Maggiano's Little Italy

I went here for the first time and I loved it. I went with a group of friends and we all ordered our own entrees and later realized that we had sooo much food! Alll of their entree portions were big. But the food was soo good that we ate most of it. My most favorite here was the pasta. The service was great. The food cam pretty quickly..not liek many other restaurants where you wait hours and hours. Also, the only down side of this place was that they don't make any reservations. So if you have a big party..it might take a while to get in. more

This restaurant is an excellent family style place to eat. Everyone gets a little of everything you order, which means you really get a great sample of what they serve. I never knew this was a chain - never would have guessed it! The service is great and the prices are reasonable. This restaurant is definitely worth a try! more

This place serves up some seriously huge portions. Whenever I go here I can never finsih my meal. I would definitely recommend sharing with somebody. The food here is great. They have a menu filled with lots of different pasta options and all of them are really tasty. The service here is great. The waitress or waiter is also a great source to get some great suggestions to suit your tastes. Its always a treat going here, wether its on a date, with friends, or with family. more

Maggiano's may not really look like or feel like a chain restaurant but it is. There are good and bad qualities to this being a chain. Some of the good are that you can find your favorite dishes at other restaurants and feel comfortable that usually you can get consistant food and service . The downfall is that it is really americanized food and not real italian style. But the ambiance is nice with the real table cloths and its typically consistant. more

Maggiano's serves family style. This means you order a few pastas, a salad, a couple of main dishes and then everyone at the table passes them around and you get to try a bit of everything. And, as you empty the plates, they'll bring out more. Of course, you probably won't, they have huge portions and you eat a lot while you are there. Great for a family night out. more

You can find Maggiano's all over the Chicago area, and for a chain restaurant, they do it pretty well. I have had some very good meals here and some lousy ones as well (usually in a group setting). My favorite Maggiano's is in the Old Orchard Mall; I give them a better rating than the downtown location for atmosphere and service. What you get at Maggiano's: tables with real table cloths, napkins, and silver; decent service; and huge portions of mainstream American-Italian fare, which will keep you in leftovers for a couple of days. This is not authentic Italian food by any stretch of the imagination; there are some lovely spots near the South Side in the old Italian neighborhood that would knock your socks off and put this place to shame. Still the food is certainly decent fare, and the restaurant can accomodate large groups easily. I'd stay away from the Chicken Marsala, but that's just me. more

Maggiano's Little Italy is an amazing restaurant. The feature authentic Italian dishes and pride themselves on serving family style. You will not believe how big the portions are. The item on the menu that I enjoy the most is the lasagna. The serving is huge!!! The first time that I ordered, I had leftovers for 4 days, no joke. The salad and other sides are good too. It is really fun to go with a group of people and order family style. You will feel like you are at home passing food around the table. Their desserts are good too. I recommend the tiramisu or the cheesecake. more

Maggiano's is a fabulous pasta place with huge quantities of food. The salads are great and are big enough to share, as are the pastas. As a tip, the half portion is more than enough food for one person, especially if you're eating the yummy bread and either an appetizer or dessert. However, if you get the full portion, you pay only a couple bucks more and have tons of food for leftovers. The angel hair shrip al arrabiata is wonderful - a little spicy and very flavorful with lots of shrimp. Last time I got it, I ordered the full portion, and I not only ate till I was full there, but my husband and I had leftovers for three meals from it! I've never had anything there I didn't like! more

This restaurant has good quality Italian food and consistent service. The portions here are huge: big enough to split or to take some home and have leftovers the next day. This is a good place to come with family or friends, because it is very conducive to a family-style meal. There are private rooms to hold small parties and larger receptions (e.g. weddings). more

My friend had her Wedding Reception here, and I really like the place. They play a ton of Frank Sinatra (another friend worked there and got really tired of "I've Got the World on a String"). The food portions are healthy and delicious. more

For the most part this is a classy chain/establishment. The service is pretty professional and seems to make good recommendations. The wine list is about what it should be for a nicer place, and I always find the food delicious. The wait can get a bit long, and it's often hard finding room to wait, it gets that crowded. The portions are definitely huge, and if you're going to get an appetizer, salad, and entrée, it's easy enough to share all of that with someone else, especially if you're on a date. It makes more sense than ordering a bunch of stuff you'll be too full for. more

Maggianos does a great job on salads ravioli and garlic sauces. They give you huge portions and usually serve with a smile. The food is not really authentic,.But who says something has to be authentic to be good? It's good. But the tomato based sauces are really not worth the try. They usually taste like they haven't been cooked long enough to take away the acidity. more

Maggiano’s is well-known for its mammoth portion sizes, so bring a family or be ready for leftovers. The pasta dishes are served in really large bowls, and my lasagna was a huge rectangle of meat, cheese and sauce. I had no room for dessert, which is a shame. It is part of a chain, but that connection has this placed to the consistently good Corner Bakery. more

I don't really like Maggiano's all that much. I think there are a lot of smaller, local restaurants where you can do much better with Italian food. Plus, this place gets super crowded on the weekend and then the wait times become so long and the service is slow too at that point. I would really recommend a local place for better service and food. I think even Olive Garden does a better job than this place with Italian food. more

Maggiano's is a great date place. This place has the perfect lighting for a romantic night out. My problem is that I keep ending up going there with family, but I always see the romantics in their corners enjoying their wine. You are going to pay more than you would at McDonald's, but you are going to get a knowledgeable server and better food. Try the pasta! more

These great classic Italian restaurants are part of Rich Melman's Lettuce Entertain you restaurant empire but they are still worth recommending. This guy just knows what people want in a restaurant. Red checkered table cloths, huge portions of classic Italian dishes perfectly cooked, reasonable prices, good service, no wonder his places are so popular. They also have the virtue of consistency. Like Mickey D's, you know what you are going to get when you get there, and they don't disappoint you. The Corner Bakery is often attached to these stores, and you get more of the same there; great lunches; sandwiches and salads, etc. http://www.maggianos.com/ more

So for my last meal in Chicago before returning to Seattle, I went to Wild Fire upon the recommendation of my colleague. Unfortunately, upon arrival, I learned they did not serve lunch. When I asked for a good place nearby, they recommended Maggiano's. After a 3 block sub-arctic walk (had already paid for parking in a lot near Wild Fire), I stumbled in to a bakery which has a weird entrance to Maggiano's. After getting some good hearted ribbing from the bakery patrons ("There's a revolving door you know?" to which I replied,"Sorry! I'm from Seattle." laughing ensued) I made in to Maggiano's. I was immediately seated by this white haired, older gentleman (I suspect he's probably been there forever) and when I asked my waiter for recommendations, he suggested chicken parm which comes with some pasta on the side. As I waited, I snacked on some hot bread and olive oil and read the news (there's an unsecured network here so thank you mr. Linksys man). When the meal arrived, I didn't think much of it until I took my first bite. HOLY SHITE. Wow. Wow. The outside of the chicken had a think crusty crunch to it and the inside was moist, tender, and delicious. The sauce was simple red sauce but not cold or lumpy like some other places. The cheese was just enough and hot and stringy and pure - not the processed stuff. The pasta was a perfect al dante complement with some rich white sauce and a few pieces of brocolli. I am now sipping a late and will try their eggnog custard with a little bit of the captain. This lunch made my entire trip. God blesss Maggiano's. Great service too :-) UPDATE: just took first bite of the custard. fricking awesome. not too sweet, great texture, and the latte is perfect. UPDATE2: just was informed by my friend on IM that they're a chain! i stand by my recommendation, the one in chicago rules. will def try the one in seattle when i get back. This was posted originally on my blog, TomTalking.com more