il Casale Cucina Campana + Bar

Went here for Saturday’s date night.
We had the Pizzaiola, arancini, Brussel sprouts, and a soup.
The good;
Beer selection — they have MAINE peeper ale on draft. Amazing beer.
Service — our order of the arancini arrived and the centers were frozen solid. Not good. Bartender grabbed them sent them back immediately and was exceptionally apologetic. Whatever — stuff happens. Then the manager brought over a comp course for us while they re-​made us a fresh arancini. Excellent service.
Bartender — I read that folks had an issue with the bartender? I had no such issue. Bartender was Robbie, and I thought he was fabulous. Very attentive, great experience.
The not as good;
Pricing — honestly the Pizzaiola was good, but certainly not $ 26 good. It seems a bit overpriced relative to the food quality.
Again, not bad food — in fact, food is good. It’s just not great and it is pried to be.
Would I go again? Mehhh. If there was a seat at the bar, probably, but I might try another place first. Again, not bad — in fact good. But not amazing. 4 stars is fair.

I really wish I could give a better review and prove other less than stellar reviews wrong. I’ll be short and to the point. Host and hostess together did not seem to know what they were doing. Lot’s of confusion trying to seat people. We sat down and our waitress greets us with water. Cool. People next to us gets seated after and gets water by the same waitress. Cool. But then our waitress takes their order first. That was weird. Our first drinks come really late halfway through our appetizers. We didn’t get any bread. We ordered calamari for apps and it was over cooked. We ordered pasta bolognese and verde lasagna for our main. Bolognese was not good. Lasagna was decent. Overall not a great first experience. The belmont location was much better. Most likely will not return but hope they can improve. It was a beautiful place.

Ok. This place has great food and very good service. BUT, i do have a major problem with the bartender recommending a red wine and failing to mention that it is $ 18 per glass. Seems like that is worth a mention.
This bartender was otherwise very solicitous which makes this more annoying. Idiot that i am i didn’t notice till i signed the check and left. but then… kaboom.
shame on you people.

We love the il Casale in Belmont but were unable to get a reservation. We decided to try Lexington, and I agree with another reviewer who says it didn’t have the same vibe. The food was delish. The menu seemed to be quite similar if not the same (at least my favorites were still there — Arancini, Burrata, bolognese). The Super Tuscan wine we chose was amazing, and our waiter was very attentive and nice. My one complaint — the lights were way too bright. I suppose they were going for the Italian social vibe vs romantic, but I felt like I needed sunglasses. Easily fixed. Dim those lights!

I used to frequent this venue a lot… but no more. After 6 months, I decided to visit and try things out again — bad decision.
I was 1 of 3 people at the bar and almost completely ignored. The male bartender felt his time was better served shooting the shit with the guy at the end of the bar. Wouldn’t think the bartender works for tips. Novice bartender.
However, I’m a big fan of octopus and their menu said charred. It was a total disappointment and misrepresentation. It tasted like they boiled it then threw it on the grill for grill marks. Lacked all the flavor and qualities of a smoked/​grilled octopus. Don’t waste your time or money.
This place is really a 1-​star, but I felt pity.

We had an excellent meal here. We were headed to another place, no wine, so we came here. Good service and a varied wine list.

What a lovely evening! Quiet, soothing music, dim lighting, excellent EXCELLENT service from folks who seem to actually be having a good time. And the open bar kitchen where you can see the chefs doing their magic. Don’t let a fear of ‘cream’ put you off the frutti di mare. It’s light and lovely and rich and delicious all at the same time! I’m sure Mario’s next door would have been terrific, but I’m so glad they had a wait and no wine. Il Casale was JUST what the doctor ordered!

It doesn’t have quite the mood of the Belmont location, but based off of the naming convention, it is expected to be a slightly different riff on the Il Casale theme.
Service was attentive, cocktails were interesting and had depth, and the food preparations were very good indeed. It is a taste of the city in the suburbs, which is much-​needed for suburban dining experiences. The one fault we had was that the olives were not all that great for tenderness and flavor… give them that wonderful marinated brine!

This occupies the old «Not Your Average Joes» in Lexington, but doesn’t quite fill its shoes.
The food portions were small, the prices were high for a restaurant in this class, and the dishes I tried were on the bland side and clearly targeting a more conservative palate than mine. I will give this a couple more attempts, but overall this was a disappointning first visit.

Art W we had dinner reservations for four and we were taken right away. The food was excellent as was the service. I especially liked the Octopus salad and the way the restaurant offers smaller portions. Everything was excellent and we definitely be coming back

We love the Belmont location so we thought we would try Lexington. Will never go back. Bad service. Wine not at appropriate temp. Food very bland Tables on both sides of us had to send food back 1 wrong order. 1 over cooked. My
«Lightly» breaded chicken was Coated with a ¼ inch layer of Shake and bake. Not once during our dinner did the waiter check in on us. It was not until the manager was about to leave when he approached our table with his coat on to inform us that he was «out of here «. At that point the waiter appeared with dessert menus for the second time. Too bad for Belmont. It makes us think twice about making the 40 minute drive as we have so many times

Can’t believe this restaurant got only 3 stars. People! Wake up! It’s very hard to find a good restaurant in the suburbs and this one is a real gem. We ate here 3 times already and we love everything about it. The food is so tasty and well presented and the service is excellent. What’s not to love?!
Hey, it may sound like we’re related to the owners — we’re not. We just enjoyed eating here so much and plan to come back again and again.

