Went here on a weekend on the suggestion of the husband who had a business lunch here months back. Â We walked in at about 1 and no one was in the place. Â But, the owner came in shortly after we did and explained that her staff was running late and she would fill-in until the waitress arrived. Â No problem. Â So, we ordered two pasta dishes - meat ravioli for the husband and carbonara for me. Â Both of us had the minestrone, which was delicious and the pasta was fresh and yummy! Â Bread was also excellent and the place started to fill-up shortly after we arrived. Â I never knew about this stretch of cute places and will definitely be back!
Review Source:I think the low reviews can largely be accounted for by the fact that people are expecting the usual dining experience. This is not it.
Your dinner will take time to prepare. Its likely being cooked by Franco, who owns the place along with his wife, who will probably filling your water and telling you the specials.
This is a family and neighborhood spot, but it is also *so* romantic. You can eat outdoors, which is great to do on Oakley.
Franco is an amazing cook. Recently they started making pizzas, I often get the calamari. I you know you want a pizza, call ahead so it's ready when you get there because he makes everything himself, by the order.
My cousin and I went to the Fontanella to have lunch, she had a coupon from <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Frestaurant.com&s=c5fe485af4df376130bee54f875814d79c4d7913e1258123b1206d2bdbf4873b" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://restaurant.com</a>. The place was very dark and the service was very slow. When the waitress finally cam around to take our order the said they were "out" of almost everything we asked for, that they only had the "specials." So we opted for the Manacotti. After waiting some time we finally get our food, which was decent. We ask for the check and see that she had applied our coupon which was great. Upon returning to collect our check, she says that we cannot use a credit card if we are using a coupon???? Having no cash on on us, the waitress recommends we walk across the street to the ATM. (Probably spending more because of ATM fees). We felt very upset, and will not be returning.
Review Source:My dad, brother, and I ventured over to La Fontanella for a Monday late lunch with our <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2FRestaurants.com&s=92a32e879a8bc9bad14f389149e0a62a99ba27f54b2dca87b4d713cffa7973a9" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://Restaurants.com</a> coupon in hand. We called before and were assured that they were open and had open tables available. That was an understatement. We walked in and the front of the restaurant was dead. Thankfully we all like to read and were checking out the awards and pictures on the walls, but we ended up seating ourselves when we heard some talking in the kitchen. Eventually our waitress/the proprietor/the chef came out to greet us. She was a lovely, tradition Italian woman but that being said, she was slow. I received my coffee, and three minutes later my dad was given his tea. She never remembered to ask my brother if he would like something besides water, and we are very easy-going people, so it was fine. We devoured the delicious, warm bread and placed our orders for Chicken Parmesan, Eggplant Putenesca, and Chicken Alfredo. She came out fifteen minutes later to check on us and suggested we get soup or salad while we wait for the food to be done, so we did. I had a decent Italian salad, my brother and dad said the Minestrone was good.
What truly saves this review is the food. It was absolutely delicious! If you have the time to sit through a 3 hour meal, please try it. We all need to slow down and enjoy our friends and family a little more anyway?
This place has potential but it was such a flop. Most of the restaurants on Oakley are pretty decent.
First experience when walking in: dingy, dark, very outdated.
Seating: pick your spot. Completely empty! The older gentleman who was setting up the tables stated we could sit anywhere. I sure hope he has a chef in back. He was THE ONLY PERSON THERE!!!
Glasses/Silverware: spotty, not clean and well....gross.
Food options: Limited. I wanted spaghetti w/ meatballs. They were out of meatballs. I opted for the cheese tortellini with marinara. Entree came with soup or salad. I had the salad...apparently, I don't have a choice in dressing. It was DRENCHED in oil! No flavor. I think it was the bagged salad you can pick up from the grocery store (nothing wrong with that when I'm the one buying for myself at home). Not what I expected from a restaurant. Â
Service: I cannot complain as the host, server and chef was very nice. Made sure to fill our water often. Too bad he was whistling the entire time we were there. He ran in back to make our food. I suspected our food was frozen and he would just plop it in a pot of boiling water.
