Maggie McFly's

I had the Thai salad with chicken, it was good, no wow factor, which for the price & atmosphere was pretty good
Nice outdoor patio, with good

Maggie McFly's is a big place with a little parking lot. THATS the first thing to know! They offer valet parking on the weekends.

This place reminds me of a nicer TGI Fridays. The menu is about 16 pages long, but there are few goodies tucked in here and there. Especially on the dessert page.

Bar is a good size, but this place has the possibility of getting loud and obnoxious. There seems to be a steady stream of too-old frat boys who like to party and drink and be very boisterous. Which is fine for some, others hate to be around that sort of scene. The bartenders are always very nice, sometimes forgetful, but nice.

The food usually hits the spot for me, as I am there at the end of kitchen hours and just trying to get some quick food after a long work shift.  I stick to the appetizers, and the nachos have seem to been the best so far. Artichoke and Spinach dip seemed to have more cheese in it than any of the other ingredients, and was  a bit disappointing.

Like I mentioned earlier, take a piece of carrot cake home with you, and it might make the experience a little better.

I'd been interested in visiting Maggie McFly's for a while - greet the new restaurant in town - but tonight was my first actual visit. We arrived at about 6:30, found an actual parking space in the lot, and were quickly guided to a table. There were some other people waiting, but I think they were in larger parties that needed something bigger than a booth.

Maggie McFly's has a very open interior, with lots of small light fixtures suspended everywhere. The color scheme is mostly dark wood with orange seat cushions, which rather surprised me. I haven't seen that color used much since the 70s, and I'd rather assumed (from the name, I suppose) that the dominant hues would be green. Expectations aside, it all has a comfortable and oddly contemporary feel.

The menu is enormous. It comes with think front and back covers, which emphasize rather than obscuring the large number of pages between. They list a large number of wines, beers, and cocktails, but I did have to ask what was on draft, and quickly ordered a Back East Ale as soon as our waitress named it.

Being somewhat hungry, we ordered an appetizer sampler, comprised of chicken wings, tex-mex egg rolls, and a spinach/artichoke dip. They were all competently done, and served on a vertical rack rising from the table. The dip was accompanied by a couple of different breads as well as sliced broccoli, carrot, and red pepper - and quite a lot of all of them.

We both ordered the same special, which was a beef filet with a blackberry sauce. That's a bold and potentially risky combination, but this really did shine. The sauce used the tartness of the blackberry to compliment the steak, while at the same time the fresh blackberries that adorned the plate were the sweetest I've ever had of that often-sour fruit. It's an impressive dish.

The primary reason I'd never visited Maggie's before is that it had always seemed really crowded - more than once I've driven around the parking lot and then headed out again. And it was certainly full tonight, and loud. Even when the dinner rush was waning, and the booths were starting to empty, the noise level stayed high. The clientele seemed to be mostly families. I saw plenty of young children, and more than a few seemed to have grandparents with them as well.

With well-executed food, good staff, and flashes of brilliance, this is a place I'll make an effort to return to.