Ristorante Bottaio

10 of us were there on Wednesday to celebrate my birthday. I have been there before, and wanted my friends to try it. They all loved the food, service and staff! The grouper was outstanding! It was on the specials for the evening. I have never been disappointed. Our server, Kyle, was great.

I have been here an handful of time: two medium (~20 person) set-​menu parties and a few times for regular dinner service (4 – 6 people, regular menu). The service is always phenomenal, especially for the private parties.
Great selection of appetizers, soups, and salads/antipastos.The fried calamari is one of the best I’ve ever had: lightly breaded, lightly fired, and high quality squid inside.
Lots of pastas and main entrees including meets and seafood… all which are very large portions.
Extensive spirit and wine selection.
While the food and drink is excellent, its really the service that makes this place wonderful.
Only improvement would be to have humanely raised meats like grass fed beef, pasture pork, free range chicken, etc. Currently, as far as I know, all/​most of their meet is conventional.
There is a small parking lot which is (complimentary) valet on some nights. There is/​was additional parking at the oil change shop across the street.

Fantastic food, homemade pasta, great servers in a great atmosphere that reminded me of Italian restaurants in Europe.
On the weekends and for bigger groups you want to call ahead for a reservation.
Looks like they have a wood fire brick oven for pizza. I only tried the pasta so far though and everything tasted amazing. The menu offers a wide variety of vegetarian, meat and seafood dishes that will make anyone happy.

I had dinner here a few times years ago and finally stopped going as the quality of the food and service kept going down while the prices kept going up.
Apparently the other Unilocalers ate at a different restaurant, because my pasta was overcooked, sticky and the sauce must have come out of a can before they microwaved it. Salad was anemic and wilted and the cannoli needed to go back to the 7 11 where they bought it.
My kids bought me dinner here as a Christmas treat… worst part of the experience was pretending that the food was anything but disgusting.
Worst, Food. Ever.
Save your money and continue down the street to McDonalds, you will have a better meal.

We returned Saturday night after a several year absence. We used to dine nearly weekly here until we had a couple of less than expected meals and service. Our experience Saturday was delightful, dining at the bar. We so enjoyed, we returned again on Sunday and were again had a very good dinner and service. The food was tasteful as though it had been prepared fresh for us. The cost was appropriate for the level of food, décor, and service. Plan to make this place a regular spot.

Simply the best Italian food in the North Shore! Steve the bartender will set you up (he makes a stellar dirty martini), the host is welcoming, service is excellent and the food is incredible. If you come here a few times, you feel like family. The valet service adds a nice touch, it’s the kind of place you treat yourself on date night with the spouse.

This is my favorite Italian restaurant in Libertyville. I especially like the house salad and the Ravolli, though I always substitute the white sauce for Marinara. My husband generally gets the lasagna. What I love most about this place is that I am always greeted at the door with such friendliness. I’ve never had a disappointing experience here.

I came here with my parents to check it out for my brother’s rehearsal dinner. What a great night!
We split a chianti. My dad had Osso Bucco, which was delicious! Tender meat and vegetables. My mom had eggplant parmigiana, and I had pumpkin ravioli. I will say, the sauce on the pumpkin ravioli was too salty, but the filling was good. Next time I will try something else, and the bites that I tried from my parents’ dishes were very good. We started with salads and ended with expresso and limoncello.
The service was impeccable.
We will be hosting the rehearsal dinner there, I can’t wait to come back!

Went here for my son’s birthday since he loves Fettuccine Alfredo and Caesar salads. Their Alfredo sauce is to die for! So creamy and perfectly seasoned with garlic, cheese, etc. My son also polished off his entire Caesar, so I’m guessing good…
I ordered whitefish with a tomato/​fennel/​dill sauce and enjoyed it. Fish portion was incredibly large and cooked to perfection, but WAY to much fennel and dill added. I scraped off more than half. I asked for my fish to be served with sautéed spinach which was also delicious.
Will definitely be back.

Bread was not very good. Calamari Fritti was super chewy. Stale croutons on the salad. Entrée was ok. Definitely nothing spectacular about the food. Very disappointed based on the reviews.

Bottaio is a place that my family loves, we know the waiters and one of my good friends even worked here. I love this place, the food is great and everyone is really kind and nice. I love the lunch menu, they open at 11 for lunch and if you want a fair priced meal and a quiet dine I would highly suggest coming in for lunch. The sandwiches they have on the lunch menu are to die for, the meat is freshly cut there and the Bottaio club is incredible. As for Friday and Saturday I would recommend having a reservation. When it gets busy, it gets busy here. I read some of the reviews below and I would say if you want a slow and quiet meal don’t come in during the prime tim of Friday and Saturday. Also the bar is fun to sit at, it’s small and has a home atmosphere. The bartender, Steve, is probably one of my favorite people. If you love cappuccinos I would highly recommend ordering one here! The owners of this place are Italian and they make sure the food is authentic. If you want a real Italian experience I would suggest giving Bottaio a try. The parking lot is vallet but is free. And once again from the hostess to the waiters and even the owners and the people behind the kitchen they could not be anymore nice.
Reminder: if you truly want to experience Bottaio I suggest coming in during the week or an early time on the weekends. The food is always fresh and amazing. We love this place.

