Like other reviewers have noted, this is essentially a localized version of Olive Garden. Â Nice decor, but the volume in the restaurant (about 75% full when we were there during dinner on Saturday night) was loud. Â Multiple large groups (10+ people) definitely contributed to this.
We were seated immediately upon entering and our waitress was at our table fairly quickly. Â The menu does have some good-sounding options, not just choose your pasta shape + red sauce or white sauce!
The breadsticks were good, salad was OK. Â We both liked our entrees (two different takes on spaghetti). Â However, once food was delivered, we never saw our waitress again. Â She told us she was new (didn't have to - it was pretty obvious). Â They need a much better training program for service staff. Â The bus boys were attentive, but we waited a long time post-entrees to place a dessert order.
Then the food went WAY downhill. Â I had spumoni, and my husband had tiramisu. Â We were both in agreement that they just were not worth the extra calories. Â The spumoni was obviously not made in-house, and had more frozen whipped cream in the middle than actual ice cream. Â Almost no pistachio (my fave), either. Â
For 1 soda, 2 spaghetti entrees (with included salad & breadsticks), and 2 desserts, our bill came to $38 before tip. Â Pricey for the level of service and food quality/portions.
Tucci's is a nice restaurant for this area, that being said it's nothing where if you're not from the area that is worth taking a trip for.
It's Italian, but of course more on the American side of it. Imagine Olive Garden, and that's basically what Tucci's is (they even have a soup/salad/breadsticks deal). The salad is really good, I prefer it to Olive Garden's, their house salad is really really yummy. They also have $3.00 glasses of house wine all day every day, so that's definitely a bonus (nothing like spending $7 on a glass of wine that you can buy a bottle of for $7 at Kroger...).
There are a lot of options on the menu, but it's not confusing. The only problem I have with this place is that it it LOUD, I mean loud. If the bar area is packed you almost have to shout to hear each other and if you're there on a date it could be really distracting. We go there with our two small children because no one notices if they act up (unlike nicer restaurants where I wouldn't dare take them because I am not out to ruin anyone's dinner). I would rate the loud level a notch below Buffalo Wild Wings and a step above McDonald's during field trip day.
It's location is also a bit "off", it can be difficult to figure out how to get in (tip, use mall entrance). It is located centrally to most of the hotels in the area, which is nice, and you can literally walk out of the indoor pool area at the Fairfield Inn and be at the entrance of Tucci's.
Tucci's has quite a challenge, it's located right in the middle of some mall wasteland surrounded with fast food joints and chain restaurants. Â Not only that, the Bourbonnaise/Kankakee area is about as rust belt as you can get. Â So it's not exactly a place you would go out of your way to go to.
That said, I would rate this place a 3 and 1/2 star if I could. Â I thought it was OK, but not enough there to be a fan. Â As I said, this place is located in a rustbelt town mall area. Â Surrounded by struggling businesses and hard to access thanks to the goofy layout of the area, they would find it difficult to draw people that weren't staying in one of the nearby hotels. Â Restaurant itself is like a generic Olive Garden, except with a more varied menu, decent pizza and a wait staff that doesn't seem like they graduated from Disneyworld Acadamy. Â They have a bar at the restaurant and a dining area off to one side. Â Lighting is subdued and it was pretty quiet the night I was here.
Menu features pasta, pizza, sandwiches, steak and seafood. Â I had the linguini with broccoli. Â One nice feature is that Tucci's will serve whole wheat pasta upon request, for a dollar more. Â I love whole grain pasta and the nutty flavor it provides, it was a big plus for me. Â Linguine and broccoli was tossed with olive oil and garlic. Â Simple dish and I loved it. Â There was also an "all you can eat" salad with breadsticks. Â Salad was just like the Olive Garden verson it tried to imitate, except maybe not as tart. Â Bread tasted more like oil and garlic rather than garlic salt that Olive Garden gives out.
Service was reasonable, not hurried not slow. Â The meal with two Blue Moons was 21 bucks. Â Certainly a nice place to go to for OG lovers and a varied enough menu to make OG haters happy.
The one star is for the hostess, who seemed concerned for my carry out order (she went to the kitchen several times to see what the hold up was). Anything else about my experience there gets zero stars. In Bourbonnais on business, I just wanted a carry out sandwich to take back to my nearby motel room. I ordered the "combo" beef & sausage, but when I got back to my room I found it to be sausage only, a much cheaper sandwich than the one I paid for, and was reflected on my receipt. I might expect that from Mickey D or B King, but not from someplace that expects to be respected somewhere above Olive Garden. Sorry to say that you had better check your bag if ordering carry out from this joint.
Review Source:We've been coming to Tucci's since it opened and I'm disappointed in the downward trend we've seen over the past 6 months. Â The portions seem smaller ( not necessarily a bad thing ) but the food prep and service is really slipping. The meals recently are bland, missing advertised ingredients and badly prepared. Â I orderd Veal Marsala and it arrived looking like meat and brown gravy over pasta. Â The pasta was undercooked( Surprising), the dish had no seasoning or detectable Marsala wine in it, the breading on the veal was " gooey" and the " gravy" Â tasted like uncooked flour. Â Very disappointing! Â Service - Indifferent and slow !
I hope things turn around because, in the past, Tucci's was our Go-To, Great Food Place!
Can you get bad Italian food? Apparently so. The decor of this place is nice - very casual (even more so than an Olive Garden), and they have some nice murals on the walls. The service was friendly, but everything else was very unimpressive. The food was bland, the bread sticks were greasy, and everything was WAY overpriced. I thought the endless pasta was a great idea, but you can only take your first order home. My friend ordered a second plate, couldn't finish it, and wanted a box to go but they said no. I get that they don't want people just ordering food to take home...but what's the difference if you eat it at the restaurant or take the leftovers home? It's a waste of food to just throw your second portion away. Wasteful.
Review Source:I was at the restaurant for a banquet. Â The servers made half of the guest wait 10 minutes after the buffet was set up to eat because they couldn't find enough plates! Â The food was never replenished. Â Four guests couldn't even fill half of their plates because there wasn't any food left. Â The staff brought out a plate of cookies, but there wasn't even one for every guest. Â One entree came after everyone was finished. Â This event was planned in advanced and there was enough seating set up for the group. Â Why wasn't there enough food? Â Many of the guest were young children, so it wasn't because the guests ate too much. Â This type of service is completely unacceptable at a restaurant.
Review Source:This place is the opposite of most of my recent restaurant experiences. I'm growing quite accustomed to awesome food, crappy service. But here, the waitress was SO wonderful but the food wasn't that spectacular. I've heard lots of people recommend the Devil's Pasta [can't remember the specific name--but it was something similar to that] but I chickened out at the last minute and ordered something else. I would be willing to give this place another try and hopefully get something I liked better.
Review Source:Food was middle-of-the-road Italian. Â I had the breaded walleye, a special of the night. Â It was well prepared. Â The side of angel hair with oil and garlic was good. Â Another in our party ordered the eggplant parm on angel hair pasta. Â It came out on spaghetti instead. Â They fixed it right away. Â The waitress was attentive.
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