Those of you who know me well know that I don't like going to local restaurants. I prefer cookie-cutter chain restaurants. I have no idea why, and I a little ashamed of it. For the most part, that doesn't stop me from going to the same restaurants all the darn time. As a matter of fact, the first time I met Tara, it was in an Olive Garden. Why? Because it was the least scary habitat for me at the time.
Tonight, I tried something new. Tonight, I went to Maggi D's with Mark. If I knew all locally owned restaurants were this frickin' great, I would have been going to them all along! I have zero complaints about our experience there. It was so good that I'm going to force others to go there. Mark knows the owner through Sam's Club, but I like to think the food is that great for everyone.
Let's start with the decor. I'm used to generic looking restaurants, such as Outback or Olive Garden. When I walk into a non-chain restaurant, I expect it to be dirty. I expect to see obviously fake flowers in cheap plastic vases from Wal-Mart, not that I have anything against Wal-Mart. Maggi D's manages to look nicer and more welcoming than most of the restaurants I have been in lately. The colors they have chosen to decorate in are very warm. While I recognized some of the decorations from my strolls through Kirkland's, that's okay. They're used well and look appropriate. Apparently, the interior decorating was handled by the owner's wife, and she did a great job. As the color temperature was good, so was the actual temperature. Wearing a dress and lace bolero, I was neither too warm, nor too cold. As far as music goes, it was pretty good. At first it was primarily instrumentals, which I love. I felt like I was appearing in a Godfather film. There wasn't a gun in the bathroom though.
The menu is rather extensive for a locally owned establishment. The food is traditional italian, which inlcudes veal, chicken, and steak dishes. There is also a variety of pastas and quite a few appetizers. When you finish your meal, they offer housemade desserts, as well. It took us quite a while to take in the whole menu because there was so much of it.
We decided to open our meal with some ravioli fritti, which is fried ravioli. I've had this dish at Olive Garden before and never really cared for it, as it is usally too hard and not too tasty. At Maggi D's, they are filled with cheese, as opposed to meat. I'm not the biggest fan of cheese filled ravioli, as I don't care much for ricotta. The ones we had tonight were perfect. They weren't too hard, and the cheese they were filled with was nice and creamy.
They also provided complimentary bread wth butter and oil. The butter and the oil were relatively uninteresting, but the bread was great. It was airy, with a multitude of nooks and crannies, while the outside was pleasantly crunchy. When we finished off the first helping, they brought us more.
They also brought us a complimentary baked bruschetta appetizer. Bruschetta is another dish that has never really done much for me. I rarely eat tomatoes, and the bread that I have had as part of the bruschetta dishes in the past has been extremely hard. Because they gave us the bruschetta for free, I felt I had to have some....I am soooo glad I did. It was great. The flavors from the garlic and spices were pleasing, and the bread was just crispy enough to hold the ingredients on top. I will be having the baked bruschetta again in the future.
Each of our meals came with soup or salad, with both of us choosing soup. Mark had the pasta fagioli, which I actually preferred over my italian wedding soup. I blame Mark's grandmother, as I had her version of it in the past, and it's the best I ever had. The pasta fagioli was very hearty and tasted homemade. The portions were not huge for the soup, but that was a definite plus, as we had already devoured two appetizers, as well as the bread.
When our meals came, we were absolutely shocked. The portions were obscene! We could have shared one of our meals and had leftovers. Instead, we brought home two huge portions. Mark's chicken cacciatore had a great balance of flavors and moist chicken. There was a slight taste of peppers when I had a small bite of just the chicken. I believe Mark actually preferred my meal, which was cheese stuffed tortellini with alfredo sauce. I only like about half of the alfredo sauces that I try, but Maggie D's is a definite winner! It was thicker than most other alfredo sauces, but that was a good thing. The tortellini was cooked appropriately, not over-done.
We asked for boxes shortly after our entrees arrived, as no human could have eaten all that food. The owner, being very attentive, stopped by to make sure we enjoyed our meals. It's refreshing to see the owner taking an interest in his business. It doesn't seem that they all do that. As we were boxing our food up, he sent over two free cannoli. They were incredibly rich, but oh so good!
In the future, if you come visit us, we may encourage you to go there. You know what...you don't even have to visit us. If you are in the Myrtle Beach area, stop into Maggi D's. It's over by the mall, so it's relatively easy to find. Perhaps you can have dinner there tomorrow, followed by a late showing of the Grey, starring Liam Neeson.
(Moved from FB - January 26, 2012)
No comments:
Post a Comment