Stopped here for my friend's birthday yesterday and was really surprised!! I've driven by here numerous times and never really thought to try it, but boy was I missing out! Â They have great specials, and amazing pizza. Â It kind of looks like a dive from the outside but the inside is really cute and very welcoming. Â Stayed for some pie and a beer and called it a night. Â Great place to grab a quick pizza and enjoy some nice conversation!
Review Source:After moving back to Arlngton Heights after over 20 years, I was pleasantly surprised to see the building still being utilized as a restaurant and could not wait to go. Â In the current economic climate, dining out is less frequent and more discriminating for me and my initial impression of the restaurant was warm and inviting. Â Being a Friday night, my friend and I met at the bar, waiting for table. Â The bartender (whom I later found out was the manager/owner) was talking to 4 or 5 other men at the other end of the bar and pretty much ignored me for a good 8 to 10 minutes until I made a remark "what does a girl have to do to get a drink around here"? Let's just say the service we had went down from there. When finally seated, we had to return to the hostess station to inquire whether we had a server or not. Â FINALLY, someone came and brought us bread and water. Â Our server did his best to make the rest of our evening enjoyable, though a large party next to us had the unsupervised kids' table spilling over onto us. Â
The food was average...nothing to write home about and the restaurant did not warrant the linen tablecloths and napkins. Â We had to ASK for some sort of compensation for their mistakes and poor service and were met with the remark that they had already lost our future business. Â I have been in a customer service based business for over 30 years and I know that mistakes are made but that how a business deals with them is the most paramount priority for future business.
Very sad, I would have loved to make it a permanent hang-out to bring my friends back to....
We came for Easter brunch at $20 a head and $6 bottomless mimosas. It was by far the worst brunch I have ever experienced. ALL of the food was horrible. We could not find one item to eat. Literally, all of our plates left the table full. From the over dressed soggy salad to the incredible odd tasting made to order omelettes filled with imitation cheese, it was all bad.i will never go back. For $200 for 6 people, management should be ashamed. Â Not to mention our server spilled two full mimosas on my guest. A nightmare I hope to soon forget. Don't risk it. Stay home and open a jar of Ragu over some al dente pasta. At least it will be edible
Review Source:Okay, I felt the need to Yelp! this place only because I feel bad of the negative press they're getting. Â Whoever is upset they didn't honor the coupon, I completely understand your frustration but if you ask the owner, they didn't authorize to be in that coupon book. Â The deal would be a huge loss for them and no one would have ever agreed to that type of deal. Â The frustration should really be geared toward the book who printed it without permission! Â I don't understand how that's possible but apparently they print what they want! Â I assume a larger company would have taken them to court for damages but when you're a small, family-owned place, that's not an option. Â So if you dislike for another reason, totally fine but just that was not Clementi's fault, to be clear. Â This is totally a neighborhood joint and has tons of regulars. Â The gnocchi with vodka sauce is really good! Â Highly recommend. Â Their bar area is nice to hang out in and the staff is really friendly as well!
Review Source:Finally getting back into reviewing. I came here with my girlfriend and parents over the weekend. I got the lasagna which was good, it was not the best I have ever had, but very good. The time before that I had the Chicken Parm, which was great. The oil that comes with the bread is the best I have had to date. I give this place 5 stars because of the atmosphere. When we went they had a band playing music, at one point they had the whole restaurant singing Sweet Caroline! The staff was extremely understaffed, but that is not the servers fault, so don't be upset with them.
Come here for a good time and good food!
If you can, try to go to Clementi's on a night they have live entertainment, we were lucky enough to eat here when they had a cover-like band playing some oldies but goodies. The live music definitely made dinner more pleasurable, even though the music was a little loud, it was okay with me. We started out with calamari and baked clams. Both were really good. keep in mind, they bake the clams when you order, so they take a bit longer. The shrimp diavolo was so yummy! i was nervous that the tomato sauce would be too tomato-y but it was just right. Their tiramisu is deeeelicious! i shared with my boyfriend and i ate the last bite when he wasn't looking (sorry)
I usually don't rate places based on overall experience, but Clementi's definitely deserved it in my point of view. They are working hard to give us the best experience they can, the night i went they had 2 servers, one busyboy and one hostess. They were ALL running around taking orders, flipping tables, and bringing food. Even the owner was running around helping out.
