Rossini Di Lucca

I just love their chicken marsala. The best!

Ate here several months ago. The main dishes were very good, however the service was inexcusable. We had to wait and wait, never got our drinks, had to ask for bread twice, and did not receive the bread until AFTER our main dishes came out!
Sorry, I am glad they are closed. Many other fine Italian restaurants in the area exist where the servers actually want your business.
Ciao!

This place was very good but has unfortunately closed. Didn’t make it a year. Too bad.

October 30, 2014
There is a sign on the door of Rossini’s that are closed until further notice. No answer when I called the phone number. Sad since they just opened less than 6 months ago.
Hope this is temporary.

Rossini di Lucca was a pleasant find. We were just going to get take out, but decided that we would go for a sit down dinner. That turned out to be a good choice, as we were glad we ate there. It was Vino Wednesday (current promotion) half priced bottles of wine, which is a very good deal. The bar tender was very polite and helpful and let us sample different wines without a fuss. We ordered the Chicken Parmigiana and the Gnocchi Carbonera, off of the Special of the Day menu. Both dishes were very good, flavorful and plentiful. The Carbonera was very rich and very tasty. The ambiance was pleasant and the service good too. Will definately go back again.

I met my girlfriend and a friend of ours for dinner here and enjoyed everything about it. The food was delicious and the service was fantastic. We all agreed we were definitely coming back. I would recommend it to anyone looking for delicious Italian food in a contemporary setting that would be appropriate for a dinner date, family outing, or grabbing a great meal with friends.
The food: My girlfriend ordered the eggplant with spaghetti noodles. A generous helping that was deemed delicious and filled her up with enough to take home for lunch the next day. Our friend had the gnocchi with vodka sauce which was perfect for a strict vegetarian and also left enough to be taken home. They were both extremely satisfied with their food and the bits I tried were very flavorful.
I had chicken Parmesan (one of my absolute favorite dishes) and I have to say that this was one of the best servings I have ever had. A large dish filled with rotini noodles and a slightly sweet marinara sauce topped with a lightly breaded chicken cutlet. Aside from everything being cooked to perfection, it was covered in a thick layer of baked parmesan cheese. I frequently received chicken parmesan at other restaurants with meager amounts of cheese included and it tends to make the dish bland. This was not the case at Rossini Di Luca. It was clear that this restaurant does not skimp and makes every dish with pride and enthusiasm. All entrees come with a side of either pasta, spinach, or broccoli. I had the spinach (with garlic) and it was very good. It was a bit heavy on the garlic, so I’d recommend sharing it with your date or grabbing some after-​dinner mints (both cinnamon and chocolate mints are available at the front). All in all, everyone was very happy and satisfied with our meals.
Service: I actually came late to this dinner as a meeting ran short and I was hungry. I showed up just as the girls had received their food and was wearing jeans and a hooded sweatshirt. Our server was extremely kind and although I was worried I might not have been dressed appropriately, it clearly didn’t matter to her. She recognized that I was late and when she took my order, explained that she would try to have the cooks rush it out so I could eat with my friends. Not 10 minutes later, my food arrived and it was perfect; nothing about it seemed rushed at all. She was very attentive, re-​filled our drinks frequently, and split up the check with no fuss.
Reality: This restaurant is not «old world authentic Italian». It’s contemporary, which is great. If you need your Italian restaurant to have a server who speaks in an accent and a menu that wouldn’t dare include Pepsi, don’t come here. But if you’re looking for really good Italian food in the $ 10-​$ 15 range and great service, I highly recommend Rossini Di Lucca. We sat in a section full of booth that surrounded a bar which also had the Blackhawks game on (Could my night have gotten any better?). It wasn’t loud. I don’t even think the sound was on. The point I’m trying to make is that this is not the snooty, «authentic» Italian place so many other reviewers seem to love. I went to one of those places last week and it was mediocre. Rossini Di Lucca is a classy, delicious restaurant that will treat you well. All of the class and tastiness of authentic Italian food with great service and reasonable prices. What’s not to like?

