Maggiano's Little Italy — Restaurant in Washington

To be clear, I am giving Maggiano’s two stars out of respect for the name and for the quality of food that friends have said to have had in the past(I can’t stand when people love a place so much that they frequent it but after one bad experience they choose that they hate it so much it’s deserving of one star).

However, this first experience of mine certainly felt deserving of one star. For the first time, we went out for thanksgiving to try something new and chose Maggiano’s. Albeit, being our first time dining out, this may have set a very high bar for the quality of food and service that we expected. Nevertheless, had I received the same food and service anywhere else I would never have returned there either.

For starters, after waiting about 10 minutes to be greeted, our server spilled water on both my sister and I, which in and of itself isn’t a horrible atrocity. What confused me was that she left the puddle of water on the floor for the remainder of the dinner and did not even bother to return with napkins. We ordered a bottle of wine which came out after our first 2 courses, once again not the end of the world but a pretty generally accepted step of service. Two sprites were ordered as well and promptly forgotten about. Our server seemed to disappear from the dining room for about 15 minutes so we had to flag down someone else for the drinks. She checked in once to see if the food was okay and that was about the extent of the service she provided us with other than taking the order.

As for the food, the portions were good but overall the quality was very unremarkable. The consensus at the table was that the best dishes were the tomato bruschetta and the Caesar salad. The other bruschetta we received seemed to be topped with about a half of a hard endive which made it quite difficult to eat, although removing the endive made it much better. We got the turkey, tilapia, and the spaghetti and meatballs as our main dishes and while they were okay all around, I was disappointed that at an Italian restaurant the spaghetti was so bland. The pasta didn’t seem fresh and you had to dig to find a piece of meatball(which were falling apart left and right).

I’ll wrap this review up by saying that when we got desserts(which can be a saving grace, but unfortunately this visit was too far gone) I ordered a cappuccino. I received a cup of coffee topped with overly foamed and burnt milk that I didn’t even try to drink past the first sip. So disappointed, we should have gone...

Only giving 3 stars because the food was BOMB. But because of the service… it sucked. Went to dinner to celebrate my friends birthday. It was a Friday night, 8:30 reservation. I made the reservation online, never been here before. The host called me to ask for my family menu order, I was confused and tried to ask more questions but the host that called kept rushing me and telling me to go online. I did that and called back with my order after I placed the order I tried to ask the host about parking and she hung up on me. When we arrived at 8:25, they sat us quickly. And started bringing out the food we ordered, the food was delicious! The manager came to give us our water, I said hi to the manager he didn’t respond, we tried asking for drinks he said he would bring a drink menu, never brought it… about 30 min after enjoying our starters and salad our server finally stopped by the table. We asked for a drink menu again, and another plate of one of the starters, she finally came back to the table again about 25 min later to get our drink orders. I asked about the order we placed and at the same time it came out… I quickly asked for our entrees before our server disappeared again. It look about 45 min for our entrees to come out, our server didn’t check on us again. We finished up and waited and waited and waited for a server to come so we could ask for the check and some containers. She dropped the bill and then took 15 min to come back and get the card so we could pay and leave. Overall rating: food/atmosphere 9/10 service 2/10

For such an upscale restaurant, you would think the server would put some effort… very disappointed! I would also like to add, the server had 4 parties when we were there… 2 of the parties got her full attention and they were seated after us and left before us. The restaurant was not that busy! There was really no reason she did not attend to us or put any effort.

Update: on top of the bad service, the server decided to add a $50 tip to the card. Called and spoke with a manager to get that taken off. Wow, the...

We just closed the door behind us, and I had to share this experience. We enjoyed a wonderful brunch here to celebrate our son's high school graduation, and everything—from the atmosphere to the service and food—was exceptional. The host kindly seated our family in a almost private room, which made the celebration feel even more special. The setting was beautiful and intimate, perfect for such an important day. We started with calamari, which arrived quickly and was paired with a rich tomato sauce. We also got a truffle garlic bread which was absolutely delicious. For the main course, we ordered the beef tenderloin medallions, two lobster carbonaras, the ribeye, and lasagna. Every dish was outstanding, even the complimentary bread served with olive oil and parmesan. Last summer, I spent two weeks in Marina di Pietrasanta on the Versilia coast of Tuscany, and the tomato sauce here brought me right back to that unforgettable trip. The taste was spot-on—authentic and beautifully done. Thank you for recreating that memory with just a single flavor. A special thank you to the staff for their professionalism. Our server—whose name I sadly didn’t catch—was truly wonderful. She was welcoming, attentive, and respectful of our space. She offered advice when asked, yet moved so gracefully and quietly, it felt almost magical—like in a fairytale. Glasses were refilled just in time, and empty plates disappeared effortlessly. Thank you for making such an important day for our family truly unforgettable. Our only “complaint”? The portion sizes and how incredibly delicious everything was! The food was so delicious it was hard to stop eating, but the portions were very generous—so come hungry, and try to save room...