Volare West

Through iphone's 'tastespotting' app (recent fave), I found Volare, an Italian restaurant in Oak Brook, that seemed promising. Some of the spotted items included "seafood linguine", "raw oysters" -- both of which I wanted, wanted wanted!! They ended up having neither avail. that night, and that wasn't even the worst part of the night.

Our awful experience...

first, the lot was incredibly full. there was even a line for $3 valet (in the suburbs)! We were instructed to park on the side, which made us a little uncomfortable (crossed fingers in hope nobody scraps our car).

We walk in with a 8pm reservation made, but had to wait. While waiting, a couple that came in after us, which one of the managers apparently knew, was greeted and almost brought to a table. The hostess said, "they were here first". 5 minutes later, they were still seated at that table (for 4 ppl), and another young manager came around with 2 chairs in hand, told us "follow me to your table." We were seated in a tight nook, it seemed like they "created" this table for us. He asked whether or not this seat was ok, but I really didn't want to wait any longer for another table.

The busboys/runners came with water & bread immediately, which we appreciated, and hoped that good spirit would continue through the rest of the evening... but no. We waited, and nobody came to take our drink orders nor food orders. To be fair, they were having a busy night. But still... we waited for nearly 20 minutes. I was finally able to make eye contact and wave someone over. He said, "I was just about to check with this waitress whether you are her table or mine, because we had some confusion earlier." okay... He ends up taking our order, which was also awkward. He couldn't list the beers when we asked what was available, they didn't have the oysters, and I had to repeat myself multiple times. When one of our dishes came out, it ended up being wrong (which, he said he pressed the wrong button).

The food was decent. But the experience was so poor, I seriously wanted the food to come out as quickly as possible, so we can just leave. It was the most unpleasant experience I've ever had at a restaurant. We will never ever return.

Volare West

1919 S Meyers Rd
Oak Brook Terrace, IL 60181

(630) 495-0200

www.volarerestaurant.com