line cook

banquet server

dishwasher

sous chef

host/hostess

Maggianos Little Italy

At the beginning they will make it seem like the company and team is fantastic and emphasize their “benefits” as being great but the reality is much, much different. 

To start, there is no concept of teamwork, at all. The bussers don’t actually clear any plates off the table for you as you are expected to pre-bus your tables throughout the entire meal. Pre-bussing is difficult as the plates are large and VERY heavy and you aren’t allowed to stack plates on the table to clear away everything more efficiently. The bussers basically just reset the tables, most times, poorly and incomplete with items that are clearly dirty from afar. They’ll ONLY clear water/wine glasses leftover from a meal - no dinner plates, silverware or bread baskets and will even go as far as to stack up any dirty tableware you didn’t manage to get to while pre-bussing, only to place them back on top of the newly set table for you to take to the dish pit - A CLEAR HEALTH CODE VIOLATION. If you ask them to help with pre-bussing or runs to the dish pit, they will either demand more money on top of their nightly tip out, which is 2% of your total sales, or flat out tell you that “it’s not their job” and management will back them up and on both “policies”. Working on the Strip, you come across many foreigners who are not accustomed to tipping so you will get stiffed, occasionally, or, gratuity that falls around 10%, which is more often the case, so the bussers don’t care to help you because they are guaranteed a cut of your sales, not your gratuity. Some nights, you’ll get screwed and the bussers will walk out with more money than you.  

The bar is usually understaffed and none of the bartenders have any sense of urgency so good luck getting any drinks in timely fashion. I once waited 17 minutes for a few draft beers. In their defense, they mostly do the best they can getting orders filled but they have the entire bar-top to handle and those guests are allowed to eat there as well and they sometimes have to take tables that are self-seat in the bar area if no one is working cocktails, so they have their hands full. The minimum tip-out, even if you don’t sell anything alcoholic is $1 with the norm being 3.5% of your total alcohol sales.

The hostesses are not tipped out but some servers slip them cash to get preferential section assignments, larger parties and hand selected tables with people they feel are or will be good tippers, and will require less maintenance. Tipping is not allowed at all and it’s supposedly a fireable offense, but it happens in front of others and even with witnesses who complain managers do nothing. There’s always a pathetic excuse for why a server was seen handing cash to a hostess and managers buy it. Have fun being on the other end of the spectrum because you’ll be the one in the terrible, low traffic sections, with all the people that are high maintenance, demanding, rude and racially stereotyped to be poor tippers. Worse off is the way your seating will be influenced if you happen to be disliked by another server, for whatever reason (if any) and they are buddies with the hostess. You’ll be double and triple sat all shift long or not sat at all while you watch other sections fill up. The hostesses should all be replaced because they are all unfriendly and rude to the guests…just read the review online about them and you’ll see there are rarely any compliments given about them and an abundance of complaints regarding their attitudes. 

They don’t drug test and about half of the staff is high on something throughout their shift and the other half are former drug addicts with rotting teeth and extreme personalities that are often frustrating to deal with. Management could care less and puts up with the nonsense from these employees with nothing more than an eye roll and a shrug. The kitchen workers actually get high in the back corridors during shifts and some were even arrested once for smoking pot in the parking garage but were not fired. Simple things, like salads and fried appetizers suddenly start taking 20-30 minutes to make so your timeline and order fires often become a guessing game, making guests feel either rushed or annoyed at the long, unpredictable stretches between courses. Again, who suffers? You do. 

The majority of the servers are all extremely negative and catty and working with them was worse than being in middle school. They all complain incessantly about how much they hate their job, hate the managers, hate the guests, hate foreigners, hate african americans,  and hate most other staff members not in their clique. Basically, they just hate. Teamwork is slightly better than it is with the bussers but I use the term loosely. The people that are happy to help, don’t have the time as they are busy with their own tables and the people that constantly ask for help are the people who never want to help in return. They will complain and you’ll be forced to listen to it and if you try walking away, they will notice and will in return go to management and talk badly about you and try to get you fired. Some people, if asked, will agree to help you with something and then not do it and you’re left looking like an incompetent to the table as they’re now mad for having to wait, yet again, for you to do whatever it was they needed in the first place. Managers and servers frequently hang out off-premise so there is obvious favoritism toward their friends and everyone else is treated as just another “worker”. 

