Ilio DiPaolo's Restaurant & Banquet Facility — Restaurant in Town of Hamburg

We ate at Ilio DiPaolo’s tonight. Customers really need to know that the restaurant charges $1 per person (even kids), as a kitchen surcharge. This fee apparently goes to giving “raises and bonuses” to kitchen staff. Basically, they are using the extra hidden fee to pay their kitchen staff’s wages. The fee is hidden in the bill and not explained by the server nor did I notice it on the menu. In my opinion, the restaurant is hoping the fee goes unnoticed or that the customer is too embarrassed to speak up. Who wants to argue about a few dollars at the end of meal? But it adds up with every table, there are at least a few hundred people every hour or so. They will remove the charge if asked. However, I feel it is highly unethical to be placing added, hidden fees on to a bill. Your kitchen staff should be well compensated and certainly should receive bonuses and raises. However, those items should already be paid by the restaurant and not subsidized by your customers. Does kohls charge me a $1 every time I check out, to give their cashier a bonus?! No. I gladly tip servers because their hourly wage is far below minimum wage and the state allows the lower wage due to assumption of tips. Do you then give your servers bonuses and raises equal to the kitchen staff ( whom already make a higher hourly rate)? This doesn’t seem fair to wait staff. I was told the reason of the kitchen fee is to keep prices low. That is false. Your prices are not low, you charge $18 for a single order of wings and $30 for a bread bowl penne vodka. What you are doing is misleading. You are in theory charging “less” for the meal to lessen customer abrasion because you know the price of the meal is highly visible to the customer. It’s rather ingenious actually, you avoid that abrasion by secretly placing that charge in a hidden fee that 80% of guests won’t notice. So, in the end you get your money without your customers noticing. However, I wonder if this is even legal in NYS? Sorry, but there are dozens of quality Italian restaurants in the area that don’t scam their customers. Beyond this issue, it always takes forever to be sat( even with reservations), dining here takes forever because the food is slow to come out, wings were cold and dried out from sitting under heat lamp due to very poor timing by kitchen. So, actually not sure what I’m even tipping on because the kitchen was the root cause of most of our dining issues tonight. I hope others speak up as well, before we know it every restaurant will start slipping in these hidden fees. This is how...

Updated Oct 2022

Our anniversary is here. The obvious choice is Ilio's. When you can go to a restaurant that is dependable and reliable, it is an easy choice. Entering to be greeted so warmly by Kelly and Jamie, starts our evening off to a wonderful beginning. Nino, our server continued the welcoming atmosphere. He easily helped us with our entrée decisions. My husband accepted his suggestion for Seafood Fischetti and I opted for Chicken Marsala. Our dinners were delicious. Usually, we skip dessert because we are so full. But Nino convinced us to try Tartufo Limoncello. It was one of the best desserts we ever had! It is a lemon gelato with Lemon Liqueur cream center covered with Meringue sprinkles and topped with Raspberry Melba Sauce. You must go and order this dessert soon. As we were ready to leave, we were gifted with a lio DiPaolo stemless glass to commemorate our anniversary. It was a classy thing to do. 4 yrs ago This restaurant is fine dining mixed with a meal with family . We have been coming here for years. If you are not happy with a meal here, you are not happy anywhere. They are one the first places to offer gluten-free options. We have tried most of the menu options but I keep coming back for the best prime rib that I ever had. Yet, I love all the pata options too. Service is always 5 star. The owner is friendly and makes it a point to be sure everyone is pleased with their food and service. When you go, reservations are a good plan. No matter what night you decide to go, it is always packed. Even without reservations, they make every effort to accommodate you. With so many great restaurants in the area, we continually go back here because we know we will never...

We had never been to Ilio DiPaolo's, this was our first time. The restaurant was very hot, our 4 person table was too small, the restaurant is extremely crammed. Tables are all squished in tight. Then our waitress was "throwing" our food at us left and right. I didn't even have time to look at the menu when she was there to take our orders. I ordered soup and salad and Angel hair pasta and expected to get my soup first. She brought both at the same time! I have to add how she brought the others their salads and literally slammed them on the table! She was really rushing us. I had just gotten my soup and salad when she came back and asked how the soup was. I was very annoyed and told her I "just got the soup and salad and haven't even started to eat my soup!". She just walked away. I hated the atmosphere - no time to chat with my family. The waitress rushed us so. My soup was good (minestrone) and salad was cold and fresh, loved the Italian dressing. My angel hair pasta was good but had to ask for more sauce. Needless to say, I have no desire to return to this restaurant. I know so many folks rave about it. I didn't see it. And another aside, when we arrived the lady at the cash register was counting money over and over and completely ignored us. We just went through the cramped restaurant on our own to find our family who were already seated. Very dissapointed for my first and only visit to the...