Max a Mia Ristorante — Restaurant in Avon

8/29/23 - Choosing to sit outside on their expanded front patio, we enjoyed their house meatballs, chicken arancini, classic bolognese, Caesar salad with salmon add-on and 14 oz. pork chop with veal demi-glace, and affogato for dessert {vanilla ice cream & espresso}. Staff always informed. Food always excellent.

11/22: Their stone pies, hand tossed and cooked in a brick oven, the Caprese with added sweet sausage had nice ingredients and flavored sauce. Other orders: Butternut Squash ravioli, Cioppino, and Ceasar Salad. First round of cocktails were half pours, one with no detectable gin. Observing this, we ordered two dry martinis, one Bombay Sapphire and one Hendricks. Noting they were $18. and $16, as a GMLG, these martinis can be bought for less at other fine establishments and for much less at other decent bars/restaurants. Still enjoy their olives, bread and roasted garlic served to patrons while looking over the menu. Environment is upscale but comfortable - a nice balance.

Everything was perfect here this weekend: our booth, waitstaff, drinks, house bread and olives, appetizer, entrées and dessert. Reservations were for 5PM and we were seated upon arrival. Safety plexiglass is hung between neighboring tables. We were given special dinner menus after we settled in.

Our server, Bonnie, is a gem: amusing, knowledgeable about the menu and food, helpful with suggestions, well-paced with both customers' time to make decisions and when dishes are brought to the table from start to finish.

She asked what type of water we wanted, took our order for Myers rum with coke and lime, and a special cocktail, "Rosemary Reviver," with rosemary-infused gin, Cocchi Americano (quinine-flavored wine), St. George absinthe, Cointreau and fresh lemon juice. This drink comes in a martini glass with an extra long sprig of rosemary for artistic drama and is truly marvelous.

Max a Mia brings patrons a basket of two breads to have with seasoned marinara sauce, good quality olive oil on the table, or a half bulb of fresh roasted garlic with a small plate of olives. A nice presentation with a multitude of flavors to savor and stimulate your appetite.

The special Tilefish, a white fish that is hard to come by here as its habitat is far off, was recommended. Though Tilefish sounded enticing, my dining companion had his mind set on the salmon. I had already decided to try their chef's version of lasagna, as I make a really good one, but it's laborious and costly and wanted to simply enjoy this meal.

We took her up on the shrimp cocktail and ordered four @ $4. each. Fine quality. Huge, fresh, crunchy and cold with flavorful cocktail sauce and lemon.

The well-sized portion of salmon was cooked as ordered, moist and fresh. Paired with wild rice, it was an enjoyable medley. A "Brewtus Maximus Pale Ale" by the Thomas Hooker Brewing Co. on tap was enjoyed.

The traditional lasagna with Italian sausage, ground sirloin, ricotta, pecorino, mozzarella and marinara was tremendous. Everything you'd want it to be - hot, meaty, with a lot of cheese, a flavorful tomato sauce, pasta the right firmness - and all of it blending together in a way where though it's well-balanced, each ingredient speaks out with its own voice. Remarkable cooking.

Our server asked about dessert: "Where do you find the best Tiramisu?" I said, "Bellagio." My dining partner chuckled and asked, "At the casino in Las Vegas or Italy?" I said, "In Italy." (Though I've been to both.) Hearing this, she suggested their coconut cake made on the premises that often sells out. We agreed to split a piece, which is a good thing because it was a big slice! Out of this world.

Every bite brought home was a welcome memory later. The bill was decent for all that we ordered and its location. Glad to see Max a Mia is still a fine dining bistro since opening 30+ years ago. If you've never been or since the pandemic restrictions were lifted, try it.

Open 7 days a week. Brunch Sundays until 3PM. Outdoor seating. Separate bar. Brick oven pizzas. The atmosphere is right for...

The bread and dipping sauce they give while you wait for the food is delicious! The bread was nicely warm and the sauce a bit spicy which I loved:

We all had steak ( 2 well done and 1 medium well) the steak was definitely not cooked to those specifications but it was still delicious and I didn’t mind mine being a bit undercooked in places since there was no way I was going to be able to eat the whole thing anyway and when I go to reheat it, it won’t be over cooked. I don’t think I’ve ever had a perfectly cooked steak …..yet.

The side of mushrooms we ordered was a good amount for us all to share and the mushrooms were amazing, lots of flavor.

I had crème brûlée for dessert and it was okay….. the sugar on top was cold instead of warm so it obviously was previously made and refrigerated (the custard being made in advance is understandable but the sugar topping should have been torched just before serving). The other issue with it was there were no visible vanilla bean seeds so that means they must’ve used vanilla extract or some sort of flavoring which is unacceptable and is not what you would expect from a fancy restaurant like this (especially since it had cloth napkins lol)

The wine we had with the food was a red Cab and it tasted fine, not mind blowing or anything (we had originally ordered Merlot but they were all out)

Speaking of the napkins…. They had lint all over them and my pants and the bottom half of my shirt was all covered in white lint when I was leaving. One of the people I was with had the same issue and we legit had to use a lint roller to remove it once we got back to the vehicle because it was that bad 😳

The proportion of food was good, the service time was decent with not much wait but for the price of the steak you would expect it to be cooked exactly the way we requested and it wasn’t. The fact that the crème brûlée was cold on top and had no vanilla bean seeds in it and the lint all over the napkins got all over us, is the reason I’m only giving 3 stars because this is supposed to be a more fancy and expensive restaurant you should expect more from them. That being said, I would definitely go back so it was good enough that I would give them a second chance. They did let us order off the dinner menu even though they were serving luck so they get...

Addendum to my review! I posted my review a day or so ago and just got an email from Bob Peterson at Max a Mia. He was apologetic for my experience, and offered me a free entrée when I come back again. That’s how you do business! Very impressed! And yes… I will definitely be back for many more future dining experiences. I am sure!

Thank you, Bob! I appreciate your responsiveness and your kindness!

Let me start by saying that this is one of my favorite go to restaurants. However, my boyfriend and I went there for lunch last week and I found a few things very disappointing. I knew something was up when I asked for olives and they came with red pepper flakes all over them. Never have I had olives from this restaurant where they are sprinkled with red pepper flakes. They were too hot to eat. I asked our waitress at this was a new thing, and she said no… But I respectfully disagree.

One of my favorite dishes is their Penne al buttero. I decided that I wanted to take a meal home to have for dinner later on. I said to the waitress literally five times… Sort of joking and sort of not… Please no red pepper flakes! I had ordered this many times this way before and my request is always honored. Unfortunately, this was not one of those times. And since I was not eating the meal at the restaurant, I was not able to send it back, or let the waitress know.

When I went to have it for dinner. I actually couldn’t eat it because it was way too spicy. I’m not sure how asking for no red pepper flakes literally five times results in getting red pepper flakes! I have very little tolerance for spice, so I gave the rest of the meal to my boyfriend, who normally enjoys spicy food, and he told me that yes, it was very spicy. At least I felt validated! But it was not an inexpensive entrée so the fact that I really couldn’t eat it was again,...