Fellini Restaurant & Pizzeria

What a find for us! Absolutely loved the restaurant. Food, service, ambiance could not have asked for better. Being vegetarian server gave us multiple options and made us comfortable. Waiting to go back again!

The pizza is the subject to this review.
Best pizza I’ve had my entire life. My friend from California who lived in Arlington Heights still will insist we go here first (before Portillos) to get a sausage and cheese pizza. This place is infamous in my age cohort (25 – 30) in the area. You cannot find better pizza then here. I would like to blame nostalgia, but it is always well received by outsiders when first introduced. It’s doughy nicotine.
Side notes:
The meatballs are amazing. I always place a order of meatballs.
My ex used to insist we always order their focaccia (take out), but they serve in the restaurant for free. She also was a fan of the tiramisu — I don’t particularly care for sweets (I know, don’t judge me), so I cannot speak for how it is, but she was a fan each time we went.
The first date I ever went on at Fellini was perfect. She insisted on ordering mussels with the white sauce (whatever it’s called) and they were fantastic.
New management/​owners is super enthused and long-​going customers. I only spoke with one of the family, but they were pumped when they first opened and were excited to keep the Fellini tradition. I think they mentioned keeping most the staff from the original owners — not really sure.
Recommendations for ownership:
Keep up the same exact recipe that was passed down on your pizza. Please do not change ANYTHING. You have a ton of us young adults growing up that respect your product and we will always keep your establishment at heart as the best place to get pizza in Mt. Prospect or Arlington Heights.
Other thoughts:
I can be biased due to my long-​standing customer status, but the pizza is fantastic. It’s like the ‘soup nazi’ moved from New York and decided to make pizza in Illinois. With that being said, I cannot attest to their pastas or other entrees. If I go here, I’m getting pizza. I’m also more of a take-​out /​delivery person these days.
In regards to the old ownership, as grumpy as you called the old man, he was a nice guy if you got to know him. Their daughter was the nicest hostess that took care of us young kids when we were only 12, 13, 14 coming in after locking our bikes up right outside at the bike rack (late 90s).

First don’t expect to get this restaurant on the phone. I tried to make reservations & for 24 hrs never got an answer therefore I finally made the res on there Web site & they didn’t have it when I got to the restaurant. It was good not great like I was told. If I were in the area I would go back & give them another try with different food but wouldn’t go out of my way. The staff was nice & owner welcoming. I heard the veal was the best but it wasn’t tender like it should have been. The pasta sauce was below my taste. A friend had pizza which he said was ok. Another friend had chicken & only ate half of it & didn’t take the rest Home. My husband had chicken & said it was dry but the lemon sauce was good. Salad was very good. I did like that fact that soup or salad came with dinner along with a side of pasta or potato at no extra cost. About $ 55 for 2 of us to eat. If you’re in the area try it see what you think.

Ordered 2 pizzas from here, a cheese and a large sausage. Both pizzas were excellent and as a plus, they were done in about 20 minutes. When we picked them up the staff was nice, quickly rang us up and we were on our way home.

We had our 45^th Anniversary at Fellini’s! It was first great service, great food, great patience! We had 6 grandchildren 6−12ages who love to be together so a little active! I loved the room, I would recommend this place to everyone! Thanks for making our day GREAT!

The service at Fellini was good; however, all else can be improved. The atmosphere was really old and outdated. As far as the food goes, my pasta did have a distinct flavor, but it was overshadowed by the excess salt. My salad was good and the bread that was served is spectacular. All in all, Fellini would not be my first choice of Italian food in the area.

1^st time there. We have been to the owners other restaurant where the food and staff were equally as good. This one is definitely a keeper. We will definitely be back, and soon.

We have been to the «new» Fellini’s on 2 occasions. Both times were totally enjoyable. We lucked out on Tuesday ½ off bottles of wine to begin. Focaccia and fresh bread right out of the oven! Appetizers didn’t disappoint. My son said the calamari was the best he ever tasted and we all loved the bruschetta. Dinner choices, Veal parm, Rigatoni Fellini, Chicken Scampi and Gnocchi were all outstanding! You also must try the Tiramisu. I don’t usually order it, but will definitely have it again! Mike, the owner is a gracious host. Coming from an Italian cook, I will make Fellini’s my go to Italian restaurant!

