Marconi’s Ristorante

We came here on a Wednesday afternoon for lunch. The place only had 2 other people dining, so it was a little awkward, but the service was phenomenal, let me tell you! Bread and breadsticks were fresh. I had the Gamberhi di LaGrange (sorry if I butchered the spelling of that) — a shrimp sandwich, with a side of pasta salad. Shrimp was ok, a little fishy tasting. Pasta salad was VERY al dente. Could’ve used 2 more minutes in the water. We enjoyed lunch though, the place has a very cozy, inviting atmosphere. Sad to see it’ll be closing soon, but hope it can be resurrected in the future!

Marconi’s Ristorante originally opened in 1959 on Oakley Street in the Little Village area of Chicago. In 1997 they moved to LaGrange, IL currently giving it LaGrange’s best Italian restaurant option.
On a Friday night we went to celebrate a dear friends birthday, Ron Damasauskas. Every table in the restaurant was booked. A great group of friends gathered at this family owned authentic Italian restaurant. The food and service were outstanding.
The grilled calamari appetizer was tender to perfection and robust with fresh garlic. The calamari was served in endive. The presentation and taste were amazing. The salad was freshly cut and not from a bag. The house made vinaigrette was so good. The chicken risotto was flavorful with a little kick. The penne with spicy marinara was hands done the best pasta dish we’ve had in the Chicagoland area. You can’t go wrong with any dish at the restaurant.
Also, don’t let it get out…½ priced bottles of wine on Mondays and Fridays! We had a bottle of red and a bottle of white on the table. OK. Let’s be real. We had several bottles of each!
To be safe, make a reservation in advance so you aren’t cramped waiting by the small entrance.
Cheers,
Jordan & Marks

My husband and I really enjoy this place. Their food is delicious and doesn’t taste like it was frozen. We especially love the Penne Contadina, so much so that when we had our rehearsal dinner here a few years back we ordered it special for the menu. Mondays and Fridays are half-​price bottles of wine and they have about 5 choices that are $ 25 a bottle so for $ 12.50 you can enjoy a decent bottle of wine with your meal. It’s a great date night spot, too. Plus, it’s family owned. I think it’s the best Italian restaurant in La Grange.

Marconi’s has been a favorite over the years and our group decided to stop in on a Friday (½ priced bottles of wine) night. Being a Friday, we made a reservation for the 6 of us and were seated immediately upon arriving. The restaurant was really busy but our service was top notch. We began with a couple of bottles of wine, grilled calamari and fried zucchini appetizers. Our server recommended we order 1−½ orders of the grilled calamari so everyone could have one full piece as there are only 4 pcs per order. Great recommendation and thank goodness because it was fantastic. Fried zucchini was very good as well.
Entrees come with soup or salad, portions are good sized and served hot except for the side pastas, which were all cold around our table and have been on past visits as well. Pre-​cooked and sitting around??? Eggplant parmesan was fantastic, nice, thin, lightly breaded slices covered with a spicy marinara sauce and oven toasted cheese; pumpkin ravioli was really, really good (even our toughest critic «loved it»); the special cappelacci? veal marsala with top hat pasta and special chicken and eggplant parmesan were excellent. Another ½ priced bottle of wine with dinner and we all were completely satisfied. We were there for 1−½ hours and restaurant stayed full with plenty of folks waiting at bar for tables. Also, don’t let it get out…½ priced bottles of wine on Mondays and Fridays! Ratings around the table gave Marconi’s a solid 4.5 stars!!! One of my personal favorites in LaGrange.

I have eaten here twice recently. The first was for lunch with a group from my exercise class for a friend who had been ill. Next, my son and I celebrated with my wife for her birthday. Both experiences provided good food and efficient service. We fortunate to have an excellent Italian restaurant locally.

Always great food, especially the grilled calamari and on top of it is The service, always great.
I have been regular since few years at Marconis and never disappointed. It started few ears ago when I needed some soft food after going thru gum grafting. The pasta got prepared perfectly to requested softens and ALWAYS the service in this place has been nothing but exceptional.
I think by now I had a chance to try most of the menu items and newer the food was less than very good. Strongly recommending the place to all.

My husband and I came here a few years ago and got take out. It wasn’t anything memorable. Then, we saw a groupon for them and so we bought it and figured the food would be better if we dined in. Well, it wasn’t too great. The atmosphere is a little bland and the crowd is older. The service was prompt and friendly, but the food wasn’t worth the price. I got the veal saltimbocca-​meh. Francesca’s is definitely better. I probably won’t come here again.