It’s Friday night and we both worked late. The hubby didn’t have time for lunch, so he’s starving! I search restaurants all around, but bored with the same old thing, I find a newer restaurant in Palatine. We head over and find a huge parking lot that was fairly crowded. Good sign!
When we walk in, we joke that if the wait time is an hour, we are going next door to Pita Pita (which I need to bookmark). No wait and the hostess is at the ready to provide a greeting. The foyer area is clean and simple. That works for me. The hostess basically runs to our table bumping into guests, tables and chairs the whole way. It’s a tight squeeze and there’s no other way to go so we proceed to do the same and apologize along the way.
The clientele is a mixed bag. Little kids. Large families. Small parties of old men. Some couples. A few double date type situations. There were a lot of people in there.
Once seated out water glasses are filled and a bread basket arrives. We promptly devour herbed focaccia, fried dough and some crusty Italian bread. Paired with the olive oil and cheese on the table, we could have called it quits right then. Note to self: Don’t carb yourself to death before you order your meal next time.
This brings me to my next point. Service was slow. Very nice service with a smile, but way too slow for this seemingly bustling restaurant.
We shared the shrimp dejonge appetizer. It took so long that I thought she forgot about it, but it was worth the wait. It was delicious! It was not what we were expecting though. Four giant shrimp adorned a plate of herby butter with some bread crumbs on top. The giant shrimp were cooked to perfection. Usually, the mixture arrives in some sort of skillet and is prepared a bit different. Regardless, this was a great dish and I should have held off on some of those carbs and used them to soak up that crazy butter. Next time, Jen. Next time…
He ordered a special which included Italian sausage, peppers, onions, pasta and a spicy tomato sauce. The dish was good, but the sauce was not spicy. The portion size was really nice, so there were plenty of leftovers. I ordered chicken Parmesan well done with the sauce on the side. For my side, I had the option of pasta, a couple veggies or potatoes. I chose the vesuvio potatoes. The chicken was one small breast. The cheese was well done as requested and the sauce did arrive on the side. The potatoes were forgotten until I asked about them. It was a nicely flavored chicken breast and if I hadn’t carb loaded at the beginning of the meal, I think the portion would have been on the skimpy side although the price seemed about right. The potatoes were seasoned well and not undercooked (my potato pet peeve).
Our glasses were refilled promptly, even if one of the refills was wrong. Our server corrected it promptly and with an apology.
One more thing. We didn’t check out the entire space, but it seems big. We could hear the live music coming from the bar area and we must be getting old because it was too much for us during our meal. The entire space seems confused. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t really care, but some people do which is why I bring it up. The banquet swirly style carpeting paired with purple up lighting and some wall hangings that look like Christmas poinsettias followers by giant pictures of purple flowers and a large picture of a woman with large pottery on the high shelf with fancy chandeliers above and a wall of curtains. What was behind the curtain anyway? We noticed the mis-​matched décor and did talk about it. Thankfully, we focus on food and service, so the décor just gave us some dinner conversation.
Overall, with only about five months under their belt, I feel like they’ve done a lot right. There’s always room for improvement, but we both agreed to go back for another fun filled, tasty meal.

Decided to try ‘the new Italian restaurant in Palatine’ about two weeks ago and was overly disappointed.
As soon as I walked in I could not get over a horrible sewage smell throughout the entire restaurant. Idk what the problem was but it was absolutely putrid. To go along with the smell they have a almost comical interior with decorations and wallpaper that do not match at all.
I will not be back and do not recommend to anyone. They had a location in Niles that is no longer there anymore… I wonder why.
The food was mediocre at best and they brought out the entire wrong entrée for someone in our party and asked if it was okay for them just to eat that instead of making a new one.