While waiting for lunch the mail lady came in announcing herself. She kept saying "hello". Since the chef/server didn't hear her, I starting chatting with her from our table.
Food comes: it's literally FROZEN FOOD boiled and disgustingly placed on a plate. What happened to my cheese tortellini? Who knows. I was given cheese raviolis. I hate raviolis but my friends didn't want me to send the food back as it would delay our departure. Food was overcooked, soggy and stale.
I could not wait to leave.
Check: We asked for the check. I saw the server/chef go over to the counter, pull out a menu and look at the prices. Really??? Everything they served was $9.95. What was the purpose?
Summary: NEVER, EVER, EVER coming here again. It was just plain gross.
i agree with the service portion of the negative reviews.....truly took an hour and a half from ordering to food drop.....forgot to bring our wine several times......having sid all that, the food was excellent......home made meat ravioli to die for......went with large party and everyone happy......bragiole (not italian, sorry) was wonderful.......putanesca sauce spice and flavorful.......bottom line is, if you have the time to wait and enjoy, great place to go.
Review Source:My family and I used to eat here at least once a month. Its been a few years but we popped in recently. Sad to say we were disappointed with what we got.
The place used to pull in a good crowd so I was surprised to see we were the only people in the place at 6 PM. It's still the same as I remember. Small, cozy, soft music, dim candles. Just how I like it!
Although our favorite waiter was gone, the waitress we had was very attentive and polite. There was a bit of a language barrier though. I can speak Italian pretty well but wasn't able to place her accent.
We would always order grilled calamari but were told because it arrives pre-sliced, they were only able to fry it :(
We had minestrone, meat ravioli and angel hair with sausage. The food was nothing special, average at best.
I'm not sure what changed in the last few years but the quality of food has REALLY gone down. I hope they step it up and bring it back to what it used to be. We'd like nothing more than to be regulars again.
One of the worst meals I have ever paid for. My friends and I wandered in and the waitress sat us at a table in an empty restaurant. Still, it was on the early side so that wasn't yet a point of concern. The waitress took her sweet time getting our order and getting bread out to us. A small aside, but you can generally tell the quality of a restaurant by their bread. If they have any culinary pride, they will at least purchase (instead of baking) a nice rustic bread with good crumb, a nice crust, flavor, etc. La Fontanella handed us a basket of yeasted unappetizing dry bread with little flavor. Also, an Italian place that doesn't offer you olive oil and balsamic for dipping bread? We had to ask for it and received only olive oil.
Service was slow. With not a single other soul in the place, our orders took 25 minutes to come out. Okay, maybe the food was a masterpiece. Wrong again! The spinach gnocchi was watery, flavorless, and lacked structure. Also, the gnocchi was just bathed in a red sauce that was bland beyond belief. My friends who ordered it were quite hungry and barely touched it. The carbonara was mostly just salty, and the pasta was well overcooked. For an Italian place, overcooking pasta is a sin. There is a zero percent chance that the cook gives a single shit or has any training.
It is not inexpensive, either.
All in all, just an absolute shame of a restaurant.
Sometimes Memories of What Was are All We Have Left!
It had been awhile since I considered taking the trek into Chicago to visit La Fontanella's. Â Past experience is no gurantee of future results. I wanted to ignore recent reviews and not go in with a bias. But it turned out to be the worst dinner experience in my life. You need no details from me. Read earlier reviews and heed them.
Friday night, 8:30pm. I reserved on <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2FOpentable.com&s=e2215de09505b8fbf3a047b68af38708cbc8b52c843ab34faaecc46b3704d557" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://Opentable.com</a> and the owner was surprised because she had not checked the day's reservations yet. Odd. We were the only guests in the restaurant and opted to sit outside which was perfect! This two block stretch of Oakley Avenue feels nothing like Chicago but almost like New York! Sidewalks filled with neighbors walking, chatting, a few restaurants and a tavern and everyone is friendly. Really charming. We wanted to order a bottle of Prosecco but they were out. Ok, the Gavi would do nicely. Fine choice. We decided to split everything. Calamari was good although it was not terribly crisp, Seemed like the oil should have been a tad hotter before dropping the fish. Salad was great, fabulous dressing. Angel Hair with Shrimp and Sun Dried Tomato was delicious and the shrimp were perfectly prepared. I LOVED the fact that they do not serve grated Romano cheese but shredded Asiago! What a lovely treat and how delish!
