Maggiano’s Little Italy was founded in Chicago, Illinois, in 1991. The company operates a chain of casual, full-service Italian restaurants. Brinker International purchased the company in 1995.
The company had 4 locations in the greater Chicago area until they were acquired by Brinker International. Today, the company has more than 50 locations in 21 states. The company focuses on re-creating the “family-sized” portions that were common pre-WWII. In addition to classic Italian food, the company also offers contemporary dishes, such as salads, pasta, steaks, daily chef specials, and seafood.
Maggiano’s Little Italy also offers in-house banquet rooms and catering services.
In October 2022, the company announced that it would be closing its venue in Lettuce Entertain You Frequent Diner Club.
Company headquarters are in Dallas, Texas.
Maggiano’s Little Italy was founded in Chicago, Illinois, in 1991. The company operates a chain of casual, full-service Italian restaurants. Brinker International purchased the company in 1995.
History
The company had 4 locations in the greater Chicago area until they were acquired by Brinker International. Today, the company has more than 50 locations in 21 states. The company focuses on re-creating the “family-sized” portions that were common pre-WWII. In addition to classic Italian food, the company also offers contemporary dishes, such as salads, pasta, steaks, daily chef specials, and seafood.
Maggiano’s Little Italy also offers in-house banquet rooms and catering services.
In October 2022, the company announced that it would be closing its venue in Lettuce Entertain You Frequent Diner Club.
Company headquarters are in Dallas, Texas.
Book out 4 day reservation…..
Get table near water pitchers and glasses and napkins on pillars, show up few min before reservation and takes 15 min to get seated???
No redfish, no note on menu you’ve sold out
Oversold place, service EXTREMELY SLOW
Your SanAntonio RIM may be extremely profitable cash cow but WE WONT BE BACK!
Carraba’s will smoke you on service and at par food quality!
Just went out to eat with my family and had a waitress named Tahisha or Tahesha. There ended up being two tickets one for $66 and one for $30. My company gave me 2 gift cards to maggiano’s, one for $50 and one for $25. I wrap the 2 giftcards around the $66 ticket because that is the tab that I was paying for while my brother hands her his card for the other tab that was $30. I knew something was off because she was taking too long to come back with the cards and when she did she tried to hand my gift cards off to another person at the table who did not even hand her any form of payment because I was paying for them. I look down and I see that she has charged my $50 giftcard on the $30 ticket and mybrother’s card got charged with the $66 ticket. So I say “excuse me ma’am but this is not correct”. I kid you not she looks at me then looks at the tickets and just says “oh”. No apology or anything just “oh” then she walks off. She did not even hand me a pen to sign the dang receipt with. I then tap another waiter and ask him can he send her back over, she comes our way but stops at the table behind us. She never even came to see what we wanted or anything, she tried to avoid us by staying in the back corner. I then get irritated so we call the manager over at this point to explain what happened. Why did this waitress try to lie at first but then say well I saw that she wrapped the 2 giftcards in the $66 tab but I thought because the $50 giftcard would not cover it (even though the second giftcard wrapped in that same ticket was for $25 which would have covered the difference was there). I frequent this maggiano’s a lot and have paid with 2 giftcards before to split a payment so this is nothing new to me. So instead of asking for help or even coming back to ask how would we like it charged she takes it upon herself to switch the tickets leaving my brother’s regular card on the $66 tab. I was willing to let the whole thing go but it irritated me that when she saw and knew she messed up she did not have the common decency to apologize and ask how can she fix the situation, she just said “oh” walked off then tried to avoid us like the plague. I believe she did all of this because she believed she was not going to get a tip which is crazy because up until that moment she was nice and I planned on giving her $20 as a tip. (My brother had already handed her some cash for the $30 tab he thought he was being charged for). The manager was nice and apologized and even gave us a $25 giftcard to come back but we didn’t even want anything free we just wanted the cards to be corrected and a simple “I’m sorry” for messing up the tabs. It’s so sad that it had to come to this because she did not want to face us when we weren’t even going to fuss at her or anything we simply just wanted it fixed. I love this location but I do not recommend you dine with this waitress she has a horrible attitude and clearly does not know how to take accountability and apologize when she makes an error.
