Maggiano's Little Italy — Restaurant in Atlanta

We had a party of over 30 people. Because a few people (5) were running late to join us, they made all of us wait for over an hour inside the restaurant with little standing or sitting room. It took another 30 minutes to even get a cup of water on the table once everyone was seated. Our Server, Steve, was clearly flustered and being quite rude the ENTIRE time he served us and did a poor job as well. We tried to be sympathetic, as we understood we are a large party, however, his behavior worsened. Simple things like refills were hard to come by. Again, we had a large party that was split up into 3 tables and we got very poor service. For example, we were there for several hours and I never received a refill. I politely asked Steve for a refill. He said sure. He never came back with a refill. He actually came back to the table later on talking about something else. I asked him again about the refill he never brought and he just told me they already poured the tea out and walked away. That was it. But Steve, even though I could do an entire review on his customer service, is not my main concern. His manager, Charles, is. Steve was having a disagreement with someone sitting at my table, so he brought over Charles to handle it. Charles was speaking to the person at my table that had the disagreement with Steve. He was reviewing the receipts for who was charged with what because everyone at the table was paying separately. Two of my cousins, who are adolescent girls, were sitting at the table with us. Charles proceeds to INTERROGATE them about what’s on their receipt and what they ate. He was accusing them of eating some of what others ordered even though they ordered their own individual meals. He is standing at the table and literally questioning my two cousins about their receipt. At that point, I stepped in and told him to leave them alone and he needs to take off the added meals on their receipts. He went back and forth with me and then he said he will check the cameras to see what they ate, accusing two teenage girls of lying…in front of their family. Charles then says “he’s not going to tolerate disrespect” from me, a grown man. And as he walks around the table TOWARDS MY TWO YOUNG COUSINS, HE STICKS HIS FINGER IN MY FACE. We ask him why is he even walking over towards them and then he says he needs to look at their receipts. Charles and I are still going back and forth as I am telling him he needs to leave my young cousins alone about their receipt. He then puts the receipts down and walks back around the table. But as he walks around the table and he passes my chair very closely and looks down over me menacingly TRYING INTIMIDATE ME, a customer who has an individual bill of $100. What he did was so obvious and foul that my mother, who was sitting next to me, had to say “Do not look at my son that way”. He then walks away. About 5 minutes later as I’m trying to calm down after getting completely disrespected I look up and notice that Charles is standing in another part of the restaurant(I guess it is some sort of gift shop or closed area of the restaurant) and is staring me down through the glass window. When he noticed that I noticed him, he walked away. This kind of service should not be tolerated at any place of business. I would never recommend anyone visit this restaurant. Managers have no idea what is happening in the dinning room, hosts have no idea how to seat large parties, and servers have zero customer service training (unsurprisingly, as there manager clearly cannot train them in this field). I would have appreciated my server being honest and polite in letting us know that things may take time and he may need additional help as he serves our large party than him become frustrated with simple requests for drinks. His manager should absolutely be fired. He should never be allowed to speak to customers that way. The fact that he interrogated my cousins and threatened to check cameras for what they ate is in itself absolutely ridiculous. Absolutely...

The typically lovely Maggiano's atmosphere was less enjoyable due to an unusually warm room with no audible music. Lighting was appropriate for menu reading. Bar/lounge music was at an appropriate level. Restrooms were totally unmaintained during our visit. Plumbing was odd.

Handicapped parking, take out/customer order pick-up parking, and close to front door parking was occupied by vehicles that were in the same spots for hours. Many spots were occupied by the delivery vans for the Corner Bakery. My group of older Americans were forced to be dropped off at the door and the driver was almost run into by a speeding automobile from an arriving guest. Three hour complimentary parking is available - at a considerable distance should you not be run-down by the heavy thoroughfare one is forced to navigate through to the restaurant.

We arrived for out confirmed reservation and told to await in the vestibule across from the host stand. After waiting a considerable time, I queried about the protracted wait and was told our table was ready and we were "just" informed. I suppose the door staff forgot where were told to patiently wait or are chained to the host stand.

The four of us were seated in an appropriate table. Thankfully, I was able to eventually flip up the fourtop's sided to accommodate the piles of empty plates! Or just move them to a nearby table.

Our server never offered cocktails, wine, or a winelist. Water was available, but challenging to come by. Table recognition and all service was very slow. Having questions answered by our slow, annoying, horrible, cloying sweet, acerbic, patronizing, and absent server was an obstacle.

We all ordered family style. Food arrived at such a velocity that one quest was forced to take a bnb plate from another table on which to enjoy the pasta and entree courses. Condiments, such as crushed reds, oregano, and cheese were very slow in coming or refused by floor management. Floor management was unavailable, avoiding us even when we stood and waved to get their attention - he just looked and kept going past out table.

Initial food temperature was appropriate, tasty, and well garnished. Later arrived barely warm.

Having lost my appetite, take out boxes were finally available, however we were forced to request lids for the provided boxes.

Dessert took 20 minutes to order. They were out of one selection on the tiny dessert menu. They offered a substitute which ended being also sold out. Desserts were ok. However, the tiramisu was oddly wet and dry. It left an awful taste and texture in my mouth. No water was available. No expresso, coffee, tea, or digestives offered.

In the morning, I had requested something special be done for our date night as we were sharing the dining experience with a new to Maggiano's guest for possible further banquet usage or client entertaining.

If something was done - it went unnoticed by all and the special date night was made very unspecial.

The three hour validate parking was insufficient time due to the above described sloooooow service. We did accomplish validation by a teammember as they went out the door.

Therefore, the four of us CANNOT recommend dining here.

Just...

If I could've given a lower, negative star I would! My group of 25 dined at Maggiano's Buckhead location on Sunday, 9/15/24 to celebrate my great-nephew's 18th birthday and this was by far the worst restaurant experience I've ever suffered through in my life! For some reason, our servers could not figure out how to split our group's check even though, prior to ordering, we shared who would be on which check. Managers stood by and allowed the main server, Ranard (who was outstanding by the way) and the server assisting him to suffer through separating our over $700 check. It took some of us 30 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes to settle our bill. I was in the latter. The worst thing that happened was that a box containing birthday cards which contained large sums of cash and gift cards was taken from our table by our server and none of us noticed. We looked under our tables, around our tables, everywhere that we could and couldn't locate the gift box. We reported the incident to the managers and even asked if the restaurant had cameras so they could check to see which employee stole the honoree's gifts. They advised us that they didn't need cameras because their employees don't steal. Well, lo and behold, after as we FINALLY gave up and left, as we were standing in the valet area, one of the managers exited the restaurant and handed me the box with the birthday cards. When asked where the box was found, he told me, "I have no idea." The honoree's grandmother wouldn't accept that answer and went back into the restaurant and demanded the managers tell her where the box was found. She was told another customer found the box under HER table and that the box was covered up by cloth napkins. Folks, I cannot make this up. Also, following the luncheon, our party was to join the honoree at a putt-putt golf facility. After the abuse we suffered not being able to pay our bill for over an hour, many were so agitated, they decided not to go the golf facility so the honoree's parents had to pay for those who changed their minds. Hopefully, they'll receive a refund from that facility. I raised so much sand at Magianno's that one of the managers did give me a $25 gift card to shut my mouth. That didn't work so he then instructed the servers to stop cashing people out and said, "The rest is on me." Really now? He waited until the last 3 people who's checks were the smallest of our party of 25 to comp their meals! I will not EVER set foot in this restaurant again and I'm placing reviews everywhere I can because I suspect the staff member who is the thief, has stolen from...