Orlando Fast Food Critic » Italian

Maggiano’s Little Italy

Seth Cardoza — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 19:06:24 +0000

Food Quantity: 9/10
Food Quality: 9/10
Cleanliness: 8/10
Atmosphere: 7/10
Service: 8/10
Price: $10 – $30

Maggiano’s Little Italy is a great traditional Italian restaurant located in Pointe Orlando. It offers a classy, yet casual, atmosphere. The prices are comparable to Olive Garden, but the food is much better. It tastes like a home cooked meal and the portions are more than enough for a single meal. Make sure you save room for dessert because their cheesecake and chocolate cake are excellent. The one complaint I would have is that while their individual tables are nicely sized, the tables themselves are too close together. Maybe you could request a booth if you want a little more privacy. Other than that, I’d highly recommend Maggiano’s, for big parties, families, or an intimate dinner for two.

Carmela’s

Seth Cardoza — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 22:01:34 +0000

Food Quality: 6/10
Food Quantity: 7/10
Cleanliness: 6/10
Atmosphere: 6/10
Service: 7/10
Price: $6-$10

Carmela’s serves up pizza and the usual Italian fare. The food is alright, but nothing special really. The restaurant is quiet, and mostly empty at lunch time. I found it odd that the restaurant was so empty, yet we were sat at a booth with a giant rip in the middle of the seat. There were plenty of empty tables, and even other empty booths. Also, the rip wasn’t even taped up. Otherwise, the service was good.

Overall, I wasn’t really impressed with Carmela’s. I wouldn’t recommend them, and there are plenty of pizza places in town, and plenty that are better than this.

Darden Restaurants Skimping on Bread

Seth Cardoza — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 02:46:47 +0000

There is a new policy at Darden restaurants, Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Bahama Breeze, Longhorn Steakhouse, Seasons 52, and The Capital Grill. Servers have been given orders to only bring one piece of bread per person to the table each time the table asks for more bread. This might be seen as a way to save money, and cut back on waste, but I think it makes the restaurants look cheap, and only occupies the servers more, possibly degrading service. With regard to cutting back on waste, I know I usually have leftovers and will bring home any uneaten bread as well. To cut back on waste, they could easily ask the table if they would like bread at all, and if so, how much each time.

Buca di Beppo – Florida Mall

Seth Cardoza — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 03:12:17 +0000

My girlfriend and I went to Buca di Beppo at the Florida Mall this evening. I dropped her off to put our name in, while I parked the car. I meet her outside, and she informs me that they said the wait should be 20-30 minutes. We waited about 50 minutes, along with a few other parties that were also told 20-30 minutes. After the 50 minutes we waited, I went inside to see how much longer the wait would actually be. I let the hostess know the name we were under, and she proceeds to look over the list. We weren’t on the list. I repeat, we weren’t on the list. I watch her write our name at the top of the list and she says we will get the next table available. I walk back out to meet my girlfriend and tell her the news. My girlfriend says she watched the hostess write our name on the list, so somehow it was crossed off. We listened and watched every time the hostess came outside and called a party, and we were never called, and watched other parties go in each and every time. We know we weren’t called.

We are already mad at how long we have had to wait, but since we are going to get the next table, we figure we might as well wait, rather than go somewhere else and have to wait. We wait about 5 more minutes, and watch as another party gets called before us. This was the last straw. I went inside, handed them the menu we had been looking over, and told them to cross our name off the list, all while they were still calling other parties ahead of us.