Abruzzo’s Division Lounge & Italian Restaurant

Some food items are better than others but generally just average. Last visit service was very poor. Even though the restaurant was not busy the waiter would disappear for extended periods of time and then have to be reminded more than once we had asked for drinks, napkins, forks, etc.

Stuffed mushrooms were good. So was the complimentary bread. The sausage and cabbage soup was bland. The chicken marsala sauce was very watery and not very impressive when it came to taste. And the chicken was very overcooked. I probably wouldn’t return.

Great food and a great price! Nice little restaurant with a friendly and knowledgeable staff. Worth a visit! We will be back!

Great, authentic Italian food served in a room that reminds me of my grandmas basement/​kitchen. All the dishes were delicious and the service was perfect. Nice bar area which would be perfect for drinks with friends on any night.

As usual, came with my folks when in town for business/​pleasure from Denver; this does not exist in suburban Denver, nor have I found it in the «authentic» Italian neighborhod places.
Oh How I wish Tom (the owner) would come back to work as he is a great guy; for some reason he is off evey time (7) I have been here the last six months???
The ambiance is fantastic; dimly lit, red pleather booths, and white paper covered tables.
The food is always on point (small issue tonight but the first in many visits).
Bread is great, a s it should be in Italian joint; the creamy garlic dressing is the best in Chicago, it has to be. This alone is worth the visit.
All pork chop meals are delish, although this visit I fiound one slightly undercooked (not good for pork)
Pasta is all freshly made, with consistent sauces, my fave being the vodka.
Great service by Cladia this evening.

What a great place. If your looking for authentic Italian food and atmosphere, this is a must. Servings are very large, come with an appetite or share. We had the grilled calamari and it was perfectly cooked. The fettuccini sauce is the best I’ve had. We had cheesecake for dessert, the strawberry sauce was not too sweet. Highly recommend. Too bad we live in AZ. Next time I’m in town, I will be coming back.

Great homestyle neighborhood Italian restaurant.
good lunch buffet.

Best outdoor patio dining in the western burbs. No joke. If you are looking to «find» a special place you’ve found it!
Pastas arrabiatta are awesome if you like a little kick. !

Wonderful spinach and ricotta gnocchi little pillows of delight! Lovely patio and pleasant music!

Good things happen when on random streets in unfamiliar neighborhoods. Abruzzo’s is a good thing worth finding. It is a Melrose Park hidden gem that I suspect is most appreciated by residents and former residents more than Italian food lovers throughout the Chicagoland area.
We drove through the neighborhood and agreed we should venture back and give it a try soon. A day later, we were in the area again and decided we should give it a go considering it was the perfect day to enjoy dinner on a patio. One could say the patio alone with its comfy seating, lighting and fans are reason enough to stop in on a day when the weather is amazing, but Abruzzo’s has so much more than a large clean patio. The food is a show stopper in its own right.
From the moment we sat down and looked at the menu we were drooling and struggling to pick one entrée each. Everything was appealing and the options were endless. Once we chose and the items rolled in, we were both chomping away as if it were our first meal in years. It was just that good.
We loved every single item that was placed on our table including the complimentary salad and house dressing. The dressing was so good I seriously considered drinking the remnants out of the bowl. Now for a recap on our entrees. When the Vesuvio and baked pasta arrived, we ate until we literally could not stomach another bite. We were so full that we opted against taking advantage of the Unilocal check in offer for a free dessert. Now that’s pretty darn full if I say so myself. I admittedly looked at the dessert menu only to accept that eating more was impossible.
Having dined here, I have a greater appreciation of Melrose Park and the value of little restaurants tucked in neighborhoods. And by looking at their autograph and photo wall of fame inside, the restaurant and/​or the owners are special to a lot more than the locals.
I can not wait to circle back for more. Until then, we will enjoy the leftovers as there were plenty.

If you are looking for the platonic ideal of the neighborhood Italian place, where everyone knows each other, the owners give you a hug and a kiss, and the food is great, then you just found it. Patrons who grew up in Melrose Park, but moved away, come back on Saturday nights to re-​unite with their community, with food, wine and people bringing a warmth unknown in the anonymous city.
One warning… some of the waitstaff are not up to the task. Don’t be surprised if you have to wait for your drinks, or you are not given plates to eat off of, but who cares? When the food is this good, and the conversation so friendly, what’s the rush?

After hearing rave reviews from my parents about Abruzzo’s I was really excited when our family decided to dine here on Christmas Eve.
The restaurant itself is nothing fancy but our server was extremely friendly and made great recommendations when I had questions while ordering.
We started out with baked clams and calamari for our appetizers. The calamari rocked and while the clams were good they were way too small for my liking. I would not recommend ordering them. Along with our apps they also brought out a basket of piping hot bread. My family does not shy away from a bread basket and my father pronounced their bread «the best he’d ever had». Needless to say we were all pretty satisfied by our appetizer course.
The salads and soup that accompanied our meals were standard fare for an Italian restaurant, nothing special but well execute nonetheless. Everyone was extremely satisfied with their meals. I went with the lemon chicken with a side of linguine in arriabiata sauce. The chicken was good but the real star of the meal was the pasta. It was served in an old school cast iron skillet dish, was cooked perfectly, and the sauce was nothing short of heavenly.
Looking forward to another delicious meal at Abruzzo’s in the near future!