The job is performance based and your “peformance” includes pushing people to sign up for email lists that will send out coupons that you never get tipped on as well as other freebie promos that management never forewarns you about so you’ll occasionally have people from other states come in and ask for these freebies that you’ve never even heard of and you look stupid. Next, is Make-A-Wish, Maggiano’s charity of choice where you’ll be forced to push terrible specials on people that they more often than not dislike and with only $1 of the proceeds going to Make-A-Wish you’re expected, and allegedly “not required” to further the fundraising efforts by flat out asking the guests for cash donations to purchase a Make-A-Wish Star. To make their annual goal of $30,000, you generally have to make at least $15/night in combined sales of Stars and special menu items, which isn’t easy. There were several occasions where I was not able to sell any of their terrible specials to people or get them to make cash donations so I had to donate my hard earned money just to keep from being ridiculed by management, who tracks and monitors each persons sales and donations daily. It wasn’t much but I’d say that it came out to being close to or over $50 a month. that I “donated” to Make-A-Wish. Next, comes the GEM surveys that print out on the receipt offering customers the opportunity to win an alleged $1,000 for their online feedback, which they track and post for everyone to see, no matter how scathing. You get a free meal, from a limited menu, for each positive GEM so some of the servers will just go online and fill out their own “reviews” of themselves for the free grub and you can totally tell which ones do because they are far more lengthy and unusually descriptive than necessary. Any normal person, who has no vested interest, isn’t going to take the time to write a novel about how wonderful their dining experience is. Period. Still not done with “performance”…What else is tracked, you ask? Cocktails, wines, beers, bottled water, your per-person average (PPA)…the list goes on, and on, and on and changes frequently.

There are 2 good managers out of the 5 on staff and neither of them are in the GM position, which is sad. Even sadder, however, is the fact that everyone knows who should be in charge and isn’t afraid to tell you who the REAL GM of Maggiano’s is. Managers there are focused on the bottom line and meeting sales goals so they aren’t even slightly sympathetic when you have a “difficult” shift or get stiffed on a tip. One manager will tell you to offer freebies to people when service goes awry and another will refuse to comp things off if the bottom line will take to much of a hit and they will most times refuse to go speak to the unhappy guests leaving the burden on you to make them happy within your limited means. 

Benefits are good, if you’re a manager or a full time status employee of 12+ months. If not, you’ll spend $200 a month on individual benefits that are more like “discount plans” offering very little coverage. It’s more beneficial and actually even cheaper to just not have any insurance at all. 

DO NOT WORK HERE! They tell you at your orientation how big of a company they're growing into and how they are a billion dollar company. Yes this is true, but once you start working you wouldn't be able to tell. Management is HORRIBLE. You have one immature manager who does nothing but sing and is a huge power trip, another who does nothing but stand on the balcony and stare( and threatens to write you up) and a GM who Is absolutely naive and a big push over, he literally can do as bout as much as a regular worker and does nothing. Turnover rates are huge because of this reason alone. They will hire easily because everyone here pretty much comes and goes. People can only take so much. Then to add onto that pay is about as much as McDonalds workers. Start from 7.65(Carryout)--$9.00(certain positions dishwasher,line cook,prep,host) and doesn't go to $10 unless you literally sit down with The GM and have solid examples on why you need a raise (he will argue as much as he can). They have you working almost everyday and you literally never get a weekend Day off! So kiss your personal life goodbye. Then they have a huge problem with favoritism. Best believe it doesn't matter how rude you are (especially to the GM) if you're a favorite and has been there a while they won't fire you but will cut hours and fire others for small reasons. They ALL have smart mouths and are sarcastic to the fullest amount. They treat you like you are literally beneath them. And no matter how many people back you up about a guest lying or trying to get over, they will always believe the guests. In their eyes the guests are innocent and right 100% of the time and they will comp a meal and blame you for it in a heartbeat. Everyone there is extremely under paid for the amount of work they do and all the small things that goes with it. AND IF THAT WERENT ENOUGH. The place is disgusting. Mouse traps in dry storage,fruit flies flying around in dry storage, food left by workers sneaking and eating back there because they can't get a decent break. So unsanitary. If I were you, I wouldn't even bother and just stick to dining in every once in a while, because behind doors is completely horrible and a totally different situation.

