06/13/09

Nasty Bathrooms

by brettschulte

You'd think a place like this coukd keep their bathrooms clean... I wonder what the kitchen looks like? Staff was too busy swapping head shots and audition stories to bring bread to my table. Seriously? The food was OK, poor attention to detail. The value is there for big eaters and their all-u-can-eat "Family Style" plan, but there too much wrong with the place to really enjoy the experience.

• Pros: Cheap Group Dining
• Cons: Dirty bathrooms, average food, bad services

05/03/09

Terrible service

by MikeS17

I ordered a drink three times. It never came. The waitress never brought plates for appetizers -- I had to get them myself. Nobody ever refilled the water. The menus weren't even picked up from the table. Simply horrible. There are so many good options at the Farmer's Market -- why would you waste your time at Maggianos? Overpriced, mediocre food, terrible service. Avoid at all costs.

• Pros: None
• Cons: Terrible service

02/28/09

THE BEST! FOOD AND ATMOSPHERE!

by foody555

The service... Perfect!

The service is professional, and the servers are genuine... ABSOLUTELY PERFECT!

The food comes out SO FAST! It's unbelievable.

It's hot & fresh.

Huge portions.

Great value.

THE MOST FLAVORFUL FOOD I'VE EVER HAD. Not overdone at all..Just right!

I am so picky..but this place was the best I've ever had! We started with the chopped salad w/chicken...Then had the Ziti with HUGE & TONS OF CHUNCKS OF Meat..and Crispy Grilled Salmon on Spinach, with the best juice!! I AM CRAVING IT AGAIN RIGHT NOW!

The restaurant & ambiance are sooo nice... and It's huge in there!! Walk around.. private rooms.. Big tables.. Cool, fun bar scene.. EXCELLENT GREETERS, SERVERS... Really top quality, in every aspect.

• Pros: portions, flavor, freshness, service, quick, great energy & ambiance, DELICIOUS!!!!
• Cons: NONE

01/30/09

Great Food and Service (Except for one waitress in the bar area)

by dreamchaser

Great food! Great ambiance on the patio! Fantastic for large groups! We had a bday party of about 20 people and the staff was really on top of things.

My only complaint was in the bar area before we were seated for dinner. A few of us arrived about an hour before our dinner reservation, so we decided to sit in the bar area and have a drink and a small appetizer. I'm not joking when I tell you that it took the waitress 40 minutes before she took our order. She saw us and just kept walking by us like we were glass. After 15 minutes of watching her walk back and forth without acknowledging us...we finally got the attention of the bus boy and asked him if she was our waitress? He confirmed that she was indeed our waitress. Then we told him about how long we had been there just waiting for her to take our drink order. He was very apologetic and said he would go tell her that we were waiting. 5 minutes later she walked right by us again without stopping. We began to take it personally until we saw several other tables in her area...with people fuming as much as we were, because we couldn't get her attention to take care of us.

Finally after 40 minutes she came to our table claiming to be flustered and super busy because someone called out sick at the last minute. Her story wasn't flying with us or anyone else. We never saw her carrying any plates or doing anything that indicated that she was actually busy DOING anything. We put our drink order in...30 minutes later we were still waiting for our drinks. By this time it was time to be seated for our dinner reservation. We ended up having to have our drink delivered to our dinner table from the bar. That is just how long it took for us to deal with her. She was AWFUL! We should have told the manager but we didn't.

Thankfully everyone else there, was fabulous and on top of their game.

• Pros: Great food and patio area. Fantastic for large groups!
• Cons: Ditzy and incredibly slow bar waitress

01/16/09

Good if you order the right things

by chimmychimmycocoapops

First let me say that this place is amazing for large groups of 10 or more. 18 people from my work made plans to celebrate a birthday at the Cheesecake Factory nearby (which won't take reservations). We showed up at Cheesecake and the hostess laughed at us and said it would be at least 4 hours to get a table. We literally walked across the way to Maggianos completely unnanounced, and the manager was happy to accommodate us. We were seated (all 18 of us!) in less than 15 minutes!!! On a Saturday night!!! The staff is apparently well-trained to deal with large parties, and were not flustered one bit by the size of our group. They made the night fun and special. I also found the family style dining to be helpful with such a large group. Ordering about 8 or so "refillable" platters served family style was much easier on us and the staff than having each person order a separate entree and worry about splitting the bill or food coming out at different times.<BR><BR>

The food is a different story. Most of the items are very average and just okay. The pasta dishes are especially boring and bland. There are only a few things they excel in, specifically their Fried Zucchini, Bruschetta, Chicken Francese, 4-Cheese Ravioli, Lasagna, and their namesake and spinach salads. <BR><BR>

Stick to those dishes, or go with a large group and you should have a decent experience. The back patio is VERY nice. And they have a kickass happy hour with $3 drinks, live jazz, and $2 appetizers (including the aforementioned fried zucchini and bruschetta).

