Calo Ristorante — Restaurant in Lake View Township

Some really good things about this place; others not so much.

We called to make a dinner reservation a day ahead of time for our 40th wedding anniversary. Calo was recommended to us by a friend who lives in the area. We live over an hour drive away, but were going to be in the area. This info was told to the woman who answered the phone. All my husband asked for was a booth, since we were celebrating a big anniversary. The woman was short and a bit snippy on the phone with him and told him she couldn't reserve a booth. That they'd see what they could do when we arrived for our reservation. That was off-putting off the bat. We actually considered going somewhere else because of her attitude. But in the end, decided to stock it out.

Free parking is in a lot across the street from the restaurant. They have someone patrolling the lot to make sure it's Calo customers only. (They give you a card which you must get stamped and then returned to the lot attendant. )

We walked in and told the hostess that we had a reservation. She asked if we wanted a booth. Had to keep from laughing. Interesting thing is - on the way to our booth, I saw another booth with a reserved sign on the table. What the heck?!

Water was poured right away and a "meh" bread basket brought. (Two pieces of foccacia and 2 slices of boring bread.) There were a couple of those little butter pats in the basket. Surprised )and disappointed) this bread is not served with a small dish of olive oil and herbs for dipping.

Decent wine selections on the menu with each category offering average priced glasses ($10), plus more expensive choices. My husband wasn't familiar with Italian white wine, so was asking the server questions. She was great about helping out and brought a sample for my husband to try.

I was in the mood for pasta, but noticed most of the dishes had mushrooms in them. Seems to be their specialty. Unfortunately, I cant stand mushrooms, so my choice was limited. I had the Rigatoni Barese (Italian sausage, chicken, asparagus, roasted red peppers, tomato sauce, garlic, olive oil) for dinner. Smelled the delicious garlic as soon as the dish was put in front of me. The dish itself, on the whole, was wonderful. Pasta was cooked perfectly, the tomato sauce amazing, the meat tender. The two complaints I have are that the meat needed to be trimmed better (had to spit out 4 bites of chicken in my napkin because of fatty pieces, and a piece of sausage still had the casing around it which I couldn't chew...Calo, you need to get on your kitchen staff about this! Was pretty gross.) And, the asparagus in the dish was rare slivered pieces. Wish there were either more of this or thicker pieces.

My husband had the Ravioli Di Aragosta (ravioli filled with lobster) in a brandy cream sauce with sundried tomatoes, asparagus, portobello mushrooms and shrimp. He loved it. We were thinking $30 wasn't bad for this dish (lobster and shrimp!) before ordering, but discovered only 2 pieces of shrimp in the entire dish. Perhaps the dish should say "garnished" with shrimp.

For dessert, I had the flourless chocolate cake which was incredibly delicious. Minor, but worth noting...dessert menu said with a raspberry topping and it was strawberries. Didn't bother me, but it might make a difference for someone else. Husband had the lemon ice which he said was decent.

Our server was Jillian and she was wonderful: personable, helpful, attentive without being intrusive.

Other notes: Food was brought out quickly. Music choice playing rather odd for an Italian restaurant. More like light party funk. Noise level medium. Music not too loud; could easily carry a conversation across the table. Women's bathroom could use some attention. Outdated and could've...

This is a tale of the food of two Calos. We have ordered on Calo's app for years for delivery. Even before the app, we ordered from Calo's for delivery, so we are talking 15+ years. Nine times out of ten, they arrive earlier than the expected delivery time and all the food, from apps to entress, is piping hot and delicious. Our usual go-tos are caprese salad, grilled octopus, wings, chicken/ribs, chicken francaise, seafood risotto, buccatini diavolo, thin crust pizza and pan pizza. And, of course, we have tried other dishes throughout the years but those listed were the standard dishes more often than not. For delivery of entrés, they always provide bread, butter (old school butter balls!), choice of soup/salad, and choice of potato/pasta. Their prices, even with today's depressing inflation rates, are still very reasonable.

