3333 Bristol St
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
(714) 546-9550
http://www.maggianos.com
I filled out a survey after visiting Maggiano's Little Italy last time. I commented on that we thought their lasagna was too salty. To my surprise, they sent me a $25 gift certificate to apologize for it. Talking about great customer service! So Dr. P and I returned to Maggiano's Little Italy with the gift certificate for dinner.
Bread
We started the meal with bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. The bread had a crusty outside, and soft, spongy, and airy in the middle. Is this called Artisan bread?
Castello Banfi Centine ($7.50)
Dr. P ordered a glass of Italian red wine.
Crispy Zucchini Fritte ($5.75)
Strips of zucchini hand battered w/Japanese bread crumbs and fried to a golden brown, served with a zesty lemon aioli cream sauce.
Last time we ordered the huge appetizer platter. This time we didn't see the platter on the menu. I wonder why they took it off the menu? I like their Crispy Zucchini Fritte a lot. The breading was crispy and not too oily. Their lemon aioli was super yummy.
I received a coupon in my email. It was for ordering their new Avanti Pastas for $14.95, and receive one for to-go for free. There were 4 choices, Lobster Carbonara, Sausage Orecchiette, Crab & Shrimp Tropheo, and Chicken Campanile Pasta.
Chef KB's Lobster Carbonara ($14.95)
Spaghetti, Lobster, Smoked Ham, Snap Peas & Garlic Cream Sauce.
We ordered the 2 seafood pasta to share in the restaurant. The Lobster Carbonara had tons of lobster in it. I always thought carbonara is a heavy pasta, but this one was surprisingly light. The garlic cream sauce was very tasty.
Crab & Shrimp Tropheo ($14.95)
Hand-Twisted pasta, Shrimp, Jumbo Lump Crab, Grape Tomatoes, Zucchini & Lemon Garlic Sauce.
I like the flavor of Crab & Shrimp Tropheo a lot. It was garlicky and citrusy. Lots of shrimp and crab meat. The twisted pasta looked like little worm, but it was tasty.
Originally we ordered the chicken and sausage pastas for to-go. But after tasting the seafood pastas, we changed our mind. When we told our waitress, she said that the two to-go pastas were already made, but she would change the order for us. That was really nice of her. We had the pastas next day for dinner, and it was just as delicious.
We really like Maggiano's. Will definitely be back again soon.
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Maggiano's is one of the very few good corporate/chain restaurant. Glad to hear you like it there. I love going there ordering from the checklist which I use to create my own pasta. Sometimes I had to ask for the paper to fill out. It's a lot of fun.
ReplyDeleteWooooo I wanna try to create my own pasta next time!
As an Irvine resident, this has quickly become one of my favorite restaurant blogs. Your attention to detail, photography and opinions are first rate. And thank you for writing in English! ;-)
ReplyDeleteThank you, jumpcut! ^^