Maggiano's Little Italy — Restaurant in Schaumburg Township

2/3/24 - Maggiano's is a consistently great place to go for families, couples, and friends: The night we were there we saw two large groups celebrating their anniversary and birthday, some families with young and well behaved children, a number of young couples out for date night, and many groups of friends such as ours.

The price points are very friendly and the portion sizes are always generous. We love the special dine-in menu deal where you can order a "Classic" entree to go for just $6 with each regular priced entree you order, 4/6 of us took advantage of this offer during our visit.

Our server "Anthony A" was top notch and did a great job of making sure everyone had what we needed when we needed it. As we finished desert we offered to vacate the table to make room for others who might be waiting. Anthony assured us there was no hurry and invited us to stay as long as we like, he seemed genuinely concerned that we felt relaxed, comfortable, and unhurried during our dinner service.

Sadly they only had 1 bartender working for the entire bar and dining room staff. While their BARTENDER IS VERY GOOD and was hustling at a brisk pace there is just no reasonable way to avoid the delay in service based on guest demand - its too much for just one person to handle in a reasonable amount of time. It is also NOT COOL to be working anyone that hard. In our opinion service quality suffers as guests needlessly wait extended periods for beverage service; and if you happen to be waiting or dining at the bar it prevents that all important personal connection with the guest(s) and their bartender - just no time. Not to mention the amount of $$ the restaurant loses as guests skip additional drink orders to avoid long waits. Wouldn't it be more profitable to put on another bartender? Please don't respond by lamenting how difficult it is to find good help, I have no trouble at all finding help: the secret is to pay people what they're worth and treat them well when you are lucky enough to find them as opposed to overworking them like dogs because YOU'RE shorthanded. I'm so tired of hearing that weak excuse. If you take care of the people the people will take care of you.

In addition, the dining room is very crowded with tables packed tightly together, perhaps too tightly as evidenced by one in our party being bumped by service staff or other guests no less than 6-times throughout our meal. In one instance the busboy politely asked our friend to move his chair so that he could push a stack of plastic glass crates past him. We don't fault the friendly service staff for having little to no choice but to interrupt the meal to maintain service, but we do question owners and managers who are "squeezing" guests so tightly together for a few dollars more. Our server did offer us a complimentary tray of delicious lemon cookies at the end of our meal in an effort to apologize for the annoyance.

In short, we enjoy the Maggiano's experience and plan on dining with them again in the future. The good things far outweigh...

My group of four dined with Maggiano’s on Monday, getting there around 4 PM and leaving around 7 PM. Our server was Ray and honestly, this was one of the worst dining experiences.

Right off the bat, the table we were led to was their standard square table. Needless to say, as we were going to be enjoying our meal family style, this was definitely going to be a problem. In addition to the small table, when the server was pouring water, she couldn’t help but pour too much too fast, leading to a majority of it spilling onto the floor. Twice.

Considering we already knew what we wanted, our orders were easy. While waiting for the first round, we snacked on bread, olive oil and parmesan. Everything was fine until the salad and starters came. Because the table was so small, the server cleared all our dipping plates, even ones that were still being used mid-dip. I kid you not, the entire table was full with just two salads and two starters. I had enough and asked for a larger table, as we were attempting to enjoy a family style experience. The waitress looked shocked I even said anything.

Things seem to be going ok for a while, and we let our guards down. Our fault. We were told that our plates would be cleared away for the main dishes - they were not. We were told we would be getting refills for our drinks - they were not refilled. She kept glancing at our table as she walked past, telling us time and time again that things would be done, but not do them. But she did remember to keep calling us darling, sweetie, and my loves. She didn’t forget that.

As we finished our first rounds of pasta, we asked for seconds. She just looked at us like we were stupid and told us that they wouldn’t get us to go boxes. At no point did we say anything about getting them to go, we just wanted more alfredo and ravioli. My friend looked ready to argue, but I told her to just let it go. It felt like Ray didn’t want us there, so we dropped it and waited for dessert. And boy did we wait.

But in typical Ray-fashion, she told us she would get us drink refills, and desserts every time she walked by. Four times she did this. By the fifth time, she didn’t even remember what she was trying to tell us and I had to reiterate she was going to get us dessert. By the time they even came out, all the ice cream had already melted and the cheesecake wasn’t even chilled.

Whatever, we got another helping but this time, a miracle happened. They came out in three minutes.

I asked for the bill, and again in her typical fashion, it took forever. Miracle didn’t last. And to round out the night, she overcharged. Instead of four, she charged an invisible fifth person. Honestly, she couldn’t even check us out correctly.

Despite everything, we still tipped because that’s how they get paid, but she did not deserve a penny. You would think that for almost $300, things wouldn’t...

I hate to do this however....

I went to maggiano's with my sister and spouse. We were all excited about eating there as it's always been top-notch in terms of food quality and value.

I'm not sure what happened but I'm not going back.

First off the appetizer of crispy mozzarella was very disappointing. I have no shame in admitting that I am a glutton and will shamelessly eat the entire appetizer.... While threatening anyone who dares to grab a forkful. It lacked flavor and it just was not good.

The maggiano's salad is the big disappointment... Actually it's a huge disappointment because that's why I go there. I'm not sure who changed up the maggiano's salad and how its prepared... It did not even resemble the maggiano's salad I've had in the past and previously the entree size of the maggiano salad was enough to feed three people and have seconds to spare. This was adequate for three people but just barely. Whatever the hell you guys thought you were doing to change this up.... It is absolutely the wrong direction. And honestly I felt like you were trying to get a few cents shaved off by having less salad.

The entree prices went up significantly.... While I am seeing price increases almost everywhere... Ordering an a shareable side of broccoli was more $10.50... really ? It feels like gouging.

To top things off... They no longer have the take-home pasta which I thought was such an enticing offer that I always excuse the higher price at maggiano's.... That was kind of the last straw.

The only real saving Grace was that the martini was phenomenal... And the waiter was fantastic. The waiter was knowledgeable about wine, charismatic, and really did everything he could to make the meal better because could sense we were less than happy.

Sorry maggiano's... I'm typically a very loyal customer... But the sad appetizer.. the abomination you call in maggiano salad now.... And pulling away the take-home pasta was the last straw.

It was a 200.00 bill for three of us....

There are other places with far greater value.

I'm fairly certain not coming back...

Unless you guys bring back maggiano's salad the way...