Once primarily existing in a realm of blue boxes and neon-orange “cheese” powder, macaroni and cheese today is ubiquitous on restaurant menus.

And far too often, for some reason, that restaurant mac and cheese is mediocre. In order to elevate this dish, it takes proper quantities of high-quality ingredients, appropriate seasoning and competent preparation—and more often than not, at least one of those elements is missing.

Despite this fact, I had high hopes for The Fix, a new restaurant in the Main Gate Square spot that previously housed the late, lamented Sultan Palace. The Fix’s tagline is “Arizona’s Mac n Chz Headquarters,” and variations on the dish dominate the menu, so I thought perhaps we’d be in for a treat.

Sadly, I instead found more mediocrity.

The menu consists of 10 different types of mac and cheese (or you can combine whatever ingredients you want into your own concoction), as well as four cold sandwiches, four grilled-cheese sandwiches, four salads, cookies and “The BIG Fix,” touted as “All-American mac n chz sandwiched and baked between two pieces of bread.”

The non mac-and-cheese offerings we tried were fine, if unspectacular. The club salad featured fresh greens and an adequate mix of turkey, bacon, ham, cucumber, avocado, cheddar and tomato ($7.49; we were disappointed that the restaurant was out of our first choice of dressing). The “bacon bacon” grilled cheese ($6.99, with a bag of chips and a tasty little chocolate-chip cookie) was exactly what one would expect: bacon and cheese on white or wheat bread that is then pressed and grilled. The flavor was good, but the sandwich was a wee bit dry.

Now, for the stars of the show, the mac-and-cheese concoctions: They ranged from pretty good to downright disappointing.

The taco mac and cheese ($7.99 for a “minor mac,” and $10.99 for a “major mac”) was, by far, the best mac and cheese we had. It was packed with enough ingredients with varied and complementary favors to make it enjoyable: beef, cheddar cheese, (a bit too much) onion, tomato, green chile, jalapeño and salsa. The mix worked, even though some of the ingredients promised on the menu were mysteriously missing—avocado, cilantro and tortilla chips. They could have made it even better.

Unfortunately, things went downhill from there. Our friend John made his own mixture ($7.49 for a “minor,” or $10.49 for a “major”; includes a cheese, a meat and three fixin’s; add $1 for gluten-free macaroni), picking tomato, spinach and bacon in alfredo sauce; it was tasty enough thanks to the ingredients, though the top was a bit too burned.

On the flip side, the bratwurst, jalapeño and cheddar ($6.99 or $9.99) did not have enough caramelization. That’s a bummer, because this mac and cheese needed more flavor: Some bites with ample bratwurst were OK; bites without were startlingly plain.

Speaking of startlingly plain: The lobster mac with Swiss cheese ($8.49 or $11.49) was devoid of lobster. OK, that’s not entirely true: I could see a fleck of orange here and there, and I presume it was lobster, but there was so little of it that it did not announce its presence at all. I understand lobster is expensive, so one can’t expect all that much for nine bucks … but why have lobster mac and cheese on the menu if there’s going to be such little lobster that the lobster is virtually undetectable?

That brings us to the aforementioned BIG fix ($12.99). I’ll describe it thusly: If the thought of a heap of bland cheddar mac and cheese placed between two completely unnecessary pieces of bread sounds like it’s worth $12.99 to you, have at it.

On both of our visits (a weekday night during a UA basketball home game, and a Saturday at lunchtime), the restaurant was either empty, or had just one or two other customers. The atmosphere is pleasant enough; pop music plays while two TVs show either sports or news. The walls are painted in orange and cream—the color of normal macaroni and cheese. Cute. Also cute are the little sayings hand-painted on the walls (“Everyday Is Mac N Chz Day”). The fast-casual service is friendly enough, if not exactly swift: It took well more than 20 minutes for us to get our dinner order, even though only one other person was in the restaurant at the time.

While we enjoyed the taco mac and cheese at The Fix, other dishes were too plain (and, in some cases, too expensive), too lacking in ingredients and too unsophisticated. Sadly, The Fix is decidedly not in.

