My friends and I decided to go to Maggiano's on a Saturday night, on the spur of the moment. We were a party of 8 and just a group of teenagers. Usually, we're pretty harshly turned away or just ignored by waitstaff or the hostess; however, that night we were all seated in about 15 minutes without a reservation. The waitstaff was very kind and when we were all shocked by the price and not sure what to do, the waiter offered to let us order per-plate versus family style. We always had plenty of water on the table and bread. I was a little confused about the beverages because there wasn't anything about them on the menu and the waiter didn't say anything. Besides that, it was wonderful food. I loved having food left-over for the next day-- it re-heats amazingly well. We had a nice private dining room with about two other parties of about 8 people and the ambiance was very quiet and relaxed. The extra-dim lighting for ""mood"" was a bit annoying, but you can't really ask the waitstaff to turn up the lights, can you?
Pros: delicious food, polite waitstaff, prompt, good for large groups,
Cons: weird lighting, not for children, parking
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