Amore Mio Restaurant & Piano Bar — Restaurant in Aurora Township

I was really looking forward to dining at Amore Mio, but I don't think I'll be back after dining there last evening. When seated, we were offered a table at the back of the restaurant that on one side of the table was essentially a bench without cushioning or back support. To add insult to injury, the bench was up against a poorly insulted window, so it was also very chilly. Upon the waitress recommendation, we ordered a pizza for an appetizer, the Amore Mio pizza. It was tasty but it was missing the burrata (the ingredient we were looking forward to the most). For dinner I ordered the fettuccine ricotta with sausage. The flavors were good but I'd recommend more pepper in the sauce and the noddles stuck together in large clumps. I had to commit the cardinal sin of cutting my pasta so that I was able to eat it. The first drink I ordered was the Basil Limoncello Martini. It was delicious and perfectly balanced. The second drink I ordered was with dessert, the Espresso Martini. It was undrinkable. There was zero espresso coffee flavor - too boozy and an overwhelming aroma of vodka. The side of focaccia came late after we finished our pastas but was extremely good. The dessert list was limited for an Italian restaurant but we ordered gelato. I ordered the Italian Cookie Gelato. It was tasty but obviously had freezer burn. Beyond the dinner table, the bar was quite large and the decor was quite nice. The bathrooms are very large and very clean. The service we received was attentive, quick, and friendly. My only complaint about the service is that they should never seat someone along the back wall with the benches. I understand the desire to maximize seating space, but the lack of patronage to this restaurant does not call for seating guests in anything but actual seats with cushions and back support. My last comment on dining here is that Amore Mio's website or social media should notify guests when they are having private events in their piano bar downstairs. I would have organized my evening differently had I known we would not have been able to see a jazz band downstairs at the end of the evening. It would also be ideal if Amore Mio posted the bands on their website or social so that guests can plan and look forward to the...

After enjoying some libations at neighboring Mccarthy mills and French 75, I thought it would have been a good idea to go check this place out for the first time with my husband (white male) and a friend of of ours (white male). I should have known, with this heavily 'coded' message that greeted me at the door that this was about to turn sour. I am a Hispanic, brown male.

The amtoshpere certainly was what it was, red lit big ole bar. Comforting, but illusive. Overall, nice drink, had a smoked mezcal cocktail, pretty good topper for the evening.

Upon our friend leaving for the evening, me and my husband decided to use the restroom one at a time where I was called out by, I assume the doorman or bouncer fellow, and was reminded or encouraged to not use my hat while in the establishment. Pictured below is the hat I was wearing that evening. I was like ' oh sure my apologies' . Used the restroom and came back out to where my husband was standing, who was wearing a similar hat to me, and asked if was asked to take off his hat by that guy over there.

He mentioned to me that he wasn't told of any such rule and was never approached by the gentlemen. That more than a little irked me. Being the only obvious difference being my skin tone we approached the gentleman and asked why my husband wasn't approached with this rule.

He reiterated the rule can be changed and enforced by management at any time. Which confused me even further sine we were there for about an hour already.

Suffice it to say, it was a disappointing experience that I would not recommend anyone go to for the blatant racism and discrimination they exhibited. How this would survive in the city of lights, Aurora, will surprise me. I don't think it will.

I can definetly reccomend other establishments near by to try, as already mentioned Mccarthy mills and French 75. You can also try tavern on Broadway and Aurora...

We were really looking forward to having a good Italian restaurant in downtown Aurora, but this was, sadly, one of the worst restaurant meals I’ve had a for a very long time.

Our server was a very nice young woman, but didn’t know the wine list or the food menu at all. We settled on a wine that turned out to be unavailable, and she then pointed to another. We went with that, and she brought out something completely different (that wasn’t on the menu). It was actually pretty good, a Cannonau from Sardinia, but she had trouble opening the bottle. One of our group finally did it for her.

Our party of five each ordered different dishes, but they were all pretty poorly prepared. The pesto dish tasted strangely like tahini, and those with a tomato-based sauce were incredibly sweet; they basically tasted like tomato sauce with an excess of sugar, but no herbal or savory flavors. The server recognized that our meals were mostly uneaten and took two of them off the final bill.

The other reviews I’ve read were fairly good, but something was way, way off last night…I know that the owners know how to run a good restaurant since Altiro (just a block away) is consistently excellent. Someone in this ownership group needs to pay serious attention to the kitchen and training of staff. Hopefully they’ll get their act together, but I can in no way recommend Amore Mio at this time; it was an unbelievably bad dining experience.

Also, as a side note, they automatically add a 20% gratuity to a party of five. We didn’t object since our server was genuinely doing her best, but that seems presumptuous, especially when they had clearly not trained the...