da Baffone Cucina Italiana

Reviews 4

RA

Randall Altheide

We did not have the exceptional experience others have talked about and will not visit this restaurant again. In fact I have never been motivated to write a review until now. We spent $175 on dinner and drinks for two and overall had a disappointing experience at this restaurant. Spend your money anywhere else. It is all show without the substance - yet higher than average prices. From start to finish this was not anything like the other reviews have described. They could not give us a 7pm reservation for 2 on a Wednesday night, so we made one at 630. We were not greeted by a host/hostess and stood uncomfortably in a busy area waiting more than 5 minutes to finally be acknowledged by a bus boy asking if we had reservations. He went to find someone in the basement. I was tempted to leave as the restaurant was barely half full and already seemed to be lacking the smooth functionality of a fine restaurant. But my wife had planned this dinner and evening out and the place had been highly recommended by her friends and we were eventually seated. Nice atmosphere and decorations. We ordered drinks and then things went downhill. Limited wine list, no real Chardonnay, no real Cabernet. We were expecting the advertised "Italian piano music", what we got was an Italian boy lip-synching to Elvis and Jimmy Buffet with a karaoke machine practically next to us. Made conversation difficult. We ordered the Quartetto appetizer which was $8.95 per person, advertised as four appetizers in one, but they must have gotten a good deal on their calamari this week as we actually got a huge plateful of fried calamari, (Bland Marinara sauce instead of cocktail sauce) two pieces of bread with tasteless bruschetta, two slices of tomato with a small piece of Mozzarella which served as the "Caprese Salad" and when our waitress delivered it she said the grilled shrimp wasnt quite ready and shed have to bring it out separate. A few minutes later she brought a plate with 2 small shrimp and if youre still reading this you will probably have guessed correctly that it was overcooked. When we were choosing our entrees, (priced about $20-$30 each), we noticed they were ala carte. On the salad side of the menu it says salads are half price with an entree. When I asked the waitress if we could split a salad she said our entrees came with a salad. I specifically pointed to where it said half price and she said our entrees came with a salad. Guess what. .. two salads at $4.95 each were on our bill. Both Gorgonzola salads were on iceberg lettuce only and had wilted , rusty lettuce underneath mounds of cheese and candied nuts. My wifes Chicken Marsala was good, but my Frutta de Mare, was an enormous bowl of clumped noodles with a bland tomatoey sauce and rubbery scallops. The clams and mussels were good, so it wasnt a complete loss. We ordered dessert, our favorite, Creme Brule, and it was just OK. Since it was my birthday, our waitress also brought a Tiramasu on the house. It was flavorless, the Tiramasu at Portillos tastes better at 1/4 the price. As we were leaving, several people stopped us to thank us for coming and asked us to come again, which was ironic as they were the same people who did not greet us or seat us when we arrived. We will not eat here again.

RU

Russ Di Naro

Great atmosphere, food was decent. In all honesty, if it werent for the terrible service, Id probably give them a 4 out of 5. But at the end of the day, the service was so terrible, I had to write this review. And if no stars were an option, Id give it. It was a very busy night to be fair, however, I was there to celebrate my cousins 9th birthday. As soon as we sat down, I told our waiter that she was turning 9. Shortly after, my party of 4 placed our order. Right AFTET we placed our order, the table next to us and behind us sat down (both also parties of 4). Now heres where it gets crazy. Both tables ordered, were served their dinner and had their leftovers packed to go, we were served! At that point, the manager was walking around talking to tables. I approached the hostess and asked if she could send over the manager. Very rudely she asked why. I gave her a brief explanation, and her response was simply, "well weve been very busy tonight." Nothing more. I returned to my table and the food was out a couple minutes later, however our waiter did not say one word to us. No apologies either. After we were done eating, our waiter took away our plates, (didnt offer to pack it up), the manager never came over and to add insult to injury, no dessert menu was brought out, and no cake/ice cream, etc was brought for my cousins birthday. One mistake is forgivable. Heck, multiple are. But the rudeness, and ignoring, and the manager not coming over after being requested is just unacceptable. Will never go here, again.

SA

Sasha Smile

To chalk it up to one word: Perfect. After perusing the reviews left by other patrons I was sold on the promise of a quintessential and authentic italian dining experience. To my surprise, the former patrons did not lie, and Da Bafoone Cucina Italiana lived up to my expectations. The owners were extremely friendly both on the phone when I made my reservation and in person! I was fond of them mainly due to their authentic italian accents and welcoming body language. Our server Maggie was fantastic! She was attentive but not a nuissance. The timing of our drinks, appetizers, and main course was executed perfectly! (Major plus) the main thing thing that took the prize, however, was the rich quality of the food brought out! We ordered two dirty martinis, waters, and the sea food grilled mix of squid, eel, scallops, and calamari - it was devoured in seconds! To boot the the size of both the appetizer and main course was more than fair when looking at quantity vs. quality vs. price. All I can say is COME HUNGRY, LEAVE FULL! Onto the atmosphere - beautiful and serene, the owners did an excellent job of reserving the essence of real italian bistro/bar/ristorante style. Great quality furniture, finishes, plates, and utensils. The overall decor and feel is vintage art deco with gentle lighting and compact dining space. My advice is that if you are coming as a large party - call ahead. Definitely among my top favorite little gems in the northern suburbs!

MI

Michael Bulava

We didnt have a reservation and were a party of 8. When the first of our party arrived the owner had to clear us getting a table and said if our whole party wasnt there in 10 minutes she couldnt serve us because they had a reservation coming in an hour later. OK no problem we all showed up a few minutes later and were seated. That when it started going down hill, it took more than 20 minutes to get our order in, but then another hour before our food was ready, when we complained about that wait the owner came over and simply stated they were busy and food normally took this long. By the time our food had arrived, one of our party had to leave so was unable to eat with us, and most of the food delivered was cold. On top of that Id only call the food Meh at best. For the price I expected a lot more. Once we finally did get our food I feel like the Waite staff was pushing us out the door we were asked every 2-3 minutes if we were done with what we were eating. I swear we saw our waiter more after we got our food than before. Needless to say we will not be going back.