• Pros: Great for groups. Nice patio. Nice happy hour. Excellent service.
• Cons: Food is ordinary. Portions too big. Need better olive oil on table for bread.

09/25/08

Horrible food and service!

by de121

My gf and I just got back from this place. I've never written a review before and I wouldn't if just one aspect of it was bad but the entire experience was horrible. Our waitress seemed indifferent and more involved in chatting with her friends. She checked on us about once and it took us about 10 minutes for her to come over to us to start with. The place was dead. There were tons of waiter staff standing around. Maybe since it's so slow they are generally unhappy because they aren't making money but if you have a table you'd think you'd try to make the most out of it. The food was also very bad. My gf felt sick on her way home from the Mac and Cheese and I ordered the Lazagna which was tasteless and dry. I still don't understand how lasagna could be dry but somehow this place pulled it off. I think our waitress knew we were unhappy and tried to only give us 1 copy of the receipt so we couldn't have a copy ourselves. All in all, just avoid this place.

• Pros: none
• Cons: everything here is a con

07/27/08

TAKE-OUT A BIG DISAPPOINTMENT

by zaser

TAKE OUT PORTIONS ARE 1/2 SIZE OF WHAT YOU GET IN THE RESTAURANT BUT STILL YOU PAY REGULAR MENU PRICES. VERY DISAPPOINTED AND WILL NEVER ORDER TAKE-OUT AGAIN.

07/26/08

GREASY FOOD, NO TASTE OF OLIVE OIL AT ALL(BUTTER OR CHEAP VEGETABLE OIL) VERY HEAVY FOOD, NICE OUTDOOR PATIO

by birdla

My boyfriend was craving an italian food, so we went to Maggiano's at the Grove. I was impressed by

nice outdoor patio atmosphere. Very nice watress took an order, server brought GIGANTIC portions of

food (I ordered eggplant parmezan). It was extreamly greasy, no taste of eggplant at all, layers of refried bread crums and tastless tomato dressing. My stomach reacted funny right away. SO, IF YOU ARE INTO

HEALTHY FOODS, GOOD OILS(THERE WAS NO TASTE OF VIRGIN OLIVE OIL, I AM NOT EVEN TALKING

OF EXTRA VIRGIN OIL..), DO NOT GO TO THIS PLACE, THEY USE BAD OILS OR BUTTER, REFRIED MANY

TIMES...ATMOSPHERE IS VERY NICE, FOOD - POOR QUALITY INGREDIENTS, VERY GREASY FOOD NOT WORTH YOUR MONEY, UNLESS YOU WANT TO PAY EXTRABUCKS TO SIT IN THE NICE PATIO...

07/13/08

Super Yummy--HUGE Portions

by triplebeeftaco

I have been here many times, the food is always consistently great (pesto chicken pasta, YUM! Service is always great, attentive every time. Very busy though, expect to wait for a table, but we've always managed to sit at or in the bar area and eat if there is a wait for the dining area. A word of caution, if ordering pasta, always ALWAYS oder the "haf order" Otherwise you will be eating pasta for a week, the regular is an ENORMOUS size.

• Pros: yummy food, giant portions, fab service
• Cons: can be long wait if no reso

Family-friendly restaurant serves up enormous portions of southern Italian favorites in a nostalgic setting.

by Contributor

In Short
Family-style portions and red-checkered tablecloths create a casual, congenial vibe, drawing families and large groups to this feast of Italian-American nostalgia set to a Sinatra soundtrack. The made-from-scratch menu is brimming with traditional dishes, from starters like fried calamari, Parmesan garlic bread and Tuscan-style mussels to spaghetti with meatballs and manicotti with chicken and spinach. For those with room to spare, a piece of sweet tiramisu and a strong cappuccino help finish the meal.