Capri of Willow Springs — Restaurant in Lyons Township

Came to this restaurant for the first the about one week before our terrible experience. The food and service was 5 stars. So much so we booked a reservation for a birthday group of 6 the next week on Sunday. We arrived at 6pm and the restaurant still had plenty of seating. After about 30 minutes, we hadn't received bread or appetizers. We were informed they ran out of bread and the owner sent out for two loaves. About an hour later, we noticed a party of about 8 people had been seated, and they had bread. I went to find out what happened. I was rudely told by the owner around 7:15 they were out of bread and wouldn't get anymore. She informed me the busboy thought we had bread and gave the larger party who arrived an hour after us the bread, and that he was human and made a mistake. While going to talk to her, I noticed everyone else had bread. She showed absolutely no regard or understanding for why I was complaining. I told her we had reservations and had been there for over 90 minutes waiting and we should leave and she said, agreed. Upon returning to the table others wanted to just stay and eat because we had ordered our food. When the waiter came back to the table, he told us they were out of soup. We left and went to different restaurant. We were the only people of color in the restaurant. The whole experience felt racially motivated. The owner was extremely rude, unprofessional, and expressed no remorse for poor planning. She repeated stated we were real busy on Saturday and so we didn't have enough food for today. It was an awful experience. I will never patronize this restaurant again. Even though it carries the name, we were told that is no longer associated with the other Capri chain and the owner is not a family member like she represented to me. She was a horrible person, her staff seemed afraid of her. I was never loud, or rude to her staff. Facts are facts; I agree. The whole experience was not just about bread. How do you wait for 90 minutes in a restaurant that was not crowded and your table only get 1 drink, 2 appetizers and that was it. When our order was finally taken you were then out of soup. The owner is a pathetic excuse for a manager and does not know how to run a restaurant. You didn't charge for the one drink and appetizer because you wanted us to leave. The owner totally ruined the birthday celebration and we had find a restaurant to eat at when we should have been headed home. Clearly other patrons prior to my post expresses the same opinion of the manager. She wasn't protecting her employees. Fact, other than her, the only employee I interacted with was our waiter. If everyone else in the restaurant had service and was accommodated except us, the only patrons of color what does it look like? I was neither loud or rude, you were correct, I did want your attention because after 90 minutes of waiting, I was very agitated, but never loud. The owner is rude, immature and her post defending her ineptness as a restaurant owner is clearly not because of me. I still believe her employees are...

Went with my cousins for a nice dinner before I start chemotherapy next week. I usually go to the Palos location but my cousin suggested Willow Springs. Thankfully we each got a dish and shared because my dish was awful. I got the Shrimp Franchese. The shrimp was tough and chewy and I know it’s supposed to be lightly coated in egg but mine tasted like an omelette. The rigatoni with vodka sauce and chicken and potato dishes my cousins ordered were both delicious. The salad was very good but overdressed and the peppers and cheese they give you with the bread was so delicious we ordered more. Our server seemed like she was rushing us out of there the second we got there. She would walk by our table and ask us if everything was good and before we could even respond she would be walking away. She did this our entire meal. Because of the reason we were there we had a lot to talk about so we there for a few hours. (But not into closing and there was no parties waiting for a table) We were ordering drinks, dinners, and each a dessert, so it’s not like we weren’t spending money. Our server also spoke to us like we were hurting for money or something. When we ordered extra of something she made sure to tell us she would have to charge us (which we fully expected) and when we each ordered different desserts she asked if we wanted the complimentary spumoni instead. It was not busy, there were maybe six tables of people and three servers. After we finished eating dinner we should have moved to the bar for dessert and after dinner drinks because it’s obvious our server wanted to leave and the bartender was very nice. I might try it again or maybe I’ll just...

Let's start with the bread they put out there. Great, fresh bread. And instead of butter or the already tired olive oil and grated cheese, they bring this wonderful spicy tomato based sauce. AND....out of this world roasted red peppers with parmesan and balsamic. And that's just the aperitif!

We ordered....my wife had the eggplant Towers of Pisa. Looked delicious....I didn't ry it because I frankly am not an eggplant lover, but she loved it!

So, I didn't get what I ordered....the server misheard me. But it doesn't matter! I wanted the rigatoni arribiata...he brought me the rigatoni in vodka sauce. He apologized and offered to both (1) take it off the check and (2) have the other dish prepared and I could take it home. I told him, no. I kinda enjoyed what he Brought me....I mean, the bowl was basically empty already. It was fantastic! Didn't have the spicy bite I wanted. Oh well. Gives me something to order the next time,

Very reasonably priced, especially considering the more than generous portion sizes!

Will be back...will be...