We have been regular customers for at least 10 years now. On a recent visit we discovered that you had removed the Chop salad from the menu, and replaced it with 3 or 4 other typse of salads.
PLEASE BRING BACK THE CHOP SALAD OPTION!!!!
It has been our go to salad choice since day 1
We had our wedding at KOP on 10/15/2022. My husband dropped off two signs to be placed and table numbers. Our guests didn’t know where to sit because they were not placed. 89 guest! A bride and groom frantically placed them as guests sat in the wrong seats. This was in our contract.
We did not get refills of food, my guests have been messaging me about it. That they were disappointed they sat down and they weren’t offered more food when they didn’t have any left, also, that the food was cleaned up right away without offering. HOW AWFUL.
We also did not receive togo items. I am highly disappointed. I called to speak to the GM, Alger, and he hung up on me because I said I would call corporate. I need assistance ASAP.
So upset over the new menu changes I really don’t understand why of all items you take off gnocchi off the menu in the city of Boston. So disappointing I’ve been going there for over 20 years and to find out today you’ll no longer be serving this item and it has been removed. I go there every Tuesday and Thursday for dinner and I deliver for uber part time and in the Boston area it was a big item.. you should really take care of your costumers by the city where they live in not your over all ownership of the cooperation different states ….. just saying very disappointed ????
We booked Maggiano’s Little Italy (downtown location) for our rehearsal dinner on 7/21/22.
It was booked almost 2 years ago with frequent communication and touch points between me and the team over the last 6 months.
Everything was finalized weeks in advance – menu, seating chart, and allergy requirements – and I had high hopes the night would run seamlessly.
I arrived at 5:15pm for a start time of 5:30pm and the tables were not set up, the table numbers were incorrect, and the seating chart hasn’t even been taken out of the cardboard packaging. One staff member claimed they “never received” the seating chart despite the fact I dropped it off at the location earlier that day.
The staff also claimed they didn’t know how many tables were needed, despite the fact I shared a detailed spreadsheet 2 weeks prior, detailing exactly what was required. They claimed they “never received a spreadsheet” but miraculously, when a member of management came to speak with me, he had a copy of said spreadsheet on his phone.
My sister and future mother in law and other members of the bridal party essentially worked to get everything set up which was completely unacceptable, since it was supposed to be a joyous and relaxing occasion for all guests.
Despite reiterating at least 5 times, you asked my fiancé if I wanted plated or family style. This was all confirmed in an email MONTHS ago – why was this even a question? Why was this not already communicated to the kitchen?
When we finally sat for dinner, the menu looked like it was an email printed. It literally still had the text copy “the host to preselect 3 options” with all of the options bunched together, with spelling errors, without any descriptor or additional content. My guests had no idea what the entree options were and it completely ruined the dining experience.
There were two speeches – my father-in-law and my sister. Both times I asked for the music to be turned down, which took at least 10 minutes and another 10 minutes for music to be turned back on afterwards – leaving guests sitting in complete silence during dinner.
The entire experience was awful and I couldn’t wait to leave. There are many other Italian Restaurants in Denver which I recommend you try before considering Maggiano’s Little Italy (downtown location).
Wow, samething happened to us. I am so disappointed
I had a bridal shower at the Schaumburg location in Illinois. They messed up and poured sparkling grape juice instead of the prosecco that I was to pay 3.50 extra per person. I didn’t realize this until someone at the table mentioned it. We toasted with Juice instead of the prosecco. I asked if I could order calamari in addition to the appetizers I picked for my family style lunch. I wanted it to go on the buffet with with other appetizers. I wanted 3 orders of calamari. The staff brought out platters of it to go on the table with the salad which was very nice but I wasn’t made aware that that’s how it would be served. When I got the bill they charged me for 8 orders. We didn’t get any extra food for family style and when myself and another guest asked for more apple crostini dessert the staff said no.
