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Mon-Thu. 11:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Fri-Sat. 11:00 a.m. - 11:00 p.m.
Sun. 12:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
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I can't believe I have not yet left my comments for Maggiano's yet. Wait, I know why, I was never able to get in the door!
I finally was able to eat at Maggiano's for lunch twice since I arrived at really odd hours. Therefore, my comments below would be for lunch only.
We started out with Calamari Fritte ($9.75) delicious, perfectly cooked little calamari was perfect to open our appetite. We also ordered Spaghetti with meat sauce ($8.75) which actually tasted really good, Garlic Shrimp linguine ($14.95) which was good size and the shrimps were good as well. My favorite was baked Ziti with sausages ($10.95). Ziti is more like a long macaroni, and the sausage was quite tasty.
Perhaps they were doing something special that day, but with our bill came a plate of freshly baked lemon cookies, and I have to say those were some of the best cookies I have ever eaten. The cookies were soft, lemony, and just simply savory. I guess this is why I am giving them 5 stars.
Went out for dinner here last friday with a group of friends to celebrate a birthday. Rating on looks, 10 outta 10. Rating on service, 10 outta 10. Rating on food on tha other hand..5 outta 10. I ordered shrimp scampi && all i got was 5 shrimps n 3 little bread sticks! =/ yes, it was my fault for expecting some pasta along with tht..but it was SUCH a rip off. ther was no taste to their food && it looked incomplete wen he handed me my plate. was soooo NOT worth $14. && then none of my friends were able to finish even 1/2 uv their food, wen they got HALF size..so yea, tha portions r HUUUGE.
onlee thing I liked was how great our server was, tha look of the restaurant, && their wonderful pumpkin cheesecake! =D
their mints r realli good to, so if you go make sure you grab some
Id say this restaurant is only for those who truly enjoy Italian food.
I've giving Maggiano's 4 stars for the stuffed mushrooms alone! This is my absolute favorite here and for some reason, the stuffed mushrooms always makes it way onto my plate- over and over again!
Reservation is highly recommended for this busy establishment on Santana Row. I was here a couple of weeks ago for my cousin's rehearsal dinner and the place was packed! Thank goodness we had one of the banquet room in the back as our party of 75 was starving! I didn't even know there was more room in the back!
I was happy to eat everything that was put in front of me!
-calamarie appetizer- this was good with the marinara sauce
-stuffed mushrooms-this was THE BOMB! I must have ate a dozen of these suckers!
-ceasar salad- i don't normally like salad but this was quite tasty!
-chopped salad with chicken and apple- not memorable
-baked ziti & sausage- pasta with sausage & cheese- Yumm!
-chicken pesto linguine- this was Blah! Don't order this.
-chicken marsala- nice and tender in the marsala wine sauce, but needed a dash of salt and pepper though
-talapia- pass on this too, i thought it tasted kinda fishy.
-profiteroles-ice cream filled dessert- sweet and tasty
-tiramisu- yummy!
A great place for family style food and fun!
Okay they offer nothing of value for a non-dairy eating vegetarian so don't come here if you fall under either category. Otherwise, it looked okay.
They have this amazing lunch deal. It's something like 12 bucks and you get one meal (well, "half" meal but depending on what you get, it's HUGE) and then one meal to take home.
I get the rigatoni D. Portion is HUGE, so I end up having my lunch leftovers AND a full "half" portion to take home of something else. Roundeye got the pesto one to take home and that was HUGE as well.
wait. I'll try and give a breakdown of size for the ones I've tried so far ha ha
Rigatoni D - HUGE
pesto linguine - HUGE
lasagna - big chunk
tortellacci (extra $$ one) - smaller
angel hair arrabbiata - big
No human being needs this much food.
We went on Sunday night, and it was very busy. We had a reservation for 5:30, and the line to talk to the hostess was about ten minutes. We weren't seated until 6:00.
We decided to go with Family Style, which means two each of appetizers, salads, pastas, entrees and desserts, portioned for the number of people at the table. It is way too much food, and it ends up being about $30 per person ($40 per person for us because we got a bottle of wine).
The caesar salad was pretty good; the romaine was especially crispy, and the dressing was light yet flavorful. The Maggiano's salad was pretty good too, except for the HUGE chunks of bleu cheese that totally dominate the flavor and texture of the salad. We got the stuffed mushrooms and the calamari as the appetizers, and both were tasty.