Service was a bit slow and when a couple of other tables filled, it became even slower. But, we will certainly go back, without a doubt. Menu is limited but what we had was good. Dishes seemed to be a bit spendy. Our check was 81.00 with tip for a $25.00 bottle of wine, one appetizer, one pasta with seafood, one coffee and one really, really vile cappuccino. Yes, that cappuccino was seriously the worst I've ever had but I just know that I would not order it again.
On a beautiful summer night, you can rest assured I will return.
Never again! I should of walked out when the waitress yelled at me for being in her way. I was trying to stay out of her way but it was hard in the cramped bar. Everyone else I was with was shocked but like idiots we stayed. Here is how our dinner went once we sat...
Server: Can I get you drinks?
Us: Sure and can we order a few appetizers?
Her: How about if I get those drinks... Then I will ask if you want appetizers!?
Us: umm... Ok?
Her: Here's your drinks... If I were you I would order everything now the kitchen is slow.
Too make a long story short we all ordered standard over-priced pasta dishes that were tiny and mediocre at best. An hour later we received them. We ate and paid and got the hell out of there! That was honestly the worst experience I've ever had in a restaurant. (except 15 years ago in H.S. when some loser brought me to an Olive Garden)
Astonishing that a place so rooted in tradition could be so sad. I came with large party thinking that perhaps they would enjoy our business, but instead they insist on blaring the television and the same tired 'italian' music. While the classics are indeed wonderful, by the fourth or fifth time of "Volare" we really wished we could fly right out the door. We could barely hear each other. The artichoke hearts were out of stock, and yet not removed from their specials. The calamari was breaded lightly and chewy. The house made sauce would have been nice if they'd taken the time to puree it better. For the amount of money each dish costs, I had genuinely hoped they'd take the time to produce a better product that doesn't taste right out of a jar. My poor sister has enough trouble trying to convince my finicky niece to eat and this dinner made that completely impossible. Usually I am quick to judge these places as an Italian citizen but this place was part of the old neighborhood where my father grew up. Nothing remains of that time, the prices have gone up significantly and the staff have nothing of that heritage. Â The gnocchi ordered by my poor niece were almost inedible. All the pasta might as well have been made nights before. It was so soggy and destroyed in the baked rigatoni that I ordered, I could not believe that this was in fact an Italian restaurant. So terribly disappointed. As it was my father's birthday, they brought a slice if tiramisu. The cheapest of rum must've been used to soak the lady fingers because it was the only flavor this sad pastry had. To top it off, the waitress did not bother to tell us that the credit card machine was not working when we entered so we had to muster together enough cash to pay for our meal, which did not warrant the price in the least.
I hate to be so negative, I really do, but this is the second bad experience I've had at this restaurant. The other was over four years ago. i thought that things might have improved given that they were still there, still surviving, but nothing has changed. If anything, the prices have gone up, completely not reflecting quality.
I really wanted to like this place, but something was just a little off. Â They ran out of one of their main dishes and what was available was just kind of bland. Â Maybe I'll check it out again in the future, but there's a heck of alot of other quality Italian restaurants in the area that run circles around this place.
Review Source:AVOID. Â When we arrived, we were the only customers in the restaurant. Â We waited nearly an hour for dinner to arrive. Â When it did, each person at the table was served several minutes apart. Â So, I had my food for about 10 minutes before the last person to be served. Â Excellent quality may have rescued the night from the lousy service, but the food was average at best. Â Certainly not worth waiting an hour for.
In the time it took to get our entrees, a family of 3 was seated, ordered, ate and left. Â No idea why it took so long for our food to be delivered, as the only explanation we received was "the food is cooked to order." Â Maybe the other family who was promptly served ordered minute rice, as their dinner did not take nearly as long as ours to prepare.