I'll start by saying that it's been a minute since I worked here and I know some things have changed since I left so some of my points may no longer be valid. That said, my experience there was that my coworkers were pretty easy to get along with and management was usually supportive. I had a few problems with a manager undermining me (ie telling me to hold firm on a policy and then the minute they were called out to speak to the customer they'd bend the policy for them and make me look like a jerk who withheld service for no reason) and being shouted at rather than simply corrected (this only happened once that I can recall), but I don't think the managers in question work there any longer. The computer system used to be slow but I know for a fact that they've updated it so hopefully that's all fixed now. All in all, it was as good a service industry job as any. It being a restaurant that takes reservations, you have to be a fairly organized person to handle the Maitre D' responsibilities but it's definitely not rocket science. You WILL take phone calls and some of them WILL be irritating (people will ask you how to get to the restaurant as if you know where they are and as if the phone they're calling from doesn't literally have gps) but you get used to it and you develop your own little personal script for the commonly asked questions. I can't remember what I was paid, but I know it was hourly, no tip-out. It's my understanding that the starting hourly wage has gone up since I left, but I don't know by how much. I'd recommend it, I've heard of absolutely toxic work environments in restaurants and things were pretty chill here. You had to act pretty badly to get yourself fired, so I'd consider it a pretty stable gig as well. I never found myself hurting for shifts when I was there.

A typical day of work started with a shift at 3pm that could go on until 2 am. I washed dishes, ran them to their respective locations after cleaning, washed the fridges, floors, and machines. Trash and recycling built up fast so there were any trips taking it down to the dumpsters.

I learned quickly that I needed to work quickly or else I would not have a place there. Luckily I'm a fast learner and was able to also work prep in addition to washing dishes.

Management was strict and sometimes unpredictable. I couldn't control my hours and was passed from chef to chef whenever I had a day that I would not be able to come in with no solid answers from anyone. That being said due to the fast paced work and the clear directions I was given while working I built a strong work ethic.

The culture was fast paced non stop movement. If you were not doing anything you would be yelled at until you did. As long as you were doing your job properly you were on good wavelengths with everyone.

The hardest part of the job was the management's expectations changing every day. Due to there being so many different chefs who would take charge, they would want us to do our job in their specific way. The following day with a different head chef in charge we would be required to do things his way. It was just a short matter of time before I realized what boss wanted what done in what way.

The most enjoyable part of the job was probably at the end of my shifts. I spent all day cleaning and after the dinner rush when no more people were coming in, I could see the kitchen spotless and tell myself "I did a good job today." A hard days work with good results pays for itself.

I have to say, at my location they did a great job hiring good people. Our restaurant always had amazing reviews and I constantly saw me and my teams names called out. (in a good way!)

Management does their best to help with call outs and scheduling, to the best of their ability. They're truly amazing managers and I'll always remember this job as one of the best and fun ones I've ever had. Although the pay wasn't too great , it might just be me but I don't enjoy tip sharing. I wish we could all work on a good hourly / salary, and that was one of the reasons I, and many others had left. I wish I could've stayed with them for years but I just had too many bills and plans, and the money I made here wasn't sufficient enough to support me. 
It was weird, because on the job posting they stated $24/hr with tips, but I only made that peak near any holiday coming up or when people came in to celebrate or we had big orders. (Which wasn't too rare, but not consistent enough.) 

You clock in with your card, start your shift. Most of the time especially when school is in, or during the day time, CarryOut team is just standing around waiting for DoorDash / Uber eats orders. Getting a call in or a walk up order was common but it didn't happen everyday. 
You need to know the menu to just know the deals customers can get since there are quite a few, but besides that if a customer asks for a salad, CarryOut should have a cheat sheet menu and you can just flip to the part that has all the salads and their ingredients. Always ask the chef over the radio about certain allergies. 🤧 

But yes, besides on holidays like Christmas and thanksgiving, this job is great. It was the team that made it that way.

Upper management is a joke. They only care about their bonuses and lie about how much you can expect to make just to get you in the door. When you come to them with actual issues regarding tables, coworkers, and the three hours you have to wait at the end of your double for the closers to assign sidework, you get “I hear you.”  That’s not the same as listening. You will leave later than people that only worked evenings, and sometimes even after the closers. 

My first real shift after training was the day they decided to shrink everyone’s section and stack the floor. I.e. everyone made less money and there were more bodies between you and what you need for your guest, meaning slower service.  Their pitch? Upsell! Basically pushing us to sell people higher priced items they cannot afford in this economy just so we can hope they still have even more to tip correctly.

When a company says it cares about their employees through gift card sales promotions (again trying to hit their quotas for those bonuses) and raffles (for t shirts that aren’t even the correct sizes) but does not have gratuity whatsoever, run. You still tip out on the sales, not the tips. 7.5% bar tip out. 4% (basically) for total sales to the bussers/runners, who don’t actually help you that much.