Marconi’s has been a mainstay in downtown La Grange since 1996. John and Judy do a great job overseeing the family owned business that started in Little Italy by John’s parents. The food and service is always consistantly good and that makes this my favorite Italian Restaurant in the area. John and his father still make the homemade meat ravioi early on Sunday mornings a long standing traditioin. You must try them with the marinara. Like soft pillows of goodness! Excellent soups and bruschetta. I also love the Pesce Bianco. A nice preparation of whitefish in a lemon butter sauce with capers served with fresh and crisp vegetables.
I just took my staff there for a lunch meeting and they got us out in just over an hour and we were lingering and talking. A great place for a lunch business meeting or a nice dinner with family or friends. I have seen this place packed and the service and food is consistantly good with no change in quality. I am also a licensed food serice sanitarian and have inspected this facility and can vouch for the cleanliness in the back of the house! Pay them a visit, you will not regret it. Half price bottles of wine on Monday’s as well.

Another trip to Marconi’s in downtown La Grange has me wondering why i waited so long to return. The service is nothing short of spectacular and the food was excellent also.
It is lunch, so speed is an issue, and the hostess takes your drink order as she seats you. That is one less visit from the waitress and that allows her to be more efficient. Nice methodology.
I chose Linguini in white clam sauce and it was lunch size with dinner service effort on the taste and freshness. The nice window table coupled with the previously mentioned service put a smile on my winter weary face.
Just the small touch of being asked if «Is everything satisfactory with your entrée sir» in lieu of «how’s the food» is an unanticipated and pleasant surprise.
Bravo Marconi’s

Service was rude the three times we’ve gone in 2012. Each time we gave them a chance and noting changed. Thought the food would make up for the service — no way. Just bad Italian food. Owner is nice but can’t see what’s going on at the tables.

Classic Italian…
We checked out Marconi’s because it was the #1 recommendation from a life-​long LaGranger. He was right! We went during restaurant week, so for $ 25 my husband got some tasty bruschetta, salad, mustard encrusted salmon with a side of veggies and a side of pasta AND a piece of cheesecake. Every bite of his meal looked delicious… I was envious of his choice.
I had the gnocchi with marinara (meatless) – the sauce was perfectly tomato-​y and a little spicy – the perfect companion to the light, fluffy pastas. And, usually, since gnocchi is so filling, the portions are on the small side… not here… this was a giant bowl of pasta – even with my husband picking off my plate, I still had a whole meal to take home. The pasta came with a choice of soup or salad, so I decided to try the minestrone – it was full of beans and veggies and the broth was perfect…
The service was attentive and caring… just what you expect from a family Italian restaurant… Marconi’s might lure us out to LaGrange more often!

I got a $ 25 Gift Certificate for this Restaurant from my school fund raiser. There was ample parking close by which is always a plus. We were greeted in a friendly manner as we entered. There was plenty of space. It was a Tuesday evening about 7 PM. Service was a little strange. The waitress asked if we wanted something to drink. My wife said «No thank you.» My son and I did not have the opportunity to answer and she was gone. We ordered calamari as an appetizer. It was very good, but a little oily. The salads came and were adequate. The creamy garlic dressing was creamy, but hardly a hint of garlic. We all had linguine with marinara. It was OK, but also could have used more garlic. It was fairly expensive. The voices from other tables were too clearly heard.

It was my Mom’s B-​Day outing. She Chose Italian. I drove to Marconi’s. Simple as that.
We were the only table less one gathering of what appeared to be the owners or manager in the back. It started to fill up as our meal went on though and I know this place gets PACKED on the weekends.
I’ll start with service because even though the food was good, the service is what really killed it (in a good way, that is). We came during off-​peak hours and there was one love server lady in probably her mid-​late 40s. Simply put– she made it feel like home… and that’s not an easy feat in a near empty Italian restaurant. She was sweet, knowledgeable, and helped lead me in the right direction for my meal. 5 stars here.
I ended up getting this sort of basil dumpling pasta with a tomato sauce on top. At first glance the portion looked pretty weak but once you dig in, you realize that it’s the perfect amount of food… okay, maybe a little more than the perf amount since I defo slid my belt loop over a notch… or two. Don’t judge me.
The Momz enjoyed her homestyle Italian meal as well and though the food take quite a while to come out, you realize when it gets there that it’s because it’s all prepared as ordered. Also, the wait will give you a fair amount of time suck down some wine and enjoy your company.
Super Cute Bonus Feature: They play dialogue tapes to help learn Italian over the speakers in the bathrooms. I’ve never learned so much from a #2 in my life!

Came here with the groupon-​2 glasses of wine, 1 app and 2 entrees. The selection of wine was great-​ended up going with a Montepulciano. We split the grilled calamari appetizer. It was perfectly tender and full of rich, garlic flavor. For an entrée I order the linguine with clams, scallops and mussels. I am usually apprehensive when it comes to ordering seafood pasta, but everything was cooked perfectly and tasted really fresh. The sauce it was served with was light and spicy.
Service was extremely friendly and attentive. I will be back another time to try the desserts that sounded amazing as well as something new on the menu!