Dan offered me a 500 dollar credit to go back on my credit card which I have yet to see. The party was May 22 and I have been asking for this credit ever since. I spoke with many managers and the last manager I have been speaking to is Jody. She was supposed to get back to me and they keep promising that this credit will go through but she didn’t get back to me today. I am so tired of checking up and following up to get the credit I was promised for the mistakes that were just careless and avoidable and embarrassing to me. This was a one time only event and you can’t get that back. I AM SO TIRED OF DEALING WITH THIS!!!! Please just give me my credit!!!!
Dec. 4 My Sons Birthday Scottsdale Az Terrible Dining experience for my Sons Birthday celebration 1. No Drink refills (water) we ordered 3 appetizers rec’d 1 and 20 min. later rec’d the other 2 . Ordered kids Lasagna meal and received the adult meal. Was not asked if we wanted Salad or anything. Manicotti was burnt , Eggplant cold food took much to long almost an hour to receive. Waiter non existant most of the time not attentive at all. The Manager made excuses saying someone else ordered it well done so it got mixed up. Worst service I have ever had ruining my Sons Birthday. And I paid for this too!
Terrible Dining experience for my Sons Birthday celebration 1. No Drink refills (water) we ordered 3 appetizers rec’d 1 and 20 min. later rec’d the other 2 . Ordered kids Lasagna meal and received the adult meal. Was not asked if we wanted Salad or anything. Manicotti was burnt , Eggplant cold food took much to long almost an hour to receive. Waiter non existant most of the time not attentive at all. The Manager made excuses saying someone else ordered it well done so it got mixed up. Worst service I have ever had ruining my Sons Birthday. And I paid for this too!
To Maggiano’s Corporate office,
I am so sorry for the delay in my complaint. Due to multiple deaths and health issues, I didn’t get a chance to provide you with feedback/complaint of my family’s experience at the Maggiano’s located at 11800 W Broad St, Richmond, VA 23233 on Father’s Day, June 20, 2021. Usually, this is one of my favorite places to dine. This time we brought our parents for their first visit and it was not impressive. We had a reservation at 7:00 for 12. Everyone was there on time except three who arrived ten minutes later. 2 were seated at one table and the rest of us were seated at another. That was no problem. Our waiter was nice but he seemed a little lost. He came to our table three times to confirm our order, as he had missed one order. It was after 8:30 when we received our food after multiple complaints. The couple had their food and had finished eating before we received bread. Finally, when the food came out, it was dry and skimpy. It was so out of the ordinary of the service and quality that I am used to. I’m sure, my parents won’t visit again. One manager tried to make excuses and another did come out to apologize and offered complimentary desserts in which we waited another 30 minutes for and she gave a slight discount; a slight discount for food that ended up in the trash. Needless to say we were greatly disappointed especially as it was our treat and their first time.
February 22, 2021
To Maggiano’s Corporate Management:
My cousin and I were at the 1847 Freedom Drive, Naperville, Illinois location on Thursday, February 18th, 2021 at 5:30pm.
The service was attentive and our meals were tasty. The problem occurred the following day. Upon arriving home, my cousin realized she left her phone on the table. She called immediately (it was 9:45pm), but no one picked up the phone. She continued to call many times. She and her husband decided to go the next day to pick it up. When her husband called to verify its whereabouts on Friday, the 19th, he got the runaround.
Why? We have no idea. He told the host the exact location where the phone was left but was told it was not there. He knew the phone was in the restaurant because he has a phone tracking app and the location indicated Maggiano’s.