The Rigatoni "D" was probably my favorite dish. It's got chicken, caramelized onions and mushrooms in a creamy marsala sauce. We also got the spaghetti with meatballs, which was surprisingly above average; however, there were only two (albeit enormous) meatballs for five people, not to mention there wasn't all that much meat sauce.
We got the pork medallions and chicken parmigiana for our entrees. The pork was pretty good, though a bit overcooked; my aunt, who has been to this location several times before, mentioned that they oftentimes overcook their meat dishes because they get 'forgotten about' on the grill due to how busy the place gets. Makes sense. The chicken parmigiana was good; cheese was perfectly melted, and the chicken was tender and juicy all the way through.
For dessert, we went with the apple crostana and the cheesecake. The apple crostana is like apple pie, and it comes hot with a couple big scoops of vanilla bean ice cream. The cheesecake is nice and creamy, and comes with some really good strawberries.
The food overall is pretty close to 4 stars, but the place is too busy, too overpriced, and too inconsistent to earn Maggiano's that coveted 4th star. On the upside, you'll have leftovers for at least a couple days, and the server said that everything reheats really well in the oven.
This place always seems packed. I've tried to eat here a couple times before. Once just walked in to check the wait and they told me 2 and a half hours! Another time we made reservations and it took us over 40 minutes to find a parking spot in Santana Row so we gave up and ate elsewhere. This time though we actually successfully ate here. Made a reservation for 7pm on a Sunday and were seated quickly.
We ordered family style which I would definitely recommend if you go in a party of 4 or more. The portions are huge and the food was great. We ordered the calamari and mozzarella for appetizers. The appetizers & salads alone were big enough to have you full.
We ordered the chicken parm, spinach & chicken manicotti, chicken pesto linguine, and the beef brasciole for the entrees/pastas. The spinach & chicken manicotti was the best of the meals, and the chicken parm was also really yummy. Service was excellent - we had a friendly water who was fast too.
For desserts we got the tiramisu and chocolate cake. They give you two servings of each (the waiter said this was a new policy). They offer 'seconds' but with just a group of 4, it seemed impossible to finish the first batch. It was a ridiculous amount of food, but made for nice leftovers :)
This seems like a romantic date place as well. Kind of pricey but reasonable for the area and worth it for the portions. I definitely recommend having a reservation if you want to eat here without waiting forever to get in.
This place was reviewd on a Sat Night.
Busy, Busy, Busy....
Live Music. Tons of people, where is the recession at Santana Row?
Too many young preppy singles. (loaded with $$$ to enjoy evening.)
Requires a certain "plan" or strategy to be able to get a table here.
You need to have patience, and a familiarity as to how to get a table here.
Putting the getting a table issue to one side, the food and service is simply great. Yes its true some items are just average but the majority of the menu items are well executed. I enjoy the food here better than Il Fornia which is suppose to an "original"
Service can be difficult at times but overall it was good considering the how busy the place is. The live music and attention to detail was well appreciated. Warm bread at the table.
Too many reviews, so I'll keep this review simple.
I went here for my birthday dinner with my bf. Even with reservations we had to wait about 30 mins for a table. I order the lobster ravioli and it was okay. I bit cold and portion was less then I had thought. I also ordered some hot tea with honey. It took the waiter about 45mins to get my honey. By then I didn't need it anymore. The cremebulee was good. My boyfriend didn't care for the thick caramel crust. Then we also got the free lemon cookies. Took the waiter 30mins to get it because I think he forgot and we had to remind him 3 times! Didn't help that he was running around doing other things. It also took him forever to get us our check.
You would think with all the waiters they have running around, that service would be a bit better.
I can't believe how big their portions are. One entree can feed both me and my boyfriend. I love the… Read more »
Great restaurant in santana row. Great place for lunch or dinner. It can be pretty busy for dinner, so I recommend making reservations on http://opentable.com; not really a problem during lunch time.
Pros:
Indoor and outdoor seating (with heat lamps).
Plenty of parking in the garages.
Food is always good, never had anything that I didn't like.
Lovely ambiance.
Service in normally pretty good, but it does vary.
Food:
Calamari: Best calamari i've had (i order it almost every time I go)
Mussels (Diavolo): Can't really go wrong with these, but they are especially good here.
Bruschetta: Simple, but makes a good appetizer (comes with four pieces).
Veal & Mushroom Ravioli: Melts in your mouth and very rich in flavor.
