Maggiano's Little Italy — Restaurant in Dallas

We were a group of 7 of us celebrating a friend’s remission anniversary. Everything that could go wrong with my order from start to finish did and at the end of it even topped it with tarnishing my credibility in front of the group, which was the tipping point!

I ordered a beverage, everyone else’s arrived but mine and I had to finally remind the server. But didn’t make a big deal while rest of the folks at the table were surprised at my patience.

I ordered Branzino Fresca style entree and received Branzino Crab Imperial, didn’t make a big deal and had that instead, though I hate asparagus. Being considerate that it is large group, I let it be. The food in general was coming out cold.

We asked that takeout and alcohol orders be put on individual/separate tab and rest on the main tab, but my alcoholic beverage which a) didn’t arrive on time b) was forgotten and had to be reminded of was put on the main tab. We let that be as well.

My takeout order of two items didn’t come out together, first the Chicken Marsala came out and the server informed me that the sauce or add on that goes on it is not ready so he will bring it later. Then he came with another bag which I presumed was my dessert order and the pending sauce/add on of chkn mar. We were getting ready to leave but one of our friend’s takeout order seemed to be taking forever. Suddenly, the server rushed to my to-go bag and pulled out a box and handed it over to her and pointing at me tells her, “she had your order all this while!” That was the final straw! Not only a total lack of responsibility for his error (by then a series of them), but making some serious accusations and blaming a customer for his mistake! Maggianos training certainly have a lot of work/training on their hands, starting with basics!

When I got home, there was NO sauce that the server had mentioned.

I called in and informed the manager on duty of the whole ruckus and Evan was apologetic and made it right. But overall a very appalling experience for a restaurant...

Edit

We went back a couple weeks after this first incident and I just want to say that they really step up from the last experience.

From the greet all the way to the end of the dinning experience everything was flawless. We had high hopes for dinner. Unfortunately, our expectations were not met and it was a disappointing birthday dinner. This experience was rocky at best. It took the server a while to greet us, greet was a bit weird since he claimed the restaurant was awarded a Michelin Star. My party and I were extremely confused as we all work in one of the few fine dining restaurants that got a recognition. Then the server said he was a level 3 sommelier but was only able to tell us that reds go with reds and whites with whites. That’s basic knowledge.

It took him about 10-15 to get us water while I saw at least 2 servers leaning on the wall and a female manager just looking into the distance. Then another 10 mins to get our drinks. One person in our party order a steak, the server failed to ask the temperature, we thought it was odd. We had to ask for water refills multiple times. He was not actively pre bussing the table so we sat there with dirty plates and glassware in front of us the whole dinning experience.

When we were slowing down and thinking about desserts and after dinner drinks the server just asked if we wanted to go boxes to which we agreed. He brought the boxes and the check. We had to ask for a dessert menu. We had ordered 2 cheesecakes and a tiramisu martini. The server brought 1 cheesecake and 2 tiramisus. Never brought out my drink, and he only acknowledged my birthday at the very end by saying ‘oh you were celebrating a birthday’

We had to ask for lids for our to go boxes and over all it was a very disappointing experience. My contact information was deleted off open table by either the hostess or the managers so I wouldn’t leave a review...

A truly bad experience. The food was good. Nothing wow but certainly service able. The restaurant was nice in itself. Once again nothing remarkable. The service was the worst. Our server was just inattentive. He was also the bar tender for the afternoon. At some point either him or the manager should of realized he could not do both jobs. I had to get up and refill our water. At one point I went to the hostess and asked if she could find our waiter because we lost him. One of my companions asked him when he did return if he worked for tips. He replied yes and asked if there was something wrong. We went through the list for him. Asked for sweetener he forgot Asked for ketchup he forgot Wanted a refill on bread to dip in vinegar and oil. He wasn't around to ask. Had to get our own refills of water Had to ask the hostess to go find him

He was dumbfounded. Gave us the excuse he was also the bartender. He did not apologize or seem remorseful.

When he brought the check. Which took am incredibly long time. He muttered an apology.

The absolute worst part of the experience was as we were leaving the manager approached me and mentioned he had been told there was a problem with our meal. Mind you our friends Mary took us to lunch as a treat. We are from out of state and she really enjoys your restaurant. My issue isn't how the manager handled the complaint. He did fine.

My issue is he walked past both Mary and my wife and asked me the man of the party how our meal was. Mary picked the restaurant. Mary graciously paid for our lunch. We all experienced the poor service. Why would he only stop the one man in the group. Very disrespectful to the ladies, abit chauvinistic and a very outdated way of thinking to approach the man.

He was apologitc and nice. Said all the correct things. Just to me. Not the 2 ladies...