Broccolini Cafe

I had NYE dinner at Broccolini.
Our experience: Had reservations and were taken to our seat immediately. Great start. Several other quests followed the same routine. We sat at our table for 10 minutes. No server ever greeted us. Both tables on either side of us were greeted, cocktails delivered, bread on the table, and servers taking orders. We still sat without anyone approaching our table. We finally got up to speak to the manager. She said, «I’m sorry, I will take care of you». She did not. She sent a waitress over. For the inconvenience, you would think, the restaurant would have picked up the first round of drinks. They did not.
We placed our dinner order. Appetizers were pretty simple — caprese salad and mussels. The salad was pathetic: two leafs of lettuce, 2 very thin tomatoes and 2 very thin slices of mozzarella cheese. The mussel appetizer had good flavor consisting of 8 mussels.
Entrée: chicken breast, and two orders of Veal Marcella, all served over a bed of pasta. All 3 entrees were horrible, no flavor, I had to use the pepper grinder to season the food over and over again. My sister had to use her napkin to soak up the oil that was running over the sides of the plate. During our dinner, all of us were sitting with empty cocktail glasses.
We order dessert. It was just as bad — tiramisu and lemon cello. The tiramisu looked as if the pastry cook used a melon ball scooper to scoop 3 little balls of tiramisu into a martini glass. The lemoncello cake was so thin, it could barely stand on its own.
Pricing for this terrible meal was $ 30.00 person which included an appetizer and entrée. However, 90% of the menu items has a surcharge. If you wanted chicken with your lousy food, that would cost you $ 8 to $ 12 additional. What a waste of $ 200 for 3 people.
I guess the food flavor coincided with their clientele. The average age was 70+. My recommendation is too stay away from this restaurant. I live in Chicago where restaurants are ample, fresh food is a given, and your mouth is full of flavor. The only reason, I gave this place one star is because they sat us quickly.

I just recently placed a take out order and They went above and beyond with meeting my picky accommodations. The fettuccine Alfredo is amazing although I changed my pasta to penne. The sauce is a perfect mixture of cream and cheese. They even blackened my chicken though it’s not listed on the menu that way. I ordered a broccoli rabbe appetizer and it was a very large portion, along with the eggplant rollitini. Two appetizers and an entrée for under $ 40. Delicious Italian food

Horrible. We came with a large party, but they acted as they were inconvenienced. I’ve eaten here in the past and the food is too expensive for the quality. I would rather Piola or Brusketta.

The food is fresh and and delicious at a great price. I have tried most pastas and I cannot decide which is my favorite. The menu offers a variety of mouth watering plates served in large portions and the desserts are irresistible. My wife and I usually end up taking leftovers home. Worth the money and the time spent burning off all the food the day after! The service is also fantastic. The workers were polite and friendly and make sure we were satisfied at all times, even while juggling a full house. Definitely recommend especially, for families and special occasions.

Broccolini, 2535’s current resident, takes fresh homemade Italian and blows your face off to flavor town. Psh. who even remembers the prior tenant Dr. Desserts at this point? (Except for the re-​purposed Dr Desserts chairs used for dining)
So you think I’m kidding? Walk into this restaurant located in the quaint shopping complex of Embassy Lakes and take in the ambiance. Nay, take in the smell of awesome. Upon initial entrance you’ll note the old school charm and cozy 40 – 50 person seating venue. The lights are dimmed, the atmosphere sexy, and the food phenomenal.
As for scoring a table, highly recommended to call ahead to see the wait — as the place is typically slammed. This is not a fast food Italian joint. Plan to be here 90 – 120 minutes, as such tables are limited throughout the night.
Let’s get back to the important thing — the food. The owner, yes the owner, is in the back of house cooking everything from scratch. There is nothing premade here. I’ve since been back to this slice of heaving roughly ten times, and every meal has been on point.
Some highlights; upon sitting down you are provided with a heavenly crusty bread and matching accouterment of olive oil mixed with Italian seasoning. They run a special for two people which On Sunday and Tuesday is ~$ 45 and other days ~$ 55. This includes two pre-​fixe entrees, two appetizers, one dessert, and a bottle of wine. You can get fancy with your pre-​fix entrees and upgrade them to an even more classy one for $ 1-​$ 2 (I highly recommend the seafood dishes!!).
All in all, come here, be ready, your taste buds are in for a delectable ride.

I have never eaten in the restaurant but have ordered carry out. The grilled chicken Caesar salad is very good, as is the chicken Parmesan and the pasta with tomato sauce. Very large portions and very fiendly staff. Would recommend for affordable Italian dinning.

