Maggiano's

Wednesday. July 22, 2015

Met Susan at Maggiano's at South Coast Plaza for dinner. I have not been to this restaurant in probably 10 years. Lot of changes. Place was absolutely packed to the rafters. After reading the menu I could see why.

The offer a "special". For $39.95 two people get an appetizer or flatbread to split or the choice of 5 different side salads, which we had and turned out to be good size. Then you have a choice of a pasta dish each, Lasagna, Ziti, etc.,  And then a dessert to share. Then you can select a pasta dish to "take home".  Everyone was leaving with a bag of food.

I had the Maggiano's side salad, mushroom ravioli and we split an apple, caramel crusted dessert which was very good. Took an order of Lasagna home. Susan talked the waitress into a plate of lemon cookies also.

Corkage was $15 but the waitress let Susan bring in some bottles of wines, since she is a wine broker. No charge for us for corkage. I almost "confiscated" a wine glass because it had the initial "M" engraved on it. But thinking about Karma I decided it was not the best idea. I did order a glass of "sparkling".

We had a $10 off coupon, got the special,  extra cookies, no corkage. We both took home an order of Lasagna. Bill came to $49.27 with tax. Had a $50 gift card that was taking up room in my wallet for a couple of years. So a cheap evening. I did leave the waitress a $20 bill because she went beyond for us.

Have no idea what Susan was pouring last night. One was a pinot from the Laetia vineyards and the other was a blend from some place in the Santa Ynez area. The blend was excellent, the pinot ok. Susan  reps a lot of very small wineries. I just hang around and drink whatever she wants to pour.