Spaghetti and Meatball: Always a favorite, simple but always hits the spot.
Dessert: They have an option to try each of their desserts in an individual portions (about $2 for each).
Cons:
Portions for their pasta are quite large, about 2-3 people can normally share a half order of their dishes. It is really easy to order too much food.
Wait times can be quite long for dinner on a fri or sat night without reservations.
I have read a few reviews on Maggianno's Little Italy and there are a lot of mixed feelings about this place. I must have came on a good night here because I thought the food here was really good overall and the service was friendly!
I came here for my cousin's birthday and we had a party of 4. We grabbed some drinks and the bar and were seated 10 minutes after getting a pager on a Friday night which wasn't too long. They sat us in the middle dining area and we asked if they could move us to one of the corner tables. They asked if a booth was good for us and we happily took the booth.
We did the family style dinner which consists of 2 appetizers, 2 salads, 2 pasta dishes, 2 entrees and 2 desserts at around $25 a person. The great thing about it is that it's all you can eat as well.
We went ahead and ordered fried calamari, mussels Tuscan style for our appetizers, chopped and Maggiano's salads, Mom's lasagna and clam linguini with white sauce for our pasta, salmon with lemon/herb and chicken parmesan for our entree, toasted Nonna's pound cake and chocolate zuccatto cake for dessert. The server even gave my cousin an order of Vera's lemon cookies with candles for his birthday.
We got second helpings of the chopped salad, fried calamari and lasagna. I would have to say I was impressed with all of the dishes except for the mussels which was lacking in flavor for me. Buca Di Peppo has fallen in quality for me drastically and I'm happy to have found a good family style Italian restaurant in Maggianno's.
One of my absolute favorite restaurant!
The atmosphere is very Italian. From the flooring to the lighting up in the ceiling, you can get a 'taste' of Italy. Reservation is always a must here since it's alway crowded.
I always do family style. You may think that your selections are limited but the choices are excellent. I always get stuffed mushrooms and the ravioli. Don't even bother eating anything before you go. You'll need every inch of stomach you have. Once you finish the plate, you can ask for seconds and they will bring out the second plate at no charge.
This food is good, but not for the price. You end up paying for the location, which is located in the super ritsy Santana Row. Our service was absolutely great. I forget his name, but he was super friendly and helpful. I hate when you feel like a burden to servers and our server did not make us feel like that at all.
We ordered the Classic Family Style. It came with SO much food! There were only 4 of us. The good thing is that it's all you can eat, so as soon as a plate is empty...you get a whole other dish. We ended up getting 4 bowls of mussels!!
Even though it was all you can get, we were stuffed on most of the first rounds (besides the mussels). It ended up being $40 a person and I just really don't think the food is worth that much. Instead of making it all you can eat, they should up the quality of the food and then maybe it'll be worth $40.
This place is great if you want to eat family style. My favorite is the Rigatoni D and tomato caprese! I also LOVE the tiramisu and the spumoni for desserts!! It's a little expensive, but there's so much food it will last you a week! (NO JOKE!)
Yeah, this place was pretty lame, for lack of a better word.
Food is not horrible, the calamari was good, the lobster raviolis were blah. They had some sort of shrimp pasta which was good (reminded me of a rock bottom pasta I once had)...Service was strange. The girl was very very friendly. Her sequence was off, we waited forever for things and other things were right on top of each other. She did tell us that she was new, and I have to tell you I really hate that. You should be good enough at your job that it doesn't matter. That's why there is training so that you are able to handle yourself. It was just lunch......It just pisses me off. This nice girl probably could have been good but wasn't and I don't know who to blame. Whatever, this place is mediocre at best and expensive to boot. In general I would just stay away from Santana Row, the food just isn't that good at all.
we had reservations and we STILL had to wait about 20 mins.Prices are ok. It's pretty expensive during dinner.the food is ok.I will give them 3 star.
I hate this place. It is always packed. The food is tasty but not worth the wait and the aggravation. Hosts are rude and unfriendly, don't smile.
This is the second time this happened to me. We had reservations at 8pm for 6 people. 5 of us were there but the 6th person was running late. They would not seat us unless everyone was there. We were willing to order for her, but they just wouldn't seat us. Finally, all 6 of us were there. We informed the hostess we were all there. They gave us this stupid pager thing. 45 minutes after our reservation, we were seated. Why bother with a reservation if we can't get seated during our reservation time?
Hate this place and if I can help it, I won't go back.
