Bruna's Ristorante — Restaurant in West Chicago Township

Updated review: Order the seafood linguine!! So good! Came here a second time and ordered the lasagna which was $29 was disappointing and just okay it was a little salty, wouldnt order again but the linguine Frutti de Mare was excellent and highly recommend!!! It has clams, mussels, shrimp and the sauce was perfect! Buttery and delicious and not overly salty. Kinda pricey $39 though.

Initial review: Don't sleep on the baked clams!! So GOOD!!!

We came on Valentine's Day late evening. We were seated immediately as we entered and the place was max capacity.

The ambiance is very romantic, cozy and cute, very small intimate setting and the tables are very close to each other but I didn't feel squashed or anything. Perfect for date night.

They provide you with complimentary fresh crunchy bread and a small bowl of parmesan with a bottle of olive oil to top your bread off! It was so fresh we had two orders of bread!

We had two appetizers the baked clams $16 which were my favorite!!! They were in a buttery lemon sauce and were so gooey and warm out of the oven. Absolutely delicious and highly recommend!!! They only give 6 clams though I wish they would give a large portion as they do for the mussels, as it was so good, I would have preferred 12 of them rather than 6, that's how good they were.

We also ordered the cozze alla marinara (mussels in marinara) $21 so worth it!!! A huge bowl and it was so delicious especially when you dunk the crunchy bread into the warm marinara sauce. I will say though the sauce was a tad bit salty. Some feedback for the chef, I recommend adding less salt to the marinara, as the mussels are already naturally salty.

For dinner we ordered the veal scallopini $36 it was very tender and juicy and came with mushrooms, potatoes and carrots in a sauce. This sauce was again, a tad bit salty.

I ordered the fettuccine Alfredo dish $26 and added shrimp so it came out to $36 which I thought was a bit steep $10 extra dollars for shrimp!!??? I mean $6 I think is fair but $10 wow. I got about 6-7 pieces of shrimp in the dish. The Alfredo sauce was simple and tasty I'm glad it wasn't salty like the other dishes. It was light and creamy and almost under seasoned but I did add some Parmesan on it to boost the flavor and it was perfect after that!

The service on the other hand was why I couldn't give this place 5 stars otherwise I would have. One server, an older lady with short hair came off unfriendly in demeanor. It's hard to tell if she was being rude or if that's just her attitude/ personality. She asked us if we had a reservation and we said yes and she said she didn't see it listed as if she didn't believe us even though we had the confirmation on our email. Odd. Also, when she poured our water at the beginning when we sat down I greeted her and she did not respond which I thought was rude and I know she heard me bc she was literally standing right next to me as she poured. I thought it was unprofessional.

Then there was another server a male older guy who came to our table and just snagged the olive oil off the table and walked away without even asking us if we were finished with it which I thought was also rude as I was eating it with my bread and cheese. Next time ask the customer if they are done before clearing their table!!!!

At the end of the dinner, I asked for the check and we literally had to wait 15-20 min for the server to bring us the bill. After I gave him the credit card it was another 10-15 minutes to get it back to sign the receipt. Annoying.

Other than those minor hiccups I was pleased with the quality of the food. In total for 2 orders of bread (free), 2 appetizers and 2 generous sized dinners and no drinks (just water) we spent $120 with taxes included which I think was fair.

I will give this place another try but I have to say if I get attitude again from another wait staff member the second time around I will not return.

Hard to find parking but if you drive around enough you'll snag a...

Gosh, I am torn on this. The food was solid, our waiter was great, but the overall atmosphere was…. Intimidating? It’s almost like most of the staff and the people eating there never saw an Asian person in their life. Ok, I don’t want to make this seem like a petty review - let me explain.

Walking in there was a small bar and as expected, there were some older customers eating in the front and they just STARED. But no harm no foul. However, the hostess/waitress was just downright rude. Look, I’ve been to restaurants in Boston, NYC, and in Chicago so when I say rude I mean rude. Asked for my name and with such attitude asked if I had a reservation as if I didn’t know such a system could exist. They were busy, I get it, and maybe that waitress is just like that to everyone else. Let’s move on.

Going into the main dining room, it was really nice - except for the fact that almost everyone turned around and again you could just feel the stares. It’s a IYKYK type of situation- those that know get what I mean. Totally not on the restaurant AT ALL. It was just a vibes thing.

Our waiter thankfully was an amazing person - so warm and so kind and honestly the reason I didn’t feel the need to walk out. But the rest of the staff was just - uncomfortable. One other server was giving out bread and you could tell he was hitting up every other table before giving us bread haha.

I got the spaghetti carbonara and it was great - I really enjoyed it. Not much else to say, it didn’t blow me away but maybe because I can be unfair in my comparisons.

So overall? The food was good, the price was alright, especially coming from Boston. But was it worth the effort of making a reservation and getting excited for some “good” Italian food? For me, no. And if you find yourself in similar shoes where you are sensitive to the environment and how people perceive you and let that affect how they treat you, maybe don’t plan a date or occasion around it. Maybe I’m too much into my head, but I’d honestly rather have just eaten at some chain than come here again.

Oh, the apps I got (bruschetta and...

My family has been coming here on special occasions for over 30 years. I grew up on their capellini marinara and cannoli. The staff knows my whole family's order by heart (down to cutting my dad off when he starts to order his bottle of pellegrino). There is no better place than Bruna's. My family is Italian from New York and we lament the small Italian population here in Chicago because there are limited options for food like the food at Bruna's. The ambience is perfect--old school posters of Siena and a big mural of a boat docked at a beautiful villa--real comfortable, over the top Itlaian stuff. The chairs are the same as the ones my parents went on their first "real" date on back in the 70s, but they're sturdy, so why replace them? This place feels like my nonna's house in the best way possible. The staff is kind and attentive, the owner is always waiting to greet us with a giant smile and handshake. When Italy and France were in the World Cup back in 06, he was in Italy watching and would call the restaurant with live updates, and the servers would run in and tell us about each goal. I cannot stress enough how comfortable and amazing the ambience and staff are. But the food is something else. I come from a very culinary Italian family. Our family recipes are constantly being asked for. Bruna's is really the only Italian food I crave other than my mother's. Try the penne putanesca, capellini marinara, luigi's fusili, the bruschetta, calamari fritti, cannoli, and tiramisu. Come back often. You won't regret it. Thank you, Bruna's for the years and years of amazing service and...