Last night, we decided to go to Calo's in person. This might have been the first time in person for us in a decade. We didn't have a reservation but were seated quickly. The wait staff was prompt with water, bread and focaccia. The waiter was exceedingly well mannered and provided terrific customer service. We ordered tuscan salad, caprese salad, buccatini diavolo and seafood risotto. Portions for both salads appeared to be double those of delivery service so we were taken by surprise. I was completely dismayed to see balsamic vinegar drenching the tomatoes as for delivery, there is never balsamic vinegar dressing on it. The buccatini diavolo was swimming in a red sauce that didn't taste like the red sauce for delivery. The sauce was on the sweet side. The seafood risotto was not truly risotto in the sense it was just sauce put on top of white rice. Whenever I order this dish for delivery, it appears that the rice has been cooked in broth/sauce. The red sauce was on the sweet side and not that tasty. There were two shrimp, two larger scallops, maybe three clams, 4 mussels (1 unopened), and lots of calamari rings with a couple of tentacles. The scallops did not taste fresh. I took a few bites and that was it. I felt ashamed to send the dish back or tell the lovely waiter because I do love Calo and know that everyone can have off nights. So I put the shells dish on top of the risotto to cover up how much I didn't eat and also avoid the question of how is everything. My partner ate her buccatini only because she was famished but she did not like it at all. We were wondering if there were two kitchens in back...maybe one to prep for delivery and one to prep for in-house?

I will definitely order online again for delivery but it might take me a moment to re-order the dishes from last night.

Lastly, the acoustics are not great inside for people with hearing issues. The surfaces are all hard and so if a table gets boisterous, it will be like they are sitting at your own table. Space was large and clean. I didn't use the restroom so I can't...

Best Italian restaurant! If you are looking for Italian restaurant which is not only sell pizza, here is your best option. Our family visit here so many times. We love all their food and service. The restaurant is quite big. There are 2 rooms and bar seats. They open both lunch and dinner. Lunch is not quite busy you can get the table very easy. Dinner is busier. If you come during peak time, you might have to wait for the table. We went there on Thursday’s night around 8pm. There were 2 tables opened so we got seated right away.

Complimentary breads are served right after you arrive at the table. Their bread are soft and delicious. I like to ask for olive oil, balsamic and cheese to eat with bread.

Today we ordered 6 dishes for 4 people. All the food is big portions. We know that we are not going to finish them but we like them all.

Starting with Polipetti Alla Griglia, it’s grilled octopus. It’s tender, not chewy at all. We finish it very fast.

Following with 5 entree’s Ravioli Di Aragosta Pasta : ravioli filled with lobster served with big shrimp in the white cream sauce. Shrimps are cooked to perfection. It’s my favorite dish. I order every time I visit. Pappardelle Capesante Pasta : scallops with crimini mushrooms in creamy spinach sauce. Scallops are huge, meaty and yummy. I highly recommend this dish. It’s our family’s favorite dish especially my husband. We also get this dish every time. Risotto Frutti Di Mare : risotto cooked to al dente with all seafood including big shrimps, huge scallops, squids, clams and mussels. We had this dish for the first time. The huge portion that we got compare with the low price that we paid. Its incredible!! This dish was not our style of risotto. We like it more creamy. However, the taste is good. We ordered 2 dishes from special menu. Baby back ribs : this dish you can pick the side between pasta and potatoes. There are 3 different kinds of pasta with white or red sauce. Potato can be mashed potatoes or baked potatoes. The ribs are soft. You can pull the meat out of the bone very easy. The side pasta that we picked a little bit blend. Whitefish : I can’t remember the name of this dish but it’s grilled whitefish with onion rings. This dish you can also pick the side dish. It’s kind of healthy dish but we aren’t so healthy. So, it’s nothing outstanding. I would say it’s ok for us….lol

They also have so many options for pizza. I saw many people order pizza. It must be real good. We plan to order it next time.

We didn’t get any dessert because we are super full. End up packing all the leftovers home which is we know it’s gonna happen. 😅

Our server is amazing. She is very attentive.

They have full bar if you are drinkers. We didn’t get anything drink except root beer for my son.

There is free parking offering across the restaurant. It’s so convenient.

After everything we ordered, the bill came out...