Antonio’s Ristorante Italiano — Restaurant in Itasca

Saturday was our first and last time going to Antonio’s. We arrived around 7:15pm, and was immediately greeted with extremely, way too loud, music coming from the bar but no hostess in sight. We waited to be greeted for several minutes, and even seen the hostess, who was over to the side, walking to and from the dining room. I knew she had seen us more than once, yet took about 10 minutes to finally come to the front and acknowledge us. We should have left then. Finally got seated and within a few minutes a bus boy filled our water glasses and gave us a basket of bread. Another 10 minutes go by, and the man who must have been the owner took our drink order. I had an iced tea, but something was off, either it was old or the lemon was rancid or both, but it was undrinkable. My husband ordered a Scotch, Dewars, neat, but what he received was not Dewars but some cheap well Scotch with particles floating in it. The bread was cold and the oil had no flavor, but the Parmesan cheese was plentiful. It reeked of cigarette smoke, which I thought was coming from the table next to us, but no, it still smelled after they left. The hostess, a waitress and the owner passed by us many times, but no one asked how our drinks were or asked to take our order. Finally we made the decision to leave, left $25, which was more than generous. The hostess, who was now at the front desk, probably hiding from the guests in the dining room, seemed shocked we were leaving so soon. I’ve always heard good things about this restaurant, but maybe those...

Went in today for Valentine's day. Got there at 5:45. Server was barely present, to the point where out of 5 tables that were seated in the same room as us, 3 of the tables got up and left. We didn't order an app, just went straight for the entree and our food didn't get to the table until 7:25. We wanted to get up and leave, but felt horrible since everyone else was. Also, between the time of 5:45-7:25, the only time the server entered the room we were seated in was to take our order and bring our soup/salad that came with the meal. We asked for the check right away when our food was finally brought to us because we were no longer interested in eating since we waited so long and we even had to wait for our check. 20 minutes later she came back with two glasses of water when we already had 4 glasses at our table of 2 and we had to ask for the check again. I asked her how long it would take for the check and she said not long and said we came at a bad time because there were lots of people there. We walked by the other rooms and there were barely anyone in the other rooms as well. Even one of the couples that got up and left mentioned that the restaurant barely had anyone there and there was no reason for them to not even get their order taken after waiting 30 minutes. The server barely entered our room. A table of 4 got there the same time as we did and left 20 minutes later after the server never even made it to their table. A waste of money and a ruined experience for us. Will...

I recently attended a funeral luncheon at Antonio’s Restaurant, and while the food itself wasn’t bad, the overall experience was extremely disappointing. We provided an estimate of 30 guests beforehand but ended up with 15 attendees—something completely out of our control. Despite this, the owner insisted on charging us for all 30 people. What’s worse is that there wasn’t nearly enough food provided for the 30 people we were charged for. Even with only 15 attendees, some dishes ran out quickly, leaving us wondering how they justified the inflated bill. When we brought up our concerns, the owner was completely dismissive, showing no willingness to listen or address the issue. It was obvious he only cared about getting the check and not about providing a fair or compassionate experience, especially considering the sensitive nature of the event.

I understand the need for estimates in these situations, but this felt more like taking advantage of grieving customers than a fair business practice. I wouldn’t recommend Antonio’s for events, especially if transparency and fairness are...