Baldarotta's Porketta & Sicilian Sausage — Restaurant in Urbana

After today's experience at Baldarotta's Porketta & Sicilian Sausage we will never be going back. The level of unprofessionalism and discrimination exhibited by one of their owners was astonishing.

To give a brief synopsis we were excited to try out their new location for lunch. We were immediately met with rudeness for no apparent reason by the woman at the counter, I later learned she was actually one of the owners. I honestly just brushed it off and didn't think too much into it at first. But that changed the moment we said we would be eating there and she stepped out from the counter and said "I'm going to stick you guys in here." as she turned on the light to the extra dining room. For context there's maybe 15 tables in their main dining room and two or three of them had customers. Additionally, this was around 11:30 am and there were no customers behind us in line. The extra dining room was dirty and had food on the floor and the tables needed cleaned. The couple that had been in front of us got great customer service and the woman was very pleasant with them. It became very apparent that we were being treated differently due to the dog, who is a trained service dog being with us. We decided to ask for our money back and leave even though we love their food and have been looking forward to it. When we walked back into the main room and asked if we could cancel our order and be refunded the response we received was absolutely in a harsh tone. She gave me my cash back and I said thank you. She responded by ignoring me and acting as if I was invisible.

We walked around the building to the parking lot and I told my husband that I couldn't leave without having a conversation with her because the entire interaction just did not sit well with me. I walked back in and patiently waited for a couple at the counter to finish ordering. It should be noted the light to the other dining area we were told to go sit in was off again. Again when I approached I received a cold response after witnessing her being very pleasant with the couple in front of me. I asked if I could speak with a manager or someone in charge. That is when she informed me that it was her and she was a part owner. I asked her why she has been so rude towards us and that we felt discriminated against because of our service dog. She told me she didn't see anything stating he was a service dog. I explained ADA law does not require a service animal to be vested and that she never asked if he was or even mentioned dogs were not allowed, had she asked or said something we would have informed her he was. I would also like to note that the majority of our interaction with her the dog was sitting or in a down stay not causing any issues. She admitted that she did treat us differently because of the dog and said she could have handled the situation better but never actually took accountability or apologized for the entire situation.

I'm sorry for the long read but I truly couldn't stay quiet about this. I hope she learned something from this interaction today and as much as I'm saddened and disappointed in the entire situation I'm honestly glad it happened to us and not someone who is not able to speak up for themselves. I truly hope they decide to do some self reflecting and learn how to be more accommodating for individuals with disabilities...

I tried a Baldarotta's sandwich for the first time a few weeks ago, and it made me so angry. How could I have lived in C-U for the last 2+ years and skipped out on these awesome sandwiches? Lost sandwich potential. So sad.

These are world-class sandwiches - some of the best I've had, anywhere in the world. They manage to be rich and super-flavorful without being overly salty, which is usually a problem with American restaurant food. The menu offers a limited number of sandwich combinations, both hot and cold. I've never tried the cold sandwiches, but I'm sure I'll get there eventually. Right now, I only have eyes for the Italian sausage - mixed hot and mild, with olive relish.

There are no substitutions or alterations allowed for the menu items. They warn you about this on the menu, and I 100% respect this decision by the chef. Would you go to a Michelin-starred restaurant and ask them to alter their signature dish? Leave off the capers? Sauce on the side? Nope. Then it's not the same dish. There's a reason that a chef includes each ingredient in a really good dish, and it's about balance. If you want it your way, Subway is down the street. But if it's a really good sandwich you're after....

Start with that hearty house-made focaccia. It's not the bready, mass-produced stuff you've had before. This is the real deal, made with cornmeal and good-quality olive oil. It's a substantial base for Italian sausage or porketta, the two meats we've tried, both delicious.

Sandwich portions are generous. You get chips by default, but you can upgrade to fresh-cut fries, pesto pasta salad, or lemon parmesan broccoli salad for a minimal charge. I HIGHLY recommend the broccoli salad. I could just eat it as a meal, but the lemony flavor and crunch are really great with the sandwich. The pesto pasta is also good - a tortellini pasta dressed with deep-green, fresh-made pesto with plenty of parsley and parmesan cheese.

Baldarotta's fills two long-standing gaps in the C-U food scene - gourmet sandwiches and good Italian food. Don't sleep on this one, get the best sandwich you'll ever have from a mall,...

Thanks you for Response from review 2 /3 months ago...Its okay you missed my review...things get past people it happens. Wasnt expecting a response but seeing your other responses to other previous customer complaints im not surprised. My family of 10 and I had worked within. Lincoln Square Mall and surrounding areas and had numerous observations over several months . And a few seperate purchases by almost all of my kids. I have 10. This review was i believe our last experience. You denying all wrong doing and believe you do/did everything 100 % but unfortunately not everyone is going to agree. There IS better in C/U. We wont be patronizing this business on past experiences. Calm down. No reason to accuse me of lying or my 9 year old daughter of lying is evil. whatever this response is gross. Its uncalled for. Everything in my review is true and accurate. If youd like i can bring my 9 yo and she can tell you she wasnt allowed to eat her banana in your fenced off place in the mall. Like i said GROSS all the way around. Ask the guy in backwards black hat that drove baldorattos van if he was smoking in the van and walked into restaurant and started helping customers in line without washing his hands ....bad reviews happens. Not everyone is perfect use thiese reviews to make this business healthy and clean. People miss things sometimes. Just calm down and do better. Maybe offer a quit smoking ciggarette for incentives to the employees. First, Second and Last..Maybe offer to make things right instead of saying IM an "example" of YOUR bad reviews.

Grooooossss! Employee in van smokes and proceeds to walk in the restaurant and serve without washing his hands. Charged .25 plus tax for a plastic knife. We threw the food out for fear of unproper food temp but attempted to enjoy the fries but sadly they were soggy and salty. I do not recommend. Also my 9 yo had to eat her banana outside their fenced in space per their strict no "outside" food policy....