Good food. Good selection of appetizers, beer and wine. However, we won’t go back because of a $ 32 «Valentine’s Day special» dish that consisted of 4 scallops and some beets. Are you kidding me? Delicious but outrageously priced.

If I could choose fewer stars that would represent our disappointing experience tonight. The menu lists «tell your server about food allergies» and the server even proactively asked. We explained clearly (and he repeated, acknowledging he understood) that we had allergies to blue cheese and asparagus. (Honest!) he reassured nothing would be served with these items.
Since it was a special occasion (daughter’s birthday) we chose the «Fiat». Not cheap, at $ 40/​person, but we eagerly anticipated what we expected to be a delicious meal prepared for us by the chefs.
All was fine until the main courses were served… you guessed it! Replete with bleu cheese and asparagus.
Why did they even ASK about food allergies? The asparagus-​laden fish was whisked away with reassurances it would be fixed. Oddly enough it returned very shortly after, looking suspiciously EXACTLY like the first cut of fish served. Then the waiter didn’t even bother to offer to make up a new dish of the beef (although I would have expected the same, lame approach as the fish: just scrape it off and serve the same dish sans the Gorgonzola apples). I have fallen for this before, ending up S-​I-​C-​K as a dog for the next 18 hours, so I stuck with the rubbery chicken. At least the roasted cauliflower tasted good. Of course, with a final bill of $ 400 (only 2 beers and 1 glass of wine btwn the 6 of us), I left feeling completely ripped off, disappointed, and frankly a bit nauseated.
I will NOT be back. Ever.

I had already made a reservation, but had second thoughts after reading the reviews.
Anticipating the worst, my beautiful companion and I sat down and were immediately attended to by Mike, one of the nicest and most competent waiters I have seen anywhere. He was friendly throughout the evening and had an above average knowledge of wine.
As anyone knows who has been to Il Casale in Belmont, their meatballs are great and they did not disappoint here. A dish of New Zealand mussels, should really have been served in the shell and in a big bowl. Their shelled version in a small dish was too precious, and did not really lend itself to bread dipping, but it was rich and flavorful.
I should also say that the hostess and the bartender were very pleasant and helpful, so our experience with the staff as a whole was very positive.
Big issue is the price point on both food and wine which needs to be addressed, if they want this to be more than a special occasion place.

I sat at the bar and the female bar tender was personable albeit a little slow to replenish drinks. My empty glass and that of my partner was sitting on the bar empty for at least 10 minutes before I finally had to flag her down to ask for another, happened a couple of times.
The bread was good and the app. s were good too though fairly small and pricey. The service was fine. The entrees though were just not that good, especially the pasta was really disappointing in both taste and portion size. Definitely not worth the high price (I think it was $ 22 or $ 26 for a pretty bad and small plate of pasta).
Wine list was good. Desserts were so so.
Hopefully it improves as Lexington needs a good Italian restaurant.

Inviting atmosphere and attentive waitstaff promise greatness, so imagine our disappointment with bland, salty, overpriced dishes that would be embarrassed by a Swanson TV Dinner. Olive oil served with bread had zero olive oil flavor; this was the first sign that all was not well. Then the octopus salad was more potatoes than octopus – although it hardly mattered, since everything tasted like the marinade. Spaghetti (with clam sauce) tasted like cardboard, I kid you not. And the lasagna had the dried-​out crustiness on the edges that I’d expect from reheated leftovers, not an $ 18 primi. Yuk.

