Ottimo — Restaurant in Orland Township

This was our third time dining here. Food is always amazing. The first time service was ok but our busser was fantastic. The second time service was great. This time....has made us never wanting to go back no matter how good the food is. Nicole L. was our server. At least that's what the receipt says. She never said her name. She eventually came to our table after we were sat and asked if we needed drinks. The busser brought our drinks. We were ready to order and when she came back she just stood there. Didn't say "were you interested in appetizers?". Nothing. Just stood there staring at me. So I just awkwardly ordered, twice, because she said she couldn't hear me. "It's loud". She then asked if we wanted to go ahead and order our meals. Well, I guess so. Our food came out promptly. Food, like I said, is always great. Nicole L. never, ever, came back until we were so over it we just wanted to leave. We sat with empty glasses. The couple next to us that was seated after us waited to be greeted and then when they eventually got their drinks they were wrong. We waited so long that we never got a second round of drinks. We got a busser to bring us boxes so I could just pack up and go. She finally came back and went to grab our glasses and said "another round?" As she was already half walking away. I said no, just the check. I was still hungry but just wanted to leave. Open Table said two hour table times but we were there for an hour and never could get a second round. She never even gave an excuse or an apology, didnt offer desserts. I have ran restaurants downtown and for major hotels and I would have been embarrassed if this was my server. If we had seen she was clearly in the weeds and overwhelmed I would have completely understood(I've been there). She wasn't. She seemed to be utterly miserable and we were an inconvenience. As were the tables around us. My husband leaves for a week trip tomorrow and that is why we went out and it was spent sitting...

This was one of the most horrendous dining experiences we’ve ever had.

The place: The restaurant is dim and unevenly lit, and our table was so dark that we could barely read the menus. The dining area has zero noise cancellation features. No partitions, no curtains, nothing. It was so loud that we could barely hear our server or each other, even after the families with the screaming toddlers left. Tables are packed too tightly together, and the staff kept bumping our table and chairs.

The service: If you don’t order alcohol, you will basically get ignored. Our server kept doting on the table right next to ours and bringing them refills on their martinis and checking on them. We could only get our waters refilled once, and he just didn’t clear our table even once. When our food came, all the empty plates from our appetizers and bread were still there cluttering up the table, and there was barely room on it for our main dishes. It was so unpleasant, that we basically took three bites of our meals and then just asked for to-go boxes because we couldn’t wait to leave.

The food: We both got food poisoning. The portions were enormous and would have almost made up for all the other terrible parts of the experience, so we basically paid $90 dollars for bacteria nurseries to go.

The owner: I called when we finally recovered from the food poisoning to complain, and after almost a week of phone tag from their disorganized managers, the owner explained that because they had such a good score from a health inspector who had been there on a different day as us, that we must have just been lying about the day and a half of nausea and diarrhea. I just wanted a refund, and all they offered was a gift card so we could inconveniently drive all the way back and eat more of the food that made us sick.

This place should be shut down and turned into a...

I have been coming here for years and always had great service and excellent entrees. That was until last night unfortunately. We met up with our friends at Ottimo's and the server (Lynette) was clueless about how orders are submitted and also how to handle situations in general. When ordering the special of spaghetti and meatballs, I requested the bolognese sauce instead the marinara sauce (bad decision) as 2 other people at my table also wanted the spaghetti special, but one did not want the bolognese sauce. The server told him he had to have the bolognese sauce since 2 other people ordered it??? Also, the salad for the table was barely enough for the 4 people at the table. When our dinner was served the server NEVER came back to the table to check and see how our food was. After about 5 minutes of trying to flag her down, we explained how bad the bolognese sauce tasted as it was way too salty. She seemed clueless about what to do and she said it she had no other complaints and there are different batches made throughout the night. My friend requested a sample and that was extremely salty as well. Unfortunately, she never came back to see how we were after that but checked all of her other tables surrounding us for about 10 minutes. How awful to be avoided/ignored when you are out to dinner (my birthday) and should have service. When we finally yelled out for her, we requested the manager. He took away the food and offered marinara sauce in place of the food we barely ate, but at that point, we were done with the experience. We did not see him after that but he had our server come back to say the dinners taken off of the bill but he charged $21 for the salad for the 3 dinners (that is part of the meal). What has happened to Ottimo's? Bad food, bad service, and no customer appreciation. Thank you for the lousy...