Maryland law dictates an employer may not take a tip credit to cover hours a tipped employee works on non tipped tasks. Maggianos does not follow the law. And don’t expect breaks on your twelve hour shifts.

Management is to blame for why this establishment is no longer an amazing place to work. They often need to be prompted by employees to do their jobs correctly. They over staff so they can keep their numbers where they need to be, however this action currently keeps staff from making a livable wage. They are on power trips so high that no amount of "employee feedback" ever results in positive changes in the work place. Management has made it very clear that they are above the team, not part of it. Staff are not valued. The turn over is high, but management takes no accountability for this. Management is the root of this company's downfall. It's really a shame that a regular day at Maggiano's consists of staff fighting the urge to walk out in the middle of their shifts because the staff to business ratio is incredibly imbalanced. This is directly a fault to management. Management will typically neglect to schedule support staff. This results in employees working areas outside their stations while not being compensated for the extra work they do. Overall, this place is in desperate need of new management who actually knows how to manage people and make them feel valued in the work place. It would also be nice if employee concerns were taken seriously and actually could kick start positive changes into motion.

Not a great place to work, if your a server look elsewhere. Management tries to make it out like your going to make lots of money and it's the busiest place you've ever worked-it's busy but not when there's 17 servers working and the money is no different than any other place. Management rarely stands behind their decisions reguarding food and staff which creates confusion. On random nights management wants to make their numbers look better so they will run banquets through the main kitchen instead of the banquet kitchen which typically causes your tables to hate you due to thirty min ticket times. Glasses in the mornings often look like someone chucked food at them because they don't have a properly working glass washer. Plates are never clean so you have to go through around ten to maybe get four clean ones. Dishes are sent back by customers all the time (servers try and polish everything but sometimes it's impossible to get to it all) Don't ever expect you are being promised a job if it's offered to you, too many people except some position then the position was no longer needed. The job is overall annoying, with bad managers (with the exception of maybe one or two). If you want to take pride in where you work, don't work here. If you need a quick job to make money, still probably don't work here because the hiring process is a joke.

Typically I would open the restaurant, formulate a plan for the day and evening shifts, such as what sections the servers would be in and where my parties would go for the day.  I would then make paper copies of the sections and give them to the servers and bussers to prepare them for the days happenings.  
Treating the servers equally was common sense, as was planning parties.  I was excited to work in the hospitality field where we can cater to the guests every whim.  My co-workers were great, they are the creme de la creme in their field and perform their job both quickly and efficiently while giving the guest a top notch experience.  
Management has changed in the time I've been there, the more experienced team has moved on, but not before leaving a mark on me at how well they could read people and anticipate the happenings of the day.  With the recently promoted managers I had the chance to see how they would adjust  to their new position and the efforts they took to make changes that they believed would beneficially impact the company.  
The hardest part of the job was thinking on my feet, as a maitre d I had to plan for large parties that not only made reservations but also just walked in ready to eat.  I had to take into consideration a great deal of things including table turn times, party size and the load the server was taking. 
I loved having the chance to interact with so many different people.

The worst clientele I’ve ever dealt with and I’ve served in 3 restaurants. A lot of the guests that dine here are generally have been long time Maggiano’s lovers but some are grumpy as ever and very rude. Dont get me wrong most of the guests that I serve day to day are great but at least once or twice a shift I’ll have a table of either a disrespectful group or one person amongst the group that will just talk to you any kind of way. Be prepared to hear some of most mundane complaints ever. This restaurant also attracts an older crowd, at least at my location… And.. well, you know how that goes sometimes.  

Management is absolutely awful. Good Lord. The GM? A joke. People get away with a lot because of favoritism but if you’re new/ not one of the favorites you’ll get chewed for the smallest things that you’ve seen a few of your peers get away with. 

It’s a corporate “upper scale” restaurant so, as expected, the clientele isn’t all that great, but the money is there especially if you serve large parties. I make pretty good money most nights just because of high ticket prices, but can’t stand taking care of such mean people on too regular of a basis. In the past, awful tables were so few and far in between, like with most places. But here, it’s just constant. And this has been the experience of a lot of my colleagues as well. Just look elsewhere if you’re interested in applying. I deplore you.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Line cook 1 salary reported	$19.75 per hour
Banquet server 3 salaries reported	$12.33 per hour
Dishwasher 1 salary reported	$23.31 per hour
Sous chef 15 salaries reported	$72,000 per year
Host/hostess 5 salaries reported	$17.01 per hour

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