Avanti Cafe — Restaurant in Elk Grove Township

I have been coming here for a few years. Food is good, not great though. Owners seem nice from what I've seen. I went through the drive thru today and the girl who took my drive thru order, not sure of her name was EXTREMELY rude. She is Hispanic. I always see her there whenever I go, and honestly she isn't very personable, you can tell she is annoyed. but she's been working there for awhile it seems. When she repeated back my order to me, she got one part of it wrong, so I go to tell her and she interrupts me as I'm speaking, not even finished with what I was saying. With an attitude she tells me to "pull up" I honestly was taken aback. As I pull up to the window she tells me how much the total is. I don't even bother telling her my correct order. This type of customer service today, has lost all of my business nor will I ever recommend this place to anyone. From the bad reviews I'm seeing, lots of them are about a girl behind the counter, and I can only assume they're speaking about this specific girl I mentioned.

*Tip for the owners- you should probably read these reviews and take into consideration about how your employee presents herself. It's not a good look, nor should you want an employee who clearly has NO customer service skills, working for...

My most recent visit to Avanti Cafe was on 1/8/2021 in order to get take-out for lunch. When I arrived, I noticed numerous people inside the restaurant eating and drinking with no distancing and other protocols being enforced. The staff did not enforce mask mandate, as multiple people walked in without wearing masks. Kitchen staff were not even properly wearing their masks, either. The lady who took my order did offer table service. Keep in mind that this is while Restaurants in all 11 regions of Illinois are to remain closed for indoor service (Tier 3 Resurgence Mitigations).

Seeing that they are willing to put profit over following the law as well as the safety of the general public, it makes me wonder if they follow other basics, like maintaining a clean kitchen, employee handwashing...

I am not planning to come back any time soon, nor would I recommend it to my friends and colleagues.

Also, the pizza here is sub-par.

Original brief review: This place does not respect IL law - offering indoor service while restaurant restrictions...

Avanti Caffe is a true gem of Italian Cuisine in the Northwest Suburbs! It is worth seeking out should you be in the area. You would never know, but the location was once a Wendy's and is now your new favorite Italian place.

From the moment you pull in the lot, you get the idea that they are for real here. There are legit folks sipping espresso outside, there are Italian cars parked in the lot. Once you get in, you realize it isn't stuffy, sit here, order that kind pasta etc. kind of experience. Rather it feel like someone's family is back there waiting to share their food with you... and believe me, it is worth sharing. There are a great many highlights at Avanti - so I shall just name a few.

1. The Pasta e Fagioli - order this!
2. Tostinos - like the Nike tagline says... "Just Do It."
3. Pizza! Yes, in the land of a million pizzas, my family has demanded I find a way to sqeeze a Avanti Caffe large pizza through the drive through window and window of my car at this place - 1000%...