La Notte Ristorante Italiano — Restaurant in Oak Park

It has been a long time since I have had a “dining experience!” We went to La Notte In Oak Park to celebrate my granddaughter‘s graduation. Giovanni and Jackie, (The executive chef and owner and a staff member he was training) gave us incredible service and a really lovely evening. The food was really delicious, everyone at the table was very pleased.After starting our meal with some bruschetta, that normally came with an order of four pieces, but they gave us five as they were five at our table. Small thoughtful things like that occurred all evening. Three of us had the house salad with an incredible house dressing and my son-in-law had red clam chowder he said was delicious. My granddaughter had fried soft, shell crab, my daughter and son-in-law, each had a different veal dish, my grandson had chicken Alfredo and I had a wonderful shrimp dish with a kick. There was also incredible warm Italian bread With a Parmesan and olive oil blend that was so good. We had two orders of that bread. I don’t drink, but the others shared two bottles of wine, reasonably priced, chosen by Giovanni. He served us all evening with Professionalism, fun, and humor. Finally, we ended our meal with some lovely desserts, of course we were all sharing spoonfuls and there was not one that was disappointing. Chocolate mousse was exquisite, crème brûlée was perfect, my traditional spumoni ice cream was smooth, creamy, and I am sure homemade. My son-in-law had an espresso with that same ice cream in it and a bit of whipped cream on top. We thought we were all done with our meal. When Giovanni told us to hang on a few minutes. He came back and introduced the rest of the table to limoncello. They all enjoyed this very much and it was a warm and lasting ending to our meal. I am so grateful that they made my granddaughters celebration a memory of a lifetime. Unforgettable. I highly recommend this restaurant. I am sorry there are not more pictures, we were too busy enjoying. I didn’t even think about it until dessert. Also honorable mention here for the busser, he was like a ghost appearing, and then going away again, keeping our table clear of all dirty dishes. The amount been per person includes wine, meals, tax, and tip....

Such a waste of money!! This place was WILDLY overpriced for the quality you get. My family and I went here for their Christmas Eve special menu.

First, They had a mixed fish appetizer (mussels, calamari, and fish fillet nuggets) for $49. We thought that price sounded way too high, but we figured for the price you would get a lot of fish and it would be of good quality. Nope and nope. The plate of fish was smaller than a calamari appetizer you would get almost anywhere else. Also, all of the 3 types of fish tasted like they just bought frozen stuff from the grocery store, tossed it in some super cheap breading, and dumped it on the plate. Terrible quality fish that didn’t even look appetizing when it came out. This dish at $49 was truly highway robbery. It was honestly insulting that the owner thinks they can get away with this price and food.

Second, my dad and I ordered the same linguine entree. Somehow, mine came out with significantly less pasta, and was missing several other ingredients that were listed on the menu and in his dish. My dish was missing the anchovies, Kalamata olives, bell peppers and maybe more. Even though we ordered the same thing it was clear how messed up mine was, as if the chef just completely ignored mine. These pasta dishes were $30 by the way and very small. Again ridiculous prices for the poor quality.

Third, my mom’s salmon dish came out lukewarm, had very tiny pieces of asparagus, and the sauce on her salmon had solidified as if it had been sitting out too long. For $38 this dish was also a big waste of money.

Finally, the service was very slow. Both in Taking our orders and bringing them out, it always took a long time.

All in all, it is crazy for La Notte to charge these prices for poor quality and service and being in the suburbs. Don’t spend your money here - if you want to blow your money go somewhere more worthwhile in the city where you’ll actually get what...

Busy Saturday night the place was empty, uh oh. But I'll try to be fair. Smelled of bleach but that just means it's clean. I can only judge on the 1 dish I ordered. Veal marsala. Very thinly prepared and very little portion put onto a cold plate. Thus was served cold. Ok, no problem they promptly heated it up. Nice hot pasta under it would help make this dish a bit , more.... There was a dish of pasta with red sauce served with it bit seemed out of place. I did see the owner but who am I to criticize a man who's life is invested in this. He won't want to hear me. This is what he deems his best effort for his customer. Perhaps he might think I need to be educated on what is a properly prepared veal marsala. But here's the thing, I won't be back. I sorry because I really appreciate a man so devoted to to running that restaurant and providing income for his employees. I know good meals can be had there but with so many places to eat I won't ever find out. Portion sizes being so small makes me wonder if they are trying to save on costs. The problem is if your customer leaves thinking there should been a bit more on the plate they won't come back. So you saved a bit but lost future income. And no, I'm not expecting olive garden endless pasta, just fill the plate. I'm sorry, to the owner, for this harsh review because I know this place is your life and you can say I'm nuts but the truth is I won't be back. Just think about it why do you think your place wasn't full of people....