By Foster Nicholas | Reporter
Union Hall’s newest addition, Roni’s Mac Bar, is reinventing macaroni and cheese by creating new flavors and a fresh take on the fan-favorite food.
Husband-and-wife duo Frank and Mary Senese opened Roni’s Mac Bar in Union Hall right next to their other restaurant, Dough Re Mi.
“We’re taking something that pretty much everyone loves, which is mac and cheese, and making it in a very unique but approachable way. We have a macaroni bar setup with our cheese sauces, marinara, alfredo and pesto. Then we have about 20 different toppings so people can essentially either choose from one of our signature bowls or they can literally build their own,” Mary Senese said.
Some signature dishes include a Texas barbecue, Hawaiian, pizza and taco macaroni. At Roni’s, they said they pride themselves on being able to create any cuisine you want in a bowl of macaroni and cheese.
“Sometimes when you come in here, you might be waiting a while for some food, but ours will be done by the time you’re done paying,” Frank Senese said. “We wanted to find a way to kind of make it very efficient and convenient without compromising quality. So we’re not fast food, but good food that’s fast.”
Roni’s is open seven days a week and is located inside of Union Hall in Waco. For the next couple weeks, each person who purchases a bowl of macaroni and cheese will receive a buy one, get one free coupon to Roni’s sister store Dough Re Mi. In the near future, students can expect Roni’s to be a caterer at many Baylor events with customized macaroni and cheese for each event.
“We catered mac and cheese at our own wedding,” Frank Senese said. “It’s a fun thing for a lot of people, especially with the way that we do our catering here. I mean, you can customize it to the crowd. You know you have different toppings so you can make different mac and cheese batches, garlic bread batches; however you want to cater it, we can do it.”
