Ristorante Bottaio — Restaurant in Libertyville

Nesrly everytime I’ve dined here, something has gone wrong. So after several years, we tried again.

Walking in the door, immediately I was put off. The few seats of a “bar” area and two high top tables were literally the only space to wait to be seated. (We were on time, if not a few minutes early.) The main restaurant was cram-packed with tables and stuffed with diners, and the noise level was ridiculously high. (No acoustics.) And I’d somehow forgotten that the restrooms are located across from the kitchen/server window! (Pretty unappetizing.)

Then there’s the service. Reservation at 6pm. Seated at 6:10. Took 20 minutes to order drinks and appetizers. One drink was completely missed. Ten minutes to fix it. Almost 20 minutes to get appetizers. Plates cleared from those and we waited to order dinner. And waited. It was now well over an hour since we walked in the door and we were waiting for our main entrees. And waiting. At least thirty-five minutes later, dinner came out… well three out of four! (No clue what happened!) That took another 20 minutes to correct.

The food was fabulous! However, this was a birthday celebration for our eldest adult son. It’s difficult to eat a meal with one person sitting in front of you with no food! For 20 minutes! Three of us sat with our food getting cold, waiting for one entree to arrive. What a disaster!

The restaurant didn’t charge us for the re-fired entree. The wait staff offered us dessert, which we declined because we had birthday cake at home. And yet, our server still showed up with one piece of tiramisu for our son! It was a guilt-driven, last ditch effort to fix an incredibly awful dining experience … with a piece of desert! (Quite dismissive.)

Every time I’ve been to Bottaio (lived nearby for many years), I’ve had a poor experience, usually service related. The food was always good. Early dinner service was somewhat better. However, my best dining experience there was over a decade ago with my husband and two of his VPs from work. We ordered bottles of wine and got much more attention… Make of that...

Went to this place many times. went there just recently for my brothers birthday and what a mess it was. was sat right away but as soon an our waiter came it all went down hill. Not only did all of our food come out at 10-15 mins apart we had a party of maybe 10 and 4 of us got our food as the 4 was finishing up there food another 3 came out and then another 10-15 went by and the last 3 came out after. that part wasn’t even the worst part as i was waiting for my food my waiter gave me the wrong meal had to send it back. i get up to go to the bathroom and on the floor in the literal middle of the dining room was a dead cicada and wasn’t picked up or noticed the whole time we were there. the worst part yet to come. when we were waiting for our check we only had 3 different bill the waiter took not 30 minutes not 45 mins not 1 hour. but a whole 1hour and 30 mins to just get our check even after one of the people from our party had to literally go up to the waiter and ask for our checks as he told us he was confused on who got what even though we didn’t even get appetizers only main courses. also asked the person from our group for help to figure out who got what even after that it took another 30mins to get our check. i couldn’t wait any longer and figured out the price on my own with tax left my money on the table and left. the service was very bad the food yes was decent and wasn’t anything to complain about but come on we have to do better than this. bugs on the ground. server that has no idea what there doing and no one to help assist them. i’ve went here many times before but after that whole situation me and my family are done coming here hopefully they will try and change the mess they’ve created. the worst part is i own my own restaurant and if this happened there we would be closed down but here just like always will keep running as if nothing happened. need new management or owner. Very disappointed and disgraceful to other service workers. Good luck Bottaio’s

Ps i don’t want your AI generated Reply’s like i’ve seen in your passed reviews...

It's incredible as I thought back while writing this, I've been dining on a regular basis at Ristorante Bottaio in Libertyville as well as Bottaios two sister location's, Oliverii Italian Restaurant in Northbrook & Oliverii North in Antioch for over 30 years now! WOW!

Both of my son's, now 20 & 24yrs old, have been eating at all 3 location's too since they were 6 months old, any of the 3 location's are still their FIRST CHOICE whenever there's an occasion, or not, to eat out!

All 3 restaurant location's are owned, operated, managed and HAVE BEEN IMPECCABLY MAINTAINED WITHOUT FALTERING BY THE SAME AMAZING FAMILY.

FROM MY FIRST DINING EXPERIENCE IN THE NORTHBROOK LOCATION 30YRS AGO UNTIL JUST LAST WEEK IN LIBERTYVILLE...

TOMMY ALONG WITH HIS ENTIRE STAFF MAKE EVERYTHING LOOK WAY TOO EASY! AND, THIS GOES FOR EVERY LOCATION, THE STAFF HAS ALWAYS WORKED TOGETHER LIKE CLICK WORK, NEVER MISSING A BEAT!

IT'S SOMETHING I'VE NEVER SEEN. ALL 3 RESTAURANTS ARE STILL GOING STRONG!

IN MY OPINION, THE FOUNDATION CREATED THAT STAYED ON THE BEAM ALL THESE YEARS HAD TO BE THE WORK OF A VERY LOYAL FAMILY WHO ALL LOVED THEIR CREATION AND STUCK TOGETHER.

I'VE ALWAYS KNOW THIS FAMILY TO BE VERY PROFESSIONAL, INCREDIBLY SINCERE, HONEST, FRIENDLY &...