Nothing special...been there several times under protest...service has never been ideal, very unattentive and sometimes seems as if they are flat out ignoring you, I think you have to trip the wait staff for them to stop and acknowledge you, and the food has not been worth the outragious wait. Recently, had my review removed based on fact, not hearsay, not sure how Maggianos managed that, hopefully this review is acceptable.
I've never really been a fan of Maggiano's but I do have to say my Thursday Night Drinking Club meeting there last night somewhat changed my mind. Place was packed when we got there and we ended up sitting right next to the piano (that played music like Neyo and Akon, weird) and had a small table for like 8 of us, but that is ok...we didn't want to wait.
Anyway, the fried zucchini was pretty delicious. I am a fan of anything fried and the breading on this was crispy and not burnt. My chicken parm was ridiculous...4 HUGE slabs of chicken covered in a mountain of cheese and ocean of sauce. I rather enjoyed it!
A decent place to go when you are with a larger group and the portion sizes are very hefty. We each got an dish but that was sooo not necessary.
I looooove Maggiano's! My little anniversary dinners with my boyfriend have always been great there.. :) Make sure you order the calamari!!!
Davey and I love coming here!
The food is great
The service is awesome
The location is pretty and convenient
And they are so nice to you on your birthday!! Free cookie/cake thingy lol =]
Yummy
The size of one serving could feed an army its so delicious. I usually order spaghetti with marinara sauce! Ymm
We love coming here to have a romantic or just a night out! We have such great memories here! Great experience!
Furnishings and decor are attractive but clash with food quality and service. Staff reflected prentenious twenty-something "sophistication", ie Chilis restaurant server with a necktie. Attractive need only apply.
Caesar salad was excellent but we're disappointed with summer temperature lettice and dishwasher warm plates. Main courses - angel hair pasta, shrimp and tomato-based sauce. Pasta was overcooked, sauce reminded us of Sphagetti Factory or frozen Stoeffers. Vegetarian dish with bow-tie pasta was overcooked and bland. Highlight - excellent lemonade and lemonade server.
Service:-Waiter lacked maturity to inquire about our experience - preoccupied with that looking cool appearance.
Maggianos is an excellent choice for twenty-something looking to impress on a budget - although wine pricing didn't fit well with overall menu.
The food here is better than I remembered. Their family style is kind of expensive for a casual lunch, but it's good for work functions and birthdays because there is so much variety.
I came here for a work lunch and we had about 15 people. Our waiter was really efficient and served us quickly even with the large group. He was prompt with getting us drinks, refilling our water glasses, and switching out plates and clearing the table between courses.
We ordered family style which ended up being a TON of food. We were all very hungry so the stuffed mushrooms went quickly, and the waiter promptly offered us another place (which we declined because we knew there was a lot more food coming), but he brought us another huge plate anyway.
We ordered tiramisu and creme brulee for dessert. Their tiramisu is so creamy and delicious. I think their appetizers and desserts were the best, because I wasn't too impressed by any of their pastas or main courses.
Eating here basically ruined my day.
We waited around 20 minutes for a table when it was nearly 2/3's empty... We waited so long that one of the co-owners actually walked up to us and asked if we were waiting. Seriously?
After that we waited another 10 minutes just for our waitress to come.
The bread was crusty, dry, and cold.
Then we waited another useless 10 minutes just to get our waitress to let us order.
This place is all about waiting.
What grinds my gears the most is that my boyfriend and I wanted crab cakes as an appetizer. Unfortunately they don't even have it on the menu. It's something we had to ask for...separately... without our acknowledgment of how much the crab cakes would cost.
I don't get why so many people want to eat here. The service, food, and overall wait is torturous. Why make yourself suffer when there's so many other place to eat in the restaurant alluring Santana Row?
What are we...Idiots?
We went on a Sunday night and the restaurant was busy as usual. We had reservations so we were seated right away after our full party has arrived. I don't know what the problem was but the kitchen seemed very backed up. It took 1.5 hours to get our food which to me is a little too long. The food is wonderful thats what keeps me coming back. They have a special right now for $12.95 you get dinner and luch for the next day. You really can't beat that. The waitress gave us some cookies for our wait which was a nice gesture. Maybe everyone gets the cookies and the waitress was acting like she was doing a big favor for us? The last two times I have eaten here there has been service issues. I hope they can get their act together. I really like this restaurant but ultimately there too many other choices that offer great food and service.
