Maggiano's Little Italy — Restaurant in Durham

Our anniversary dinner. We drove an hour and a half to get to a Maggianos. We arrived at 4pm to leave enough time to get home before it was too late. We were seated by the hostess, and then our waiter came and introduced himself. He was friendly but busy. We ordered water and lemonade, as we don't drink. They arrived promptly and he took our order and brought bread. That's pretty much where the service ended. We were the only people in the place besides employees. We waited while the server set glasses on the tables apparently preparing for the evening dinner crowd. We received glares from several employees and the manager while we waited. The best way I can describe the atmosphere was, "We're busy setting up. You can wait!" The galres were the same We recive from most people of color these days who espouse BLM, and woke ideology. The kind that say, "Yeah, you've been privileged, and now you can just sit there." He poured olive oil on our plate. But put nothing in it!? No herbs ,balsalmic, salt, pepper, parmesan.. nothing! So I looked around for the salt and pepper shakers. One on a table across the room. Two workers standing a couple tables away chatting and glaring. We waited while our server continued to place glasses out ignoring us till finally I could get his attention and asked for salt & pepper. He grabbed shakers and put them on our table. No fresh ground peppermill, and not even an offer., I added salt and pepper to the oil so we could enjoy dipping our bread. Eventually our food came. Bruschetta appetizer. The server asked if we wanted Balsalmic glaze? Isn't that part of Bruschetta? So he brought a small cup on the side after bringing the bread. We drizzled ourselves. Then came our entres. .fettecini Alfredo and pesto ravioli. The sauces were runny, as if they scooped water out of the pasta and poured some milk in it. Maybe a spoonful of other sauce for flavor. I looked around for the parmesan shaker to add to thicken up my sauce and nothing. Two employees a couple of tables away still chatting and glaring. No shakers. Wife complained about her sauce being watery and flavorless. More waiting to catch the server. Finally grabbed him. Asked for parmesan. He grabbed a shaker and left it on the table. I nearly emptied it trying to get some flavor and texture to our sauces.. Finished our meal quickly as it wasn't that good. Asked for check. Brought check and to go boxes. Had to remind him of our purchased to go meals. Came back with them and we left. Cost with tip almost $100. And that was without wine and desert which was never offered. We were glad to go. Likely never to return. It isn't what it used to be. We highly recommend you find a real Italian place that's not a chain. Someplace where they care about whether or not you come back, and what you'll say about your dinner and experience. Someplace where "Woke ideology " and "BLM" aren't the guiding principles. And if that isn't available? Just stay home! You'll be happier and richer...

When my family and I visited Southpoint Mall in Durham we decided to start the visit with a nice meal from a sit-down restaurant instead of getting something quick from a fast-food place. After much discussion, it was decided that we would eat at Maggiano’s. When we first entered and approached the hostess’ stand, we were greeted by a very welcoming and attentive hostess who was legitimately happy to be helping us. While being escorted to our table, I couldn’t help but admire the classy, warm atmosphere of the establishment, complete with background music from Frank Sinatra. After being seated in a very comfortable and well-set table, our waitress approached us after a miniscule wait. It was obvious that she was a true professional and loved her job, as she was very friendly and knowledgeable.

She then returned from retrieving our ordered drinks and promptly took our orders, and I had decided on the Mom’s Lasagna from the Classic Pasta section of the well-stocked yet not overwhelming menu. While waiting for our food to arrive, I couldn’t help but admire the meticulously cleaned silverware, table clothes, polished wooden accents surrounding the U-shaped booth upholstered with plush black leather. Shortly after she left, she returned with a basket of complimentary bread complete with parmesan cheese and oil, which she hand-prepared at the table in front of us, guaranteeing it’s freshness.

Shortly after that she returned with my wife’s appetizer of toast and truffle honey with ricotta butter topped with sun-dried tomatoes, which she happily shared with the rest of the family, and I haven’t tasted a better toast and topping in a long time! When our main entrées arrived, I was impressed by the presentation of my lasagna. It wasn’t simply cut out from a pan and placed haphazardly on a plate but was gently arranged in a shallow elongated bowl sitting upon another plate. Aside from my wife’s homemade lasagna, I have never tasted a better version of this dish than the one offered at Maggiano’s! It was not difficult at all to finish the meal, and I was a little sad when it was all gone.

Only my two younger sons were unable to finish their pizzas, so we asked our waitress if she could bring us a to-go container, which she happily retrieved for us. When she returned with the container, she placed the leftovers in the container and sealed it herself! After receiving and paying the check, I escorted my two younger sons to the bathroom, and the men’s restroom was meticulously cleaned! There was seriously nothing at all wrong that I could see with this restaurant, and I look forward to returning for another meal when we visit...

My husband and I have been coming to Maggiano's since 2016. Before that, my sister and I would come to Maggianos with our dad at least 3x a year for birthdays and special occasions since 2012, and he even had his wedding reception at Maggianos in 2017. Our father passed away 12/29/2023 and his birthday is 1/29, so we wanted to come back together and celebrate his birthday at his favorite restaurant in the area.

Our reservation was at 7:30 and we were seated about 5-10 min after as there was a large influx of people. We sat at one of the comfy booths, but it took about 10-15 min just for us to get water. Our glasses also all had fingerprints all over them and looked very dirty still, so we wiped them down with our napkins.

My husband and I noticed from the start that the bread was different. It's usually much more fresh and this bread looked smaller and not of the same quality. It's usually firmer and larger pieces, and this looked like it was pre-bought, not made in-house.

We usually share a Caesar salad, but I opted to skip and just my husband received one. Even the salad looked completely different, and the croutons were hard as a rock. Another thing that is definitely different as they're usually very light and airy. I could barely bite down on it.

The third issue was the chicken and spinach manicotti. It's always and forever been on a large shallow white dish to where Alfredo is ladled over and easy to eat. It is now being served in a deep dish and I could barely find the manicotti as it was drowning in sauce.

The final and probably most disappointing part of our experience tonight was the discontinuing of the take-home pastas. We understand inflation and rising costs, but this is one of our favorite things about coming to Maggiano's is taking home our Chicken Alfredo and Mom's Lasagna. We quite literally dropped our jaws when our waiter notified us that it was no longer being offered.

This experience really made this a disappointing night for both of us and my sister. Maggianos holds a special place in our hearts and it's quite literally one of our favorite restaurants of all-time, but the amount of change in quality really has us reconsidering visiting Maggiano's again in the future.

We really hope that this feedback impacts the decisions being made and I hope management and corporate understand the severity of these changes and that they are indeed being noticed by guests, as I have also seen other reviews complaining about the change in quality in ingredients, presentation,...