Dipiero's Ristorante — Restaurant in Lake Zurich

I arrived in Illinois to visit a friend who lives in McHenry. I came to visit on her birthday with plans to take her to dinner a Lago. I never been and really wanted to try this place when my friends who have been to Lago didn’t want to return. Something about being too stuffy. So we opted for this local place. And was I pleasantly surprised by how good this place is. When you enter you walk through swinging doors into the bar/ dining room. It’s not really a big inside but it doesn’t really matter because the food is worth the trip. Joel greeted us and told us to sit anywhere. We started off with some prosecco to celebrate a birthday. Then a full array of appetizers which included baked clams fried calamari burrata shrimp cocktail and grilled octopus. There where three of us so we shared everything the baked clams are well, baked clams with season bread crumb filling, be careful the are very hot when they come to the table. The burrata was very creamy served with grilled Italian bread and fire roasted tomatoes on side. Four extra extra large shrimp must've been U-8s (8 to a lb) not sure but they were big. We cut a shrimp in three and it was like eating a whole med shrimp. The fried calamari was lightly dusted and fried, they’re light and airy. They are not coated in Italian breadcrumbs. Now the most delicious item on the appetizer menu was the grilled octopus. It’s an octopus tentacle according to the menu its prepared Spanish style with a vinaigrette dressing. Its absolutely delicious. So after we gouged ourselves on appetizers then we ordered dinners. Chicken vesuvio which was a pounded chicken breast with the bone still attached in a light sauce with roasted potatoes, very tasty sauce. The eggplant Parmesan was lightly dusted pieces of eggplant coated in a rich tomato sauce, covered in cheese, and served with a side of penne. And a shrimp Fra Diablo. Which where a little smaller shrimp than the shrimp cocktail we had, but a nice portion covered in a light Fra diablo sauce. The only drawback was it wasn’t spicy at all, like I like. We then ordered a cannoli and a piece of tiramisu. The waited forgot the candle but came running over and apologize for it and lit the candle in the cannoli to celebrate my friend’s birthday. All in all i’m happy we decided to celebrate my friend’s birthday here instead of Lago, which was originally as planned. It save us the ridiculous valet parking that you have to do at Lago. This seems like an old neighborhood restaurant that serves very delicious food and more people should support places like this so they don’t disappear. I’m only sorry I didn’t take picture of the food this time. Getting off a plane and driving from the airport I simply forgot to shoot pics.🙏🙏 Also my friend who doesn’t eat meat was able to enjoy every appetizer...

We stopped in around 5pm yesterday, Friday Oct 7.  There were four people at the bar and five tables were occupied.  We stood at the entryway for perhaps five minutes and nobody seated us, let alone greeted us.  I walked to the back of the restaurant where there were two waiters, busy looking at their phones and asked if they were seating for dinner.  One of them pointed to a group of empty tables, saying nothing.  My gut feel was that the service was going to be 'indifferent', but I was wrong.  The service turned out to be awful. We had been there perhaps three times in the last four years and our last visit was pre-covid.  The food then was good and the place was hopping.  That the place was like a morgue last night should've been a hint on what was to come. The waiter came to the table with menus and my wife ordered a glass of wine, I an iced tea, both of which were delivered quickly.  After a few minutes he returned to take our order.  I assumed that, not because he said anything, but because he was standing there with a pen and paper.  I ordered the walleye and I ordered a skirt steak for my wife.  Perhaps five minutes later the waiter placed bread on the table with olive oil and a miniature portion of parmesan cheese.  A busboy delivered our entrees, a large portion of fish with two slices of Vesuvio-style potatoes and perhaps four slices of zucchini.  My wife's steak was large and covered with a tomato paste, with the same two potatoes and same zucchini. My walleye was good, but my wife immediately complained to me that the steak was very tough.  I tried to ignore her for as long as I could and finally just switched plates with her.  The steak was not tough, it was rope-like and the only way I could make it chewable was to cut it (of course, against the grain) into slices no more than 1/4 inch wide.  Even then it was tough to process.  Had we not been starving we'd've sent it back, but she finished about 1/3 the fish and I finished the steak. The waiter never returned until he brought the check; never asked if our meals were OK, never asked if I wanted a drink refill, never asked if we wanted dessert.  When the bill came he laid it in front of me without a word. I paid with credit card and we couldn't wait to get out of the place.  By then, around 6:15, the place was about 1/2 full and I remarked to my wife that for a Friday night at that time, I didn't understand how a place could stay in business, especially with that kind of service and mediocre food. Yes, I understand that the pandemic has hurt businesses, and I know that there is a supply-chain issue.  And I get that from time-to-time, food will suffer.  I get that.  But there is no excuse for terrible service. For our visit last night, one star would've...

Google will not allow 0 stars otherwise I would not give 1. This place has the most inept delivery service I have ever experienced in my lifetime of dining. I ordered a pizza and wings told it would be to my house within the hour. 2 hours went by and I finally called to inquire and spoke to some kid named "moser" which is a perfect name for him and his attitude. Moser said the pizza went to the wrong house and had to be remade but is now en route. I asked why nobody called me to tell me that and he said "I don't know" and offered me a $5 credit towards my next order (which I found insulting). Moser was rude and unapologetic and when he sensed my frustration he hung up the phone on me like a little girl. I called back and spoke to a manager who eventually told me to just give the driver $10. I found this odd but said "ok". I really didn't care about the money or getting anything free I just wanted someone to be polite and professional and proactive in letting me know what was up w my food and it didn't help I was starving and worked 12 hours that day. Eventually the driver called me and he was at the wrong house so I had to direct him to my house which just added to the comedy of errors. When I finally got the pie it had the wrong toppings, was cold and soggy. I should have made a pb and j and called it a night. This wasn't my first time ordering delivery from this place but it will be my last. Having a bunch of kids run a restaurant that don't care and have horrid attitudes is amazing to me. How this place stays in business is equally amazing. The dine in is better I will say but even there you can taste the sour hint of "we don't really care about you or your dining experience here just eat and pay and be on your way". As a business owner of a multi million dollar organization, I am typically sympathetic towards small business. In this case, I want to open an Italian restaurant down the street just to put this place out of business where it belongs. Maybe...