Med a carry out order for a lunch special.
Spaghetti with meat sauce.
Good flavor and a huge portion for $ 4.95
Get on their mailing list for current specials everyday.

I’ve had lunch here twice.
First time — eggplant parmesan. The marinara is very good — tomato-​y, good balance of spices, and thick. I enjoyed this dish and had some to take home in a takeout container.
Second time — One of the discounted specials was eggplant sorrento. I hadn’t heard of it before and couldn’t tell from the «example dish» where the daily specials are lined up how it was prepared, how it is different from eggplant parmesan, etc. I asked the employee at the counter how it’s prepared — the type of question you would ask a server/​waiter. She couldn’t describe it for me and had to ask the chef. After coming back I had another question about it, and again she had to ask the chef. (My suggestion to the owner & manager is to only put employees into customer-​facing positions when they are fully trained and know what’s in the food.) That was an odd experience.
Nevertheless, I ordered the dish and also a house salad. The salad was a good size and had generous slices of tomato, cucumber, and red onion. The eggplant sorrento was very good, too. (Now even I can explain what is in this dish!) The eggplant is sauteed, there is a bit of ricotta and provolone cheeses layered between the layers of cooked eggplant, and it is covered with marinara.
I agree with one of the other Unilocal posters that the music in this restaurant is all wrong! While I like ’70’s tunes, Adele, and others, it just doesn’t fit. They’d be better to play Sinatra, Dean Martin, etc., or even instrumental jazz.
And, yes, the decorating is odd. Some things look fine on their own, but not together.
If you work in the area and need a place for a quick Italian lunch, this is a good place to go!

Going to this place was very interesting. If we didn’t meet friends we may have left. We were there last weekend and from some reason there was a smell in the place that I could not get over. I could not tell if it was some sort of carpet cleaner or refreshner but it was not good. Thank god we were with friends and have a good time visiting.
The food was ok. But very expensive for what I considered basic Italian. We had lasagna, chicken parm, gnocchi, and forgot the fourth dish. I have eaten in high class Italian places and paid a lot less to the same for much better food and higher end.
We also saw the owner walk by tables but as others have mentioned never said a word. Only went to people they seemed to know. The décor was very strange but I can overlook that with good food and prices. Could not get over the smell though.
Not sure this place will last too long at the rate its going. Good Luck.

Italy in the Burbs. Well sort of. Trendy place — chandeliers in the main dining room; we sat in the bar area which was more trendy with a cool bar area. It was more quiet in our area than in the main dining room. We’d prefer to sit there again.
Food was excellent — started with the lamb chops — 6 chops and salad garnish. Very tasty and cooked just right.
For the main course we had Portofino, chicken parmesan, gnocchi. All was prepared well, and there was enough to take home for lunch tomorrow. We are bread fans and the bread was excellent — 3 different kinds, along with parm cheese and olive oil. Yum.
Relaxed atmosphere — we had plenty of time to consume the lamb chops before the main course — if you’re in a hurry, it would have been considered slow. We enjoyed just talking and savoring the evening.
Server was very pleasant and attentive. Don’t recall any music so maybe they got the hint and stopped it…

I’ve been to Rossini twice now, and both times I’ve been really pleased. Their Marina sauce and sausage are fabulous. Last night I had the chicken Marsala and I can honestly say it was the BEST I’ve ever had. The sauce was amazing, and the portion was very good. Their prices are below what other Italian restaurants are in the area. Side salads with hearts of palm and tons of veggies $ 4! Most of their pasta dishes are around $ 12, which is unheard of.
I agree with the below comment that the music is awful. It’s bad 80’s pop music or something. Doesn’t go with the ultramodern décor, or the Italian menu. Change the music and the place would be great.
The bar area is nice, very big and spacious.