My first 1 star review for a restaurant. We had such high hopes for this place because the sister restaurant in Belmont is very good. I can put up with one or 2 mistakes during a meal — my wife and I really are pretty laid back. However, there was just about nothing right with this experience from beginning to end.
The restaurant is nice space inside. Bar with high table seating to the left and dining room to the right. Our server right from the start was pretty terrible. He had to come back and ask again for my wife’s beer order 30 seconds after he took it even though he had a pen and paper. The best way to describe him was just far too nonchalant and unprofessional.
When they delivered the drinks they didn’t ask whose was whose and got the beers switched that we figured out after each taking a sip. They also did not bring my bottle and made the assumption that I wanted it in a glass only — never had that happen to me before. To top that off, mine had a fruit fly in it.
When the server came to take our food orders, this time luckily with a pen and paper, in opening up his little folder, he dropped some cash on the ground and then went down to look around my wife’s legs for the bills ending up with a «if you find any more you can keep it».
I wanted to try the calamari but I didn’t want to be to full so I asked if they could make a smaller amount of it — still charging me full price. The server scoffed at me like I was a fool and said no, and that I could take the leftovers home. Strange reaction. I finally had to insist that he write it on the ticket in any case.
We got appetizers which were the best part of the experience. My wife’s simple green salad was good and my calamari was as well. Good portion which i can’t tell was because of my request or if it was normal. Our server stopped by to check on us a couple of times however failed to do anything about my obviously finished app plate 10 minutes after I had finished. I finally had to put it on the empty table to my right to get it out of my way. What really cracked us up is that when another server noticed it a number of minutes later, he still interrupted us to ask if he could take it out of my way even though it was on the next table.
Our main courses arrived after the right amount of time and again they put the wrong dish in front of us without asking. I ordered the Chicken Cutlet which really was meh. Lightly breaded chicken with bones in it was a little strange and just not very appetizing. The «tomato salad» actually was a tomato bisque sauce under the chicken with some large chunks. The tomatoes didn’t really look or taste great although at this point I was suspecting everything and I’m not sure I was objective — but probably canned. The best thing my wife can say about her spaghetti puttanesca was that it was underwhelming. Not fresh flavored and I didn’t think it looked very good.
I don’t mind servers whisking in, added silverware and clearing plates, but this guy was so loud and so interrupting that there was no way for us to continue a sentence. He also stacked dishes right by my ear that was extremely loud and uncomfortable.
When my wife ordered, a second beer, they brought the wrong one either because of a bar failure or the server. The dessert menu had some nice looking stuff on it but we were done and actually went around the corner to get another beer and restore our faith in food service. Seriously.
So that ends my first 1 star restaurant review. Ok, we got a terrible server but a number of other mistakes and the food being meh at best is just not a good sign. I hope they can get it together because it’s nice space in a good location with a good pedigree.

When my wife and I lived in Cambridge, one of our favorite dining spots was Dante in the Royal Sonesta Hotel. And then we were pleasantly surprised with Dante’s sequel Il Casale Belmont, which lived up to the hype. As for threequels… we all know that the third time isn’t always the charm (just ask Khloe Kardashian).
Enter Il Casale Lexington, which opened with much fanfare a few weeks ago. It’s not surprising that they still seem to be ironing out some of the «start-​up» kinks:
–This place can come across as pretentious and stuffy — basically the Medicare demographic from neighboring Concord.
–This place is mobbed and loud on weekends, so table service can be as spotty as my AT&T reception.
–Be prepared to pay a premium for both food, drink, and service. Then again, this is a nice self selection mechanism to keep «Elite» Unilocalers away…“Elite” is Unilocal’s polite way of saying that the reviewer «needs to stop calling himself a foodie, move out of mom and dad’s basement, and look for gainful employment».
That said, it’s nice to see Dante manning the kitchen on weekends and his brother feverishly trying to get a better handle on the overall service and satisfaction of the patron. I should point out that Il Casale Lexington’s menu is different from its brother restaurants, but the dishes are still uniquely flavorful. My wife and I enjoyed our apps and entrees: calamari, semplice, spaghetti e vongole, and pasta e ceci. We also enjoyed the pana cotta and tiramisu. I’m a big fan of their draft beer Jack’s Abby (which is on rotating draft), which they also have in Belmont.
All in, Il Casale is a welcome addition to Lexington Center.

Il Casale in Lexington has hits and misses, but the hits show a very promising restaurant for Lexington Center.
Il Casale Cucina Campana is a brother restaurant to Il Casale in Belmont, but they have added different menu sections such as the interesting neopolitan street food. As two we were seated between two parties of 4 and there is barely enough room to squeeze into your seat. I expect this in the city but not in the ‘burbs. Tables are so crowded the server’s hair almost ended up in our glasses when waiting on the table next to us. Don’t expect much of a private conversation when you’re here. Décor inside differed from bland red walls to an awesome map on another. The open kitchen was really nice, especially the tile work in front of it.
The food for the most part was very good. Fresh ricotta was extremely tasty but came out warm which wasn’t to our taste for fresh ricotta. The portion of ricotta was tiny for 6 $. Mussels (out of the shell) while having good flavor, were not cleaned well. There was a lot of unwanted salt and tough bits to chew in the dish.
Once past these dishes everything was very good. We had the salt cod fritters which came with a fantastic «Italian» tartar made with beets and pickled veggies. This tartar looks strangely purple, but is delicious. We followed this with the Veggie Lasagna with spinach, artichoke, nettles, and red pepper. This was topped with fresh herbs cut table side (never seen this before)! Let them add the herbs as this only adds to the good flavors in this veggie dish. We also shared the lemon chicken. We weren’t expecting much but were very happy with this dish and would definitely order it again. The combination of lemon, herbs, black truffle and broccoli rabe made for a very nice balanced dish. All veggies and herbs tasted very fresh and the broccoli rabe was a standout. To finish off the meal we had a house made gelato, a combination of vanilla and hazelnut with crushed hazelnuts on top. The one scoop was a very generous portion and had a great consistency and flavor.
All the servers were very young, but the restaurant ran very smoothly and service was excellent. We split all of our orders and the servers were great about working with our tight table space and clearing plates as needed. Pacing of the meal was also good for such a new restaurant.
While there were a couple negatives here, the good things were REALLY good and we’ll definitely be back to try more.