Gatto's Italian Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in New Lenox

My wife and I came in and were quickly seated. We were immediately approached by the server and drinks quickly arrived. I had an Old Fashioned with Makers Mark. I couldn't detect bitters and was heavy on the maraschino cherry syrup so there was no balance between bourbon, bitters, and syrup. Our server was friendly and gave us the rundown of the specials and answered my questions on dish preferences. My wife ordered the lasagna dinner special with the optional meatball, I ordered the veal parmesan. Our dinner came faster than expected and only two sips into my Old Fashioned. This was an immediate hint that the food was NOT fresh! The lasagna did not have the baked blisters or crispy edges characteristic of a baked lasagna. The sauce was thin and lacked flavor complexity. Flavor was uniform without acidity or sweetness. There wasn't much of an aroma nor olive oil silkiness that you'd hope for. The texture was consistent blending into the cheese and ground meat ultimately making it the same soft bite throughout. The meatball was also without texture and flavor. It was almost as if they were frozen and reheated. Veal parmesan was tough but did have a good crispy breading which softened after being smothered in the thin sauce. It was over a bed of pasta in a little pool of water underneath. The cannoli was wonderful!!! The restaurant has a great family friendly atmosphere. The place is full but not loud. It's a great date night restaurant and prices were reasonable. The food is adequate for general dining and family get togethers. Look elsewhere if you're looking for food more...

The first time my wife and I came here was about 6 years ago where we walked out because we never got seated as the host was taking people before us. Last night we visited again hoping the service was better. It really wasn't. The only reason why we came back is because we had a gift certificate that we won. We walked in, stood in line waiting to be seated for almost 10 minutes before we noticed the host (who was sitting at the bar) noticed us and took our name. Three other couples came in and got the same treatment but the worst part was the host was seating them before my wife and I. He came up to us about 20 minutes later and asked who we were. I told him my name and he asked if we were on the list. I said yes quite mean, look at your clipboard. To my utter surprise he said "what clipboard". Gattos! If you hire an old man to host who has no idea what he is doing or where he is, maybe he shouldn't be hosting. So my wife and I seated ourselves without the dementia patient even knowing (he went back to the bar to sit down). Still no paper menus, very sad. And what "Italian restaurant", if you want to call it that doesn't serve lasagna? I got the NY strip steak. It was ok, but expensive for what you get. 24 dollars and only get one side? Another restaurant by the old K-Mart at least gives two sides and a soup. Wife got the ravioli and a meatball. She said is was good. All in all it was an a less than desirable experience but we still won't be back with having to pay our own money. ...

HORRIBLE SERVICE AND FOOD!

I’ve been here before a few time and in the past it was ok. Today I decided to take my cousin there for dinner and I had a totally different experience. First of all there was no one at the front entrance to greet us, so we sat at the bar. The bar tender wasn’t busy but she took for ever to bring us our drinks. She kept talking to someone at the other end of the bar. She assumed that I wanted a draft beer instead of bottled beer. I wanted a Stella in a bottle. After waiting for so long I just drank it even though she claimed something was wrong with the tap. She didn’t know how to pour a draft beer correctly. Someone else came and took our dinner order. We ordered the calamari and wanted a nice steak. They were supposedly out of the bone in rib eye and the New York. This server said he would take care us and give us some nice filets and some shrimp. Sounded pretty good. I asked for my appetizer at least 3 times. Bar tender said order is in. Server brings the appetizer and the steak the same time. Steak was ordered medium and it came burnt/well done for both of us. They also tried to pass off some other kind of steak as our filets, I believe it was the butt steak. Regardless they ruined our dinner and no one didn’t seem to care. The manager didn’t even come over or say a word to us. They offered to remake the steaks but I didn’t want anything else from this place. I asked for my bill paid it and left.

I will not be recommending this place or will I ever...