I ate at this restaurant a couple months ago and then Just recently after the remodel– and I can attest that it is night and day the differences the new owners have made. They took the décor from the 1970’s to a swanky modern day restaurant. It looks like the owners channelled Frank Sinatra’s Las Vegas concept. The food was great– I had the calamari and the mussels for an appetizer, shrimp Fellini for the entrée, and the tiramisu for desert. The tiramisu is worth going here just for that! I ate my husband’s leftover white pizza the next day– and that was good too! I highly recommend this restaurant for the food and the décor!

New owners are great — the old owner was a serious crab. Food is excellent, as always — good old-​school suburban Italian that’s getting hard to find. Thin crust pizza is one of the best in the area. Owner is planning a remodel which is badly needed.

Disappointed in new ownership! My Dad has been a loyal Fellini’s customer for years. He told all of his friends about the place and sent a lot of business their way in past. We had a bad experience the other night. First of all, they took away the awesome house chianti that they served in carafes which was disappointing. Next, my Dad had a $ 30 gift certificate that someone bought for him for Christmas and they gave him a hard time about using it. The owner came out and made a very big deal about it. It was embarrassing. The last thing that happened was that they put the tip in the bill which they didn’t do in the past. My Dad ended up double tipping and not noticing until he got home. Needless to say my Dad or anyone in our family will return. Not a very classy place.

I had a disappointing first shot at Fellini’s. Did take out The exterior and interior design are fairly dated and uninspired (although in fairness she said they had redecorating planned — new owners and all).
The clam chowder was above average. Good chunks of clam, etc. Not watery at all. It was the calamari genovese that was weak. VERY skimpy pieces of calamari buried in a sea of mediocre linguini. And it didn’t smell or taste fresh at all. Overwhelming fishy smell, which is never good.
Wife got the gnocchi, which she said was good, not great. Meh.

I had not been in Fellini’s for a while, I used to work in the area and it was always a decent spot to hit. I had dinner there last night with my parents and my wife and was impressed with the food and with the new owners who recently bought the place.
We all started with a fried calamari which was nice and crisp and not chewy at all. It was served with Tobasco and a cocktail sauce which worked for me.
My mom, wife and I split a large thin crust sausage pizza which was done perfectly. The crust was nice and crispy but not burned and there was a nice amount of sausage on the pizza. The sauce was good as was the cheese which didn’t overpower the pizza. Overall, a nice well-​rounded pie.
My dad, who frequents Fellini’s quite a bit, had the halibut which he said was absolutely excellent. It is one of those dishes that my mom tries to prepare at home but somehow never reaches the same level as when it’s made in a restaurant.
We finished off with some dessert, my dad had a cannoli and the rest of us had the Tiramisu. He was pleased with the cannoli and the Tiramisu was absolutely out of this world. I like Tiramisu a lot and quite often it is either too dry or it is absolutely soaked to the point where it is mush. The Tiramisu at Fellini’s was perfect in texture and taste and went perfectly with our after dinner cappuccinos.
The only thing negative I can say about Fellini’s is the décor is a bit dated. On the bright side I heard from one of the new owners, named Joe, that the décor was about to change soon. I guess the place changed hands about a month ago and the new owners have a whole restaurant remodel coming soon which should make Fellini’s a place that might start attracting a younger crowd which is a good thing in my book. Looking forward to seeing what they do! With a couple of reviews on here complaining about the old management I was pleased to find the new owners very pleasant.
Overall I liked the place a lot and have a feeling we’ll be going back again soon.

Well food is good itself the service is below par with management. I ordered a deluxe pizza as it were and was surprised with the flavor being absent. The sauce is bland and the dough seams processed. I personally prefer organic and considered and based off previous reviews I thought I give it a try. I had a concern that I brought up to the manager. His tones was very straight forward and lacked patience. Personally, the tone is best for a corporate office and not customers. I will not be back to allow my presence to be insulted again.