Kudos for Ali C for recommending the bellinis here! Maggiano's frozen bellinis are by far the best I have ever had! Our bartenders were very social and helpful, and one even made us a custom strawberry lemonade vodka shot! The gimlet was very strong, but we didn't taste any powder sugar and the bartender used mint liqueur instead of fresh mint.
Other than drinks, Maggiano's is good for large groups. Unlike most restaurants in this area, they don't make you order family style if you prefer not to. The food at Maggiano's is pretty decent but not memorable. But you know how sometimes you are so overwhelmed with truck loads of food and you are so overly stuffed that you don't even want to SEE a picture of food anymore? Maybe that's how I feel about Maggiano's.
I've been at another location in Orange County, but this was pretty much the same - REVIEW DOUBLEHEADER.
I went here as part of Oracle's Summer Intern event so everything was paid for and the menu was decided. Oh and we got free beer and wine too. FUCKYEA - excellent after a day of waiting in lines at Great America.
The taste of the place gets 2 stars, the portions gets the extra star. It's your standard (aka NOTHING AMAZING) Italian fare executed well - in portions large enough to feed not only a small village, but also the next village down the road. Great for eating your same meatballs - for.the.next.two.days.
Don't expect to have an intimate time here. DO NOT TAKE A DATE HERE. It's loud, crowded, and you're basically screaming. I guess you could go here if you wanted to break up with someone because you'd be potentially screaming anyway and everyone would think it's normal.
Nice.
The first time I tried Maggiano was from eating leftovers my boyfriend brought home. I loved the chicken picatta and spaghetti even though it was not fresh.
The second time was the day after I had the leftovers only because all the decent restaurants at Santana Row were packed. We had to sit outside with the torch heaters because they were busy also. Although n the beginning I was quite disappointed because they had 3-4 open tables but yet they wouldn't seat us due to the lack of waiters, my overall experience was great.
The server did his job and made his recommendations of half entrees when he could've just let us order whatever. He came back occasionally to check up on us and even tried to crack a joke. I ordered Chicken Picatta with a side of meat sauce spaghetti. The portion of the $3 side pasta was HUGE. Enough to feed three me. Their raspberry lemonade was just right. DO NOT ORDER THE PASTA WITH CLAMS. The clams are so tiny and the whole dish was flavorless.
This place might not serve top quality pasta, but the generous portions and good service makes up for it. Perfect for family style.
They have a menu for party of 4 or up. Super worth it. Check it out.
One of our favorite places to go. The food is great (big Italian food lover) and the prices are very good. The "large" portions are huge. You can have dinner here one night, take a bunch of food home and have dinner the next night for the price of a normal night out. It's a win win. Great location and the staff is friendly. There was a time about 6 months ago that I would come in just for take out, and the staff would go out of their way to get to know me. Very nice touch. I highly recommend this to anyone who wants 2 very good dinners for the price of one.
We came here around 10pm after watching the StrikeForce fights at the HP Pavilion. After a 10 minute wait, we were seated in a big booth which overlooked the restaurant. I was surprised to see the place so packed at that hour; all the diners seem to be enjoying themselves and there were 3 tables celebrating birthdays while we were there.
Bruschetta - Not a bruschetta fan to begin with but this was okay, could use less salt though.
Lasagna - My least favorite of the meal. Seem to have a decent amount of meat but I could hardly taste it. Way too cheesy and salty.
Lobster Ravioli - This was really good. Chunks of lobster inside the ravioli and the sauce was nice and creamy. I would order this again.
Dessert Sampler - 6 different mini desserts. My favorites were the NY Cheesecake and the Apple Crostada.
Overall the food was alright; some good dishes, some I wish I hadn't ordered. Service was great, all the staff seemed pretty friendly and our waiter was sweet and accommodating. The live music was a nice touch.
OMG did this place make me look stupid.
first of all when entering,
i htought you had to wait to be seated near the door
but youre not
you have to go past the bar and closer to the dining center
the workers made my friend and me look totally dumb.
other than that
the food was great. it was delicious!
Two friends and I went to Maggiano's to take advantage of their Today and Tomorrow deal (http://www.maggianos.c...), where you get to order a pasta there and take another one home for $12.95.
It's a pretty good deal, but I'm not so sure it was worth it, due to the horrible service, which was bad from the moment you try to get the hostess' attention to the very end of the meal. I arrived before my friends, and I should've known better than to tell the hostess that we were there, because they NEVER seat you until your whole party is standing in that little space between the hostess stand and the bar tables, even if your friends are just walking over from the parking garage.