We had been to this restaurant a long time back and for no good reason had not returned.
We returned.
It was good.
We came in for a very late lunch and had the restaurant to ourselves. The waiter explained that the bread was made on premise. Besides being very local, it was very, very good.
We had pizza and spaghetti with meatballs. Our waiter noted that the spaghetti also had meat sauce this time which may not be the normal – I’d say order it with meat sauce. The sauce was sophisticated with a real depth of taste.
The pizza had a prosciutto topping and was fine. I’d order in a different direction on the topping, but that’s my issue, not theirs.
Our waiter, was attentive, not overly so – a bit of a challenge since he was looking for things to do. The restaurant test of when do you get ice tea replenished (never less than half full) was met. Very capable, enjoyable service.
All in all, looking forward to our next visit.

This place deserves all the respect of a 5 star restaurant, simply perfect! The food was great, the environment is beautiful and the services was outstanding! Well worth the value, if you’re in Libertyville or surrounding area’s, it’s a sin not to visit this establishment.

Great bread if you don’t mind the carbs. In most places, when you ask for a soup or salad with your meal, the salad is almost never very good. At Bottaios it is excellent.
Everything else is always great.

Had a work function here so they were cooking for a dozen people… and still, it was a great meal. Everything was prepared well, warm, served together and very good tastes.

Went a while ago, so cute inside. Great bread nice décor. I had walnut ravioli in a crime sauce was great. Parking lot is tight. Their place in Northbrook is great under a different name.

Really the only decent Italian restaurant in the northern suburbs that is not a chain.
Service *****,
Ambiance****
Food ****
Excellent rustic Italian fair with a nice flair.
From home made bread to traditiobal gravy, with a deacent wine list, this place has everything going for it.
Skip valet parking as there is an abundance of parking to be found nearby.

This restaurant poses as high quality authenticity. For an American, authenticity seems to be inherent in this family owned restaurant, however, many corners are cut to reduce costs, such as the kraft Parmesan cheese and low grade olive oil that is served with your meal. The food was also mediocre, nobody from my party of 11 were blown away with there food. I even ordered the veal shank with light tomato sauce and pasta, which was okay. The veal was slow roasted and was very good, however the accompanied pasta tomato and veggie combo did not compliant the tender and well developed flavor of the veal.
Overall, a disappointment, especially with research into Unilocal reviews and viewing the website. I was expecting more quality, both in service and food, for the price that was paid.

My Mom, aunts/​uncles, and Grandparents love this place. They come here all the time. It’s located in downtown Libertyville, in a great old building. Sucky parking situation, but they remedy that with free valet. I would ALWAYS suggest a reservation, even during the week, as it’s a small restaurant and they seem to always be busy!
It’s like a family-​run business. Many of the valet and wait staff have been around for a while. My family knows several of them from coming so long and often.
I wish they had bigger tables, because what ends up happening with larger groups is that they push together the smaller tables, and then you’ve got these big legs in the way that force you to sit in an awkward position in order to accommodate. The restaurant itself is very small inside, so everything is… «intimate». You could compare it to eating downtown — many restaurants downtown are «intimate». LOL.
Their bread is amazing — I saw one other lady mention ‘Rosemary bread’ — which may be the one I’m in love with. It’s a thicker white bread with lots of green herbs in it, and it’s totes to die for. Can’t get enough. Make a lil’ dish with olive oil, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper — and let the dipping fest begin! Mmmm mmmm good.
Their meat sauce is good, if you’re in the mood for something plain. A couple of my family members love their tortellini in the orange sauce, not sure what it’s called. Tonight I had the Veal Piccata (lemon caper sauce) with angel hair pasta and it was REALLY good. The veal was so soft and tender, and the flavor was spot on! I really enjoyed it and highly recommend it.
Also, I am not a fan of Tiramisu. I don’t like it. I am not a coffee drinker, and to me Tiramisu tastes like coffee. But — I REALLY enjoyed their Tiramisu. We ordered dessert for the table and were sharing and my Grandma made me taste it — I was so happily surprised by how wonderful it was!
The service was a little off tonight, but it’s usually really good. I think the folks here are usually pretty good at the attention to detail.
It’s not a cheap place. Prices are fairly high, but I think at this restaurant they’re only slightly over-​priced. You get what you pay for, and here you’re getting really good food with GREAT flavor. High quality.
Overall I can definitely feel good about recommending this restaurant to any Italian food lover. Mangia, Mangia!

Average Experience and Average Food
We came here for my mom’s birthday and I think that I had high hopes and felt get down.
I love a good Italian meal and was thinking that this could be another place to add to the list. After my first visit I’m not quite sure that they made the cut.
The atmosphere was nice and the portions were generous but the taste or flavor was more than a little lacking.
I usually try Veal Parmesan when I go to an Italian restaurant for the first time. It’s like my personal test that I make them take. I’ve done this at places that don’t even have Veal Parmesan on their menu. Well I was really excited when they said that their veal was an actual veal shank. The veal was tender but the flavor was lacking salt and other seasoning. Thus I felt let down.
I’m not saying that we won’t be back but I’ll need to try something else exit time like Eggplant Parmesan.
I’ll update after my next visit. Stay tuned.