I've had plenty of bad service in my life. I've also had plenty of bad food in my life. But the…read morechaotic experience of dining at Sauce on the Maggie was truly a first. It began with check-in... the host appeared distressed and mumbled something about making sure her large party gets seated (not us) without properly acknowledging us. She left to go check on something and we kept waiting. When she came back, she was exasperated, but friendly and had us sat promptly. I wondered to my family if perhaps they were understaffed that night. Maybe? But there did seem to be plenty of staff running around and it seemed to be at 65% capacity. But when I say they were running, I mean RUNNING. It was almost comical and out of an SNL skit -- I kept asking my family facetiously what they were running FROM? But ironically, the service was glacial as many reviewers have pointed out.
Appetizers and drinks went smoothly enough. The food was disappointing from the start... fried ravioli was chewy, bruschetta was soggy, and the caprese salad was nothing special. The standout of the entire night was the fried brussel sprouts, surprisingly tasty. Credit where credit is due!!!
The main course is where things went further south. Penne a la vodka lacked the distinctive tangy flavor, rigatoni had a really one noted and heavy peppery kick, and the bolognese was unremarkable. The bus boy then only partially cleared our tables, took the plates but left the sauce covered silverware (never to be cleared, which was gross).
We waited probably 15 minutes for server to return to get the check.. during which the food runner serving the table next to us dropped a family sized bowl of pasta onto the floor and my cream colored sneakers. It happens, no shade to the bus boy, but can't help but draw parallels to how fast the servers seemed to be rushing to and from the tables as if they were being chased...My family was in good spirits and laughing about all of this, by the way.
Finally, our server returns, and insisted that we have an "on the house" dessert for the birthday girl (my sister was celebrating her 30th and engagement). We agreed, but decided we needed a second to look. She was gone for probably another 10 minutes, we ordered, and asked for the check. Another 10 or so minutes go by. The desserts arrive without any silverware. The food runner brings some, they're dirty. So the waitress ultimately bring some over that were clean enough.
My fudge cake was yummy (again, being fair here), but all the others were not. We were most disappointed that the tiramisu, advertised as being made daily in house, lacked coffee flavor and coloring, and much too heavy on the cream.
After finishing dessert we waited and waited. I decided to flag down the host as she weaved through the other servers like a 6 lane highway in Atlanta . "Excuse me, miss," I said, to which she responded by holding up a finger at me and saying something about her other table. "Oh," I exclaimed in surprise.
She later looped back eventually and apologized, taking the check from us. Our initial server returns for the check a few minutes later, and I informed her that I'd given the check to the host/manager (?). \
Once she returned with the check, she said she "heard" about what happened and was so sorry. I jokingly said, "which part?" Which in hindsight I feel bad about. Sorry to that waitress. The restaurant ultimately comped 3 of the desserts, which was nice. Overall, the ambiance was frenetic, the food bad/mediocre, and the service slow. That said, my family got a great laugh out of the whole thing, and thus I give 2 stars instead of 1.