The next moment of sub-par service came when our waiter gave us our bread, but failed to provide olive oil and vinegar (the bread was pretty dry, so it definately needed it). After waiting awhile to see if he would reappear, we tried to flag down another server to try and see if we could obtain some. It became a joke when we started counting how many servers we would wave at and get a look of acknowledgement, yet never actually get them to talk to us. Considering we were sitting right next to the computer, you would think that one of the 5 servers would've stopped to ask what we needed. However, it wasn't until my friend practically yelled at a passing waiter that he stopped. If he hadn't, I would've gotten up and gotten the bottles myself.
In addition to the pastas that we ordered, we got a half order of chopped salad with chicken, and our waiter asked if we'd like bigger plates than our bread plates to eat it with. When he returned with the plates, he only brought 2, despite the fact that there were 3 of us. Realizing his mistake, but trying to cover it up, he asked if my two friends would like to share their plate. They are brothers, but they definately don't share everything.
Although the rest of the meal was pretty uneventful, our waiter brought out our to-go pastas packed into one bag. Although that's being pretty nitpicky on my part, it was worth mentioning because it was reminiscent of the plate incident.
I don't know when Maggiano's decided that it deserved to have a pompous attitude, but for a noisy "family" restaurant, it definately has much too high an opinion of itself. I would've given it one star, but the $12.95 deal for two pastas is pretty good and might be worth a try if you have time to kill and can deal with really bad service.
If you've read some of my other restaurant reviews, you probably noticed that I have to eat gluten free. And anyone who knows about gluten free eating knows that Italian food is typically a nightmare. Maggiano's, however, is actually a gluten free dream come true! They are so accommodating, and take every precaution to make sure you have the safest meal possible (which can be difficult in a restaurant which has a ton of flour flying around in the kitchen). And talk about DELICIOUS! My absolute favorite is the Rigatoni "D" (mmmm, my mouth is watering just thinking about it!). And the portions are incredible! I've always ordered a small pasta dish & can sometimes stretch my leftovers for two more meals. Well worth the price of the dish.
I especially love the fact that the chef comes out to your table to make sure everything is to your satisfaction when you've had a special request. They take food allergies very seriously there, and I greatly appreciate that!
I definitely recommend making a reservation cause this place is always packed. And if you've got a food allergy, let them know when you make your reservation. They'll take great care of you!
Went to this place for my brother's birthday. I'd say the atmosphere is in between a Buca di Beppo and Il Fornaio. The food is family style, and you get to pick 2 of each item- appetizers, salads, entrees, pasta, desserts. They have a light fare which I think is $21/per person but the classic which most people get is $28/pp. For another $10/pp, you get to pick from some veal and seafood items. If you finish a dish, you may ask for more for the table at no additional cost. At least you could doggy bag what you don't finish. The service this evening was extremely slow. We had a 6pm reservation and didn't finish dining until 9pm. It took forever in between items. The food I have to say is just ok, not great. It's decent food for the price, but nothing special. My favorite thing the whole night was the tiramisu.
The only other complaint is that they turn down the lights really dim. It's a family place, my gosh. It was so dark, I could not even take birthday video of the family. So much for capturing the moment.
TOO MUCH FOOD.
The Classic choice of the Family Style dining was a glutton's dream. 2 choices of appetizer, salad (should only be one IMO), pasta, entree, and dessert for $30/person. By the time the pasta came, our party of 6 was full already.
Appetizer: Stuffed Mushrooms and Calamari. Both equally good. The calamari is more calamari than batter which is a plus.
Salad: Spinach and Maggiano. Both had a little too much dressing. Should've asked for the dressing on the side.
Pasta: White Wine Tortellini (?) and Braised Beef Something. SUPER RICH. And you would think the Braised Beef would be hearty, but they mixed it with cheese or something. The tortellini was good and creamy.
Entree: Pork Chop Medallions and Chicken Marsala. Didn't try the marsala because I was full, but the pork chops were excellent. Just meat; no bone or fat.
Dessert: Creme Brule and White Chocolate Cannoli Cake. Creme Brule was aiiiiite.
Ohh and BTW, you can get refills on the food. Mind boggling.
Disclaimer: I used to work here....
