Vasco’s Peri Peri LOMBARD — Restaurant in Lombard

⭐ 0 Star – Disappointed and Deeply Upset by the Lack of Basic Humanity

I’m giving this location one star, despite being a fan of Vasco’s food from another branch. Today, I walked in with my pregnant wife and our four children (ages 1, 3, 6, and 8), looking forward to a family meal. The two youngest prefer chicken tenders from CHI-Tea across the street, so we picked those up before entering Vasco’s for the rest of our meal.

As my family sat down and I approached the counter to place a large order (understandable given our family size), the young man at the register took the order politely. However, just before I paid, he informed me that outside food isn’t allowed.

I understand the reasoning behind such a policy in normal situations. But this wasn’t a group of teens bringing in food to loiter — it was a visibly exhausted family with toddlers and a pregnant mother. Common sense and basic decency would suggest making an exception, especially when we were placing a full family meal order. There was no willingness to accommodate, no empathy, and no sense of shame about turning away a young family after a long day.

Thankfully, he mentioned it before I paid, so we gathered our things and left. But the lack of judgment and humanity in that moment left a sour taste. This is a message to the owners: if you want your employees to uphold your brand, teach them how to read the room and apply rules with compassion and discretion.

This experience tainted our view of Vasco’s and, frankly, it’s a disgrace. You’ve lost a loyal customer — not because of your food, but because of your failure to lead...

So, I’ve been to Nando’s Peri Peri as well as Port of Peri Peri. This was my first time coming to Vasco’s. Customer service was friendly although it could be improved. When I had a question, two of the employees just looked at me and the third came over. It can’t be a language barrier since they’re in Lombard. The second instance was when the employee asked if we could write a review, he kind of awkwardly stood by us, waiting for us to do it. I recommend just dropping off the QR code and let us review it privately. You’ll have better ratings. Unfortunately, I’ll have to take off a point for those two instances.

For the food we ordered half chicken with sweet potato fries, far far, and mini platter. Mini platter came with half chicken, 3 wings, and peri mogo fries. I wished they had more combo meals like Nando’s like chicken wings combo, half chicken combo, etc. Besides the mini platter combo, the sides can really add up if you didn’t want the mini platter. The chicken itself was juicy and tender. The sweet potato fries were just okay. The peri mogo fries were mediocre. The far far reminded me of a saltier version of shrimp chips, it’s good to take home and snack on it. Portion sizes were not super small like what some people said. Portions were sufficient if you have a side with your chicken. Prices were okay but could be better if they added more affordable combo meals for the average person. I have to take a point off for the fries and lack of combo meals. Overall,...

I had high hopes for this place as the online reviews were majority all positive. My friends and I had made our way back from a weekend trip to Michigan and decided to stop by here for a quick meal. Initially we had planned to order carryout but since we were all present at the location we had decided to change our minds and dine in. The staff present at the time had a bit of a problem with this and questioned why we had changed our minds which I found both a bit rude and a tad unwelcoming. The location wasn't all that busy during that time, so I didn't find much reason as to why they were reluctant on letting us dine in. Apart from the service, the food wasn't as great as all the reviews had suggested. There were some positives relative to the quality of the meat and portion sizes but the overall meal had too many contrasting seasonings overlapping with each other. I'm not a fan of unseasoned food but there is also an aspect of over seasoning which can lead a meal to being quite overbearing. Some tips for the owners of this establishment would be to create more consistent recipes for the items on your menu so all your consumers can have a consistent and great experience. Also, please make sure your staff is welcoming enough to persuade us to come back even though we had an off experience with the food. Nonetheless, it takes a lot of effort to run a restaurant so I wish the owners nothing...