Vinny Vanucchi's Little Italy — Restaurant in Dubuque

We went to Vinny’s with a group of 9. Now, if we hadn’t called several days in advance I might expect to be put in the back by the extremely noisy kitchen. I would assume they would put us at a nice table somewhere so that we could hold a normal conversation without shouting.

The next most inconsiderate problem is they wouldn’t make 4 checks for our group. Vinny’s insisted that we have one bill for the entire group and divide it ourselves. Who does that? That is ridiculous.

Now, I consider myself to be a professional Italian sausage sandwich connoisseur. So, when I order Italian sausage I assume that is a nice spicy ground sausage either loose or in a patty. No, this is a wiener. Not only a wiener, but a gross wiener that has chunks of unknown bony parts in it. Now, they topped this off with two small slices of mozzarella. The sandwich had less than an inch of cheese and at least a full cup of marinara spilling all over the plate. The sandwich was so cold the cheese didn’t melt. The topper is the bun is nothing like Italian bread, but is a hot dog bun. Let me tell you a wiener with a cup of cold marinara on a hot dog bun isn’t something you can eat like a sandwich. You need a fork and knife. Plus, the menu should warn you that this is a wiener link and not a nice ground sausage.

Also, in our party was an Italian beef sandwich. As you know Italian beef should just melt in your mouth. This beef was tough. The sandwich was also cold with a dab of cheese that would not melt.

Our party did enjoy the side salad and two people liked the lasagne.

The garlic bread served in baskets at the table is extremely greasy on all sides. One piece of bread will require two napkins to eat.

The chicken Marsala was also a total disappointment.

The last most important thing. If you are spending $25 for an entree of Italian food and $8 for a glass of wine, in Iowa, you would believe you are in a finer establishment. We dressed in business casual and walked into a mix of jeans and flip flops. Coming from Little Italy I will tell you that great Italian shouldn’t cost that much. It’s only noodles and sauce with a...

WARNING! If you have used sandpaper to shave the taste buds out of your mouth you may enjoy the meals at this restaurant. Also if you are blind, deaf, and completely unaware of your situation you may enjoy the atmosphere. To call this Italian food is an insult to the entire country of Italy.

As a precursor I do not write restaurant reviews. However, with the price tag that came with dog food and a circus of a restaurant I was left with no choice but to warn the next person considering this laughable excuse of an “Italian” restaurant.

In their defense the penne I had was decent. I was able to eat it. The carbonara my girlfriend ordered could have passed for something a person who just figured out how to use stove would have cooked. I would have been happier to go to literally any fast food restaurant than to foot the bill of what can only be describe as canned or microwaved mush that was transported in a truck that once belonged to Olive Garden.

For two dishes and a bottled of wine it was 100$. This isn’t an outrageous price for a decent Italian restaurant but the lack of anything resembling the culinary background of Italian I can’t help but hope management either changes course or coverts the restaurant to a scrap metal recycling plant that sells hotdogs part time.

As for the atmosphere at least they we’re playing Frank Sinatra. However, the music was hard to hear over the small child next us who was watching YouTube videos on full volume. The following series of events were so absurd we were trying not to laugh out loud. A person started to eat spaghetti with their bare hands as a child threw packets of Parmesan on the ground.

PACKETS OF PARMESAN. EVEN OLIVE GARDEN PRETENDS TO HAVE FRESH PARMESAN. PACKETS. 100 DOLLARS TO GET PACKETS OF PARMESAN THAT THEY COULD HAVE GOTTEN FROM A LITTLE CAESARS.

Gordon Ramsey would burst into flames if someone whispered the name of this restaurant into his ear.

Our waitress was great. She was very friendly and personable.

I don’t know who Vinny is but that man has never set...

LOOKS CAN BE DECEIVING!!!!

The ambience of the building is charming but the food is bad and service even worse. What a disappointment! I apologize to my loving wife for bringing her and our family to this restaurant for her birthday!

We had a reservation and were seated promptly. We ordered and they brought us our food...that's not the problem.

The problem was that the silverware was dirty, we had to change 4 sets because they had dried leftover food on the forks. The plates for the appetizers and salad were smudged with black dirt and the chairs had crumbs from the previous diners. Also they never came by to check if we needed refills on the soda, and they didn't bring out the pizza we ordered. Also do not go there for a birthday celebration, they don't do anything for the celebrant. And the Worst of it WAS THE PRICE!!!!! We spent $200 and they couldn't even ask if we wanted some Parmesan cheese on the our Pasta!

We were 7 and they charged us a 30% gratuity!!! Such Robbery for such a service!

SAVE YOUR HARD EARNED CASH AND EAT AT THE OLIVE GARDEN.

All in all food was meh!

Here's the review out of "Five Stars":

Fried Calamari** The only thing worth getting.

Seafood Fettuccine** Needed more salt...lacked in the savory department.

Spaghetti and Meatballs* Sauce needed some "Umph" but atleast the meatball was cooked well

Kids Spag n Meatballs* same

Chicken Parmesan** Overcooked chicken, toooooo much mozzarella, should've called this Mozz with a side of dry chicken.

Fettuccine Carbonara* Not real carbonara....milk based, not egg yoke based. We were hoping they would make an authentic Carbonara. They should have called it an Alfredo NOT CARBONARA....SKIP!

Kids Fettuccine Alfredo* Needed more Parmesan Cheese.

Father Giovanni's Pizza 0 stars We ordered it.....never came out....really crappy service!

DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME HERE. What a SHAME.....we had high hopes for a restaurant that has such an authentic sounding...