac and cheese?  The cheese flavor is there but there's something missing.  You know that cheesy string you get when you bite into pizza or a good grilled cheese?  Well, that component is absent since the sauce is too runny and not creamy as provided in the description.  Disappointing is really all that comes to mind and we agree we've had better elsewhere.

Bacon Cheeseburger Mac - $14 (Regular)

Canadian Cheddar mixed with seared Canadian ground beef and double smoked bacon in a cream sauce

This version of the mac and cheese is far superior to the one above - there is no pool of sauce and there are chunks of beef and bacon.  Bacon makes everything better.  The cheeseburger flavor is prominent but not overpowering as the cheese still center stage for the dish.  Overall, this was by far and away the best dish of the night.

The Squish - $5

Our homemade ice cream sandwich made fresh with vanilla bean gelato between two soft, double chocolate chip cookies glazed with raspberry coulis "squished" to perfection

Dessert is supposed to be the dot to your meal exclamation and I thought this would be it - vanilla ice cream sandwiched between two soft chocolate cookie!  Oh heck yeah!  I order it but after 15 min of waiting, I began inquiring about our dessert...
First inquiry: When we ordered our dessert, the cashier didn't give us a number.  Will we be getting it still?
Response: Oh, um...  I don't know what number you are so yeah, I'll remember you and bring it out to you.
I'm waved away.
Another 10 mins elapse...
Second inquiry: I'm sorry but people who ordered behind us are getting their food, is our dessert coming?
Response: Yeah yeah, they're making it now.
And I'm waved away again...
Another 10 mins elapse...
Third inquiry: I'm sorry but no one is making any food and I still don't have my dessert.  Is it coming?
Response: Oh, we thought you'd tell us if you wanted your dessert.
Ms. Piglet response: We've asked twice already.  Is it coming or not?
And that's when they figure out that there was no dessert being made for us, nothing was coming and I'm quite certain our dessert was served to someone else.
FINALLY, after 30 min of waiting, a dessert arrives at our table...  It looks pretty darn good so our annoyance has subsided...  or has it?

Soft cookies my %^$^.  The cookies are so rock hard, we can't fork through it and it just squishes the ice cream out - ice cream that obviously came from a bucket as the vanilla flavor is weak and there is no indication of vanilla beans anywhere.

The cookies are so hard, my fork stands up when I just poke into it.  SEE???  These cookies have obviously been baked several days prior (they didn't even bother to heat them up as they were stone cold) and perhaps were not stored very well as they were dry and rock hard.  Mr. and I were just so fed up with this place that we didn't finish the dessert and left.  You read that right.  The Hungry Piglets were so frustrated, that for the first time since we can remember, we actually left unfinished food behind.  I brought the dish up to one of the chefs and said this was a terrible dessert.  He attempted to call someone over but I said we didn't want anything out of it but to let them know that the dessert was not as advertised.


I was in yoga class for 2 hours prior to this dining experience and I have to admit this place sucked out any zen that I had achieved.  Mr. Piglet even apologized for taking me here for dinner.  I haven't encountered such dismissive service in so many years and to have it done at my age now, holy cow this Piglet was not impressed.  I'm not asking for much - I just want the food that I ALREADY PAID FOR.  On top of that, the food was not very good all the way from the salad, continuing with the mac and cheese dishes and onto the dessert.  It was a rotten experience through and through and I would never wish this experience upon my most terrible enemies.  Even with a coupon, this place is not worth your time of day - get a refund if you can.  Au revoir and good riddance!


Pros:

• Comfy seating
• Chic interior
• Gluten-free and whole wheat options available
• Sauce made in-house and gluten-free

Cons:

• Disorganized, inefficient and dismissive service
• Mediocre food
• Pricey for the portion size - our regular size was tiny for the price