I wish I could give this 4 ½ stars not 4. This is a small place and it was very busy the night we were there and we were a large table of 11. We ordered some appetizers and they not only looked amazing but they were delicious as well. It took a very very very long time for our dinners to come out that’s the only reason I knocked off one star. The dinners though looked amazing the portions were tremendous I definitely took him half of my food and everything tasted really delicious. I’m sure it’s a small kitchen with limited staff and I’m sure they did the best they could and it really tasted great though and I certainly look forward to going back again. It’s easy to pass right by this place even when you have the address there’s no real big sign on top of the building it is located to the right of the true value hardware store.

Excellent. Portions are big, quality is very good, service is excellent and prices are very reasonable. My wife is very picky and she loved it. I highly recommend it. We drove 30 minutes to get here, and we will do it again.

We tried this restaurant because they were on my AAdvantage Dining Club. It was absolutely wonderful! It’s a small intimate storefront nicely decorated and very cozy. The restaurant was very clean and welcoming. Our server was very sweet and knowledgeable. I’m a vegetarian and had the eggplant rollatini and my husband had a great meal called Penne Contadina which had chicken and sausage. Both meals were delicious! They serve bread with a great oil dip which was also incredible. We love this place! Highly recommend!

It’s a very small, tight place. We came as a family of 5, and they only had one table that could accommodate us. Granted, there was a family of 7 or 8 already seated, but just be warned: if you’re rollin’ deep, call ahead for a reservation.
They have a really good prix fixe deal! 3 course meal for $ 21. I actually didn’t take advantage of it, but Mark A. did, and then I wished I had. I ordered the fettucine albese with shrimp & a side caesar salad. Typical salad, but my pasta was AMAZING. Slightly sweet from the brie, but balanced out with the truffle oil and prosciutto. AND portions are HUGE. Intimidatingly huge. My dish lasted me another 2 meals.
The dessert Mark ordered as part of his 3 course meal was the chocolate supreme. His brother got the tiramisu. Again, AMAZING chocolate cake! I’ve had better tiramisu, though.
So the downfall? SERVICE IS SLOW. We weren’t in any rush whatsoever, so in the beginning, I was okay with just eating away at the warm bread & seasoned olive oil. Then came my salad. Had I not gotten a salad, I would have probably waited an hour before I ate anything other than bread. Usually main course comes out as soon as you are done with appetizers. NOPE. Like I said, the place is small, so even when they are busy, it’s less than 10 tables.
Bottom line: great food but not necessarily worth the wait. If you have all the time in the world with fun company, go for it.

We arrived and they were very busy. Place is small but cozy. When you walk in the place smells amazing. We were sat right away and waited quite sometime for our server but she was very nice. We were brought bread but no oil or butter? The salad and soup were wonderful. The place emptied out a little bit and the service was much more attentive. Our meals were outstanding. Chicken Marsala and Sausage and broccoli Rabe pasta!!!

I AM REPLYING TO A TOTAL LIAR!
After reading the reply to my review I must say that I am shocked! It is not only inaccurate, it is completely self-​serving AND A TOTAL LIE!
My Fiancée Just reminded me our waitress name was CAITLIN NOT LUCA!
Who is Luca? Must be the horrible owner! Do you understand the term SLANDER? I guess not! Read on!
However as a practicing physician for over 25 years it’s great to have credentials and I applaud you however credentials without taking action is just that!
(MY ACTUAL RESPONSE WAS TO THE WAITRESS, BUT IT IS OBVIOUS SHE DID NOT WRITE THIS!)
No one on your staff took action! As far as the other couple in the restaurant I did see them out of the corner of my eye, however the woman never got there in time and she was the one who screamed to the staff not my fiancée. But how would you know you were in the back room?
The fact that there was a total lack of action on the part of all the employees in the restaurant is inexcusable. Is it proper etiquette to respond to a customer who has almost died «sorry I was on the phone with a customer? Is it proper etiquette to ask someone who was choking and almost died in the restaurant if they want that meal boxed up?
The fact of the matter is my fiancée paid with her credit card and the only thing that was half-​price was the bottle of wine because it was half-​price wine night. There was a full charge for everything else that we ordered that night. Lastly I called the hostess over to ask if anyone knew the Heimlich maneuver because I was shocked that nobody came over. The fact that I have to respond to this review that comes from someone who now tells me they are qualified in all these life-​saving techniques but was in the back and didn’t see anything happen, didn’t see me Heimlich myself, didn’t see me asking the other patron to go away because I had already stopped choking is a complete farce! Thank you for bringing up one of the most horrible memories anyone could possibly go through! Maybe now that you’ve seen someone choke the first time, you’ll be more prepared to respond if it ever happens again!
THANK YOU FOR REMINDING ME WHY I WROTE THIS REVIEW!

