Maggiano's Little Italy — Restaurant in Dr. Phillips

We visited Maggiano’s recently for dinner as we love to do often. We have been to this location many times and recently noticed some subtle changes. We first noticed the bread has changed to some type of a lower quality. We also noticed that the oil and cheese that is used for bread dipping was not left on the table. We asked our waitress why it wasn’t left on the table and she said it was a new policy due to new ownership. We noticed drastic price increases as well. The waitress did a fine job explaining some of the changes, one in regards to the price increase. She said that they excluded the sides to the entrees but reduced the price a bit. Little did she know that we have been coming to this location for over twenty years and have always had fun taking pictures and documenting what we eat and spend. We noticed that the chicken parmesan rose recently from $22.50 to $24.99 and didn’t include any sides. This dish always included a side but they are now $5 so that brings that dish to $29.99.

We both got salads and before we were finished with them, our main meals came out. This is very frustrating to me because I come to this restaurant to relax and enjoy the atmosphere. When the main dish comes out, this causes a rushed feeling to finish the salad so the other food doesn’t get cold.

I ordered the chicken parmesan and noticed that the chicken was a bit plump, not pounded thin and tender as it used to be, which made it crispier on the outside. I added on a side of garlic mashed potatoes. They had absolutely no flavor at all, no detection of garlic, they almost tasted canned. My wife ordered the Chicken Francese and a side of broccoli, however, she was told that they had no broccoli, which seemed odd on a Friday at 4pm. She got spinach instead but said it was overcooked, bland and mushy.

We ordered non-alcoholic beverages but our waitress seemed to feel obligated to push some of the alcoholic drinks that have recently come out. Also, I am on the Maggiano’s e-mail list and it seems that every 10 e-mails I get, 9 of them are about alcohol. I realize that wine goes hand and hand with Italian food, but I’m seeing more hard liquor being advertised and pushed. We always came here because of the authentic and delicious Italian food, it seems that is no longer the focus.

Before we left, since we had money left on a gift card, we decided to take some food home and went to the carry out window. I noticed on the carry out menus (see pic) that the food is more expensive than dining in. Nice trick! Your tourists won’t notice this stuff but your locals will.

I think I’m done with Maggiano’s, it was fun...

My experience at maggianos orlando was less than stellar. My family and I looked forward to a great meal but it was turned on it's head quickly for the worse. Management sleeping at the wheel allowed our waiter to run a muck. The order was clumsy since the waiter decided he didn't need to write down the orders for a group of 5. We ordered a few appetizers, beverages, entrees etc. And we paid the price for the servers lack of focus to get the order placed correctly. The issue of not putting in the order as courses resulted in all the food coming to us at one time. Food runners basically asking us to move things around on the table so they could drop n go, a lack of awareness by management that the scenario was happening surprised us until we realized the waiter didn't communicate to the manager that our meal was problematic. I guess easier to hide it and hope for the best was the mind set? Auto gratuity which is now status quo may be the biggest issue in hospitality post covid which gives service staff no incentive to perform quality service. Instead of chatting about our fun day we talked about how bad the meal was, how everything was cold and even my 12 year old daughter commented how could the waiter suggest buying us a dessert as an option when we had to graze on cold entrees. I went out and found the manager sitting down despite a fairly full dining room to share our experience. The manager apologized they didnt meet our standards, as if our expectations were.too lofty. Maggianos one of the better quality restaurants paid the price for lazy management. I blame management in retrospect more than the waiter. I came to this conclusion because the culture of the restaurant is more a representation than the staff. As we concluded our meal with coffee and dessert we decided quickly we should just leave asap. The staff turned the lights up and began sweeping and cleaning with several tables still in the dining room. Staff members walking through the dining room with their personal belongings loudly saying goodnight to each other while others still on the clock cleaned. If I owned this establishment I would call for a mandatory staff meeting and terminate the managers and immediately look to retrain the staff with a management team that actually has an idea of proper service and management. I expect this kind of rookie behavior from places like olive garden or chillies, I guess maggianos is jumping into the pool of mediocre...

This was such a disappointing dining experience! I'll tell you, I have a laundry list of things to say. To expect a tip after providing such service? We had even made a reservation in advance, showing them the confirmation message and the Google system screen confirming our booking, yet they claimed they couldn't find our reservation. (It was only when the person who made the reservation came in person to inquire that suddenly they found it.) The server assigned to our table was formal and too rude. They cleared away the bread we hadn't finished without even asking. (Because of that, we had to eat the remaining bread on the plate without any sauce.) Moreover, there was no explanation given about the beverages served—what was complimentary and what had an additional charge. (Without prior information, we ended up having to stick to just drinking tap water. Two bottles!) And yet, they still asked us if we wanted to order more drinks. Isn't it like forcing a sale when they didn't properly inform us of the prices and options?

And soon, dishes we didn't order were served to our table, and it wasn't until we flagged down a passing server to request a change that they were replaced. (And mind you, we had ordered a few plates from the menu that we weren't familiar with, so there was a lack of understanding if what was served was what we actually wanted. You know why? Because they seemed impatient for us to order while we were still carefully examining the menu!) It doesn't end there. While clearing the table right behind us, a dish was broken, causing debris to fly onto my companion, and the food served to us was so salty and unfamiliar that we couldn't eat it all. When we asked to have the dishes cleared because we couldn't eat it, either they didn't understand my English or they misunderstood my request, because they reappeared with takeout containers instead. (We said we couldn't eat this... please clear it away... 😭)

It was such a terrible experience that all my fondness for Italian food vanished, and even though it was a recommended restaurant, I have no desire to visit again. Expecting a tip after providing such service? Well, in my book, it's far from...