He and my cousin continued to call and follow-up. They eventually were told the phone was thrown away in the garbage or the linens, and due to COVID the workers refused to look through either. I was completely appalled by this. If this was my iPhone, I’d be dumpster-diving to retrieve it; and I have a feeling your employees would have done the same. COVID is not an excuse for poor performance or laziness.
To make matters more hypocritical, when we first arrived in the restaurant, both of us went to the bathroom immediately. The soap dispenser and one paper towel dispenser were empty; the other towel dispenser was broken, so you had to handle it to get the paper towels ripped off. Now, given COVID, wouldn’t your bathrooms be operating perfectly?
I reviewed Levy Restaurants for over 20 years. I have never seen a bathroom like yours. And I’ve never been treated with disdain as my cousin was.
I kindly ask you to refund her the cost of her phone. We will send you a bill.
Respectfully,
Toni Rapach
630.452.XXXX
cc Kathryn Johnson
Josh Janovsky, GM Maggiano’s Naperville
On May 23, 2020, we purchased a mattress as well as an adjustable base (Tempur-Pedic 600) through Mattress Firm at the Whiskey Road location in Aiken, SC. The person who sold us the mattress/adjustable base was Lakeisha Ramsey (the area manager). She was very polite and helpful as she showed us all the options based on the feedback we gave her. As a result, I also purchased the Red Carpet experience. My wife has been suffering from lack of sleep, lower back pain, shoulder pain, etc. due to the previous mattress we had, so I wanted this entire experience to be pleasant as well as smooth. We were told our purchase would be delivered on May 30, 2020. We eagerly awaited the delivery, and I was especially excited so my wife could have peaceful, pain-free sleep again.
We wanted to make sure that we prepped our home appropriately on May 29 so that the deliverers could come in and the transition process from removing our old mattress and delivering as well as installing our new mattress would be as seamless as possible. The next day came…we were extremely excited. We receive the call that our delivery would arrive that morning (even though the automated and text message I received said the delivery would be between 12-2pm). We were ready! But what happened after that was a complete nightmare…
The deliverers came into our home. They walked in with their bare shoes. The booties in which they were supposed to wear were in one of the deliver’s back pocket. They assemble the bed and mattress. They then gave me the paperwork to sign. They were preparing to leave when my wife and I informed them about our old mattress. One of the deliver’s asked, “Oh are supposed to take those?”. We informed him yes. They left. My wife immediately looked at mattress and base and noticed that the base was a 300 Tempur-Pedic, not the 600. I said, “Are you sure?” We looked at the base looking for the lights under the bed, the remote for the bed, and then the manual. I immediately called the deliverers, but did not receive an answer (this was approximately 12:30pm). My wife suggested I call Lakeisha from Mattress Firm. I called her. When I called her, I informed her what happened. She told me that we of course did not receive the correct base, but the polite and helpful customer service she provided on May 23rd was not evident in that moment. It was clear that she was with another customer, but instead of her showing a little more understanding and compassion, she was short. While with a client she was with (without putting us on mute-we could hear her talking to them -pitching her sale), she asked some questions: “What does your receipt say? How long have they been gone? Look at your remote describe it to me. I understand you are disappointed Mr. Johnson just let me call the warehouse.” I informed her that they hadn’t been gone 10 mins. I was trying to explain to her that maybe our actual base was on the truck and they could do a simple turnaround. She informed me again that she could not tell us anything until she spoke to someone in the warehouse. Ms. Ramsey and I ended the call. My wife was upset to say the least! My wife then called at 12:40pm and spoke with Louise at the Whiskey Road location. My wife explained to Louise what happened to us and asked to speak with the district manager, but she then transferred us back to Ms. Ramsey. Ms. Ramsey said what she said before, “I cannot provide you any information until I contact the warehouse”.
