A Tavola — Restaurant in West Chicago Township

I was there this past Friday with a party of seven for a friend's birthday dinner. Let me start off by saying the food was delicious, but the service was absolutely unacceptable. We ordered our meal around 8:30, but didn't get our entrees until nearly 10:00! Granted, two of us selected the course menu, and the first and second course need to come out before the main entree, but even that was a mess and orders were mixed up. We also told our server that it wasn't necessary to bring out all the food together and to bring them out as they were done.

We noticed that all the tables around us (who were all seated MUCH later than us) received their entrees (the same ones we ordered) before we did! Why is that? We were also later told that they need to clear the previous course before firing up the next one. I understand that, but our food was cleared and we were sitting with empty plates in front of us for a very long time. We also had to ask our server multiple times where our food was. And the best part is when we asked her, she looked surprised! Because she forgot...

The most infuriating thing, however, was when we tried to speak with the owner Dan about the poor service. Over the phone he continued to be argumentative and unapologetic. After a lengthy conversation that was going nowhere, he gave a very insincere apology and made our group feel like we were just trying to receive a comped meal, which was not the case! The majority of his staff seemed to be embarrassed by his behavior as well (We were speaking with him on speaker). He repeatedly told us that "we ate the food and drank the wine, so you should pay," and if the service was bad, "Don't tip your server!"

He ended with saying, "what more do you want me to do for you?" What do you mean? You haven't done anything but be patronizing!

I think the bad service could've been a one off, and the situation could've been diffused quite easily. However, after speaking with Dan, I cannot support an establishment with an owner who berates his patrons and refuses to take responsibility...

Sadly, I have to say that this place is very overrated. I was so hoping for something so much more with all the beautiful reviews and articles. Maybe it was just an off night I don’t know, but let’s start off with the wine selection is decent but opening the bottles was a struggle for a server Cork was involved in three bottles I don’t understand how you can work for this kind of place and have these kind of prices and have a server that doesn’t know how to open wine bottles properly. I know we were a larger group and maybe they weren’t equipped to handle us but as we were trying to speak with our server, he would walk away ignoring us. It was quite rude. He was an older gentleman so maybe he didn’t hear us. I saw him deliver martinis half of the vodka was spilled all over the table and wasn’t even thought of to clean it up or replace, the tablecloth . The food, the mozzarella tasted awful salads were subpar the main course the gnocchi was a disappointment The brown butter sauce and sage didn’t have any flavor and then gnocchi is not supposed to be that dense and basically was like bricks on a plate. Everyone else ordered was somewhat OK except for a very overcooked cacio Pepe’s The noodles were mushy. The sauce was too thick all around dinner was below par. The beef ribs that people got were nothing to right home about but were somewhat enjoyable. The Bolognese was decent, but the noodles were way overcooked sadly charging these kind of prices and having this kind of service and food is very disappointing. I’m guessing the real chef was on vacation I hope. Dessert was horrid ! Flourless chocolate cake had NO FLAVOR and was dried out . We Will not be returning . So sad i had such high hopes for...

Very overrated..VERY overpriced for the food that has no taste! The service was AMAZING, hands down, the kindest people around however ,the food is not Italian..I've worked at an all Italian ,traditional restaurant and appreciate Italian kitchen (no, not olive garden ..ew) and I was so looking forward to having some Italian tonight ..but no, I was served white fish with no taste ,no seasoning and red potatoes that were simply boiled lol what?! Yeah, boiled red potatoes that I make 1000 times better at home, as a Ukrainian (we love our taters) with raw spinach that was supposed to have some garlic in it ,but clearly ,had no garlic in...just raw spinach, taken out of the bag and placed in a chunk on a plate, mixed with some substance that had no taste.. I was confused..my friend had chicken with spinach and said the same thing - no taste...tasteless food,with great service ..so you choose, either or 🥴 won't be back, but bless their hearts for being so kind and brave; rose wine made it so much better ❤️ I don't want to pay $40 for a plate of mediocre food in fact, the food was so bluh, I came home and ate...I was starving lol ..Either hire a real shef or help your current one make good food. You're overcharging people for certain things.. I understand that I'd have to try everything on the menue to have an opinion, but I'm speaking about what I ate and it's not worth $40, I'm sorry, not trying to be mean..but don't be surprised if a customer doesn't want to take their food to go..which I didn't want to and was give a weird look like " omg how dare you" 😆 Thank you for the service tho. Very pleasant...