Maggiano's Little Italy

Bars & Breweries

4.4(7099 reviews)

The take

A national chain doing red-sauce Italian-American at Park Meadows, with banquet rooms that are the actual reason to book. Family Style brunch is the value play. Anything else, you can do better at Cranelli's or Scileppi's for the same price.

Why it's here

Maggiano's is what it is: a 50-location Brinker-owned chain serving large-format Italian-American (lasagna, chicken parm, fettuccine alfredo, tiramisu) in a dim, brass-and-mahogany dining room that was designed in 1991 and has not changed since. The Park Meadows location is one of the busier ones in the country, partly because it's the only proper banquet-room restaurant in DougCo (engagement parties, rehearsal dinners, business dinners for 20 to 200 all end up here by default), and partly because Family Style dinner (two appetizers, two salads, four entrées, two pastas, two desserts, all-you-can-eat) is genuinely a deal at around $40 a head before drinks.

The banquet operation is where this place earns its stars. Private dining managers actually work the timing of your event, customize menus, accommodate dietary needs without theater (gluten-free pasta, dairy-free entrées, kid menus all standard), and execute large groups without the wheels coming off, which is more than you can say for most chain-restaurant private dining. If you have an out-of-town wedding party of 30, this is the safest call in DougCo.

Walk-in dinner on a Tuesday for two? Go elsewhere. Cranelli's, Scileppi's, and Angelo's Taverna are doing better Italian at the same or lower price point, and you won't be eating it in a function-hall room with someone else's birthday singing 20 feet away. The Family Style brunch (around $35) is the exception: enough food for three meals, served continuously, and surprisingly hard to beat as a Sunday with extended family.

Know before you go

Go for

•Family Style brunch on Sunday with a group of six or more
•Private banquet rooms for rehearsal dinners, engagement parties, and corporate events
•Take-home pasta deal (buy one entrée, take a second classic pasta home for free; runs most weekdays)
•Bottomless wine pairing on Family Style dinners

Timing

Dinner before 5:30pm or after 8:30pm avoids the Park Meadows shopping rush. Sunday brunch fills 11am-1pm; book ahead or take the 10am or 1:30pm slot. December is mostly company holiday parties; walk-in seating is bad all month.

Pro tip

If you're booking a private room, ask for the Vesuvio room (smaller, more intimate, no shared corridor) over the larger Capri unless your group exceeds 50. The flat per-head pricing on private menus locks at booking time, so confirm before they update prices in spring.

Skip / heads up

The mid-week walk-in dinner experience is forgettable; you're paying chain prices for chain food in a chain dining room. The bar can get loud on Friday and Saturday after 8pm. The Calamari and Caesar are reliable; the chicken Marsala has been called out by enough reviews to skip.

By Nathan Boesen