Time went on at this point-still no response from Ms. Ramsey. My wife and I didn’t feel as if she had our concerns as a first priority. So we called another store location to see if we could get some help-maybe get the phone number for the district manager, to express our grievances (North Augusta Mattress Firm). At 12:50pm, Mike assisted us. He was concerned. He showed us empathy from the beginning. He informed me that he would call the warehouse and give us a call back. He returned our call within minutes. He told us that he could get us our correct base delivered on June 13th. I asked if it was possible to get it sooner-me and my wife’s wedding anniversary is June 11th. At that point, we felt like our hands were tied…
Lakeisha finally called back (around 1:19pm) and said the delivery men are coming back to get the 300 base and would get our 600 base and come back and assemble it. We felt totally relieved! She also refunded the delivery fee of $100.00. She apologized and said she didn’t understand why the deliverers did not look at the box. The delivers arrived around 5:45pm to retrieve the 300 base. Chris, one of the deliverers said he would get us taken care of. About and hour and a half later, Chris called and informed me that they went to another customer’s house (where our 600 base was delivered). What?!!!! We thought we were getting a new base, not someone else’s. With COVID-19 going around and the fact that we paid for a NEW base, we certainly did not want that one. But it was the way that he told me-and then said, “I am sure you do not want the 600 base with paint on it?” It was apparent then that we were being shafted and tossed to the side. Here we had a mattress and no base. Our entire day was ruined dealing with this!
Then there was yet another conversation with Lakeisha because we didn’t have a bed to sleep on for the night. She said I needed to call the delivery guy back. She asked was his name Chris…now I don’t know this man to be arbitrarily calling him like I know him- that is her job or persons from the warehouse!!! Then to add insult to injury she asked me to 3 way the call! I’m playing dispatch for Mattress Firm! We at that point have no confirmation on when we would receive our 600. She told the delivers to come back to give us the 300 base temporarily, and that she would contact the warehouse tomorrow, Sunday May 31st. They arrive around 8pm-tracking more dirt in my home. My wife is livid at this point-on top of the day itself, she had to clean behind the deliverers twice! I’m truly disappointed because it took up all of our Saturday, which was our date night.
Lakeisha contacted us around 2pm on Sunday. She said she checked the system and the delivery would be on June 1st. Because my wife and I both work, we had to get my mother-in-law to come over for the delivery (it was between 9:15 and 11:15am). In efforts to try to save face she upgraded us to a 900 base. They deliverers did arrive on June 1st, and wore red booties like they were supposed to in the beginning -based on our purchase. They were not the same deliverers.
This was a disappointing experience. Based off what happened on May 23rd, my wife and I were confident we made the right choice in choosing Mattress Firm. On the same day, we visited other mattress stores but was so impressed, we came back on that very same day and made the purchase. My wife was talking to her friends telling them to go to Mattress Firm in Aiken (her friends were mattress shopping for their families). Because of our experience, she told them not to. I am not sure if we will ever purchase anything from Mattress Firm again..
I have always had a very positive experience at Maggiano’s in Overland Park, KS. I have eaten there several times. In March I ordered a take out meal based on an email I received. It said I would receive salad, main course, 8 slices of bread and 12 lemon cookies. I picked up the meal on my way home from an appointment and took it home. (I live 45 minutes north of the restaurant, near the airport, so it is not a quick drive.) When I got home there was no cookies and only 6 slices of bread. I called the restaurant the next morning and was transferred to the manager on duty. I told him what happened and he had an attitude, and told me to come in that morning and pick up my cookies and bread. I told him how far away I lived and he was unsympathetic and asked what I wanted him to do about it. I told him that I wasn’t driving 45 minutes to pick up cookies and bread. He said he would send a gift card out and took my name and address. I never received the gift card – no surprise with the attitude he had.
Hi a friend of mine has been treated unfairly at maggianos, she went from 40 hours a week to one day a week. How can she survive/pay bills? Oh wait she can’t!
She has got hardly no explanation on why. It is crazy! One of your best teammate as well. Please help me understand, there is hours too!
