I was in the mood for steak and shrimp last night and decided to pick up both at the store after work (though my wife actually ended up picking up the shrimp for me). I still needed some sort of side dish to go with it, so when I got home, I checked out our pantry and ended up selecting a box of Italian Creamy Garlic Rice-a-Roni.
This was something my wife and I picked up a couple weeks ago because it looked somewhat different from what we normally would buy from this brand. And, at least from what I could tell from the picture on the box, it looked like it would be a nice side dish. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite live up to my expectations.
First of all, like many other products, when we made this particular rice side dish, it looked nothing like the picture on the box. My wife is the one who made it and I know she follows directions to the letter, yet the rice came out very watery and there wasn’t as much green in it (from the herbs that are supposed to be in it) than the picture indicates.
When it came to taste, I was also pretty disappointed in this product. It was supposed to be garlic flavored but I honestly didn’t taste much of anything with it. In fact, compared to plenty of other products that are out there, this one was actually very bland tasting. I ended up adding some salt to it just so I could eat it.
One thing I will say about this product, we did get a lot more out of the box than I was expecting. I figured there would just be enough for dinner, but we did have enough rice leftover for a second meal. Part of the reason for this, I think, was the rice was surprisingly filling. That did manage to give us some value for our money.
However, as far as overall quality goes, as I said before, I was definitely disappointed by this and, as a result, just don’t see this as a product I would buy again.