Tucci's Italian — Restaurant in Bradley

I live in Chicago and my parents live in Champaign, so we decided to meet halfway to celebrate my mom’s birthday (and an early veteran’s day for my father). We arrived at Tucci’s at 3:30 on Saturday and were sat in a back room along with the other 2 tables that came in for late lunch/early dinner. We got our drinks promptly, but it took a bit for our young waitress to return to get our orders. We got our appetizer, bread, and salad shortly after. Then we waited. And waited. The other two tables finished their meals and left. Another table of four was seated and promptly waited on. I saw a large group fill a table and get theirs drinks. Our waitress was missing. I kept seeing a lady with short blond hair and glasses who I assume was the manager walking by the door and glancing at us, but never checking in.

Finally, nearly an hour and a half after we arrived, my mom grabbed the waiter who was working on the other table. He spoke with the manager and within 3 minutes our food arrived. It was cold. The manager came over to check in finally, and offered to have the dishes remade. She then discretely offered us a gift card without saying aloud how much was on it. After she walked away, we saw she gave us $10, which did not even cover the price of the appetizer. All the food was returned to us within 5 minutes (so obviously not remade) and was microwaved. Everything was soggy and rubbery. My fish was inedible, and I left my entire plate untouched. My parents are elderly and were starving so they picked at theirs.

Mistakes are made, but it’s all about how you handle them. We were told by our young waitress that she forgot about us because there was a large party in another room. The manager obviously was aware we were not being served and didn’t check in. And the $10 gift card was a joke. After desserts and tips (which i typically tip well over 20%), our bill would have easily exceeded $125, but we decided to leave after it was obvious our business was not needed.

We left Tucci’s shortly after 5 pm, well before the dinner rush. It was a disappointing way to celebrate my mom’s birthday. I really wish we could have had a better experience because it would have been nice to have a great go-to restaurant to meet at...

Our first visit and food matters most, so let's start there. I had the aged, 8 ounce filet mignon as my entree for $32. It was grilled to medium perfection. Pink center, not juicy but moist and actually the most tender filet my fork has ever cut, and I've sampled many aged filets from David Burke's in Chicago to Station 343 in Dwight and everything in between. It was served on a hot platter and had grill marks but no burnt charring-again, just perfect. The baked potato was lightly coated in Sea salt and there was plenty of butter warming on the platter. There was no option for soup or vegetables. The salad was good, but typical and the only dressing is their house Italian, which was light and tasty. The crusty rolls were also good and endless. I asked about the other entrees and desserts around us only because patrons were outspoken about their food. Reports were outstanding for the pizza (but spicy sausage), Italian sausage, ribeye steak and pineapple upside down pizza dessert. The ambience and decor is nothing special, but it was comfortable and very friendly. We had conversations with strangers at two other tables about dining experiences and suggestions! The service was off, but not for lack of effort. Our server was shadowed by a trainee and trying very much to be personable and helpful, but while doing so made several ordering mistakes at nearby tables. This left her flustered and scrambling to provide suitable solutions (which she eventually managed to do). In the meantime she forgot our bread plates, butter, drink refills and to check for the correct cooking of the steak. None of that mattered much to us and was taken care of eventually. I'm confident that under normal circumstances the service is good. Bottom line? I'll...

We had dined here regularly until about five year ago when they had made a MAJOR mistake regarding my gluten free order - my side of broccoli came out with spaghetti noodles in the bottom of the bowl and upon inquiry, they had use the same water or strainer or something for both the spaghetti and the broccoli. However, it's been long enough that we decided to give them another try. Not sad that we did. It was great! Even better than we remembered! We had the ribeye and the filet. The filet was a little overcooked (no pink despite being ordered medium rare), but still great texture and taste. The ribeye was great all around. Both steaks were also excellent representatives of their respective cuts (which can easily make or break a steak). Both were amazing.

The risotto side was excellent as was the soup, though I don't recall what kind it was (I wasn't the one who ate it 🤷‍♂️).

They had two gluten free desserts - the all-too-common chocolate flour less cake thing. We did not try that. But they also had a gluten free banana foster cheesecake. This was wonderful! Neither of us care greatly for banana, but I wanted to try it anyway. To our delight, we didn't taste banana but rather caramel, which we both love.

All in all, left extremely satisfied and very glad we gave them another chance. Will be returning.

I should probably mention we also had some drinks while there. They were great, as well. Old fashioneds and a couple of their...