My husband, Manuel, and I would go to Maggiano's every Friday night for date night!  We would sit in the bar area tucked away in a sweet step up round booth.  We talked, ate wonderful food and we had our special waitresses with whom we were quite loyal to.  It was romantic and peaceful.
We had been married for an amazing 30 years and had three incredible children when one dark and damp morning, my Manuel was found to be one of the eleven declared dead in the Glendale Metrolink derailment on January 26, 2005.   Our lives were shaken to the core.  My son made most of the funeral preparations, which was not an easy task considering that it had become such a public matter.  He contacted the people at Maggiano's to see if he could host the reception after the funeral at their banquet hall.  Everybody went out of their way to accommodate him, offering special menus and some discounts. The one thing that I'll never forget is that it was on a Friday night.  It was our last 'Date Night' with all of our family and his multitude of dear, dear friends.
Thank you Maggiano's for the many years that we spent our Friday nights there, and making our last one so perfect!