Biaggi's Ristorante Italiano — Restaurant in Middleton

Biaggi's used to be one of my favorite restaurants, and it was my mom's favorite restaurant, so I've had a LOT of Biaggi's over the past 30 years. Unfortunately, the service has been so bad at the Middleton location the past few times I've taken my family there, we won't be going back.

The last time we visited, we never saw our waitress after she took our order -- until it was time to drop off the check. She spent the rest of the evening at the bar chatting with the bartender. If she had bothered to peel herself away from flirting at the bar, we would have loved some drink refills, or to ask about the gluten free bread they offered my daughter but never brought out. Instead, we waited an eternity for the food to come out and then got out of there as quickly as possible.

The two times we visited before that, we had similarly inattentive, or even rude, service. After taking our order, the servers didn't stop by to check in and see if anyone needed a refill. When we asked for more bread, we got an eyeroll ... and no bread. I guess they "forgot." It seemed like maybe they don't like serving families with kids? It's a weird feeling when you're clearly made to feel unwelcome but are unsure why.

Our kids like to order Shirley Temples, which has to be one of the easiest drinks to prepare (just mix ginger ale or lemon lime soda with grenadine, put a cherry on top). Yet somehow, the bartenders at Biaggi's don't seem to be able to make one properly. The soda and grenadine should make for a sweet drink, but the ones at Biaggi's taste like they used some flat tonic water instead of ginger ale and added a single drop of grenadine (when made properly, the drink usually looks red, these were a very very faint pink). We didn't bother sending the drinks back because the servers had already made clear they had zero Fs to spare for us (and it would have required one of them to actually check in, which is apparently too much to ask now).

Until the past year, I don't think I'd ever had a bad service experience at BIaggi's, and in fact, the service had always been excellent. So the first couple times we were treated like unwelcome guests, I thought it was a fluke, but after the third crappy experience at Biaggi's in a row, we finally got the message. We're done with...

We enjoyed celebrating Mother's Day with some fine Italian cuisine for dinner in a relaxing environment. We had not tried the pizza previously, so at my son's suggestion we ordered the Chicken Alfredo style as an appetizer to share. It was amazing, with a nicely crisp and thin crust that also has a good chew to it. For toppings there is spicy grilled chicken, leeks, honey-cured bacon, garlic-herb Montchevrè goat cheese, basil, Parmigiano-Reggiano crème, and Italian cheese blend, all in perfectly balanced proportions. Highly recommended as an appetizer or main entre'e.

My wife really loves the black Fettuccini with Lobster that includes a medley of wild mushrooms, chili flakes, and lobster cream sauce. She was again happy with deciding not to try something else on the menu.

My son very much enjoyed the Chicken Parmesan, served on a bed of large Rigatini noodles with three-cheese Alfredo sauce. His only "complaint" was he wished there was a greater portion of those delicious noodles.

I ordered the Baked Ziti Al Forno with shrimp, grilled chicken, caramelized onions, crispy pancetta, Italian cheese blend, and lobster cream sauce. It was fine, but I was a bit disappointed with the muted flavors and somewhat watery sauce. The bits of pancetta made for a few savory bites, but otherwise, flavors were bland for my taste given the ingredients. This is why my rating is 4-stars instead of 5.

We intentionally skipped having soup or salads to save room for dessert, and we're glad we did. The dessert "special" was a mini key lime pie with a toasted marshmallow topping that was quite tasty. However, it was quite a bit sweeter than I expected, and I was only able to eat half of it. It made for a great take home treat though! My son really loved the chocolate cake, substituting vanilla bean gelato for the standard cappuccino chocolate gelato. It was also large enough for couples to share, but he polished it off regardless!

We definitely will return to dine again soon. I might even try to convince my wife to try something new, but I won't...

6/3: First off, the service at the bar was amazing. I think Kelsey was her name, but she runs circles around everyone else. The bread is amazing! Also had the bacon wrapped dates, the sparerib ravioli, and the Crème Brule. The appetizer could've been amazing if the bacon was crispy and not dripping in it's grease and glaze. The ravioli was too salty and was overpowered by the horseradish. Cut those two ingredients in half and it could've been a five star dish. My serving of Crème Brule was that velvet creamy cloud you'd expect. But, it was obviously old as the wilted mint, dried out strawberries, and temperature gave it away. All in all, I would give the restaurant another go as the service was just that good. Kudos to the bar peeps and boo to the floor manager as he seemed too good to even take dishes... 6/10: Tried the chicken and sausage vesuvio as it was recommended. The chicken was way overcooked and hard, the sausage has a weird textured casing and the potatoes it seemed were fried in a rancid oil. I sent it back in place of the lasagna. The sause was flavorful, but the entire serving was mush. Complete mush. I couldn't even cut out a bite without it spilling off the fork. I also didn't enjoy the surcharge of $16 for the splash of the Drambuie in a Rusty Nail cocktail. If you are going to charge by the sub ounce, at least mention it... Honestly, the service was subpar this visit and I don't think I would give this resturant another go. I would rather go to Olive Garden as the service and food quality is equaly consistent. I would like to also mention that no one could answer as to where they source their seafood. "IDK if its frozen, fresh, or where it comes from. I do know that it isn't cooked off site though." I only asked as two other patrons on either side of me ordered seafood (a shrimp dish and a calamari app) and both didn't eat much and declined to take any home. To me, both smelled powerfully over fishy. IMO one could do much better in quality and $ value spent rather than...