MARCATO Made in Italy Regina Extruder Pasta Machine, White. Makes bucatini, fusilli, maccheroni, maccheroncini, rigatoni.

This review is based upon only one use. So far, though, this product is better than I had expected. As many of the reviewers have noted for themselves, I was a little concerned with an all-plastic unit. This product, however, is very high quality and seems to be sturdy and durable. I have the Marcato Atlas pasta machine, which is also very high quality, so I am not surprised at the quality of this product. It was much easier to use than some of the reviews would lead you to believe. I had no problems making Rigatoni. It was even a little faster than I had expected. Once you get into a rhythm of adding dough, turning the handle, and cutting the extruded product, it goes quickly and easily. (And, to be honest, I had a flashback memory to my childhood, playing with my Play-Doh Fun Factory...not a bad thing.) The slow gearing means that turning the handle takes very little effort. And, the best part is, you are rewarded with fresh pasta (which is magnitudes better, in taste and texture, than dried and bagged pasta). I have two very minor issues, though. The first is that the attachment clamp goes on the side while the handle goes in the back. Because the handle moves lower than the work surface, you can use this only on the corner of a table because both the side clamp and the back handle go below the surface. At least in my kitchen, this limits its use to an area other than the food preparation area. The other issue concerns removing the extruder for cleaning. Although the instructions say to run the handle backwards after making pasta, that reverse pressure was not enough to release the extruder for cleaning. I had to use a wooden spoon and some pressure to finally release it. None of these issues, however, would keep me from recommending this product. If you want to make fresh pasta beyond noodles, I cannot think of a less expensive and higher quality product that will get you there. ================ UPDATE - September 2016 ============== After many more months of use, I rate this even higher, now. (It was four stars, now it's five.) The problem with releasing the extruder was, most likely, because the product was new and had tight tolerances and my dough was not the right consistency. From the second use on, no problems. Yes, I still wish my kitchen could handle the clamp and crank with my countertop setup, but that's no reason to downgrade the review. I continue to be amazed by the ease of use and the quality of the pasta. If I have the time to do it right, it's no more commercial dried pasta for us; it's fresh pasta! It makes a huge difference in taste and texture.

We only eat organic whole wheat pasta and because there are so little options for different types of that in the stores, I have to make my own. I’ve had the Atlas Marcato 150 for years and love it, but it doesn't extrude shapes, so I was excited to find this Atlas Regina Extruder. I’m so very disappointed! I’ve used the various attachments and every shape I’ve tried comes out like flattened blobs which all stick together, even when I’ve gone by the book in making the dough. The dough is hard to push through and at the end, too much dough is still left inside. The cleaning of it is a nightmare and takes way too much time. You have to take apart way too many pieces and really wash them well to get the dough from every nook and cranny, which takes much longer than the whole thing is worth. In addition to that, I feel that this product is WAY overpriced and I regret buying it.

I wanted to make extruded pasta and bought this particular machine because I own other Marcato products and have found them to be well made and easy to use. This machine is exactly that, well made and easy to use. Just 5 or 6 pieces and this machine comes completely apart in just a few seconds for a through cleaning. The crank turns with a light to moderate amount of effort and the machine does a nice job of making 5 varieties of pasta. Actually the hardest part isn't the machine at all, the machine is great, it's getting the consistency of the pasta dough right so when you cut it it doesn't stick together (in my experience, extruded pasta dough should be much dryer than sheet pasta dough.) I'm really enjoying using this machine and I can recommend this product.

I love the atlas 150 it is a wonderful machine. I then purchased the Regina Wellness. It was awful, pasta sticks to each other as your trying to cut it. It was so difficult to clean it took me 2 days. I was still finding dried pasta throughout the internals of the machine. I strongly advice against purchasing this. I wasted my money

I typically make a 50/50 semolina to all purpose flour pasta and it comes out great for pastas and lasagna noodles. The rigotoni and macaroni work great and we’re really easy to use, though it is hard to use the fast turn setting (takes a lot of effort either way). The fusilli did NOT work very well and required hand twisting of the noodles after extruding which is defeating the whole point of an extruder die at all. As many reviews have stated this takes a lot of effort, kind of thinking I may end up getting the motorized kitchen aid attachment for future. It is all plastic construction, but it pretty sturdy and easy to take apart and clean.