I sent the following email to the general manager at the store located in Springfield, VA:
Mr Tanner,
I am not one to ever write or make known my disappointment in service of an eating establishment, however, this situation was one I feel I can not ignore
My husband’s 70th birthday was today 22 June 2018.
I specifically made reservations for a party of 8 for 6PM. Having frequented Maggiano’s many times for both casual dining and special occasions (each with positive experiences) I chose to have dinner there tonight. Having read your MAKE A WISH information on line and seeing your SWEET SUCCESS DESSERT I called to order one as this birthday was significant and special having overcome many obstacles prior to reaching this date.
In making my request for this dessert I was specifically told my server would be given this information and I would not have to talk to my server as it would all be taken care of.
When dinner was done however, our server (Diego) was totally unaware of any dessert to be served to us and not knowing about the plan, they requested dessert menus. This caused me to question what was happening as I was assured this would not happen.
I went to the Host podium to inquire what happened and the computer reflected my party as being “in the bar”. The host remembered my phone in request for the dessert and somehow it was never transferred to anyone involved in serving us. A woman was called and she was totally unaware of the arrangements and called for the manager who was Mr. Cuervo. Repeating my situation he offered to give us a dessert, but by this time we were just ready to leave and a dessert was not a compensation for the expected special dessert and the impressive response it would have created.
Mr Cuervo asked what I would want to resolve the issue and I said that was up to him not me. He came to our table and gave me $20.00 in gift cards to return at a future date. We applied them to our bill which was over $150.00. That was insignificant for the disappointment, frustration, and now anger at all the time spent explaining the situation and not able to adequately replace what was originally planned.
This completely ruined the evening and what was to be a happy occasion ended up in disappointment and unnecessary anger and atitude.
I felt I had to let you know
Barb Breyfogle
703-494-XXXXX
Let me start by saying We are true fans of Maggiano’s as we enjoy and have enjoyed meals in Tampa, Chicago, Dallas / Plano and Dallas North park, and finally Boca. This was our first time visiting Maggiano’s for Thanksgiving, We made a reservation for 6 guests at 7:45 pm at the Boca location. We arrived at 7:35 and were promptly seated at 7:45. Our seating started with returning menus covered with Spaghetti sauce and requesting new silverware as the ones set at the table had food remains on them for 3 of the 6 guests seated. Now 4 of the 6 guests were first timers to Maggiano’s and were looking forward to a top notch dinning experience that we brag so much about. We met out wait staff Fuad and Carlos who took our drink orders and we placed our dinner selection. after waiting almost 20 min our 1st selection or appeteaser arrived, 1 plate to be shared between 6 hungry men. We did eat the appeteaser and looked forward to our salad selections.. 8:15, no waiter no salad, 8:30 still no waiter no salad, we even noticed that the tables around us who arrived AFTER us have not only received their salads they have already started on their main courses. At 8:40 one of our guests got up and requested a manager that came over and took our order for a second round of drinks as we were all sitting there with empty glasses and said he would make sure we got our salads right away. at 8:48 pm our salads arrived! Finally our waiter comes back, no apology for things taking so long but actually gets into a confrontational conversation with Dan one of our guests who was angry due to no food and poor service and told Dan he needed to understand they have 50 tickets in the back and we needed to be patient. REALLY ?? this DIDN’T go over well at all and when Dan said that’s my issue how? Fuad our waiter just walked away.. Approx 15 min later what was to be a Thanksgiving Dinner for 6 arrived, 2 platters of turkey that consisted of 1 spoon of dressing and scraps of turkey including the bones in the dark meat. we ordered garlic mashed potatoes and received plain mashed potatoes that were dry and even included several chunks of UNCOOKED potato. The 2 platters of ham were cool and dried