This is a comment to the review down below on May 26^th by Rick G.
I was Rick’s waitress, and have been working at Broccolini’s Café for more than a year now. It upsets me to see reviews that were not only completely inaccurate, but discouraging to the restaurant.
When Rick’s table sat down in the restaurant, I immediately greeted them and we discussed a few items on the menu and specials list. Yes, I did recommend the veal chop because not only did I have several people that absolutely enjoyed the special earlier that night, but endless people come for lunch and dinner just to have the veal chop.
While this was the end of the night when Rick’s table was eating, there was also one more table in the restaurant which he did not mention. The hostess was on the phone and me and my co-​worker were doing side work in the back since the restaurant was not busy. When the chocking happened, there was no call for help. As soon as the hostess was off the phone and checked on the dining room, the fiancé had yelled to her that she needed help.
However, it wasn’t mentioned in his review that the lady at the table next to him was the one to do the Heimlich and save him, not him self. As soon as I heard he was choking I immediately ran (no, I’m not exaggerating) into the dining room when I found the lady already doing the Heimlich on him. I still came over to make sure he was okay when the food was already out.
Once this was over, the fact that he was okay was a relief to everyone and myself. To make matters worse, his action of choking was repeatedly blamed on the restaurant now, even though we weren’t the ones who ate his food. The veal chop that was served to him over a bed of spinach was clearly explained before his food was eaten.
I was told by my hostess then that he had said no one in the restaurant was trained. I have gone through a whole CPR class, took an EMR class and graduated with a CTACE from the program, and had my Healthcare provider (CPR and AED) program card at the time in my wallet.
The hostess went over after to now make sure if everything was okay, and did ask if he wanted it boxed. Since he choked on the food and there was clearly nothing wrong with it but a bigger bite, why would she come take away the plate without asking? Is that proper etiquette for a restaurant? If he simply didn’t want it boxed, then we wouldn’t of. None of this was the restaurants fault.
The hostess DID ask is he wanted the veal chop taken off of the bill. His response was «No that is not necessary, I just want the check please.» When I was told this, even though I was blamed for not being trained, I still talked to my manager about the meal and we decided to give him half the price. He did not pay full price for the meal as he says he did.
It is a disgrace that I had to write this after finding this. I hope that anyone reading this will take account for the situation that really happened.

Wonderful experience in a really good neighborhood café! We were greeted warmly by Iris, the lovey hostess and no wait for our reservation for 6. The restaurant itself is small yet welcoming. Service by Kaitlin was very good.
The food is the main attraction for sure. Portions are HUGE, prices are very reasonable and most of all the preparation is wonderful. I had shrimp portofino which was outstanding served with 6 good sized shrimp, others had salmon, frutte de mare and veal chops-​all of our group loved it.

Hidden gem!
Very good Italian food & fantastic value.
Super fresh seafood pasta.
Definitely worth going to

New Hostess was fantastic… Kaitlyn, our waitress was fantastic… Food… Fantastic. Seafood Fruti dimar & Portobello Siciliano. Fantastic! Make a reservation!

Another great dinner at Broccolini Café! Food is fantastic, fresh and homemade. Nothing tastes frozen or prefab. I can’t help to notice that other Unilocalers say how slow the service is, but it reminds me of the leisurely meals I enjoyed in Europe where families and friends gather around the table to enjoy company and conversation over a good meal. This is not an Olive Garden experience!

Very good Italian food. Excellent prices and great lunch specials. For the price the portion size is generous. Loved the ambiance, its as if you have stepped into Europe. Will definitely be back.

Came here on a friends suggestion and was glad I did. It’s now on my favorites list. Quaint place with authentic Italian flavors. The service is good and they have different specials throughout the week. This was our second stop here and everything was delicious.

Broccolini was wonderful. I went with my parents on a weeknight and it was a calm and relaxing dinner. The ambiance seems a bit crowded but it is a small restaurant. I’ve heard its booming busy on the weekends.
They start with bread and seasoned olive oil which is delicious. I got a Riesling to start which wasn’t my favorite. We started with Fried Calamari which wasn’t anything special. It needed some salt but otherwise, it was just Calamari.
For entrees, the three of us split the Veal special and the fettuccini alfredo. THE VEAL WAS AMAZINGGGGGGG! Defiantly a must-​have. However the alfredo was not great. I make better alfredo at home… Need to work on that one.
However I loved the ambiance. The veal made up for the crappy alfredo. As a concierge, I would recommend this to my guests.