I am thoroughly impressed with this little machine. Over the past 30 years I have worn out 4 expensive electric pasta extruders. I did not have high hopes for this one, but when the gears in my last electric one broke I decided to give this one a try. I am delighted to have been wrong. I am more than pleased and have pumped several pounds of dough through this little wonder in the past few weeks. I use a kitchen scale to measure flour and always use a mix of 250 grams semolina, 250 grams of white flour, and 5 eggs. The dough is perfect when it doesn't stick to your fingers. This takes a little practice. The dies are compatible with other machines that have been on the market for years. I was able to salvage a collection of a dozen or more from my older machines to use in addition to the 4 that come with the machine. Things to note: 1. Dry dough will break the machine. Too wet and you get globs of pasta that stick together and won't hold shape. 2. There are holes to insert the crank into. The top one is a direct drive to the screw, the lower one is geared. ALWAYS use the lower one. The top one takes a LOT of effort and could break the machine. 3. Turn the crank gently. It'll last a lot longer. It does take a little more effort than watching a motorized extruder work, but not that much. 4. don't over-tighten the die 'nut'. It just needs to be snug. It comes with a wrench. I don't use it, personally, but I have plenty of strength. Just snug it down tight by hand or gently with the wrench. This little guy is the perfect companion for the Marcato Atlas 150. Between the two of them you can make just about any shape pasta imaginable.

NOTE: If you are very tall, (I am 5’9 and had no problems,) if purchasing one of these you will need to place a shelf or something like that on top of the counter you place it on as otherwise you would be bending down too low in a non-ergonomic position to crank it and it would be awkward to turn it very quickly. Or some type of rolling worktable that has a much taller height than a regular counter might work, but if tall, especially those 6’4 or taller types know a light tiered shelf unit would work on top of a counter. Or if you buy one and own a pinball machine the grip like feet on it will secure it to the glass without the need for the clamp and making pasta as well as other activities of course on top of a pinball machine are great for tall men, as in 6’4 or above. And how adorable if you are a super tall married man for the man to make pasta on top of a pinball machine for the woman he is married to! The Marcato Atlas machines also have grip feet that make it decorative for the tall men that own pinball machines to make pasta both especially decoratively and comfortably.It multi tasks the pinball machine better thereby helping to prevent functional fixedness type thinking. There are various pinball machine conventions, the largest one in the United States is held annually in Chicago. If folks from Marcato demonstrate and sell their extruders and pasta rollers to make pasta at pinball machine conventions, using the pinball machines as a counter, many more men will get into making homemade pasta to the delight of their wives. The best demonstration to be done by an attractive married couple, the husband makes the pasta, while the wife sits on the pinball machine very classily, and watches. So fantastic, even the first night I got mine I made delicious homemade rigatoni, so incredible. It had been many years since I ate rigatoni. I have been making my own homemade pasta now for a few years. The only other pasta I eat is Annie’s Organic Macaroni and Cheese. Even when I go out to a restaurant I bring my own soup in a quart mason jar (I have them give me half the soup from the mason jar and then will let them keep the jar with the rest of that homemade soup for one of them at the restaurant to enjoy, or several there can taste it type of thing.) I am very particular about my meals and eat almost all organic, low fat and vegetarian. I am picky about my appearance, love my Playboy Playmate style body, I even airbrush my makeup on using my Tru airbrush machine and Tru makeup. My Marcato extruder is especially appreciated by me because I am a vegetarian and so many Italian meals are so easy to convert the recipe into vegetarian even if it was not before, and the taste is the same. I make my pasta dough without any eggs. I just use a 50-50 ratio of 100% whole wheat to organic unbleached flour, a very small pinch of salt and just a small, (less than ½ a teaspoon usually,) of olive oil. I like to make my dough especially with my Gourmia Pasta Amazing, and then I place my finished rigatonis etc., in front of the fan to dry quickly. If you do not have a Gourmia Pasta Amazing a small fan with a clip so that it can be placed low in front of the pasta will also work. I lightly flour one of my non-stick baking mats and extrude my pasta there before placing it on plates to dry before boiling. If the dough starts drying too much because it sets I just spritz it with my plant watering spritzer and squeeze it so the water is absorbed before I place it in the hopper of my extruder. I boil my pasta using my Aroma Professional that has a pasta strainer lid and pasta boiling and simmer settings. I agree with Amazon contributor Steve K. in his article where he explains the attachments could have more options for placing. Holes on either side for the clamp would be great, but I agree that it is not really a major issue. I have a spinning type cart table I can move around in my small kitchen that folds open when I need it to so I have room to both make my pasta and my homemade sauce and boil it. I clamp both my Marcatos to that. I have a Marcato Atlas where I make my lasagna and some other of my pastas. Note: This extruder machine cannot make those (lasagna, linguini types.) It is specifically an extruder style machine, for making rigatoni and bucatini, things like that. The improvement to me is that the look of it could be better, the same design, with two holes for the clamp, but with the quality of the metal Marcato Atlas Pasta Rollers. These are mostly plastic, though they still look cute. That is why I only gave it three stars. I found out the the top hole labeled fast is great to put the crank in at the very end of the extrusion process as it gets the last bit of rigatoni out of the die.-Julie Sands

The pasta maker did a reasonable job with basic dough but when tasked with low hydration doughs for extruded pasta, an internal plastic gear broke, rendering it useless. Apparently there are no replacement parts for this poorly designed mechanism.