out, you know ham has been sitting for a while when it darkens and starts to curl up, ALL of the meat served were scraps or end cuts and not let me tell you how our main courses were presented to the table, when I tell you that the food was thrown on the table I will with no exaggeration state that the food was shoved in front of us by servers with no interaction and they left. We had no salt or pepper and guess what no Fuad or Carlos to be found to request some as well, we had Spaghetti and meatballs, Gnocchi , spinach, but no gravy for the potatoes or turkey so everything remained dry and tasteless. Finally Fuad stopped coming to out table all together and it was only Carlos. the dishes were cleared and we sat waiting for desert , this did arrive AGAIN to have 2 dirty desert plates and 2 forks again with food on them in addition to 1 with the tines so badly bent up you could not eat something with it no matter how hungry you might be. DID ANYONE ask of we wanted coffee with desert? NOPE but after sitting there for 10-12 min we finally said to Carlos is it possible to get some coffee? At Maggiano’s dinner is served family style which means things are eaten and guests are asked if they want more, this is if you have a wait staff that is actually attentive. there was NO Family style dinning here, our dinning experience was more like unwanted guests style dining. This was the WORST dinning experience we have ever had at any Maggiano’s with a bill for $300.00 for 6 people; this horrible meal the extremely poor service and lack of any care took our Thanksgiving to one of the worst holiday experiences we have ever had, in addition to leaving a horrible first impression on our 4 guests dinning there for a first time. 1 star for this dinner is to much actually along with the $300.00 bill ! Maggiano’s Boca we hope you take these reviews seriously and do whats right because our Thanksgiving dinner for 6 was ALL WRONG !!!
Good morning! This is a formal dinner complaint, addressed to both the customer service and the management departments of “Maggiano’s”. I couldn’t fit all the information into the customer service section of the website, so I decided to send this email and address the issue this way.
On Tuesday October 17th I went to your “Maggiano’s” restaurant located on 13th St. & Filbert St. in Philadelphia. It was a very busy day at work and I was really looking forward to relax and catch up with some of my friends, who, like me, are also regulars there. I got there around 4:50 P.M., scheduled to meet my friends shortly after. I had visited the location multiple times before, particularly the bar area. In fact, I know one of the managers and several of the bartenders as well.
Things were going well, until another customer asked me if the seat next to me was taken and I said yes, to which he said “ok” and walked around the bar. Lou, one of the bartenders who knows me from me being there so many times and who had been very nice to me until that night, had an “attitude” about it. He presumed that I was meeting a friend of mine, who is one of the regulars that normally comes in around 6:00 P.M. So, he jumped to say that he (my friend) “better not get there that late”, as he (Lou) “didn’t want to lose another customer over him”. I was flabbergasted and couldn’t believe his attitude, as he kept on saying that it was “all about the money” and how “crazy” it got sometimes “on Friday” when people tried to save seats for others. I understood his point, but the place was not crowded at all and it wasn’t a Friday either. Even a woman seating two seats away who witnessed the situation, very kindly offered up her seat as she was getting her check. I thanked her for her gesture and stated that I was just going to leave to provide even more empty seats at the bar, as I was appalled by the whole thing.
After all, with so many Italian restaurants in the city, why stay where you are treated in such a rude and discourteous way? Sure enough, as I was extremely upset and thinking about leaving, my friend walked through the door and sat next to me. Then I said to Lou, “you see, I didn’t lie to you” and “I can’t believe you were giving me that attitude, as you know that I practically live here, due to all the times I’ve visited this place”. To my disbelief, he never apologized. Later on, my other friend came in and was able to get a seat next to me. We all had a good conversation and a few laughs, but due to the bitterness of the previous moment, the rest of the evening felt weird.
