Trattoria Totuccio

This is a new restaurant (in the spot of the "old" Capri), located at Calamos City Gate complex at I88 and Bilter Rd. The interior has not changed from Capri, and when we arrived just after 6 pm on a Saturday night the place was a GHOST TOWN. There was one couple in the dining room and no one in the bar...where we ordered a drink and waited for the rest of our neighbors.

Everyone else arrived within the half hour, and we had a good time having a few holiday cocktails. Bartender was friendly and a lot of fun.

We were seated at our table and there was still only the one other table in the dining room. Our waiter was excellent, great advice and always anticipating our next need (but he should have been with only one table). We were a large group with 6 couples in attendance.

I had their "seafood special" and HATED IT. It was HORRIBLE. YUCK!!!!!!!! It was overcooked salmon with some kind of heavy read sauce....it would have been better if it was the salmon alone...and I ended up scrapping off the sauce.

Katie had the zupa de pesce, and she did not like it all....too bland and not enough seafood.

However, we did end up back in the bar area and had a good time. The bartender was great!

The group consensus was food that ranged from ok to horrible, but it was at a very reasonable price.

I guess the background is that the family who own the place had another spot in St. Charles that was very popular.........but they wont survive until the spring with food like that!

Lots of food
Lots of beer and wine
Some desserts

Total - $105.35 (our share before the tip)

The Background:
* Dinner for two on a Thursday night.
* We were the only ones in the restaurant aside from the staff.
* Oysters Rockefeller (app), grilled calamari and octopus (app), veal scallopini, ribeye steak, an order of housemade rigatoni, one glass of wine, 2 bottles of sparkling water, and two desserts total = 130 bucks before tip.

The Good:
* oysters Rockefeller were interesting with a hint of fennel they were large and served warm out of the oven with cleaned spinach and nicely presented. A bit too much cheese to taste any hint of seafood.
* The octopus and calamari were also presented nicely with good flavorful vinaigrette.
* the restaurant is clean and comfortable and well staffed (considering that we saw one other couple along with ourselves - I'd say that there was more staff than there were customers the night we visited)
* The menu is varied and plentiful with some classic dishes such as veal scallopine and several pasta dishes.

The Middle:
*I'd have to disagree with previous posters here - the bread was OK. It was probably great bread right out of the oven but this stuff was already sliced and starting to harden around the outside. The olive dipping oil was good but it tasted a little green (which i like) and served with grated Parmesan on the side.
* I wouldn't say that we ate anything bad. On the other hand I wouldn't say that I was blown away or even overly excited about any one item.
* ribeye steak was about 8-9 ounces and had a bit of a sour note - this could have been from a marinade but it could have also been from a steak just starting to oxidize. Having said that I would say that the steak was OK but nothing special for the price we paid. The steak itself was slightly tough, grisly, and a little fatty. Now I know that the ribeye steak can be both fatty and grisly but I also know the difference between a quality "prime" steak and a mediocre "choice" or below steak. This steak was def not prime by any means. the dish was served with two big potatoes that were good and on the side a stack of vegetables that were grilled. Again, the sides were just OK, they both lacked depth, intricacies, and full flavor.
* My date had the Veal scallopini which i tasted. I appreciated the fresh sage leaf that was placed on top and the dish was flavorful with some delicious (albeit overly generous) cheese the dish was a little small overall.
* We sat at a corner table near the windows - this also happened to be the corner of the street outside and only a couple of feet from the pavement. This wouldn't have been a problem since there really is little traffic at night but there happened to be a snow plow truck racing through the lot. Each time he made the turn we both watched in anticipation hoping that the truck didn't slide or overturn straight in to our table.
* OK, so on to desserts. The tiramisu was good but nothing I would write to Italy about. and while the cannoli was interestingly presented as a dipping type dessert it was underwhelming.

