OMG!! (For those of you that may not be into instant messaging or texting or twittering, that means ‘oh my god’.)   If you haven’t been to Maggiano’s Little Italy in the Beachwood Mall YOU HAVE TO GO AND EAT THERE!  Let me stress that again – GO EAT THERE! So of course you as me ‘Why Stacy, Why?’ Well, let me tell you the story of my lunch outing with my daughter and friends from work this past Saturday…

My adventure to Maggiano’s began one Thursday afternoon when my friends from work invited me and my little one to go out to eat with them that coming Saturday.  Me being a ‘crazy’ girl accepted the invitation. Let me tell you that their website is very user friendly.  It even allows you to make online reservations for parties with less then 8 people. Maggiano’s is located at 26300 Cedar Rd. #1103, Beachwood, OH, 44122-1190S. Not being very familiar with Beachwood I followed my girlfriend out there.  Easy enough to find… the exit we got off at is the exit right after the “Microcenter” exit.  (If you are reading this and you know my husband you know that we visit there quite often). 

We pulled into the parking lot around 12:15 p.m. heading to eat with the lunch crowd.  We walked into the restaurant and I was first of all impressed with the very nice waiting area (or lobby like area).  My baby girl made sure to say HI to everyone who walked through the door.  I thought about asking them to hire her as a ‘welcoming committee’ but then I thought twice and decided against it.  As we were waiting for the rest of our party to arrive I noticed the valet seemed to be very nice, and quickly took cars away and brought cars to guests. 

So about 20 minutes go by, our party arrives and they seat us immediately for our 12:30 reservation. When we sat down at the table there was already glasses of water, menu’s, and the waitress was right there ready to take our drink order.  Most of the party choose water, but a few of us got something else to drink. It seemed like very few minute went by and our drinks were on the table.   She gave us a few minutes to look over the menu, and of course since non of us had been there it took a few extra minutes. We decided to order our appetizers, and then continue to look at the menu for what our entree’s would be. I ordered the kids meal too, so my girl could eat right away and not get hungry. So this part amazed me even more… As soon as we gave her our appetizer and kids meal order I headed upstairs to use the restroom and change a diaper, and when I came back the food was there. The same speed was given as we ordered our entree’s while we ate our appetizers and as soon as we were done it seemed that our entree’s were ready to be served.

So, what is it that we ordered you ask… here goes.

For a kids meal I ordered the ‘Grilled chicken breast served with garlic mashed potatoes and broccoli florettes.’ All the kids meals are 1 price, $5.95.  They come with a drink of your choice; milk, lemonade, pop, etc and dessert; lemon cookies or ice cream. Now, you may say all kids meals are the same, but let me tell you , that this kids meal portion was that of an adult.  It was a very large serving of food, which my baby eat half of, and then her daddy ate the other half we brought home as leftovers…

Appetizers were served right a long with the kids meal, so we were all eating something. A few people ordered a side salad, I ordered a creamy potato and chicken soup which was $4.95 for a very large bowl, and few people ordered fried zucchini – Strips of zucchini hand battered w/Japanese bread crumbs and fried to a golden brown, served with a zesty lemon aioli cream sauce, definitely not your normal fried zucchini you would get anywhere else.  It seems like they serve you a whole zucchini, and I didn’t order it, but I believe it was between the $5 and $6 range.  (One of my friends said that could have been her whole meal…) 

Everyone seemed to order a different entree.  I can’t remember everything ordered, but I know for sure that I went with the Chicken Pesto Linguine- Linguine pasta tossed with roasted chicken, pesto, and pine nuts in a parmesan broth with a hint of lemon. This serving fed me lunch and then I took the rest home and my husband and I were able to get two more plateful’s out of it for our dinner.  This dish was priced at $10.95.  Well worth it!  

All in all the whole experience was just top notch.  So make sure you head to Beachwood and visit Maggiano’s Little Italy for lunch or dinner, or call them to reserve a banquet room for your next party.