I thought about talking with one of the managers, but the one I know, Patty, wasn’t there and I didn’t want to make a scene or get Lou in trouble. Nonetheless, I had to write this doXXXXent, because I felt horrible and under attack, for no reason. If that is “Maggiano’s” policy, of not wanting customers to wait for their friends during “happy hour” and having the courtesy of saving at least one seat when they are on their way, it was never communicated to me. As I previously mentioned, I had been there countless times and never had an issue before. Sadly and in light of these events, I believe that I will never visit the restaurant again. It was an embarrassment and an uncomfortable situation beyond belief, so I will not bring my friends there anymore either. As a side note, between one of my friends and me, I spent close to $100, including tip, not counting what my other friend spent. With that said, I can dare to say that whatever he amount he spent, it was pretty to close to what I spent, since we all had dinner and drinks. In other words, there is that “money”, that Lou, whom I left the tip for, was complaining about not getting, due to my waiting for friends at the bar, at the beginning of this narrative.
Finally, I only have one question: what kind of response from both customer service and management can a loyal customer like me expect, after this unfortunate event? How can this be taken care of and avoided in the future to not chase customers away?
Thanks in advance for your prompt attention to this matter.
Hello
I had a very bad experience tonight dining at maggianos in tysons corner. I ordered two classic pastas with the take one home offer. my server did not give us the take one home offer even though we ordered off that specific menu. I feel ripped off and very unhappy with the service i received. Will not be going back
maryam
I worked at Maggianos at the Milwaukee Wisconsin location for 5 months. Quickly I realized there were several problems going on at this restaurant. To start off with, the GM Jeff Gerber (whom I didn’t even realize was the GM considering he seldom works) does not care about the guests experience. He will push you passed your limits even when I would express that I needed help, and instead will constantly belittle me while trying to work. When my table would have a problem, he would refuse to go to them and will instead just comp their meal without speaking to them first, or push it off on another manager claiming hes too busy to deal with the guests problems. The only thing he cared about was the numbers on the papers showing how well the restaurants doing. He strives to be the best on paper, yet provides little support and direction to his staff who makes the company stand out. I, being of Hispanic origin, often felt discriminated with his inappropriate comments. Not only does he make jokes about race, he discriminates transgenders calling them what he refers to as “He Shes”. He threatened my job for being too sick to work, even if provided with a doctor note. He makes servers carry buss tubs of heavy dishes down a flight of stairs continuously over their shift while taking care of tables upstairs, even though we have a busser we tip out every night, claiming it’s not their job. Several employees have gotten hurt doing this, since they were trying to rush downstairs with a tub full of dishes to empty while trying to take care of 6 tables at a time. Although this is one of the worst places I’ve worked at, I still didn’t have the courage to complain to someone higher than my GM, because the money was good and I had bills to pay. It was a situation recently that made me too fed up to keep to myself. My two roommates also worked at Maggianos, in the beginning of June they moved to Colorado and decided to transfer Maggianos so they didn’t have to worry about getting a new job right after the move. After working at the Denver pavilions location for a couple weeks they reported to me just how much better the work environment was there, and that they didn’t plan on quitting anymore like they did at the old Milwaukee location. I was ecstatic to move there with them after I settled everything in Milwaukee first. I’ve been in Colorado for a few days now, continuously calling Maggianos for a week straight to have them request to transfer me. Everything was all set, I talked to the GM at the Denver location and he stated I was all set to continue working there. After a week I was finally able to get Jeff on the phone, he said he was going to do the transfer today and talk to the Denver GM. When my two roommates came home from work today at Maggianos, they informed me that Jeff had no intentions of transferring me. I had to find out from my roommates that I lost my job. I talked to Jeff that very same morning and he lied right over the phone to me. No one talked to me about this, not on my last week of working their or my last shift, or even over the phone. Jeff Gerber the person who is supposed to be the general manager did not contact me what so ever. He basically set me up to fail in Denver, which to me is not at all what a GM should do. I’ll be blunt in the fact that Jeff does not have it in him to be a general manager of such a big corporation. I wanted to shine this light on you since on paper everything seems to be well, but there are many many problems that go unaddressed because my manager simply does not care.
You need to get a lawyer and sue!