Everyone seems to love the food and portions, so I'll talk about the other issues:
The Restaurant itself:
Over the years this location has had changes in management. This place has gone from being all about fine dining, meticulous attention to detail, and service to more of a "get them in and out" type of focus. So I am not surprised when I first viewed the yelp ratings a few years ago, Maggiano's was consistently in a 4-5 rating but is now at a 3.
Some tips:
If you order Carry Out, these are members of the staff being weeded out/trained to eventually become servers. So sometimes customer service will be excellent, other times not. Sometimes they may mess up on the menu, but this is where they learn.
Learn your portions: A "half order" of food serves 1-2 and a "full order" serves 3-4. Just so you know what you are getting yourself into :)
If you do not have a reservation be prepared to wait. Especially on a weekend. Don't be upset about it, I just warned you.
The bar area is first come first serve for dinner. So yes this is a fine fall back if you do not have reservation. However, service here is usually poor because they do not have as much staff taking care of this area as main dining room. It is the bar after all, so you are being attended to by the cocktail servers that also have to handle tons of drink orders. Also your server has to wade through the host stand traffic, people enjoying the live music, and everyone at the bar to get to you (hence he/she might not see you for awhile). Again, you are forewarned. You really should get a reservation to guarantee better service.
Patio: This is closed during the colder months and is not always open during the spring/summer. Even then, it shuts down at 8pm (things might have changed since I worked there). So they might put all the chairs away... or leave them out. Either way the area is "closed". If you want to eat there, you have to order from Take Out and hope they leave the chairs out.
Banquets: Their staff is amazing. No really I mean it. It has been the last part of the restaurant to feel the changes. Here the attention to detail and the drive to give exceptional service is still going on. Banquet Managers are very good at planning your event down to the smallest detail. And if there are any issues on the day of, get to know your Banquet Captain for the day. They are can fix almost anything on the fly.
Food wise, I'm sick of it after working there for 4 years :) But I still crave me some stuffed mushrooms, spinach and artichoke dip, and and tiramisu.
Had a big birthday dinner event here. Asked the waiter if the Chicken Francaise has cheese in it. She said no. Chicken Francaise has cheese in it (I could taste it .. I'm guessing it was in the bread crumbs..)
Waiter didn't even go back to check on this -- I hate that.
Good thing I only have an aversion to cheese -- I don't actually physically break out from it. It just causes stomach pain and diarrhea. So, you can perhaps understand why I get so mad when I ask whether something has cheese in it before I order it .. and then found out after the fact that it did actually have cheese in it, but I was told no cheese and then got sick.
Otherwise, everything else here was fine. I can't fault the entire restaurant for the bad judgment (mistake) of one employee.
UPDATE: Removed one star for the bad service recently. It took at least 20 minutes before our order… Read more »
Went to this place today for my Mom's birthday. We ordered the Classic Family Style option. Everything was all really good. Our waitress was nice, and we always had our drinks filled.
My only complaint would have been the price, but now thinking about it, the price seemed ok considering we were able to take all the food home.
I would recommend going with the family style since you get different options with your meal, and they keep coming at your request. Definitely go on an empty stomach.
We dined at maggianos yesterday for lunch. Heard about their today and tomorrow special. We order Four Cheese Ravioli and Rigatoni "D" for dine in. and orderd Chicken Pesto Linguine
and Gnocchi in Tomato Vodka Sauce to go. Then why oh why they sent me home with Baked Ziti with Sausage instead of chicken pesto linguine. Specially after I told the server that I can't eat sausage? Very disappointed. Will not go to maggiano's again.
I finallllllly tried Maggianos.
I came here with my girl friend and we ordered fried zucchinis and the beef medallions. The beef medallions were yummy, zucchinis yum, but the mashed potatoes that came with the beef medallions were just average.
We got lucky and got an attentive server because it was her birthday in 7 hours. HAHA. She was so happy.
We sat outside on the patio because it felt less crowded and we wanted to hear the band play.
The appetizer and the steak filled us, and we had no room for dessert. Maybe it's because we had Kara's cupcakes.
Before, I thought it was a place I just had to try..but not really...if you haven't tried it, it's not something you MUST try.
Buy 1 Get One 1/2 Off
San Jose, CA
House made Cannoli
Santa Clara, CA
Campbell, CA
Category: Italian
San Jose, CA
Category: Italian
Campbell, CA
Category: Italian
San Jose, CA
Category: Pizza
San Jose, CA
Category: Italian
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