Cucina Bella — Restaurant in Algonquin

My wife and I, having previously dined at the Cucina Bella in Galena, finally made a special trip to the original location in Algonquin from our home in Naperville.

If you want the TL:DR, here it is: It’s totally worth the drive.

We arrived twenty minutes early for our reservations to be greeted warmly by two hostesses and (unknown to us at the time), the manager. Our early arrival presented no problem to the staff as we were seated just around the corner from the front door, but we were shielded from any cold air blowing in through the front door. Our server promptly introduced himself and offered drinks, in which we each accepted a glass of wine. Within a short minute or two, our wine arrived at our table. Admittedly, we’re not wine connoisseurs, but we know what we like. So we chose a favorite of ours, a riesling. I’ve had plenty of riesling over the years, especially while I was stationed in Germany for five years. The riesling is among the best I’ve had. Of course, your palate may not agree with mine, so your mileage may vary. While we enjoyed our wine, we enjoyed the complimentary Italian bread with olive oil and parmigiano reggiano while perusing the menu.

Our waiter displayed a perfect sense of timing this evening. As we had only been finished with our bread for a scant few minutes, he arrived back at our table to inquire what we might desire next. My wife has a soft spot for sausage and peppers, so we placed an order for it as an appetizer. A few minutes later, a full-size plate of cut sausage with red and green peppers arrives at our table. If I’m judging the portion sizes of all their appetizers based on the portion that was placed on our table, one appetizer per two people would be just fine. Our appetizer could have sufficed as an entrée. The sausage is on par with any Italian sausage you’d get in the city in that it is perfectly prepared and cooked. My wife and I elected to only eat half of the appetizer lest we ruin our appetite for the entrees. Once again, with impeccable timing, our water shows up as we had slowed down considerably with the appetizer and offered to place it in a to-go container. In a few moments, the server returned with our container and was ready to take our entrée order.

My wife chose a chicken marsala and I elected to try their rigatoni bolognese. The chicken marsala is perfectly executed and has the same consistency as the same dish served at their Galena location. The bolognese sauce is positively the best I have ever had. It’s not a contest. Game over. The portion sizes for both entrees are plentiful and will provide a leftover meal for most diners. While waiting for our entrée to arrive, we both chose salad over soup. The salad itself is nothing out of the ordinary, but the Italian dressing is exquisite.

If you happen to fancy their sauces as we do. They usually have jars of their most popular sauces available for sale near the front door. Since we live a good 50 minutes away, we purchased six jars of two flavors each: Bolognese, Sausage & Peppers, and Marinara. We have had all three sauces before from our purchase of jars at their Galena location. I’m giving us a 50/50 chance that they’ll last us until we visit Galena again in July.

Lastly, since we were feeling a bit full. Our waiter assisted us in packaging our leftovers, and we placed an order for tiramisu to go. Only two words can be used to describe this tiramisu with fairness: luxurious and decadent. It can be enough for two people if you’re not feeling too gluttonous, but just order one for each in your party anyway.

I highly recommend Cucina Bella without reservation, nor having been compensated or...

Service was HORRIBLE! When I say HORRIBLE I mean that literally. Server didn’t come to table till about 10 minutes after being sat As a chef and former restaurant owner ( Vesuvios Italian Bistro woodridge Illinois) as well as growing up in the business, father owned Washington Square in Naperville for 32 year until retirement Fine Dinning, Rule 1, no matter how busy you are as a server, you get to the table within 2 minutes to acknowledge your guest. We didn’t see “Susan” for 10 minutes

We ordered chicken Vesuvio, chicken Marsala, chicken Parm & pasta Carbonara with chicken Appetizers sausage & peppers, grilled & fried calamari

Bread hit the table it was cold & dry…almost stale I asked for hot bread It came and it was like warm ans definitely stale. Apps came …. Grilled calamari was good, but swimming in sauce, fried calamari was very rubbery and breading was falling off, literally falling off Sausage and peppers was good but again swimming in gravy. Not impressed Susan never came back to the table to ask if we liked the apps We had to ask the host, a young gentleman for more parm cheese because our server was no where to be found Salads came …. Best part of the meal so far Server was gone again …. We had to ask the hostess for more water Dinners came dropped on the table & Susan was gone again She never once came back to the table to ask if everything was okey … not once ! My carbonara was by far the worse I have ever put in my mouth … Bland the sauce dried, which meant it sat in the “window” the chicken wasn’t grilled but sautéed, I asked for grilled The chicken Vesuvio was two breast, it didn’t say that on the menu my sister was expecting a half chicken bone in. It was bland as well no garlic just bla Chicken park was okey Chicken Marsala was good Still waiting on server to come by ….. nope ! Tiramisu was free due to two bdays It was okey tasted stale… had a refrigerator taste to it If your a restaurant person, you know what I’m saying I ordered the carrot cake …. Delicious! Portions were YUGE …. Guess that the gimmick? . Place was packed …. That’s no excuse for HORRIBLE SERVICE …. HORRIBLE! Everyone had a doggy bag, everyone in the restaurant ….. just because you try to wow your guest with ginormous portions doesn’t change the fake the food is bla ….

We took a 45 minute ride to come try the food I was not impressed at all & a waste of time to be honest I give the place 1 star because they you don’t have the Option for a 1/2 star

Wasted gas coming, wasted money eating that slop We will never go back, solely based on the HORRIBLE service …… Did I mention the service was HORRIBLE?

I give the place a 2 out of 10 Never again ! Sorry guys just...

What can I say ... I expected better food and much better service!

I went there due to so many good reviews but was extremely disappointed and i have lots of restaurants to compare with since most of my eating is at restaurants.

Let’s start with food!

My order was bruschetta appetizer, mussels in white sauce, for dinner filet grilled with potatoes in a sherry wine sauce and my daughter ordered linguini pasta in Alfredo sauce with shrimp ($4 extra).

Bruschetta came and i am no kidding but the toasted little pieces of bread were as big as my palm!!! Never seen such a big bruschetta!!! Tomatoes and cheese on it too but were was the basil and balsamic?! I am guessing that was forgotten somewhere in the kitchen! I’ll attack picture.

Mussels came and they were in red sauce not white... I called the server told her I ordered in white she was like “oh that’s right do you wanna change?” Seriously? Instead of apologizing she is asking if i wanna change?! I told yes I would like to change and she is telling me “Are you sure? Cause it will take about another 10 min” Are you f... joking me?!

Dinner came, filet with potatoes in wine sauce or was it filet with potatoes swimming in 10lb of oil? Were was the so called wine sauce?! Picture attached

My daughter’s linguini in Alfredo sauce and shrimp came .... a bucket of linguini with 3 shrimps on top!!! I asked her if there was anymore shrimps in there we were able to find an extra 1!!! So a bucket with linguini with 4 shrimps which mind you I paid extra $4! I am assuming $1 per shrimp lol. Unfortunately i have no pic of her food, didn’t think I’ll write this review so I didn’t take one.

Service: oh my goodness gracious! I think the waitress came about 3 times to our table! 1 to take our drinks order 2nd to get the food order and 3rd to change the mussels order, the food was actually brought by someone else!

So here it is! If you are a fan of lots of fat, buckets of pasta and mediocre service this is the right place for you! Oh yes and to also pay over 100$ for 2 people for such food and service then definitely the...