Maggiano's Little Italy — Restaurant in Town of Hempstead

Edit: 10/2024 Sadly someone simply forgot that they own/manage a restaurant which is customer service-based business. We haven't been here for about a year and I don't know if it's budgetary cuts or laziness.

So the food, we returned a dish 3 times due to the fact that they did not prepare it as requested (NO GARNISH means no green stuff on top), as well as it was so spicy (not listed as spicy on the menu) that a child could not eat it. The manager said that he will see what the chef can do but the sauce was already made. I said "so you're serving premade sauce, not fresh?" he replied "it's not premade", So I responded "you said the sauce already has spice in it" and the manager said "yes", so again.. " The sauce is premade then", he said "it's not but the sauce already has spice in it". I simply stated "Vodka sauce is simply tomato, heavy cream, herbs, garlic and Romano cheese" and the manager looked at me and said "no that's not right". I looked at him and said "based on the fact the restaurant isn't half full, the food is severely lacking and you're not making eye contact with me, i would say you need to come clean. do you know how to cook? because i do". he looked at me and you saw his frustration so i jumped in "we've driven over 200 miles today, we;re been really busy, we wanted to go out to eat to enjoy, we are enjoying nothing, this is not a debate". He disappeared after saying that he will have them prepare a non-spicy one. I cannot tell you if the color was right when it came back as the lighting in there is less than that of a single candlelight. Not intimate, just hiding the food. The sauce had no flavor upon return.

The eggplant was paper thin, battered up to look think, and then frozen so long you couldn't tell there was eggplant in the filet. It was pretty bad actually and I was severely craving eggplant (still am because I really didn’t get any from that serving). The portion of pasta on the side was recooked. it was obvious. if they argue otherwise then they should be ashamed of themselves!

The Calamari was far from fresh. Delivered frozen, remained frozen until fried then tasted of frozen seafood. Grilling the lemon was a nice touch I'll give them that.

Chicken Saltimbocca was a frozen chicken breast with pancetta (maybe even just ham), not prosciutto. They over-seasoned it then over-baked it until it was good and dry as a piece of wood, like a rappers-delight song. Basically inedible.

The Rigatoni-D is the same because it's probably a signature sauce they receive in delivery. However they changed their pasta from standard Rigatoni to something smaller.

The service was slow. So slow. The manager said he would refill our drinks, never returned. Service was scarce and poorly executed. While the servers were nice, nice doesn't get the tips.

AND WHY are you suggesting tips POST TAX??? STOP THIS MADNESS! Tip is based on subtotal, never taxed amount! THIS is why you should never start at 18%. 15% is the lowest amount if you are making a statement. For restaurants to pay their people so poorly they have to steal from customers even more (2 adults, 3 children, $200, 1 dish each and 2 small apps), this is insane!

Yea you lost my 4 star rating and now you lost customers. Please do not say "oh come back in we'll make it worth your while" because I will not waste my money on your failed efforts. I want my words to propagate to all until you truly implement real and corrective change! I would NEVER allow any business under my control to ever run like this! You...

Me and my family went here for dinner. A colleague at work suggested this place and I am so thankful to her that she did . I had already visited their location in Boston with her so I had idea what I wanted which is a family style menu. I love their family style menu with this you get food a plenty. You get to choose what you want and you can get refills which is the best part. You can practically eat all night and they will keep on bringing you food.

The only thing I will advise is when you go here do not eat lunch or breakfast that day or you will be sorry. The food is amazing you’re gonna eat more but if you had lunch or breakfast, you will not be able to eat as much as you want to, so my friend come hungry.

The menu it starts with the salad options are the Maggiano salad or the Caesar salad . I always take both but I don’t focus on the salads because what’s coming is more amazing.

For starters, I love love and love the stuffed mushrooms. Always very nice. Very delicious. it’s a vegetarian option, but taste every bite. The second choice for starters for me is the simple bruschetta, the bread is crunchy and the ingredients nice.

The main course we ordered chicken piccata, which is my usual go to in an Italian restaurant . I firmly believe you cannot screw up chicken piccata and these guys certainly don’t they delivered pretty well. Good job with the lemon sauce in the base which gives the chicken the flavor. My son could not stop eating it.

When they say they are famous for the rigatoni I agree with them 110%, the creamy sauce in the rigatoni makes hell of a difference very hard to describe. It’s a little bit salty little bit Tangy, and very creamy.

The four cheese ravioli was cooked amazing, the serving was delightful, looked nice. my daughters could not stop eating it. It was very delicious.

Dessert sampler is the bonus in the family style financially speaking. They give you five desserts on a board, the sizes are decent certainly more than just a flavor of those desserts. it is quite a good mix. Love the crème brûlée in there. I like it because the sugar balance in it is just not too much not too low.

For the amount of food you get it’s more than worth it . Some might call it expensive at $40.99 per adult but for the amount of food they give you it is more than worth it, not only you can get as many refills as you want as you keep on finishing food and whatever you don’t finish you can take it home. What else...

I am thrilled to write this wholly positive review of our experience with Maggiano's Little Italy in Garden City yesterday, June 25th, 2022 -- which is the second time we've eaten at the Garden City location, and both experiences were terrific. We first discovered Maggiano's in Boston in October 2021, and loved it so much. When we discovered that there was a Maggiano's on Long Island, a short enough drive from where we live, we were thrilled, and the Long Island location also surpasses our expectations. The food is flavorful and the service is impeccable. However, we are a family with two children who have severe food allergies, and eating at restaurants can often be a disappointing experience with limited menu options -- but at Maggiano's, my children were treated like VIPs. The amazing chef -- Matt -- came out to speak with us about our kids' allergies. He asked the kids what they wanted to eat and then, if necessary, modified the meal so that it was something my kids could have. The chef brought the kids' food out himself and checked in on their meals while they were eating. At most restaurants, my kids are limited to one-three items per menu -- here, my kids could have just about anything. Typically, because of my kids' allergies to nuts, they can NEVER have dessert. Matt made sure that was not the case with my children. My ten year old really wanted the dessert sampler, which is a tiny (adorable) version of several (delicious) desserts. The chef checked each dessert for their allergies, determined that one was not suitable, and replaced it with a double of another dessert (more to share!) And then the chef sent out yet another dessert as a treat to congratulate my son for a special occasion we were celebrating. This has never happened at another place, and it just made eating at a restaurant (which is usually a nerve-wracking, fraught experience for our family) absolutely wonderful and memorable in so many ways for our family. We are so full of gratitude not just for the delicious food that we were ALL able to enjoy together, but for an experience that was just so positive and so joyful for us. If you are a food allergy family, you know how much this means. If you aren't a food allergy family, I think our experience still speaks strongly to the kind of thoughtful, detail-oriented, welcoming, delicious experience you can expect to have Maggiano's. We are one...