Avanti Ristorante - Rockwood — Restaurant in Peoria

Some would say, why did I go back after experiencing the issues we had. Well, I like to give places a chance and plus, we like the food. Tonight was horrible. Online I ordered 2 garlic breads with cheese and a cheese sandwich. It wasn't ready when I got there, and I understand that because I had just placed the order. 15 minutes pass and I am still waiting. The worker, Thoma, I think that was her name asked how much longer for the food. The manager, Jay came and told her that she needs to just stay upfront and let him handle it. I was extremely shocked he talked to her like that. Another lady came in and placed an order for a pizza prima and a gondola. As she was standing there, she was watching them prepare her without gloves. 2 more of us decided to watch and sure enough, he was wrapping the food and touching the sandwiches bare handed. The customer asked for a manager. The worker, Thoma, rung a bell and he came and said, don't ring the bell, you need to come get me! Again, how dare Jay talk to her like that and in front of customers. The customer asked why they weren't wearing gloves, and he said we all wear gloves and was pointing at the guys and as we said, gloves were not being worn. Anyway, he eventually said they will remake her food. He said that as he was scratching behind his ear with the gloves on. Don't forget, I am still waiting for my food. They remade the customers food and she was gone. How can I order the simplest food online and literally everyone else came and went. I went to the counter and told her I would like to cancel my order. As I said that, Jay handed her my order, go figure right? I waited 35 minutes for the online order while others placed orders there and still received their food before me. I told Thoma that I didn't like the way Jay talked to her and told her to keep her head up. There's no way that person should manage anything!

We were so disappointed with Avantis! My daughter wanted to treat me out to dinner this past Saturday and I picked Avantis. There was a total of 4 of us dining in. After the host took us to a table we asked if we could sit elsewhere because both sides of the booth were dirty. On the side they wanted us to sit there were a total of 2 tables clean. The wait was absolutely ridiculous for it to be just a couple of other families dining. When our food finally came, I had to send a sandwich back because it had clearly been sitting way too long. None of our food was fresh but we dealt with that. We were really shocked to wait that long but we usually like the food and thought it was coming right out the oven considering the wait, and that was not the case at all. The waitress was really nice but we will not be dining in again. This was a HUGE...

Best bread in the world. We buy 25-100 loaves when passing through between states. Gondolas are AWESOME. Been going there 30 years and still the same great place I've always known. Memories!

The Famous Gondola - $5 (half) / $9.50 (whole): Yep, VERY famous and for great reasons. The bread is sweet and medium soft with a medium tough and slightly chewy exterior. The toppings are consistently fresh, exact, and just the right proportions. I like mine with mayo, but it is great without mayo, too. I cannot stress enough how great it is! Top notch and a super great value!

I’ve had the deluxe before, too. That is great, though it did seem to be a bit over the top with meat and cheese, but that is preference.

Gluten-Free Gondola (half) - add $4.19 to any sandwich: The best. My daughter is gluten-free and she has been around

The Bristol (half) - $8: It was toasted on the inside, but not hot (I did not request it hot). It was very similar to the standard Gondola, but with the bacon it really added to it. The turkey also changed it enough and mozzarella also brought great flavors. I had to add the mayo myself. I do think (compared to the rest) it was a bit over priced, but I did enjoy it and don’t regret it.

Chicken Parmesan Sandwich (half) - $9: Pretty good. Lots of sauce, but good balance of bread and chicken.

Ham and Cheese Sandwich (half) - $4.89 + 1.59: Bacon added. If you add bacon, you will probably want double. It didn’t seem to be enough. The Ham and Cheese was great otherwise. It is a favorite of many of my kids.

Pizza Bread (half) - $4.39: Another favorite of our kids. Delicious.

Bread - $2.59/loaf: Um, yeah, get a lot. It’s REALLY good. Soft and sweet with a slightly tough exterior and amazing texture.

Service: Always amazing, helpful, and usually gets it right. One time we ordered a large number of loaves to take home out of state. When we got home and counted it, we were missing a few. Because we only get there maybe once a year, it made correcting it difficult, but they did make it work. Next time we stopped, they added the missing loaves to our order. Yummy!

Atmosphere: Tables and booths are available. It is a classy dining area with Italian flares. It is still very casual but professional enough that you can still dress up and not feel out of place. The waiting area always interested me as a kid and it hasn’t changed one bit (for the better). Keep it the way it is. I love this place!

Conclusion: The best for sandwiches bar none! If you are within 2 hours of this place, it is worth a detour! GO! GO! GO!

Visited too many...

We had not been to Avanti's for quite some time and probably won't ever return after this visit. There were not many people at the restaurant, and we had to wait "several" minutes before someone would come to seat us. One of the waitresses even seen us with direct eye contact and still chose to ignore us. Once we were seated our waitress (same one that ignored us waiting at the hostess station) came and took our order. Her attitude was kind of that of a "pissed off person". She wasn't actually rude so to speak... but definitely WAS NOT being welcoming. My wife ordered some lasagna, and I ordered a sandwich & salad. The food came to the table in a respectable time, but the 1st thing I noticed was some sauce from the lasagna was smeared on the corner of the plate that my sandwich was on. There was ABSOLUTELY NO WAY the waitress couldn't have seen it as I believe it was her fingers that went into my wife's lasagna and then she grabbed my plate. Being a food server ourselves and having to take food management courses, we are aware that all plates being served to a customer are to be handled from the bottom without ANY fingers being placed on the surface of the plate where food is placed for service. Not only were the waitresses' fingers IN MY WIFES FOOD.... after my wife got half of the way through her meal she pulls out of her lasagna some kind of foreign object. Other issues we experienced was that this same waitress was asked for a different salad dressing for my salad. She said she would bring it... but she had to be asked again for the dressing as she was now pissed that I had asked a second time, made some loud verbal comment as she walked away and then had a different waitress bring me the dressing. From that point on we were totally ignored from our server and felt like we were being treated rudely for the rest of our time at the restaurant. Upon leaving the restaurant we were on our way back to our vehicle and suddenly a STRONG smell of marijuana smoke hit us in the face. Not that it is uncommon to experience that these days, But when it is clearly an employee toking it up in the parking lot, and then another Avanti staff member comes out and gets in the car with her and starts toking it up... That kind of explains the poor service and poor attitudes of the people working at this restaurant. Our experience was disgusting, disrespectful and TOTALY UNACCEPTABLE!!! and we will definitely not...