DiBenedetto Trattoria — Restaurant in Barrington Township

Friday night, date night! I had a taste for Italian. Wanted to try someplace new! Also wanted to try somewhere that was not a corporate chain. Found this place on Yelp and decided to give it a try. SO HAPPY WE DID!

This family owned gem is hidden away in a strip mall. Don't let that deter you. The moment we walked in, we were warmly greeted by (we found out later) the co-owner. He promptly sat us and gave us menus, specials, and a wine/cocktail list.

Our server, Char, was professional and very proud of and knowledgeable about the menu.

My husband started with a manhattan and we had a bottle of wine with dinner.

As soon as we see veal saltimbocca on the menu, one of us will be getting it. Always. And my husband did. And it was the most delicious veal saltimbocca we have ever tasted! Pounded perfectly thin, just enough prosciutto and cheese. The sauce was tangy and salty, but not too salty. I made yum noises the entire time. Served over perfectly al dente angel hair pasta.

Although I should have just ordered that for myself as well (and next time I will) I decided to get a "create your own pasta" dish. Choosing was difficult, but after tasting my finished dish, I know I could order many more "creations" and be very happy. I chose a homemade fettuccine with a marinara, kalamata olive, anchovy sauce. I decided to add sliced Italian sausage and capers to it. DELICIOUS!

For dessert I had to try the homemade tiramisu made that morning. Simply, perfectly soaked lady fingers and creamy delicious marscapone with just enough cocoa sprinkled over the top.

As we were eating dessert a cart was brought to another table where he prepared bananas foster en flambe tableside. It looked incredible! (I wish I liked bananas)

They did have two singers there that evening. They had lovely voices, but were simply singing along to karaoke tracks. It was just loud enough to hear, but not too loud to be intrusive on conversation.

To cap the evening and make us fall even more in love with this restaurant...After the amazing food and incredible service, the owner/chef came out of the kitchen twice and walked around the every single table to introduce himself and make sure people were having a good time.

We will be back in two weeks with...

Great food, nice ambiance, nice people. The food is authentic Italian, our party was all first or second generation Italian and we all really enjoyed the meal. The salad's were OK, could have been a little more generous with the lettuce, I never understand why some restaurants skimp on iceberg lettuce given it's the cheapest ingredient of the entire meal, but it was sufficient given the portion in relation to the overall meal. The bread was good, traditional Italian bread with oil and cheese on the side, all you care for is included with the meals. Those who had the soup said it was great. We didn't order appetizers because we saw the dinner portions being delivered to other tables and there's no need. We wanted to be hungry for our entrees. They state on the menu that everything is made to order so be patient. This was true on our visit, the meals took a long time to arrive after ordering. This was fine with us as we were there to visit and celebrate a birthday. If you are in a hurry, order ahead of your arrival. If you are just coming for dinner, I recommend looking at the menu prior to your arrival, and when you are greeted by your waitress, order your drinks, appetizers and meal immediately. The meals were worth the wait though. I had linguine fra diavlo with calamari and shrimp. The calamari was the most tender calamari I have ever had, and the sauce was perfection. If you like spicy, this sauce is the one for you. Very nice pop and a slow burn, which makes all the other flavors come to life. All other meals were excellent as well. Very charming live singer, sang a personal happy birthday to my daughter. Great night out. Tiramisu to finish was perfection. Highly recommend this restaurant. Patrons were dressed mostly casual, no need...

They were willing to accommodate an early arrival of 4:15, but didn't open until 5 pm, but have happy hour starting at 4....? The coupon for $6 10" pizzas and 50% off appetizers was deceiving because it did not state that the pizza was an appetizer, which there was a limit of 2 appetizers per table. We asked our waiter for a refill of drinks and bread. We eventually had to go to the bar to get our drink refills and eventually got the bread a bit later. We ordered our food around 5, at which time I also told our waiter we had to leave around 5:45. At 5:05 I asked that if 2 more people came, would they be able to get an expedited meal. He replied, if they get a pasta dish, it will be very doable, but will try to get it out as quickly as possible, which was appreciated. The last 2 people arrived and placed their order at 5:20. At 5:45, nobody had their food and we asked for things to be in a to go box. Then we asked if we could just pay for our drinks and the owner stated that we weren't going anywhere until we paid for our food, not offering any sort of discount or understanding. He stated, you don't belong in a restaurant, this is not McDonald's. One of our party members tried to pay for his food so he could leave, the owner pointed in his face and said, you can wait. The owner called or threatened to call the police. We finished paying full price for all of the food and left. The food was very good the next day warmed up and imagine it would've been amazing fresh. (I tip my hat to the chef) Also, in the to go containers, we didn't get all of our food such as sides of pasta, but still paid full price. We more than likely will not return only because of the...