Maggiano's

Is it just me or does the service at this chain stink? I don't care for this chain at all when it comes to the food, I think it's just okay so I don't seek it out for myself. But when I am with a group of co-workers, it seems to always be right near the hotel we're staying in or near a meeting we're at and so we end up there.

I have been to the Tyson's location twice, Bethesda/Chevy Chase location twice and two different locations in North Carolina and I just hate the service there.

Every time I go, there is an issue with getting seated, getting served, getting your food hot or even room temperature instead of ice cold or some other nonsense with service.

I'm not impressed with the food at all, but my gripe is really with the service.

I went to the Tyson's location two weeks ago. We had a reservation for a party of 17. They told us we had to do the Family Style menu because we were a large group (which I disagree with, but that's another story). 12 of us arrived at 11:20 (our reservation was for 11:30). They would not seat us until "most of our party" had arrived. Obviously 12 is not "most" of 17. Now, 12 people standing in the lobby/bar area and pretty much crowding the hostess desk doesn't sound like good business to me, but that's what they wanted.

Numbers 13, 14, 15 and 16 arrived at 11:29, so they finally let us go to our table.

We made our menu choices, we specified no bacon or ham on anything because one of our group cannot eat ham. All the salads came with bacon crumbles on them, so 2 had to go back.

We had 2 servers and lots of trouble with getting the right number of iced teas and diet cokes. At dessert, the coffee drink machine was acting up so all the cappuccinos were delayed and some were cold when we got them.

This meal cost roughly $500 ($32 each x 17 pp) and you would think we could get a hot cup of cappuccino.

Does anyone experience consistent good service at this chain?