I don’t think I’ve ever felt so compelled to write a review for a restaurant so quickly (we just left less than 2 hours ago), but my wife and I have run past Abruzzo’s several times during the summer months, or have walked past during the taste of Melrose. It always looked like a fun, family owned and operated place. We are probably going to be moving away from Melrose Park for us to both get closer to work before too much longer, so we decided to start a «tour of Melrose» and try all the local, small restaurants.
We had told this to our server after dinner, while we handed back the check, and he told us «start with the best, end with the best.» I will say, this was our first stop in our tour, but this one is going to be tough to beat. I’m actually really disappointed we haven’t eaten here before, and have given the likes of big chain places like Olive Garden our money instead of this place.
We were pleasantly surprised that we were greeted as we walked in, and seated within minutes (we got there after the rush, around 9:00pm). Our server was top notch, knew the menu and dishes well, and was able to make some recommendations. We had to try the eggplant parm, as well as the the cheese ravioli. With the eggplant, I was also entitled to a side of pasta, so I couldn’t help but try the penne with the vodka sauce that I heard about from reading online reviews on here and other sites. We both got side house salads before the entrees came, which were fresh, crisp, and had a tangy house vinaigrette dressing.
Honestly, it was so good, such an amazing find that my wife and I joked on the way home that we should consider buying the house we rent, even though all we’ve talked about for the past 6 months is moving. We had a really great time. Good atmosphere, quiet, pleasant, and the best italian food I’ve had since Francesca’s.
We will certainly be back. We might just skip the rest of the Tour of Melrose restaurant tour, and make this our new Friday night date destination. Thanks!

In all my years in the bar and hospitality business, I have never come across a more disrespectful bartender… Until here. Jackie was extremely rude when i went up to the bar and placed my order and she told me to wait my turn because her regulars who underpaid for an over poured drink were «more important than me». Beyond disappointed, and being in the nightclub marketing industry, I would consider going out of my way to make sure anyone I come across not patron this establishment based solely on my first (and only) visit to this place.

I had been here many years ago and our friends wanted to dine here on Sat. evening.
There were two tables seated in the dining room, including ours. The other guests were outside on the patio. Unfortunately our waiter was new and obviously not trained. He certainly tried, but he was so «green» that we actually felt sorry for him. I ordered a Merlot and when the wine appeared, it was not Merlot. Then he brought another glass of wine which was supposed to be Merlot. NOT Merlot. So I ordered iced tea. The food was very good, however, but I did not enjoy myself due to the awkward service. Let’s face it, service is everything in a restaurant. Also other servers were standing around doing nothing since the dining room was so slow.
Why not help this guy… Will I return? Not for a very long time. There are too many other Italian restaurants with good food and great service.

Hidden gem. The lunch buffet is out of this world fantastic. Every day the menu changes, and for the price it is well worth it. Try the braciole, eggplant parmagiana, chopped chicken salad and the vodka sauce is to die for. The soup is homemade and if you can try the cream of chicken rice you will not be disappointed.
We have also had them cater an office party and the food was amazing and the price was very reasonable.

Fabulous dining experience! Entertainment (Diva Montell & Jeorge Holmes) was over the top, but so was the food & service. I had eggplant parmesean & fried calamari. My friend ordered zuppa di pesce. Tiramisu was the best I ever tasted & several others agreed with me. I thought the management/​wait staff could not have been nicer. Very warm welcome on the coldest night in Chicago! I can’t wait to go back when the patio opens for the outdoor dining.
Ciao!

I hate giving them two stars, but I’ve been here once, and I was so disappointed. First off, let me just say that the food is DELICIOUS. The portions are great, and you can definitely tell it’s authentic Italian food. AMAZING.
However, let me tell you the story of why I wasn’t very happy. We decided to take out a friend for her birthday. She recently moved in to a place across the street, and hadn’t had a chance to try it. So it was a party of 3, we are all Hispanic women. It was a Saturday night at about 8 PM. As usual, the place was pretty crowded inside, so we asked the hostess to seat us outside, it was a beautiful night. She advised us it would be a bit of a wait because they didn’t have a waiter available for the patio. She advised us the wait would be about 20 minutes. So we decided to have a seat on the benches out front and wait it out.
About 10 minutes after we got there, a young couple got there. Those of you that know the place know that Mrs. Abruzzo usually sits at a table out front while she has a cigarette. It was obvious this couple knew the owner, and were very familiar. The minute they arrive they started chit chatting, and Mrs. Abruzzo asked them if they’d like to be seated outside. They said they would, so she told them they would be seated in a few minutes. Long story short, they were seated about 10 minutes before us. I was very upset at this, but decided to keep my mouth shut because I would only ruin my friend’s birthday dinner. Once we were FINALLY seated everything was smooth sailing. The food and drinks were great, our waitress was a sweetheart, and we had a great dinner in a beautiful patio.
Of course, the Hispanic in me leads me to jump to the immediate conclusion that because this place is family owned, they favor their own. However, I want to hope that isn’t the case, and this was just an overlooked detail from the staff and owner. Needless to say, I can’t really hold this against them because I didn’t speak out so I don’t know their reasoning. I’m not quite sure if I would like to go again. The food was great so I may give them another shot to change my mind. But it will definitely be not anytime soon. I’m still very displeased with my recent experience.

Fantastic! Everything you pop into your mouth will have you wanting more. I have been guilty of eating here 2 days in a row :/ (slightly embarrassing) but the food really is that good! My personal favorites are the baked clams and ghnocci with vodka sauce. The vodka sauce is out of this world. I can’t order vodka sauce anywhere else because no other place comes anywhere near what Abruzzo’s vodka sauce tastes like. DAMMIT now I really have a craving. Ufft! Seriously though RUN over and get yourself the best pasta you’ll ever consume.
Side note: they also have some pretty good martini’s and I’m not a martini girl at all

Epitome of an amazingly well-​run, family-​owned Italian restaurant.
Excellent array of options, keeping everything old school original just the way I like it! This is one of the few restaurants I actually crave!
I have been here several times and will continue to come back, always a wonderful experience.