Finally, an Italian Restaurant in Palatine that gets it right! (Sort of…)
We dined on a Tuesday night and were pleasantly surprised to see the restaurant had a nice crowd! We were seated promptly and our waiter greeted us warmly.
Décor: Odd. not sure if we were in an Italian restaurant or wannabe night club… was hoping for more of a traditional old-​world Italian look and got purple velvet drapes and cheesy crystal lighting.
Music: skip the Musak and go to the classics, Sinatra, Deano, etc.
Bar: Huge, perfect for a group and an after dinner drink.
Crowd: A little older, but hey, they have good food!
Food: Awesome! The rolls (who doesn’t love Salerno’s rolls), the apps, the main dishes are all fantastic! I ordered the chicken tetrazinni and thought it was chicken and mushroom heavy– would have liked more pasta, but it was delicious!
He ordered a shrimp and scallop dish and loved it.
Service slowed once more of a crowd rolled in, but I will attribute this to the restaurant being new and needing to work the kinks out.
We will absolutely return, just wish the décor was more traditional Itailan, the music also.
**No kids menu, but offered pasta as sides.

What you need to know: Mediocre food with lack of attention to detail. Chef needs to tweak recipes and cooking times.
Came in around 10 pm on a Saturday night. The first thing that hits you is the weird atmosphere. We sat in the bar area, which is separate from the main dining room. There are some very nice paintings, and then some very strange pictures (pic attached), and then you get hit with multiple colored neon lights. Eeek! Definitely not traditional Italian style décor; more like Disco Pop/​Crazy Fun House/​Beetle Juice Style Place. I did like the chandeliers — but the rest of the eclectic vibe was just too weird.
On to the food:
I ordered the Lobster/​Shrimp/​Scallop on Angel Hair Pasta, and my husband had Fettuccine Alfredo with Chicken. It is an Italian restaurant, so we expect pasta to be done right. Instead, we both received mediocre food at best.
My seafood dish was $ 26, and it had a 2oz piece of lobster, 3 nice sized scallops and 4 shrimp. It looked great (pic attached), but the taste of the sauce and mushy noodles brought down the dish several notches. The sauce was very weird — not quite tomato sauce, but not white wine sauce either. The angel hair pasta was way overcooked and drowning in the weird brown sauce. This is one of my go to dishes at Italian restaurants, but the mushy noodles really soured the experience.
My husband’s Fettuccine Alfredo had a nice amount of chicken on it, but the pieces were all cut up in different sizes without much care or attention to detail. The Alfredo sauce itself wasn’t spectacular — in fact, you’d be better off getting it at Barnelli’s in Portillos. Again, there was also a problem with the noodles. They were a clumpy mess stuck together in big lumps. Weird!
Another pet peeve of mine was that the prices were higher in the restaurant than on the online menu — it doesn’t take much effort to make sure the prices are correct — so fix it!
Don’t know if we would bother to return since there are countless Italian restaurants around. Maybe if they iron out a few kinks and tighten up the recipes, we’d be inclined to try it again.

I went out to dinner with my mom, grandma and boyfriend here on Sunday night. My mom and grandma are huge fans of Salerno’s in Mount Prospect and Rossini Di Lucca is owned by the same family. I was excited to check out the restaurant after seeing how trendy it looked in the pictures… the cocktail menu sealed the deal for me!
For an appetizer, we split a fried calamari. It was cooked perfectly. The portion was just as big as at Salerno’s too and for the same price. For my meal, I was craving something cheesy and starchy. I settled on the Lobster Mac and Cheese based in a recommendation from the waitress. I was impressed. There was a lot of large chunks of fresh lobster in it. The side of spinach was not as impressive. The taste was good, but the spinach was frozen and a bit chewy. Hopefully they will change this soon.
Oh and I cannot forget the cocktails! They have some delicious sounding drinks on the menu. I had the mimosa which was great, but I thought the Strawberry Fizz was superb!
Our waitress was very friendly and everyone seemed to know what was going on even though they just opened. The restaurant was fairly crowded. There seemed to be quite a few older people (like my grandma) and the wait staff was all very patient!

