Biaggi's Italian Ristoranto

Great for business travelers.  I travel to Peoria for business 4-6 times a year and after a long day I'm usually looking for something relaxing and a good bite to eat.  Biaggi's was a great find close to my hotel.  Had the Beef Carpaccio which was a nice sized portion for $9.95 and for $7.95 an out of this world roasted Beet Salad.  Salad had red and gold beets, shaved parmesan, creamed goat cheese, with pistachio nuts and greens.  I will return next trip.

Great, fast service. Food comes very quickly too. Food menu has a great variety and fair unique as well.

Blah. This is unfortunately where we ended up for someone's birthday dinner, because it was near our hotel after a long day of driving.  There wasn't anything particularly WRONG with the meal, but there wasn't anything really GOOD, either. Yes, they have bread to dip in some flavored vinegar and cheese with freshly ground pepper. So? The server made it out to seem really fancy and exciting but, c'mon...it's really pretty standard.  Those items should be a given at a decent Italian restaurant, but with higher quality oil and cheese.  

The menu is really pretty limited, with no imagination to the dishes offered. I had a Capellini de Mare.  The sauce was to light, and without much flavor.  The seafood was overcooked. The best part were the few fresh basil leaves thrown on the top.  We had a bottle of wine we'd had before from the liquor store, and though I'm perfectly willing to pay the ridiculous mark-ups you must to enjoy wine in a restaurant, this was a bit much to swallow.

I don't know much about Peoria, as we were just passing through, but I'm sure there are more interesting options.  If not, there should be.