Mother’s Day has always been one of my favorite holidays. It’s nice to see the outpour of love that most people display towards their mothers and other nurturing souls that are either currently a part of their life or was at one point. I think it’s important to acknowledge the positive influences that continue to shape us into who we are.

Per usual, I wanted to treat my mom on this special day. I tried to play it down and have her think that we weren’t going to be having much of a celebration this year- which honestly I don’t even know why she falls for it anymore lol. I don’t think that there has ever been a Christmas, Birthday, or Mother’s Day where I didn’t surprise her with something.

The day before she arrived at my home, I called and made a reservation at Maggie McFly’s for lunch the following day. I’ve only dined there 3 times and each of those times I absolutely loved the food. It was always delicious with nice presentation. No offense to other chain restaurants that I’ve dined in, but sometimes I get my plate of food and it looks like someone grabbed it out of the pan and threw it onto my plate. Needless to say, I’ve never gone back to those establishments.

I was excited to finally have my mom try it out for herself.

We started the day off right with a bouquet of flowers. Then followed by gifts, gifts, and more gifts. We had quite a relaxing morning. I put my new chef skills to good use and made my parents each an omelette. My mom wanted just a veggie omelette but my dad wanted his with sausage.

After receiving my compliments for making a wonderful breakfast like no other, we started getting ready for brunch. About 3 hours later we were walking out the door. It wasn’t more than a 30 minute drive to get to Maggie McFly’s. It was shocking how packed the parking lot was when we had finally arrived. I figured it would be a little more crowded than usual since is was Mother’s Day – hence why I called ahead and made a reservation. But sheesh. There had to be AT LEAST 50 vehicles parked up in that lot.

Once inside, we shuffled through the mob leading towards the hostess. She asked if we had a reservation, which I was happy to answer yes to. After confirming, she showed us to our table. Before sitting down, I already knew what I was ordering as an appetizer. The Fried Calamari. It is the only appetizer I’ve had aside from sampling someone else’s fried mac and cheese balls.

I tend to get a little ‘boasty’ when I treat my parents, since it’s usually the other way around, so I told them to order whatever they’d like, there is NO limit. With that being said, everyone got their own appetizer – which we all ended up sharing anyway.

So as I mentioned before, I ordered the Fried Calamari. It was its usual delicious self. It was served on a bed of lettuce with a side of marinara sauce. I shared some with my parents and they loved it as well.

My dad decided to go with the Mozzarella & Meatballs which comes with buttered crostini. Now, my dad is not a fan of cheese. He is however a huge fan of meatballs and pretty much anything meaty lol. He was torn because he really wanted the meatballs. Well, thats not true. He originally wanted the Thai Lettuce Wraps but changed his mind since it was served with crushed peanuts and peanut sauce. He didn’t want the risk the chance of me having an allergic reaction so he settled with his second choice – meatballs. I’m not exactly sure what I read but I convinced him to order it because I thought it was served with two separate mozzarella balls which I told him I’d take off his plate. I didn’t realize it came melted on. The look on his face was priceless, but he still ate it though.

My mom went with the Crispy Coconut Shrimp and I’m not gonna lie – it had my calamari beat. According to the menu, the shrimp is lightly fried in coconut batter and served with pina colada sauce. I did not taste the sauce but I did have a shrimp and I must say it was hands down the best fried shrimp I’ve ever had. It was so juicy and creamy. That coconut batter is the bee’s knees. Next time, I will be ordering that for myself.

Next up, we had the main course!

Unlike my parents, I decided to play it safe and order something that i knew would be a small portion so that I would have room for dessert. I don’t think I’ve been anywhere that served salmon bigger than my tin of Altoids. With that being said, the salmon was sooo good. I think it was the glaze that really did it for me. And as usual it was served with asparagus and mashed potatoes. I don’t think I’d like it any other way.

Up next we have this enormous rack of ribs. I don’t even know why my dad was even shocked when it arrived to the table. I had to tell him, YOU order a RACK of RIBS. What did you think it would look like? He had to call out to our server and ask for a takeaway box before he even took a bite. He knew there was no way he could finish that. The ribs came with smokey BBQ sauce, sweet potato fries and maple smoked bacon mac and cheese. From the look of his fingers and beard, I would say that my dad enjoyed his meal. I didn’t try any of it because I didn’t want to risk getting sauce on my dress. So, maybe another time.

My mom decided on the Fresh Roasted Turkey which came from the House Specialties portion of the menu. This was served with house-made apple stuffing, asiago mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet corn medley, and house-made cranberry sauce. She barely made it halfway through before asking for a takeaway box.

We had already been told that we had a 90 minute limit due to the large volume of people expected to dine in, so we didn’t want to waste too much time on one meal. So up next was dessert.

I spent most of my time going back and forth between the 6 layer chocolate cake , the cinnamon roll cheesecake, and the apple crisp. My mom had mentioned that she wanted the apple crisp and was glad to hear that I decided on the chocolate cake because she wanted to taste a “piece”. I told her I still wasn’t sure yet because I ordered that before and might want to try something new. I continued to go back and forth and then discovered the frozen drinks. I didn’t necessarily want a milkshake but the peach smoothie caught my eye. It was peach puree blended with vanilla ice cream and ice. My dad ended up getting that for his dessert.

When our server returned to take our order for dessert, I changed my mind yet again and decided on the apple crisp. The moment I said my order, I could feel the tension and looked up across the table only to meet eyes with my mom who was giving me the side eyes. Nevermind, I said to the server, I’ll have the chocolate cake instead and my mom will be having the apple crisp. She caught what was going on and we all began laughing.

I already knew what to expect from this cake since I’ve had it before. It was just as rich and chocolatey as the last time. Of course, I put a piece to the side for mommy dearest. I also had some of her apple crisp and it was really good too.

So yes, another fabulous experience at Maggie McFly’s. We ended the day’s celebration with a photoshoot and then a scenic drive where we got the chance to admire the pretty cherry blossoms, one of the many beauties of the spring.