Macaluso's Restaurant — Restaurant in Aiken County

If there was a Sixth star this restaurant, chef and amazing wife would get it across the board. I have been fortunate enough to have experienced the original Macaluso’s in Miami Beach over 20 years ago. Back then, Chef Michael was as talented as he was brave. No printed menus. Verbal only. 100% scratch cooking. It was a rare combination of authenticity and warmth. The food was the best. Frank Sinatra playing loud, servers who had knowledge of food, simple but delicious homemade desserts. The beginning of what has become, in my opinion, a legacy from Staten Island…and a legend in the making. No kidding. It just so happens that my wife (girlfriend at the time) and I decided to move out of Florida to South Carolina. Having lost track of Chef Michael (same name as me! but he’s the famous one), I googled searched him on a whim to locate an old friend. To my surprise he set up a new life and a new Macaluso’s in Aiken, SC. Long story short, I drove Kristen there on her birthday weekend for a surprise…asked her to marry me in the gorgeous Rose Bar on the second floor of the restaurant and proceeded to have the most delicious, memorable dinner…and reminiscent of the Miami Beach days. So on to the food…Chef Michael has a gift for remembering what every guest has ever eaten in his restaurant. Crazy. He remembered I always ordered the Vito Salad…Crisp chunks of Romaine, cubes of cheese, salami, chick peas and the best homemade vinaigrette you’ve ever tasted. Meatballs of course. Most people don’t know that Chef Michael D’ Andrea invented the Meatball Salad. Two large, perfectly cooked and super delicious meatballs over a simple Romaine salad…shaved Parm and scoop of fresh ricotta. South Beach trendy spots copied him but never hit the mark in my opinion. Now I’m a chef, and I would say I make some of the best meatballs around…but back in the day, when I would have a party and cook for 12 or more people, I’d order Macaluso’s meatballs “take out” and serve them as an appetizer. Yes, I gave him credit! True story. My go-to is the Orecchiette pasta with fresh sausage out of the casing, escarole or broccoli rabe, cannellini beans in natural juices. Last time we were there he made us the Chicken, artichoke with button mushrooms, basil and cavatelli. We also had the pancetta, chick peas and basil with fusilli. An authentic pizza oven from Italy produces the perfect pies…He still has clam pizza, Some dishes you absolutely will love are the spicy Sinatra Shrimp, Escarole and beans appetizer (which he will serve over a giant piece of fresh crusty and toasted bread), Chicken Parm over pasta that will knock you out…and one of his best dishes even 20 years later…Pan roasted sea bass. Cannolis of course. Ricotta cake, vanilla cake with chocolate frosting…chocolate cake with vanilla frosting. All made in-house. First of all, Aiken is a must. Cute little city in the middle of horse country. About 2 hours out of Charleston. Close to Augusta, GA. Worth the trip. You can walk in but I would recommend a reservation. And plan to be there a while. Have a drink in the Rose Bar while you wait for your table. And you will wait…which is a good sign. You will never be rushed out if you take a late res… And kudos to his front of the house partner and wife who works tirelessly to make their guests feel like they walked into an amazing, beautiful, great smelling home. We will be back soon....

My mom and I came tonight for the very first time after seeing House of Gucci, to complete our Italian themed evening. After waiting almost a year to try this place, I must say we left disappointed. Everything in my review will be factual as to not leave room for subjectivity. We started our meal off with the meatball appetizer, which was good, except the marinara sauce was watery ($18.00). We then received our bread basket with one individual loaf of cold, chewy, Italian bread and a plate of olive oil w/ no seasonings. After that we ordered our entree’s, which took approximately 30 minutes to arrive at our table, the rigatoni bolognese ($21.00) had red pepper flakes in it which made it too spicy for me to eat, and the olive oil and garlic pasta ($18.00) had so much garlic it would’ve needed another pound of pasta to balance it out. Finally we received our check and my Diet Coke was $5 per glass (I had 2, so it came to $10), and despite telling the server that we didn’t like the rigatoni and clearly not eating any of it, we were still charged for it. Overall, the restaurant is not set up to create any atmosphere as it is one open room, so it is very loud and hard to have any conversation. The prices are definitely on the high side for Aiken, as well as the quality of the dishes, but the ingredients are among the best, so that may be why. I would definitely not recommend this place to anyone, as it has some very obvious opportunities, but I wish...

We heard (and read) mixed reviews prior to coming. We knew they don’t take reservations so we decided to get there pretty close to open at 6pm. My husband and I ended up arriving about 6:25. The hostess jotted my name down a sticky note. We were told it would be about a 45 min wait and we were escorted to the stairwell to wait upstairs at the bar tea. This is was perfect and allowed us to enjoy a cocktail before dinner. Upstairs there were already two other small parties waiting. After an hour or so the upstairs waiting room was filled. All the seats at the bar and all the tables. The two parties before us got seated and then another couple that came in after us got seated. As the hostess walked through the crowd I asked her about our name. She said oh they’re preparing the table she’ll be back up. She did in fact come back up and seat even more couples that came in after us. We waited nearly two hours before finally leaving. The hostess got us as we were about to head out the door and said our table was ready. The table was set for three people, there are only two of us and was obviously an attempt to keep us there. We sat down ordered a beer but honestly were too irritated at that point so we left a $20 on the table and left. The hostess wasn’t apologetic when it was very obvious she missed our name on the sticky note. We heard the food was good but unfortunately from our experience and what we’ve heard from others the service needs...