Cucina Paradiso — Restaurant in Oak Park

So... I gave Cucina Paradiso 5 stars because it was the best experience I've had in a while. We walked in on a fairly busy night and got a seat at a bar table fairly quickly. The server was pleasant and personable. She had recommendations when asked, and was genuinely apologetic when she came back to tell they were out of what I order.

I ended up getting their homemade rigatoni. It was phenomenal and really homemade. It was so similar to pasta I made from scratch a week earlier. The desserts we're just as good. The lemon blueberry mini dessert was tart and not too sweet.

Oh, and the drinks were great too. Can't wait to visit again!

UPDATE (3/3/22) Still a great place. Went in at 8:15 on a Thursday, important to know that the kitchen closes at 8:15, and had an enjoyable experience. They made sure the kitchen hadn't packed everything away, and then sat us at a table. We asked to change to a booth and the hostess moved us before we sat down. Even though it was obvious they were starting to wrap things up for the day, we never felt rushed in any way. The food came out almost as fast as the drinks, both were tasty.

I had the ricotta stuffed gnocchi, and my wife had spaghetti and meatballs. The gnocchi was like nothing I remember having before. They were little pillows with a soft creaminess and almost dissolved in my mouth. It was complimented with a chunky tomato sauce, that had a touch of creaminess. The 3 meatballs were massive, and she loved them. There are 2 in the fridge that came home with us.

The food was amazingly delicious, the service impeccable and not rushed, the drinks were incredible, and had we not known they were closing up, would have stayed...

We had our baby shower there in early Oct. ‘24 and everything was wonderful. We did the chef special menu plus fruit trays. The food was nonstop! The bar was a la carte- but soft drinks/coffee included. The pricing was more than fair given the value and quality of the extensive menu options.

We had an hour to set up and had the entire place to ourselves it was a perfect venue for and I had to literally show the guests the door at one point- they were having such a great time nobody wanted to leave!

I was able to add an arch for pictures, a welcome sign easel, have a table for games and photos and gifts and 5 tables for guests meeting our specific needs. There is plenty of room for more decor which is nice but you can add as much or little as you’d like and the space is still perfect!

I recommend having any function here for your family or friends- the menu variety and freshness of the never ending food served was impeccable! Nobody had a bad thing to say, they were too busy eating, drinking, and celebrating in the beautiful space! If I could give them 10 stars, I would! I couldn’t even grab pics of the food, it was enjoyed immediately! I recommend going with the assorted pastries for dessert every time- amazing!

Thank you to the staff for everything that day, it was a wonderful celebration! We can’t wait until our next date...

All the reviews are so good, we had set a reservation about A month ago, walked in, and was told they had no tables. The woman at the desk seemed pretty frazzled, she wasn’t necessarily nice, but I get it, we all have those days. I do too. So we figured no harm no foul.

Tried to give it a second shot tonight, July 3rd. Set a reservation. This time, walked in, was greeted and sat no problem. Bread was brought to us as was water almost immediately, the bus boys were really on point.

Table next to us walked in the same time as us and was seated first, within a few minutes of us being seated they had ordered drinks, got their drinks, ordered appetizers, got their appetizers all before we were even greeted.

There is a disclaimer on the menu to “be patient with staff”. There’s a hiring crisis going on. I get that. Feeling it in my industry too.

However we weren’t even greeted, though the table next to ours was not only greeted but received drinks and appetizers as well.

We waited 40 minutes. No server ever came. So we had decided to get up and find another place to eat. I really tried. And I don’t typically leave bad reviews for nothing. All I would have wanted was to be acknowledged within that 40 minutes. And...