While we were waiting, the staff received delivery of a pizza and take-out from another restaurant. Â I think that says it all. Â Chicago has a million great Italian restaurants, so there is NO reason to go here. Â In fact, there is no reason to go to any of the restaurants on Oakley. Â The whole strip is mediocre.
Such a romantic area -- Little Italy. I love this little gem of a place! It's such a nice warm haven when it's raining or snowing out. The food is made to order, tasty, and has an authentic feel to it. I love the warm bread they bring out for dipping in olive oil while you wait for your entree. The dessert is soooo decadent! Yumm-o!
My only qualm: Prices. I came here with two of my cousins and our bill came out to about $90, without tip! If it's just two people on a romantic date, it's fine and dandy, though ;)
I was weary after reading a few of the reviews. Â My friend had told me she had appreciated it the other time she went so I gave it a chance. Â I am glad that I did. Â Â It was a very nice atmosphere, and I believe another reviewer stated it lacked pretention. Â I agree and was quite happy about that. Â
We ordered the Baked Artichoke hearts to begin and they were delicious. Â She had the Minestrone and I had the house salad. Â We then ordered off the specials. Â Also had a nice Pinot Noir to accompany the meal.
I decided on the Spinach lasagna which was a decent size portion and very tasty as well. Â She went with the Eggplant Puttanesca which had a bit of a kick in the sauce. Â She was told that it may have a kick because the cook has a heavy hand. Â We laughed and the sauce was delicious. Â
We then had the Tarantella for dessert which was a very light dessert for being so dense. Â
The waiter was attentive and cleaned the table off when needed. Â The woman, unknown if owner or who came around and made small talk the proper amount of time. Â She asked us about our meal, and made us laugh as well. Â
I would recommend this place. Â I would have never found it because it was in the heart of Little Italy. Â It was like a nice little find. Â It was not busy at all, perhaps because it was a Monday evening, but parking was very easy to find at 7pm. Â The prices were reasonable and I left satisfied.
I am kinda shocked by the reviews for this place. Â I am a little concerned about Adam's parsley story. Â I am just going to pretend I didn't read that and hope it isn't true! Â
I tried La Fontanella during Festa Pasta Vino I was a big fan! Â I kept comparing our waitress to the sweet Portuguese woman in Love Actually. Â She was the sweetest lady and took great care of us! Â
The most notable part of the experience was the clearly home made sauce on the pasta. Â You could tell it was made the same day. Â Also the cannoli was yum yum great and clearly freshly made. Â I give the whole experience a 3.5 stars and I plan to be back!
I know that I can't expect the absolute highest quality of service on Christmas Eve that I would expect on a typical night, but my experience at La Fontanella was less than desirable.
First of all, the service was slow, slow, slow. Â With the party of 12 I was in, I don't expect lightning quick turnaround on everything, but this was unacceptably slow. Â Our party completed at approximately 7:10pm. Â We didn't get our appetizers until about 8pm (nothing extravagant, just some roasted peppers and some caprese which were both grossly overpriced), didn't get our soups/salads until about 8:40, and didn't get our actual entrees until about 9:20. Â
Even the service being slow wouldn't have been so bad if the food was good. Â But I can honestly say that I was greatly disappointed at their offerings. Â First of all, I wanted to order lasagna (a normal menu item, not a special) and they told me that they were out. Â Okay, whatever, I just need to eat SOMETHING, so I subsituted stuffed shells. Â Well, the stuffed shells came, and the portion was a whopping three shells, which in my opinion, was pathetically small given their $12 menu price. Â Not to mention that the sauce surrounding the shells was watery and gross. Â The bread was overbaked, the tomatoes in the caprese could have been a lot fresher , and they could have given us more than one roasted pepper for their ridiculous asking price. Â My brother's pasta carbonara was grossly overseasoned as well. Â I don't really drink wine, and I didn't want to tempt fate with dessert (they were also out of tira misu, by the way) so there was really nothing that I saw that could really redeem this place. Â There's about a billion other restaurants on this little strip that are probably way better. Â Try those first.
Also, parking sucks here. Â You'll have to get lucky and find street parking, which wasn't terrible tonight but I imagine on a typical saturday night it could be pretty difficult.
