Zaza Ristorante Italiano

One one star because there is no -3stars...I visited here on a Friday night at about 7pm thinking it was packed because of the parking lot....obviously people know more than I did because they were next door...not at Zaza's.  After waiting about 8 minutes for someone to take our drink order, there were a whole 3 tables occupied in the restraunt....we finally got served 2 very lukewarm Blue Moorn beers, I refused to drink mine because of the temp...my bf on the other hand, is one to 'not rock the boat' drank mine and his....we got the calamari which the server stated ' was the best around' it was decent, and I'm being kind....I ordered some shrimp/mushroom/artichoke/noodle dish that was seriously in edible...I spit out my first bite and tried each component individually and couldn't figure out where the funk taste came from...I think it was bad/sour cheese in the dish..but I sent it back....it was terrible!!!  My bf ordered the gnocchi with chicken alla niccole...which was tasty, but had all of 6pieces of chicken in it....the server did try to appease me by bringing out a blue moon bottle that she had put in the freezer to chill...but seeing her pull it out of her armpit...I wasn't having it...she did bring me a lovely piece of tarimassu (sp) that was commercially made, but decent.  We should have known to turn right around after seeing only 3 tables on a Friday night, and seeing servers hold hand-made signs out in front of 'the coops' business telling you to 'eat at Zaza's, but from a family members previous experience ...we went against our better judgement...
IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN

We went to Kelsey's afterwards n got appetizers and desserts.

I was there for dinner a few weeks ago with a friend.  We were one of the first in there for dinner but it did start filling up.  The place is a bit small and the tables are close together so I felt like other tables could hear our conversation.

The good was very good.  We had bruschetta as an appetizer and it was wonderful.  I had cheese ravioli which was excellent.  My friend had the vegetarian lasagna.  She said it was good but was a bit disappointed that there was no pasta in the lasagna.  It was labeled as vegetarian, not vegan so she expected pasta.  The dessert was good as well.

The downside to the restaurant is that their liquor license was "lost in the mail" so they had no wine available for dinner.  I'm not sure if the license has been found yet but you might want to double check if you enjoy a glass of wine with your Italian dinner.

This place was so good! The food was amazing! I had the Portebella Gnocchi and my boyfriend had the pumpkin ravioli. Both were excellent and moderately priced. We enjoyed the calm and laid back atmosphere, even though the restaurant was tucked in a strip mall. Probably the best part about the experience was when we both first walked in, there was a older couple sitting at a table, speaking Italian. DEFINITELY a good sign! I will go back whenever I can make the drive from Chicago!