Cafe Borgia — Restaurant in North Township

We were really let down by our experience at this restaurant. My fiancé and I went to Café Borgia for the first time on 7/12/25 because it came highly reviewed by many of his legal associates in the area. The minute we sat down we were greeted by the busboys who were all very sweet and kind.

Once we sat at our table, our waitress Jackie B came to us and we told her how excited we were to eat at Cafe Borgia as it was our first time here. She told us “we hope we will live up to the reputation and provide you two an amazing experience tonight.”

As someone with Celiac disease / a severe gluten allergy who has been gluten-free for over a decade, I’m usually very cautious and ask questions to ensure a safe dining experience. Unfortunately, this was not the place for that.

When I informed our server Jackie B about my gluten allergy, I was told dismissively there wasn’t much I could eat—just a salad and a grilled chicken breast. I tried to ask if any substitutions or accommodations could be made to any other menu item, and its ingredients or cooking method, so that I could potentially order another option alongside my salad (for example the scallops appetizer which btw has no description of any gluten being on the dish, yet the waitress insisted the scallops are very lightly dipped in flour, and I likely wouldn’t even notice it if I ordered the scallops). Even after telling Jackie multiple times about my severe Celiac condition, she continued to persuade me to order options with wheat ingredients which if I had consumed would have required me to leave immediately from severe sickness.

Even after I informed Jackie B I would be fine with the Chicken Vesuvio, she grew impatient and slammed her order book shut and abruptly walked away and told us “I’ll let you guys figure it out and I’ll be back.”

My fiancé asked Jackie for a recommendation from the pasta section on the menu. Instead of gently responding that she is not a fan of pasta, but the following dishes “….” , are our crowd favorites, she rudely responded stating “I wouldn’t order any pasta here”, “I hate pasta, ” and the only thing I would order is the “pan seared salmon.”

Well perhaps the seafood options are delicious, but we are the ones eating, not Jackie, and perhaps we should have requested the manager so that we could have obtained simple answers in a friendly and professional manner. It is mind boggling a waitress would continue to insult us over and over again, with such arrogant and distasteful comments.

Overall It felt dismissive and unprofessional, especially since the restaurant wasn’t even that busy when we arrived around 8 PM. There wasn’t even six or seven tables occupied, and in fact, most of the staff was standing around talking because the restaurant was nearing its closing time at 9:00 PM.

The worst of it all was right after we ordered our food, my fiancé attempted to tell Jackie to please instruct the chef to be careful for any cross contamination because of a prior bad experience at different restaurant, and before he could even get out 5 seconds of talking Jackie rudely put her hand up and told him “Sorry I can’t talk right now I’m too busy” and then abruptly turned and walked away without saying anything else. That was perhaps the most offensive and distasteful treatment we have ever had by any waitress for as long as we could remember, and we have ate at hundreds of restaurants across the Midwest in the last few years alone.

Our bill came out to $190 with tip, and we left feeling dissatisfied by the service and very let down by the experience.

Looking back, we probably should have just paid for our drinks and left. If you have any dietary restrictions—especially gluten-related—this might not be the best...

What a horrible, humiliating experience my family had at Cafe Borgia. If I could give negative stars I would.

1. The manager seated us at a table by the kitchen where it is very loud. The kitchen is very open to the dining room and you have full sight and sound of the kitchen operations. One of our family members has mild autism and is sensitive to noise. When I gently asked to be seated somewhere quieter for this family member she was clearly agitated and said “then you’ll just have to wait”. The restaurant was only about 30% full. There were empty tables everywhere.
2. We have a family member who has life threatening allergies to milk and eggs. Most restaurants are very kind and go out of their way to keep her safe. Not Cafe Borgia. The waitress, Jules B, was rude and clearly didn’t want to be bothered with special requests. She then informed us that we would be charged extra for any accommodations for the allergy. Although shocked, we proceeded to order but she wouldn't assure us that she would alert the kitchen to the allergy issue. She had a horrible attitude and made this family member feel embarrassed and ashamed.
3. I ordered a dinner salad but was apparently confused it did not contain any leafy greens— only cucumbers and tomatoes. When I asked if I could change the order or add greens she refused and said “I’ll just have to charge you for another salad.” Ok I get it, that was my mistake but the rude behavior and lack of concern for customer service was shocking.
4. Before our meal came, I asked the manager if it was customary to charge extra for food allergy accommodations. I was very polite. Her answer, on the contrary, was not. “Yes. If the options that come with the meal have an allergen, just don’t eat them! If we change it to accommodate the customer, you’ll be charged extra.” I told her that I was shocked and disappointed at the treatment we were receiving and that I had never experienced a restaurant to be so careless regarding food allergy safety and have so little concern for customer service. She abruptly snapped at me and said, “ok, pay your bill and you can go elsewhere to get better service.” The waitress brought the bill for the salads and pressured us to leave before we had finished eating them. Just before leaving I asked the manager for the owners contact information. She pointed at her chest and announced, “ I AM THE OWNER!”.

We were treated as if we were hostile or difficult, but on the contrary, our requests were not so demanding. Any reputable establishment would never treat their customers this way. We paid the bill and left. We will never return. I urge you to...

I am sorry to be sharing a negative experience but I have to warn others about Cafe Borgia in Munster. Although I have always loved the food here, I will never be back! As my husband and I were waiting for our food I saw a kitchen employee with a chef jacket on walk out of the kitchen with his disposable kitchen gloves on. If you ever worked in restaurants (as my husband and I had) you would know that is a red flag. For food safety reasons you are supposed to change gloves frequently and whenever they come in contact with contaminants. The kitchen employee walked directly to the bathroom. I pointed this out to my husband who said “well if he walks out of that bathroom still wearing those gloves I am not eating and we are leaving”. The employee was in the bathroom for around 5-10 minutes. Our food came out and I was taking my first bite as I see the employee exit the bathroom wearing the gloves 🤢. I dropped my fork and pointed it out to my husband who immediately tried flagging down our server for our bill. I walked over to speak to the owner and she questioned me on whether or not it was a cook. She said told me it was probably their dishwasher (even more disgusting since he touches all the clean dishes). She then said “hopefully he took them off in the bathroom”. To say I was flabbergasted is an understatement. I walked back to our table my husband paid the bill in full and walked out. It didn’t sit right with me that we paid for dinners we didn’t eat. I called the restaurant on our drive home and spoke to the owner again. She informed me that she spoke to the kitchen staff and that it “was just the dishwasher and he took the gloves off, washed his hands and put them back on”. (These gloves are already contaminated at this point and should not be used, let alone do we really believe this is what happened? And is she seriously justifying and defending this). I said to her “where did he put the gloves while he was washing his hands?” She said I’m not trying to argue with you! I then was on hold listening while she talked to our server and quizzed her on what we ate and had the server confirm that we did not eat the entrees at all. She then said I will credit you for you two entrees. This is beyond disgusting and her lack of seeing that this is a major health code violation is completely disgusting and leaves one concerned for their overall food safety practices. I will be calling the health department first...