Odd: the owner tried to deny my credit card b/c it was MC and not Visa. Â She didnt explain why, and I think our waiter got into trouble b/c he eventually put through the MC. Â But I fast-forward to the end of the meal.
The weather was great, so we sat outside, which accommodates about four small tables. Â Service was slow, which was okay this night b/c we were in no hurry to go anywhere and our waiter was nice enough. Â
Anyway, the food was just okay. Â While the bread tasted hot out of the oven, it also was kind of tasteless, over-baked and extremely hard on the outside. Â The fig and prosciutto appetizer was good, but the grilled octopus was tough and served lukewarm, which meant the plate had been sitting around for a while. Â I did enjoy my main dish of spinach lasagna, even if it was a little too cheesy. Â My friend thought his pasta carbonara was passable, but not spectacular. Â We didnt stay for dessert. Â
Also, we heard our waiter tell the table that sat after us that the restaurant had run out of spaghetti. Â How does an Italian restaurant manage that???
We originally intended to meet a friend at Haro, but there were no seats. Â Instead we figured that this quaint little Italian restaurant down the street would be a nice place to enjoy a summer evening. Â Boy, were we wrong.
We took a table outside and waited for our waitress to finally notice us. Â While we waited, we decided to order a bottle of wine and some appetizers. Â When she found out that we weren't ordering main courses (yet), she flippantly replied, "Oh, you're just getting appetizers?" Â By the menu prices, I was expecting delicious and authentic Italian. Â Sadly, it was not to be. Â Our prosciutto wrapped cantaloupe featured very flavorful fruit with the fattiest prosciutto I've ever seen. Â Our other appetizers were ok, but nothing special. Â After trying them, we decided to not take our chances with any main dishes. Â
I would have preferred a  bottle of Boone Hill $2.99 wine over what we chugged down.  When our (lush) friend finally arrived, even he didn't want to drink the rest of it. Â
Our waitress finally became friendly at the end of the night, perhaps when she realized that she'd been a bit cold. Â It just wasn't enough to salvage an evening of terrible food and wine. Â Also, the other waitress kept running across the street to sit on the curb with patrons at another restaurant! Â At one point, someone had to shout over to her because her table needed assistance.
Overall, I wouldn't visit La Fontanella again but would definitely try one of the other restaurants along this wonderful street. Â 2400 S Oakley is a little oasis of quiet restaurants and I'm positive that I will find another Italian place there to remind me of that.
Overpriced and decent at best. Â Got here at 2pm and found no lunch menu, but no big thing. Â Ordered the recommendations that came with soup and salad, which had zero flavor to them. Â The server suggested adding cheese to the soup instead of salt before even trying it, admitting it's lifelessness as a subtlety. Â The salad dressing, billed as "Italian" must have meant "pure olive oil over bitter greens", even the red onion was lacking it usual onion flavor. Â to it's credit, my eggplant puttanesca, prosciutto with melon and glass of chianti were really good. However, Â my fiance's portobello ravioli was lackluster, made with store-bought won ton skins and devoid of the promised inclusion of fresh asparagus tips (which is what sold her on it, initially). Â The red pepper sauce on top was pepper strips in about a half cup of oil. Her brother's carbonara was soupy and nothing special. The worst though, was that even though the portions were plentiful and we had everything boxed right away, only my eggplant was brought back to the table. Â minutes later we asked about the others, and guess what? Â that's right - we believe that the other two were fished out of the TRASH by the busser. Â the reason we believe this? Â got home, opened the box and bam! someone else's rigatoni covered in hair and coffee grounds!!!!!!!!WTF. Â we should have looked prior to leaving but that's no excuse for what we found. Â In all, the three of us paid $85 for a 15 dollar meal (being generous). Â I WILL NEVER BE BACK!
Review Source:Totally retro (checkered tablecloths!) and devoid of pretension, this is a true old-school Italian joint in the Heart of Italy neighborhood. Ample portions and very friendly service.
La Fontanella has been around for a long time...if you're ever in Phoenix, the daughter of the chef opened up a La Fontanella there.
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