Ok, my wife would only give it three stars but I am a fan and I am the one writing this so I give it four stars. I really like the food, it is not the best Italian restaurant but it is solid and reliable.
I really like their veal dishes, the vitello da marco is very good as is the vitello scallopine. My wife is a fan of the Cozze Marinara, the mussels in a spicy marinara sauce.

Nice little Italian restaurant just off of LaGrange road.
Went with a friend for dinner one evening. Had made reservations and was seated when we arrived. So far so good. It was a busy night and seemed a little noisy. The space is wide open, be nice to have something in the dining area to break up the space a little.
Food was good, service was good, no complaints. Nothing really stands out, either great or bad. It’s a nice place to go when you are in the mood for Italian food. You won’t be disappointed.

Not only is the pizza terrific here, but so are the superb Italian dishes. What to review first? The pasta, the chicken livers, grilled calamari, the spaghetti, and well you get the idea. The food is always terrific. The service during lunch and evenings has always been excellent. There is also a lunch club you can join. The drinks are also tasty. This has definitely is a gem of a restaurant. A very classy place but with friendly staff and owners. Not a stuck up stuffy place like other so-​called classy restaurants. The portions are perfect.
Only wish they were open on Sundays so we can have lunch after church!

We made reservations here for a Friday night for 4. We sat down and got to gettin when we noticed a massive blob of people that kept encroaching on our table. And it got louder and louder and more drinkers started leaning on our table… we wondered… did we go to dinner or a bar? Beacuse there was a kid in our party, and we usually don’t bring kids to bars. Well, we asked to be moved and the manager explained that they has a high school reunion going on that night. I asked what that had to do with us? She said they reserved for about 20 and they had at least 60 show up. Okay, but why can’t you rope them away from my table? Why is it on us to be uncomfortable? Needless to say, we had a horrible dining experience because people were haning all over our table and it was too loud to talk. I hold Marconi’s responsible for not backing the reunioners off the dining patrons. My wine with dinner was good but there are too many other restaurants on the same street that have good wine and good food to bother with Marconis again.

This restaurant is soooo good! I actually looked it up on Unilocaly and saw the reviews were all really great so my ps and bf and I all went here on a friday night looking for some great italian food.(the ‘burbs have been lacking lately). Oh yea not to mention the ½ price bottles of wine!
I made a reservation for 7:30 we arrived just around then and we were asked to wait just a minute while a table cleared. The place was jumpin’ every table taken! This is always a good sign. We sat at the lil bar in front and the boys ordered a drink from the lovely bartender. He was very friendly and polite. Instantly out table was ready!
Mom and I of course to advantage of the ½ price wine. I was excited cause maybe 1 ½ glasses will get my mom crunk so it was sure to be a fun night! I cant remember the name of the wine we got but it was on the cheap and really tasty.
The boys ordered calamari for an appt. I opted out of that tempting plate of squid (sarcastic). My bf loves the mari and orders it alot he said this was a top notch mari, they cleared the plate while my mom and I enjoyed the oil and bread on the
was fresh and warm! They have breadstick packets too! They are super long and thin, the package looks cute like they are straight from Italy or sumthn’.
So I cant wait to tell about my meal. I of course went with the eggplant parm. If everything else sucked st Marconis I probably would still be dishing out a 5 star just for the Eggplant, thats how good it is! Previously I claimed I had the best eggplant at a place in Marco Island Florida but Marconis has taken the cake. It is cut thin, but not too thin (you knoe where its just breading not eggplant), lightly breaded, baked and topped with a thin layer of
is lightly covered with marinara… this is where it gets good. Even though its covered in sauce it still manages to be crispy! You know how places usually do eggplant they just cover it with a ton o breading and drowned it in sauce and cheese to cover up how gross it is. Not Marconis they keep it real… just enough sauce and cheese to still reveal the amazing flavor! I cant wait to go back!
Everyone else that went with me were just as estatic about their meals. —Chicken marsala, chicken vesuvio, and my dad had a pasta special that everyone minus me tried and raved about.
I have to comment on a couple reviews about the old people thing. I did notice some older people but it wasnt all white hairs at
was mostly like 30 – 40 years olds. Either wasy who cares when the food is good!
Nothing but satisfied customers!

Found this on Unilocal for a spontaneous Italian dinner with out of town guests. As our luck would have it, the seasonal Pumpkin Ravioli was the special. To DIE for! Service was attentive and friendly, just right.
Also, this place is part of the cute La Grange downtown area, great for walking around and shopping.