Caliendo's Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Winfield

4 stars for desserts ...

-1 star for delivery/take out (since they have been here, there is always a problem) -1 star for food (Eggplant parm, ravioli, the cheese and the sauce are all inedible) -1 star for owners go f yourself policy (apparently he makes no mistakes on relies on 20 year old recipes to try and carry him)

Italian fare is the easiest thing to get right. Fresh ingredients and some love will garner A+ results EVERY TIME .....why do some get it so wrong?? Clearly there is no chef on staff, just inept cooks and a flaccid owner.

The long:

We frequented this place when it was the Winfield house. Shortly after they moved across the tracks, we started noticing problems with service and food quality. Our past experience includes getting our order wrong twice, and after 3 hours, we just wanted a credit and no more attempts at food. I know one time was pizzas for a poker party, which I then had to order from somewhere else...but last night takes the cake:

My fiancee and I decided to give them another shot. At 8:30pm we ordered Eggplant parmigiana and Linguini with bacon and scallops, which my fiancee substituted gnocchi and white cream sauce. So when she went to pick up, hers was ready, and mine was not even ordered yet. After waiting another 15 minutes to get mine, she came home to find the bacon and scallops had red sauce. While she was calling to get them to deliver what she ordered, I looked at the scallops. They looked dry and stringy ...perhaps frozen. I tasted one, and it was dry and stringy ....not plump, caramelized and juicy. She then changed the order to ravioli and meatballs. At 10pm, we called to see where the ravioli and meatballs were ....no apologies ...no nothing. When they finally arrived, the sauce was overcooked and the sauce at the bottom of the pot had burnt, and was stirred back into the rest of the sauce. Here is the conclusion:

Ravioli - Burnt, inedible sauce, pasta overcooked and filling/sauce was a salt bomb.

Scallops - lol ....if you cannot get fresh, and cook them properly TAKE EM OFF THE MENU! If you do not know how to do any of that, then hire someone that does!

Eggplant parm - Inedible salt-bomb cheese, and a lot of it. The 4"x4"x1" brick of parm was a soggy mess that you could not tell where the eggplant starts and the breading ends. No flavor, just a mushy mess that I threw 75% of it away.

This place relies on locals that drink and smoke everywhere. I cannot imagine anyone coming here for the food, unless they do not know what this food is SUPPOSED to taste like.

Oh ...and when I called to ask for my money back, I politely provided all details,then, the owner told me to stuff it, after he said that he'd been serving the same crappy eggplant for 20 years. Nice...

I met a couple of friends for lunch today at Caliendo's. It was a great day to sit outside, it was warm, but the outdoor seating provided plenty of shade to keep us comfortable and our server made sure that we remained well hydrated.

The lunch specials are always a good choice, today they had a meatball sandwhich, and a chicken caesar wrap. Both my friends ordered those specials and I ordered my favorite Caliendo's Danish, a delicious sandwich of roast beef, sauteed mushrooms and american cheese nestled between marbled rye, the toasted to create a mouthwatering combination. Everyone enjoyed their meals. I especially enjoyed the soup of the day. I know it was hot out, and who wants soup during this warm weather, but they had pizza soup today, how do you pass that up? A tomato based soup chock full with sliced green olive, sausage, and mozzarella cheese, it was great tasting.

Besides enjoying lunch, my family and I order pizza about twice a month from here. I grew up making real Chicago thin crust pizza on Lawrence Ave and after 12 years of living in the area, we have finally found a pizza that provides us with that great thin crust pizza taste. We love the sausage pepperoni combo and the Caliendo's Special (sausage, mushroom, onion and green pepper).

Overall this is a great place to meet with friends and hangout, have good food and good drinks. The management is top notch as well as the rest...

Is it an italian restaurant, diner, bar, pizza place, or ice cream shop? Yes! It is all of these, and it has separate entrances and walls dividing each. As a restaurant and diner, the pasta dishes we had were excellent. Very tasty and well paired with their sauces. The bread loaf provided was soft, hot, and had the perfect amount of butter and garlic on top. It is a great table loaf to share with your family. The patty melt I ordered medium but came out very well done but did have a nice grilled flavor, and just as a preference, the onions could have been sautéed either a little longer to better soften OR a little less to keep a crispness - these were right in between which left them right at that rubbery phase. However it's ingredients were spot on for a good combination of flavor. The personal kid cheese pizza is my only reference of their pizza - it was very good and I imagine their typical larger versions would likely be better. I would like to return and try a chicago favorite pizza to confirm, as my incling is that it is likely great. The bar is a good size, looks comfortable and well arranged for sports viewing and social outings, and they had quite a crowd for a Sunday afternoon; i also noticed they are a Chicago Blackhawks bar. I liked the pizza takeout entrance - the small ice cream shop inside there is a great...