I am a huge fan of their other restaurant (Salerno’s) in Mt. Prospect, so when I heard they were opening much closer I had to check it out. We were greeted right away and seated. It was a big crowd for Sunday and every plate we passed looked great.
This place is huge and the deco is great, lots of bling and chandeliers, not what you would expect in a strip shopping center, but a place Nonna would come and we did bring her. She had the gnocchi in vodka sauce and really enjoyed it. I was happy to see that they had my usual the Riviera salad and in two sizes, one to share and a small order for one. My daughter had the lobster mac n cheese and couldn’t finish it.
The pane (fried bread) was great and the service really attentive. They are completely different from their more casual location in Mt. Prospect, but with the same great food.
They have lunch specials during the week as well as drink specials in the evening!
I cook alot of Italian and this is second only to mine! Mange

Went here on a Saturday night with my husband and three children. Had high hopes since we read about the owner in the local paper. The place was HUGE … no problem getting a seat. We liked the fact that there was room around the tables; but at times, you felt like you were sitting in a decorated banquet hall. Waited for a bit to see a server but we figured they we getting some of the kinks out since they just opened. Asked if they had a kids’ menu, they said no. That was a MASSIVE disappointment. You are a family run place, yet you can’t cater to families? Although, as I looked around, the clientele all looked like they had their children 50 years ago, so maybe they don’t care.
Bread basket rocked.
Found appetizers the kids could order for dinner. Meatball was actually really good. Shrimp cocktail — which said that they were JUMBO shrimp — were nothing more then 4 large shrimp around a glass.
I ordered a pasta with mushrooms and spinach. It tasted good — needed A LOT of salt … and was a bit too greasy for my liking, but it wasn’t ‘bad.‘
My husband ordered the lasagna. Wished he would have sent it back … Hot on the outside cold in the middle. After watching Gordon Ramsey for long enough — I was ready to say … hello, microwave???
Desserts were good cannoli and some chocolate cake thing.
In my opinion, there are SO many Italian restaurants around. A place really has to knock my socks off to get my business. My socks are still on with this place.

We were waiting for this place to open and we were pretty impressed. All of our food was good and it was reasonably priced. It was lunch, so we ordered from the counter and no one took our order. I had the chicken parm sandwich and it was juicy with a good amount of sauce and cheese. The staff seemed a little unsure of themselves, but they just opened. We will definitely go back.

I know this place just opened, and I understand the need of fixing a few kinks here and there but there is alot to be considered.
First thing… Lose the sirius radio garbage, you’re an Italian restaurant… Play some Old blue eyes, Dean Martin, Louie Prima… That radio stuff is good for an old folks home.
Second thing… Spice up the flavor! The thing I appreciated from my course was the fried meatball patty as an appetizer. The pasta was bland beyond words to comprehend. It doesn’t hurt to make mistakes, reconfigure, and go back to serving it up, but seriously try something a little different, please.
Third thing… Get your orders straight… No I did not order 3 heineken’s, (I ordered 2 Peroni’s) and My father did not order one glass of wine (he ordered 3 glasses), apparently the running tally on our receipt is even steven according to these folks. Or just blame it on technology by default… Perhaps the people pushing buttons that don’t clearly know what they are doing should’nt be. Don’t play people like fools when it comes to service, its not attractive or good for repeat business.
Fourth thing… It made me a little squeemish but the owner, (or what I assume to be one of the owners) kept busting one the bar tenders attempts of pouring drinks out in the open. Your restaurant is huge, take them to a private spot and lecture them there. Don’t be that guy… It doesn’t make me wanna comeback in a heartbeat and give you a hug. It makes me think wow, what a D-​Bag! Be Joe Cool, Not Joe Fool!
I’d be curious to try it out again after a while, I don’t want to see this place go out so soon and turn into a laundromat but again, I understand they just opened, however things really need to «step up» or you may as well step out.