Been here twice now and hope to be back soon. It is a great little place tucked away in a strip mall. It has been perfect to meet up for dinner, share a pizza, be full and still have some to take for lunch the next day. Well priced pizza with a great fresh bread basket while you wait. If you are looking for a fancy Italian place, maybe this isn’t your spot. I don’t know much about the other food there, but they have a pretty nice size menu. The service is good and the water glasses always stay full. All-​in-​all, a great low key place to meet up, relax, and enjoy some food and support a local small business.

We are from Oregon but visit our families here several times a year. They love Fellini’s pizza and Rosati’s pizza. In the past we have enjoyed Rizzotti’s. Last night we shared Fellini’s pizza. Both are good pizzas but neither can compare to the Lou Malnati’s. We believe Malnoti’s is the best in Chicago area.

We took our friends to dinner here last night, after many years of great food! THAT IS OVER! The food was not just bad it was terrible. We were not sure if they pour milk over the Fettucini Alfredo but it had no seasoning, no cheese and the noodles tasted stale. The tomato bread was burnt… Black char on the back, every piece and it was sent to our table anyway. I had Broccoli in an oil and garlic sauce that was water and maybe some garlic. All the pasta dishes were watery. The chianti was rancid…
We had a waitress who thinks acting like a 7 year old is cute… and was not willing to take the plates back or adjust the bill. I am writing this review in hopes they close the place, or to warn you… don’t try it. This owner knows how to make great food he use to… use ingredients. They are skimping on the ingredients. It is the worst dinner I have had since going to The Olive Garden!!!

My grandmother-​in-​law celebrated a big birthday last week and the whole family decided to come here. They’re Italian and love to eat traditional Italian foods; apparently, the last time they were here was in 1987 (what!?) so they thought it would be fun to come here.
Fellini’s is hidden in a corner of a strip mall — it’s easy to miss. And the funny thing? Aside from the additions of a couple flat-​screen televisions and increased prices, I don’t think this place has changed since 1987! Dim lighting accompanies mirrored walls and outdated décor. The place is trying to come off as slightly upscale, but the rinky-​dinky chairs and paper-​covered tables confuses the ambience. But the menu — holy cow, everything was unexpectedly expensive — like Olive Garden! It wasn’t over-​the-​top but definitely not what I expected from this little place. I wasn’t that hungry, so I ended up ordering angel hair pasta with marinara sauce. (The salad selection was terrible.)
We had some breads and olive oil on the table, which I snacked on. It wasn’t that amazing. Our dinners arrived within a reasonable time; I was surprised at how huge the portions were while others were too small. Yet, I was disappointed. I took a few bites and just wasn’t feeling it. The food was kind of flavorless. Apparently my meal wasn’t the only one — most of the family didn’t like their meals. Grandma was very unhappy with hers. I ended up taking mine home and trying to force it down as lunch leftovers a few days later. I was pretty upset that we had to throw our money away on sub-​par food.
I think everyone that eats here has been a regular since 1987 (one older woman was falling asleep while dining at her table alone!) or tricked into dining here. If you’re looking for good Italian food, go somewhere else.

Disappointed. The food quality has gone downhill. The Manicotti Fellini dish used to be filled with a nice blend of chicken, ricotta cheese & spinach, but a recent visit’s dish didn’t have much filling at all, and had almost no spinach & I’m not sure there was any ricotta. My boyfriend ‘s meat ravioli had watery marinara sauce, and the meat filling had little texture to it.
We still enjoy the pizza occasionally, but it’s kind of pricey compared to other local places (& I don’t mean domino’s or little caesar’s).

This place used to make great food and my wife and I used to go there regularly and order at least once a week. About 5 years ago we stopped because the food was getting progressively worse. last week we decided to give it another shot and we ordered some food, wow what a mistake that was, my bracioli were very tiny and filled with unknown ingredients plus hard boiled eggs, are you kidding me??? plus they didn’t roll it up right so they fell apart. The pasta was overcooked and tasteless.
My wife’s Veal Limone was worse, it tasted like lemon peel, then mixed lemon slices with the pasta which made it inedible since the peel was so bitter. Never again.