Monelli's Italian Grill & Sports Bar — Restaurant in Portage

I had a poor experience with the manager, Emily and the kitchen at this restaurant. I went here with a few friends. We ordered the chicken parm, penne vodka, chicken tenders, cheese bread, and the pepperoni rolls. Our server was new and had one minor mistake and didn’t order the chicken on the penne vodka. Unfortunately, I didn’t get her name but she’s a great server. Everything else was perfect with her. The issues arose when we tried to get the chicken for the pasta. She had spoken to the kitchen, who told her that they can’t do sides of chicken. The kitchen made our server order an entire entree of chicken, green beans, and potatoes, which were the same sides also missing from our chicken parmesan entree that we had paid extra for when there was a mistake on the menu. At this point, we are paying for an entire entree that nobody ate except the chicken we ordered on the pasta and we also paid for extra green beans after a mistake on the menu. Our server willingly admitted she messed up and told us she had been told some bad news very shortly before her shift. We had spent the entire time watching Emily walk around staring around the restaurant staring at us. We also saw Emily talking to our server sternly about what was going on, which made our server feel the pressure to offer to venmo us for the messed up food (the chicken cost us $18 and the extra green beans were $4). I’m disgusted and appalled at the lack of empathy that Emily has for her employees, knowing that her employee had been dealing with some tough news before her shift, and knowing that she’s brand new and may not know how to handle customer issues and complaints. And I’m repulsed by her lack of respect for customers to come and deal with customer complaints for the kitchen. She had made one of her brand new employees come deal with it herself. That was not our server’s responsibility, but Emily’s responsibility, as waiters do not have the training to deal with situations like that, managers do. At the end of the night, we tried to speak to Emily by asking for her by name to the host. Emily was too busy on expo (suddenly) to come talk to us about complaints, after she had spent 2 hours or so just walking around and staring at rooms of people? Got it. 2 people’s food cost $73 because of the kitchen’s poor rule system. Google says this restaurant should cost between $10-20 per person. Once again, server was outstanding and we all tipped her between 30-50% not only because she was great but also because waiters are not paid enough to deal with poor management. Management and kitchen staff could use some empathy, respect, and better rules surrounding how their ordering system works....

This was our first visit and they blew us away, Monelli's is definitely on our "faves" list! Kasey (I hope I'm spelling that right!) gave us top notch service. She kept our drinks full and our table cleared, she only popped in when needed and we didn't have to flag her down. It was clear she was paying attention even while doing other things, and she has a bright and charming personality, even at 10pm when I'm sure she was ready to get the heck outta there. To add to that, we arrived at 10pm, a half hour before the kitchen closed, and those cooks still gave us a fabulous meal! The food had us raving, the portions were generous, and the "extra goodies" were not skimped on. I got the lobster fettuccine and my husband got the blackened shrimp carbonara, we got a southwest chicken salad to split. There was plenty of shrimp and lobster and all the toppings on the salad. I got a coconut mojito and it was fabulous, so props to the bartender working tonight as well. Our first visit experience today was so impressive, I actually got a little dorky and asked to speak to the manager. I figured he'd appreciate some good news now and then, as management usually only hears about any problems, although here I'm sure those are few and far between. I wanted to make sure he heard directly how impressed a couple of night owl customers were with Kasey and everyone on staff tonight, and I hope they all got a nice perk as a result! In short, I highly recommend this as a late night dinner spot, and I hope anyone who reads this has an equally memorable...

One of the few places still open late during the week! That's how I came to find this restaurant. Google led me here but I am glad it did because it was worth it. I ordered the fettuccine alfredo with steak- perfection! It came with a simple salad which was proportioned well. The whole meal started with fresh, warm bread and their own seasoned butter which were both very yummy when put together. I wasn't impressed with the 4 option dessert menu or the actual desserts. The molten chocolate cake was not molten and was overbaked but had a good strong chocolate flavor. The tiramisu, however, lacks in flavor and I found mine to be quite bland and dry. You'll see from the picture that there's scant cocoa on top and only the bottom layer of ladyfingers appears to be coffee soaked. For the price of the desserts, they left me disappointed.

The Italian sports bar theme is what you will find inside the doors and there are walls covered in live or recorded but seemingly recent sporting events. There is a full bar and enough beer options available to satisfy most tastes. The night I was there, my opinion is that I felt it was just a tad too loud for good conversation for a date night, but would have been perfect for a night out with my friends. In the end, Monelli's is absolutely worth going to for both the ambiance and the great food. I hope you have a good time and leave with a satisfied full...