La Dolce Vita of Lemont

I guess having grown up with outstanding homemade Italian, I am a bit stricter with my star assignment.

We, fortunately, got there on the early side on a Saturday evening, so we did not have to wait.  The  "no wait"  ended with the couple that came after us.  It got VERY crowded and since they do not want ALL the people blocking the front door, they tell everyone to move to the end of the bar.  Well, I am here to tell you, there was no room at the end of the bar either, and that is where the kitchen is located, and it was a total traffic jam.  One very nice, but unknown to us, man turned around to our table and just started talking to us.  We have a new friend.  The ratio of people leaving vs. the number of people coming in would cause the fire inspector to have a cardiac arrest.

Bread was warm, not too crusty, but the butter was fresh out of the refrigerator (not spreadable).  I liked that the house salad was served in a large bowl so you could serve yourself.  We found the meat sauce to be rather bland and our entrees were okay, hence the overall star rating.  However, if you are ever there when they have Dutch Apple Cheesecake for dessert, give it a try.  YUMMY.

I am sure there were a lot of locals and we did get to speak with the owner, Joe, everyone was very friendly.  The tin ceiling does not do much to absorb any of the sound, but it looks cool.

They will take a reservation for a party of 7 or greater, which takes up a number of tables, so be prepared to wait and wait, any night except Monday or Tuesday, or so we were told.

I took my wife here for a early Valentines day meal on a Tuesday. They had a good amount of customers, but we're not overly crowded. The atmosphere was good. Not to loud and there were other couples present. The food was very good and very flavorful. It was all prepared well and brought out in a timely manner. At the end of our meal we had coffees and split a desert. Parking was a breeze with the many village lots available. I would highly recommend This establishment.

I came here with some of my Tuesday dinner buddies and there is nothing more exciting then when we try a new place.  More specifically trying a new place that is small business.  I've never been to downtown Lemont before but this place is in a nice, quaint location.  I walked in and I literally felt like I was in an old mob movie about to ask a favor of the Godfather.  I mean this in the best way possible.

I had a fever, and the only cure was eggplant.  I'd been eating myself heavy and meat silly that week so it was only thing that made sense to me without all the carbs.  You get a side salad and a little thing of pasta with your meal.  I had the eggplant parmigiana and it was LITERALLY the best eggplant parm I've ever had.  I can't really put  my finger on whether or not it was the eggplant that made it so good or the amazing marinara sauce.  My husband had this wonder seafood pasta.  The name escapes me but it had calamari, clams, muscles, shrimp, and scallops in it.  So very very good.

We were about to close out our bill and a waitress walked past us with their HOMEMADE tira misu (which by the way you can smell the coffee in it from across the room).  Of course we all put our credit cards away and decided all 8 of us would share the tira misu.  I tend to live my life with no regrets, but if there was only one it would be that I didn't order my own tira misu.