Give clementi's a chance, you won't be disappointed! (unless you're super crabby, impatient, or just plain mean. if so, don't even go out cause people don't like that.)
After a few vists, I have to conclude this place just went downhill fast. Â The space is crowded and loud, and the service eratic. Â The food is ok, sometimes a bit out of the ordinary, but you feel like an outsider too often. Â The 2011 fiasco with the Entertainment coupon "misprint" is just another example of a management taking the wrong approach and p*ssing off first time customers instead of welcoming them. Â Sad, as there was some promise when they first opened.
Review Source:Do you want the good news or the bad news first?...
I'll start with the good, that list seems to be shorter.
Our server was funny and my pasta was delicious.
Okay now the bad.
I had an Entertainment Book coupon for "Buy one entree receive a second for free", great deal in my eyes until I find out that they won't honor the deal because it was a misprint. I had mentioned before ordering that we had the coupon so I felt our server should have let us know about the mix up. They are honoring 50% off your second entree at least but I wasn't to thrilled to say the least.
They are under staffed and I've been back three times and consistently busy. I didn't like how loud the live music was for such a small restaurant or the fact that I had to wait 15 minutes to get my servers attention. I won't dine in again but I will pickup my favorite pasta and enjoy elsewhere.
To those who have Entertainment Book coupons, they will honor your coupon but they will only take of 50% off your second entree (not the buy one entree and get the second one free). They claim it was a misprint by Entertainment.
We came on a Friday night, we had a little bit of trouble parking but we managed to finally . When we came in, we were seated immediately. What stood out for me is that they seem to have regulars. The wait staff and the manager seem to know many of the patrons.
We were given our bread and our dipping oil concoction, which was fabulous! We ordered their fried calamari (you can also have it grilled). It was light and fluffy. For an appetizer portion, it was quite a generous size. Our entrees came with either a soup of a salad. I opted for their Zuppa Bel Giorno (Soup of the Day) which was a Manhattan Clam Chowder. I enjoyed that, too! I did not care much for their "specialty" which was the Chicken Milanese. I mean, it was just ok - nothing special and cooked a little tougher than to my liking. My boyfriend had a Bracciole (flank steak), which he was not impressed with either.
Now for the bad part, the service. We had to wait 20 minutes for our waitress to come to our table (thank goodness for that bread basket and oil). So, when she finally came, she took our drink order and I immediately gave her our appetizer order anticipating there maybe a wait for her to come back for our entrees. Our drinks were always empty and had to ask other staff to fill them up for us. No apologies for all the long wait between coming back for our orders and for our food to finally come to our table. What was efficiently done was our final bill.
Overall, the restaurant was ok. Some of the food was deliciously done but there are too many other restaurants with the same quality of food but with a much better quality of service. Personally, I would dine elsewhere.
Was there for a rehearsal dinner and left very unimpressed. The buffet style that was promised was changed to family style because of a manager's whim, the room they "stuck" us in was cold on one half and too hot on the other, the soda service was changed to individual glasses instead of the pitchers that were agreed upon, and the "we don't much care about our agreement" attitude towards the groom's Mom was a major turn off.
With that arrogance I at least expect some good food. Not at all. Pizza was horrible and the veggie/cheese only pies had to be passed around a U-shaped table because they changed their minds on the buffet style (and one of the flower girls missed on the hand off and got a lap full of pizza). The waitresses were very good and hard working, the salad was very good, but the overall experience would make me actively not go to this restaurant again.
Great service, excellent food, a 5 star environment for prices so low it's almost criminal. Â Honestly don't waste your time or money going somewhere more expensive -- this is a truly good find in a local, family business and the fare is so deliciously authentic you'll dream about having more. Â I feel like I'm downtown eating on Rush Street when I come here but without the guilt of looking at my bank account afterwards. Â Aka excellent management and very friendly and knowledgeable staff. Â
Recommendations: Â #1 of all time -- chicken milanese. Â Lemon buttery garlic amazing-ness. Get it with the angel hair pasta on the side, or for a healthier option pick the vegetables, spinach, or whole wheat pasta for a side.
