Casa Di Luigi — Restaurant in Elk Grove Township

Here is the letter I wrote over two weeks ago with no response.

December 14, 2024

Casa Di Luigi 5500 New Wilke Rd Rolling Meadows, IL 60008

Re: Experience December 7th

To Whom It May Concern:

My birthday was coming up on December 8th and I wanted to try a new highly rated restaurant. Based on the reviews I selected yours. I saw a few negative reviews, but 95% were great. I made reservations for my children and myself, Saturday, December 7th at 6:30 pm. The receipt is attached. I had the Tagliatelle in Agrodolce and by 8:00 pm I was feeling bad, so we left.

We arrived home and by 9:00 pm, I had the chills and was wrapped up on the couch. Cake was cancelled and those that do not still live with me went home. Around 10:00 pm, I ran to the bathroom to vomit and then the waterworks (diarrhea) started. Both ends emptied with great force (projectile) simultaneously with no warning and no control every ten minutes for ten (10) straight hours. From 10:00 pm Saturday to 8:00 am Sunday. I finally fell asleep at 8:00 am. The clean-up was awful, but I am lucky to have children brave enough to help.

Meaningful sleep was not in the cards as I still got up for diarrhea every 30 minutes throughout Sunday and Sunday night. My blood pressure was high at 140/100 and my temperature was low grade high at 99.

Monday, I was exhausted and sore. My esophagus was scratchy and sore from vomiting and coughing created excruciating pain in my chest. Worst, I still could not control the diarrhea and often shat my pants with no warning. Monday night was a little better as I only got up every other hour.

I refused to buy Depends, so I had to stay home Tuesday, but by Wednesday I was feeling 75% better and went to work for a half day.

I often write reviews and I wanted to tear you up, but I hate what reviewers have done to business so I am trying to communicate my story for your benefit. My gut says something went wrong with your food handling processes, but this is not SOP. On the other hand, maybe you do have a small hole in the dike to plug, but this will be an easy fix. Several other reviewers claim they got sick. There is a rule in business that one negative review is an opinion, and that two (yes, only two) is a public opinion.

I was also bothered that you do not facilitate feedback, which I am afraid causes more negative reviews and an appearance of avoidance. There is no contract submission form and no email address on your website for communication. One could mistakenly read between the lines that you are hiding. Yes, there is a phone number, which will lead to a front-end host, who has no skin in the game and will ultimately get the information wrong when transferring it. Why bother?

Hope you take this in my intended spirit and please feel free to call if you have any questions or may desire any further...

I'm posting this on multiple platforms because my family absolutely LOVED this place and can't wait to come back. I'm usually skeptical about lots of 5-star reviews for new places since I know friends and family come and leave their first-ever reviews to help a new resto out, but as this place started racking up the 5-star reviews from people with hundreds of reviews across platforms, we had to try. This is a restaurant to get excited about - love the Mexican influence through the menu. We can start with the airy focaccia served with olive oil, roasted garlic, and pureed chick peas - delightful and flavorful. The server recommended 3-4 appetizers for our party of four adults and one tween boy. The Calamari Frito for my calamari-loving son was thinly sliced and flash fried to perfection. The crab cakes were a complete reimagining of what a crab cake is on a beautifully-dressed salad with a nice dash of heat. The Calamari al Porto Rosa was very playful - it reminded me of sushi! The star of the course was the special - some sort of stuffed fried squash blossoms that were light and delicious. Everything showed incredible technique with unique and thoughtful flavor profiles. I had a seasonal butternut squash and short rib gnocchi for an entree, which was really good, but I wish I'd been a little more adventurous. My husband had the special, which were scallops, and he couldn't stop talking about them. My mom's short ribs were incredible and a HUGE portion. My dad had the Scaloppine ai Fungi and there wasn't a bit left on the plate. My son's steak was perfectly medium rare. We (well, I was stuffed and am not big on desserts in general so I didn't try them) shared two desserts with the bread pudding and a panna cotta. My dad isn't even much of a dessert person and he and my mom loved the bread pudding, I think she would have licked the plate if no one was watching. My husband raved about the panna cotta, and he's not normally one for flan/panna cotta/custard. Seriously, I can't wait to come back and try pretty much everything...

We went to this restaurant as it was listed on Resy reservation app. It had Good reviews on Google and not so great on yelp but we decided to go there. Upon arrival we were asked if we have a reservation which was good that I made a reservation but somehow the ambience of the restaurant wasn’t that great at that point also thought it might be just the ambience. Maybe the food is really good. They were a couple tables occupied. The person who seated us said she’s Going to get us the bread to start with and then a different server came who took our order for appetizers apparently she didn’t give us the complete picture of Item we ordered I don’t remember the name of the item, but it was something like I won’t be cold cheese and tomato sauce with basil and bread on site. Apparently we didn’t like that at all. The free bread that came in. The beginning was much better. The funny thing was that about 3 to 4 people came to check on us or take our order or refill. The same person was not coming back. Not sure why and we had to tell every server that we are vegetarian so please make sure there is no broth or sauce, or there is any meat in any of our dishes. For the main course, we ordered Risotto ai fungi and Mushroom Ravioli. They both were good but the risotto ai fungi was much better than ravioli, even though they both had the same kind of a sauce. One thing we didn’t like at all was there were mosquitoes in the restaurant we seated inside, so that is something that should be taken care of. Second thing not too big but their silverware seem like very very very old. They can do some upgrades on that. Conclusion: it’s not a fancy place to go to. Just a regular Italian OK OK restaurant. If you ask me, I’m not going back...