VIA ROMA — Restaurant in Maine Township

Second time here was even better than the first! Via Roma is a lovely, quaint Italian restaurant along Northwest Highway with indoor and outdoor seating, an expansive yet well tailored menu of classic dishes, and a great atmosphere. Perfect for a date night or meal with a few friends/family.

Visited on a Tuesday night with my mom. There wasn't a wait and we were seated immediately in their nice outdoor area along the side of the restaurant (on weekends it does get busy and reservations are not accepted, so get there early or late to avoid a wait!). Our sever was the best I've had in awhile at any restaurant; very courteous, professional, and attentive. We were brought bread, olive oil, and grated parmesan along with waters.

Via Roma does not serve liquor, but does encourage to bring your own and will provide glasses and corkage for FREE (unlike some other Italian restaurants of a similar size and style).

Their menu is not vast, but has all of the essential pasta, risotto, and antipasto dishes one could want. They also have a rotating specials menu that contains some interesting takes and combinations of the basic noodles, sauces, and meats. This is where we both drew our dinner selections from.

I had a pesto gnocchi with chicken and sundried tomatoes. This was easily one of the best pasta dishes I have ever had. I've had gnocchi both times I've been here and would be happy to get it every-time in the future; They are fluffy, light, and delicious. Equally good was the pesto cream sauce, which was ample with great flavor.

My mom had a calamari linguine in a simple garlic butter sauce. The pasta was tender, and while the sauce could have used a bit more character, the calamari was beautifully tender and the best she's had.

We rounded off the meal with a large cannoli, coffee, and tea. The cannoli had a good, hard crust with plentiful pistachios on the ends, and was filled with velvety smooth filling. I was especially happy with the tea, as I was presented a wooden box containing ten varieties of bagged tea packets for me to choose between, a rare but simple touch that went a long way.

Via Roma is a excellent Italian restaurant that I would HIGHLY recommend to anyone. It atmosphere inside is lively, albeit a bit loud on occasion, while their side patio utilizes its narrow space and only two rows of tables along the walls to make you forget you are in suburban Chicago (at least until the Metra goes by). I cannot wait to come back here and try more of the creative Italian dishes on the menu, or just indulge in more of the same pesto gnocchi; It's...

This was my worst experience dining out to date. Upon arriving we saw plenty of tables available outside so we asked the host to be seated outside. As she led us outside we asked for a larger table, as FOUR tables were currently open at the time we didn’t think this would be an issue at all AND there was a party of 2 seated at a large table, she replies with no that’s not an option.

Absolutely horrendous way to start an experience. Our waiter finally came after a good chunk of time & we asked do they usually get super busy on weekdays, the answer was “yes” very curtly and this would turn out to be FALSE.

Staff brings us the free bread and we have our wine, upset trying to figure out why we couldn’t sit at a more comfortable table but another party of 2 could?

We order an appetizer reluctantly.

Half way through our appetizer our waiter offers to move us to a larger table BUT WAIT with a condition…. And of course it was the tables in the sun LOL. We’re mid bite trying to enjoy our food & that’s when they offer a pitiful solution? How does that make sense?

We’ve given this place TWO tries and have had similar experiences both times. We were also the only patrons of color both times as well.

After not seeing anything worth paying for on the menu we decided to leave. AND GUESS WHAT? Allllll the tables that were open when we arrived were STILL OPEN plus an additional table (at peak dining hours might I add, 6:40PM). So it seems they really can’t afford to be treating customers how we were treated…..

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Fantastic dinner with my husband on date night. Don't take reservations, so plan on waiting 10 minutes or so for a table. Staff provided impeccable service. This is a small space, and the staff performed like a ballet troupe that had been together forever. It's BYOB but luckily, no corking fee! The food is unbelievable my husband had pasta carbonara and I had seafood pasta. The pasta carbonara was silky with a little cream--buttery and delicious. The seafood pasta had a full two servings in the dish and included mussels, Manila clams and large shrimp in a spicy marinara sauce. Being Italian, I'm usually not impressed with most Italian food, however I have never had any restaurant Italian food as tasty as this. I am maintaining that my mom's food is right up there because she's an awesome cook and I value my life! I reserved half my dinner for lunch the next day and so I could order dessert. We ordered both the limoncello cake as well as the tiramisu. Limoncello cake had multiple layers with a soft lemon cream in between and on top. It was finished with a dollop of whipped cream and served with strawberry gelato on the side. I was delighted when I combine the two and it tasted like strawberry lemonade! Just divine! The tiramisu was tasted strongly of coffee and cream and thankfully, was not overly sweet. With this combination, you can eat tiramisu until next Tuesday! Just a fabulous dinner! Thank you so much to the staff...