#2 - gnocchi with vodka sauce. Â Enough said
#3 - any of the fish specials that come out on the weekends are sure to be amazing.
If you like martinis they literally have about 25 different kinds - so fun!  Just make sure it's one of the girls workin' the bar if you want your drinks made right  :)
Anyway, you'll never feel rushed eating here, the ambiance is romantic and comfortable, but it's great for large groups too - very accommodating and they have a back room if you want to book a private dinner party, graduation dinner, etc. Â
Another plus is almost any request you make in regards to modifying your food, they will try to make it happen. Â I've even heard someone ask for something not even on the menu and they were able to do it, no questions asked. Â That's what I mean about the service. Â You can't beat it!
Chicken eggplant and veal parmesan - all excellent. Â Pizza the best in town - even beats Wayne's Pizza to which I was a former die-hard addict. Â Try it out now - you must!
The manager has done a great job.
Oh p.s. karaoke on Friday's. Â Best kept secret in Arlington Heights!
Maybe we went on an off night. Our entrees took somewhere between 45 and 60 minutes. The waitress was quite unattentive and didn't even apologize for the slowness in getting our food, even after we asked her to check on it.
Aside from the service, the Chicken Milanese, their specialty, was very good. Moist and tender, cooked to perfection, and the lemon butter sauce was very tasty. The 4-cheese gnocchi was way too rich, and it tasted floury to me. If I were to ever go back (which I probably would not), I would try their gnocchi in a tomato cream sauce.
Our party of 4 visited on a Sunday at 7pm. Â One other table occupied when we arrived. Â By the time we left around 8, about half of the tables were occupied. Â Service was prompt and at our request, several items were suggested. Â I chose the Manicotti with bolognese sauce. Â The ricotta was very good along with the pasta. Â The bolognese was somewhat uninspired in taste and appearance. Â It wasn't bad, just didn't really add anything to the meal. Â The chicken cacciatiore ordered by someone else in our party was said to be very good. Â We also tried the sausage, peppers, and onions appetizer which was given a thumbs up. Â I would consider ordering this as an entree next time. Â Prices and portions were fine. Â Service was just right. Â The restaurant did have a slight 'bar smell' to it (you know what I mean) but nothing overwhelming. Â Not a bad neighborhood restaurant. Â We probably won't add this to our top ten list but if we were in the area we'd consider another visit.
Review Source:I went here on a Saturday evening. More then half the restaurant was empty but our party of two was told because we had no reservations at 6:30 PM we could not get a table. In their favor they were having entertainment this evening and other parties had booked for 8:00 PM for the entertainment. But I can't believe a restaurant would rather be half full then get customers in at 6:30 and out by 8:00 for the other customers with reservations during the solo singer guy. Not smart business. I'm sure Chef Ramsay would agree...
We asked to eat in the bar and they were nice and agreed to let us get a quick dinner there. The Italian bread was good with the olive oil, Parmesan, and balsamic vinegar dip. I like to see balsamic vinegar with the oil personally. For dinner I had the Manicotti and my friend had lasagna. I must honestly say the manicotti was the blandest I have ever eaten. The ricotta cheese it was filled with was just that. No more then unseasoned cheese. No salt, pepper or even parsley. The pasta was over cooked and laid flat on the plate smothered in way too much cheese. The sauce was billed as a bolognese. This is usually a slow simmered red gravy with veal, beef, etc in it. The sauce was thin and pale orange. It had a few flecks of ground beef in it. It was truly the blandest manicotti and sauce I have ever eaten. My friends lasagna was similar. Very tasteless and bland. The lasagna I make at home was heads and tails better. And I'm not even Italian. I'll have to pass on this restaurant again. Go to Amore Mio's in Hoffman Estates for their home made ravioli and gnocchi instead. Or Gianni's in Palatine for the bolognese sauce.
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