Bimbo's Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in McHenry

Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice and shame on me. I will never go back. I went there for dinner on a Sunday night about a year ago and ordered the filet mignon with a hefty 38 dollar price tag. No soup or salad included. I ordered medium rare. This steak was overcooked and very tough and dry. I couldn't even chew it. Had the tenderness of an overcooked pot roast. I returned the steak. Approx 10 minutes later the waitress came back with the same plate of food with the same steak. She told me that the cook said it's cooked perfectly and refused to remake my dinner. This waitress was very rude. At that point I had no intention of returning. But yesterday I decided to give this establishment another try. I do love supporting local businesses. Pretty much exactly the same thing happened again. This 38 dollar filet was even difficult to cut. I was sitting at the bar instead of a table this time and asked the bartender if they could remake it. The bartender was absolutely awesome but that same waitress from last time came to me again about 10 minutes after sending back my plate. She had the same food that I sent back and actually had the audacity to address me with "we have been through this before ". And "there is nothing wrong with this steak." How absolutely insulting and embarrassing. Other patrons were quite shocked. This waitress was becoming loudly argumentive and I just told her I would pay for my wine and never return to this restaurant. I told her that I was giving them another chance to earn my business, and she didn't even care. I frequently dine at other local restaurants and to the best of my recollection have never returned a meal to the kitchen. I have plenty of other choices in McHenry. This once good restaurant has gone completely...

One of my favorite places to eat back when I lived in this area has unfortunately changed. It's a huge bummer and I really hope they turn things around.

The first, and biggest disappointment of the night was when I received the new menu. It's been paired back to a small offering removing a lot of the dishes that made this place so unique. For me, mom and pop restaurants like these survive by the dishes that make them different. It's those dishes that you find the love and art in cooking. I was really saddened to see that's changed. It wasn't like this at all when I lived in this area 8 years ago. The menu has been reduced down to a list of what you would find in almost all italian eateries.

I was sat in the new small area behind the slot machines removed from the original part of the restaurant. Unfortunately, I don't think the staff is used to having this new area either. I had to walk to the bar twice to get a refill on my iced tea. That shouldn't happen.

Lastly, the sauce has changed. I was told some time ago that they lost their head chef. He left to start his own restaurant in a different town. But in most cases with longstanding restaurants like these the recipes are from the families that own them and they train the chef's to make it their way. Unfortunately, this new chef needs further training. The sauce isn't like it was and that was a bummer.

Like I said above, I really hope they turn things around because this place used to be a diamond, filled with awesome history and...

Dined there with 5 others. One had been there several times, but not lately, and had recommended the place to our dinner group. I had a beautifiul view of the Fox River from my seat. The interior had cloth ceiling decor which looked very nice and also absorbed sound, so it was very easy to hold conversations. One member of our party had the fillet mignon, which was prepared perfectly and tasted wonderful and came with roasted red potatoes that he rated as excellent. Another member of our group had gnoche with a maranara meat sauce and 2 others had spagetti with the same sauce. All reported that the sauce was over salted. The party with the gnoche, began to feel ill by the end of the meal. I had fetticine alfredo which tasted great, but the left overs were very dry because there had not been enough sauce for the full serving of chicken and pasta. The evening was most remarkable for the bad service. Our server ghosted us most of evening. One member had ordered an optional house salad to be brought before the entree, but it did not come out until we were half way through our meal. One member of the group had wine and another had a cocktail. The remaining members had ice tea or soft drinks. We had to have our server hunted down to get refills. The wine and cocktail drinkers were never asked if they wanted another drink. The irony here is that I asked a couple who were exiting as we were arriving what they thought of the restaurant, and they told us that they were regulars and it was their...