Cafe Buonaro's

Since I ride METRA daily, my wife and I thought this could become our new Italian dinner hangout.  We tried twice and were disappointed twice.

The first time, the food was so-so.  The second time we went, the clams in my wife's linguini with clam sauce were bad.  I don't mean prepared badly, I mean they were spoiled.  Also, my pasta had other types of pasta mixed in with it, which means the kitchen didn't bother to rinse / clean the pans between use.  The manager agreed that the clams looked bad and took them away.  Visions of "Restaurant Impossible" came to mind.  

On top of that, my step-daughter came down with food poisoning the day after eating dinner there with her boyfriend.  It might not have been Buonaro's food that did it, but given our experience, we won't set foot in the place again.

Cafe Buonaro's was a pleasant surprise!  We had been visiting my aunt nearby at Edwards Hospital when the dinner hours rapidly passed us by. My uncle suggested a meal at Cafe Buonaro's. I called to see how long the wait would be shortly after 8pm on a Friday evening and I was told to come on in.

We pulled up and I could tell that my parents were a little nervous. My stepmom even mentioned that if it wasn't my cup of tea that we could leave. I think the warehouse appearance from the outside of the building may have caused the apprehension.  Thankfully, we went inside, were greeted promptly and seated right away.

Our server was a sweet older lady. She hustled and stayed right on top of everything. Come to find out that she's been there for twenty years. Wow!  Cafe Buonaro's has actually been there for twenty-two years. Where have I been?  

Side note: Once we were seated, I realized that I had been there about fourteen years ago. My employer at the time, brought us all out here for lunch. I think we had been participating in a team building seminar earlier in the day and stopped in to wrap things up. Turns out, she is still a regular!  

Anyhow, the menu annoyed me a bit. It's handwritten on a whiteboard in multiple spots throughout the restaurant. It's a cute idea until you're the patron who looks like she's staring at some other patron when all she's trying to do is read the bottom of the whiteboard menu. There were no descriptions, so I asked our waitress about a few items and she described them without a moment's hesitation. We were impressed.

We started with crusty Italian bread and a family style salad. The bread is addictive. We joked that it's because it's imported...all the way from Chicago.

My son ordered shells and broccoli. This was a very generous serving. He couldn't finish it all.

My dad had the four cheese lasagna. He was definitely a fan! And he openly spoke about plans to return, so they must be doing something right.

My stepmom went with fettucini Alfredo and added broccoli to the dish. She couldn't make it through her hearty potion either, but was happy to take the leftovers.

I ordered the meat ravioli and a side of meatballs. The ravioli were very flavorful. The meatballs were really large. I only made it through about half of my meal. There was too much sauce on my plate for my liking, but that's a personal preference thing. I'm a pain and I know it.

One of the owners checked on us at the end of the meal. She was a sweetheart and was the cherry on top of a lovely meal.

Overall, we had excellent service, very good food and a nice time listening to some of our favorite old school music. It is highly likely that we will all go back again.

Food was good not great, service was good not great, the place was very closely packed and noisy.  In Naperville, for Italian you're better off with Traverso's, Rosebud, or Maggianos.