This article appears in Dec 6-12, 2012.

14 replies on “Missing Ingredients”

  2. Seriously, how lame. I mean they don’t even have hot dogs as a meat choice!! What’s up with THAT! Do they even stock ketchup? As any serious world traveler knows, Canadians eat catsup with their Mac-N-Cheez, to not even have it listed on the menu is an abomination and an affront to our friends up North. Did they even do market research on what they offered? Hipsters, I would imagine, dig the RETRO nature of things. And if it’s really expensive, it’s obviously worthy of their time. I would suggest they create a tuna casserole bowl (tuna, peas, All-American with a little sour cream and julienned green onions on top (but only if they’re julienned, otherwise leave off the onions, it would just be gauche served any other way, you hicks) and maybe a dash of Romanian Paprika). There’s also Cowboy Mac-N-Cheez, where you include grilled steak, roasted corn and pinto beans cooked in the way of the Jardines Del Pedregal Colonia of Mexico City (where I have not been but I saw a really interesting “Mexico, One Plate at a Time” where Rick Bayless made delicious looking beans using pepper spray, brewers yeast and manchego cheese made from Mexican beavers). I just wish someone would take this opportunity to create something wonderful and truly great as I know only someone in Tucson could with their years of experience working in restaurants around the country, nay, around the world could do. If only there were someone like that out there. If only. *sigh* I probably won’t go to this restaurant, I really liked the Afghani place, but didn’t see that they were going to do well when I had to order an hour ahead of time and still didn’t have my lunch served to me within the hour I was actually AT the restaurant. I would like to hear more about the Trader Joe’s sample counter, could you do a review of that?

  5. This is the third review of this place, and by far the worst review. I guess either the others were there on a better faring day of ingredients and chef. I think the fact that the owner is the daughter of the Baggins’ parents may also have something to do with favorable reviews.

  6. I agree exactly with this review, and I really hope The Fix can step it up and become really great. I work nearby, and my and my co-workers have agreed that it’s just ok and we really wished it were better.

  7. Obviously, the writers panning the review don’t read the Weekly on a regular basis or they would know Jimmy writes regularly. Also, they would be aware that Adam didn’t write reviews. It smells suspiciously like a friends of the owners campaign.
    We food writers write positive reviews when there is something positive to say. We are some of the biggest backers of local businesses around.

  8. Just because its a local restaurant doesnt make it better than a chain.Thats a pretty low bar for a business to set for itself.Anyway, the whole concept of a Mac N Cheese restaurant in a town with this climate is stupid.Whats next..a mashed potato and gravy place? I just dont see what the writers would have to gain by writing a negative review of this place.

  9. and honestly..if a Mac N Cheese based Mac N Cheese restaurant cant make great Mac N Cheese ( children make good Mac N Cheese) then they should cease making Mac N Cheese.

  10. I dint know the owners. But I do know that the fix is a really good restaurant.
    And saying mac isn’t good for Tucson you’re crazy. Pho restaurants are so popular and they serve hit soup. So that isn’t a valid statement.

  12. Hello everyone, my name is Amanda and I am the owner of The Fix. I am heartbroken to read the article written. I am one single person who worked my whole life to save and open my own restaurant. I invested a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into the restaurant with no backing from investors or others. I pride myself on perfecting our recipes and listening to feedback from others. I have an amazing staff and even more amazing customers. I never expected to have this article come out bad and I will now work hard to fix the issues. I hope I can get some feedback from everyone and I will work hard everyday to fix what needs fixing. I am hoping for support from others to help us get this restaurant moving up and forward. We are only 3 months old and do not have anyone to learn from so we appreciate the feedback. But please remember the first year there are many growing pains and we are ready to work through them all. We just ask that you do not bash us as I am a good person working hard everyday to make others happy 🙂

    thefixaz@yahoo.com

  14. Just a note: Don’t post multiple comments, saying roughly the same thing, from the same IP address. We will pull them down.

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