Maggiano’s Little Italy is perched on the edge of the Denver Pavillions, within blocks of the Grand Hyatt Denver.  This Italian restaurant is large and noisy and has low light, ideal for a large family meal or meeting a friend.

I was in Denver for conference and on a “free night” decided to grab a meal with a friend.  Under cover of the many loud conversations going on around us, we got to laugh and catch up on old times without bothering anyone.  We went for appetizers at the bar because on a Friday night, the place was busy and they didn’t have any tables available.

Maybe it is because they are a nationwide chain or maybe it was this particular location but the Chicken & Roasted Pepper Flatbread in particular, was not so good. I had expected it to be a lot better because of how busy they were. Don’t you think if they are cooking that much food, a quick flatbread would be hot and its cheese would be melted?

Our Calamari Fritte was only slightly better. Now I tried to give them a break, since I live in San Francisco.  We have many amazing restaurants that crank out killer fried calamari dishes and flatbread daily.  For example, Delfina has some of the best flatbread pizza in San Francisco.  For price and authentic old school fresh seafood dishes, it doesn’t get better than Swan Oyster Depot.

Our appetizers were about $10-15 each and a disappointment. The low light could not disguise the poor quality which is also why I did not take a photo of our dishes.  Considering I saw a convenience store across from the hotel, I could have paid less for a frozen pizza that probably would have tasted about the same at half the price.  Hopefully their other locations produce better dishes and this was an unusual night.

500 16th St.
Denver, CO 80202
(303) 260-7707

11:00am-10:00pm Sun-Thur
11:00am-11:00pm Fri-Sat

www.maggianos.com

Locations nationwide.

Photo credit: Maggianos’s Little Italy website