The Bad:
* when we asked the waiter for a side of the rigatoni the kitchen told him that all of the pasta "had already been portioned". WOW! while we didn't hesitate to order a full entree of rigatoni we both pondered the boldness of the staff when there were only TWO patrons in the entire place! WTF? It's not like they were going to run out of pasta anytime soon. The dish itself was thick chewy pasta rigatoni and a simple vodka sauce. Again, just OK.
* entree was served with a cup of Minestrone - stay away from this weak attempt at anything vaguely resembling the real thing. My Minestrone tasted as if the ingredients came individually from a can - [When I was a boy scout we had Mulligatwney soup in which all the families brought "stuff" and then dumped it in a huge pot. It was horrible but as I tell this story I appreciate that the Minestrone at Totuccio brought back memories] :-)

What you need to know:
* Trattoria serves some pretty good food but I wouldn't consider it stellar by any means. For the price tag I expect better quality food from a highly skilled kitchen. There were many details lacking in the complexity of most of our dishes. The staff was friendly but not overly friendly and not overly accomadating - again, I had higher expectations considering not only the costs but primarily because there were 4 staff alone in the dining room (vs 2 customers total!). The ambiance reminds me of a strip mall and could have easily been home to a nail salon, a travel agency, or to a tarot reader. Overall we had a good dining experience but probably will not return because of the many, many other choices for really good Italian cuisine in this area (Maggiano's comes to mind). You will probably have a good meal with good service here at Totucci but keep your expectations right in the middle and expect an expensive meal and you should leave happy.
*Call first - I predict these guys will go out of biz soon due to lack of customers.

I give it 3 stars. My parents think it deserves 4 so we'll round up.

This whole City Centre concept seems like a highly leveraged, lehman brothers kind of investment. They got the funding during good times to create this corporate park and thought lots of commerce would love to be in Naperville right off of the highway. Then the economy went sour and they realized the 'if we build it, they will come' motto really isn't pragmatic.

It's not surprising that on a Friday night this place was running at 40% capacity. When you live in Naperville and you're thinking where should we go tonight for dinner you'll probably end up somewhere in downtown Naperville or Rt 59. You don't really think, oh hey let's go to that corporate strip mall by 88.

Thus when my mom ordered the grilled calamari and octopus, I gave her a weary look. Mother, don't you know you don't order seafood from a restaurant with low turn over? In true hypocrite fashion, I ended up getting the daily special - mahi mahi on top of angel hair pasta. I saw the other table get it and it looked quite tasty. Plus I figure if it's the daily special it has to be fresher.

My mom thought her dish was great. Perfectly seasoned and tasty. I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to seafood. It was obvi to me that this dish was once frozen. And it was fo sho over cooked. My mahi mahi was well seasoned, and the angel hair pasta was so tasty! But once again my complaint would be that the fish was over cooked. I liked my fish medium to medium-rare.

My dad got the chicken Marsala. I have to admit it was pretty good. Everyone agreed that it was way better than Angeli's. But in recent years Angeli's has become gawd awful. The chicken was lightly battered, tender and juicy and had the perfect balance of sweet and savory.

For dessert, the tiramisu was pretty good. I was at Rosebud's in Schaumburg the day before and I think Trattoria Totuccio's was better than Rosebud's. Rosebud's didn't have enough espresso.

The server was sweet, helpful and genuine. She had recommendations for every category which was a good sign. No complaints on the staff or service.

If you're looking for Italian, I'd give this place a shot, but I wouldn't drive more than 15 minutes to get there.

With a group from work. Since it is not far from our headquarters we ventured in.
Was promptly greeted and sat.
I ordered the Petti de Pollo Marsala, others ordered Veal, etc,.
Enjoyed everything! Everyone was happy all around.
The best was the service. Actually some of the most friendly I have had in a long time.

Fantastic Food!!!
I have been here 4 times, and have had great food and great service each and every time.
Located in City Gate just off of Rte 59 and Ferry Rd.
I plan to take more folks there within this month.
You need to stop by!!! You won't be disappointed.

After hearing rave reviews by my family, we went to Trattoria Totuccio last Tuesday night with a group of about 10 people. Normally, I wouldn't drive in to a business park to find a restaurant- but I'm so glad that we were told about this hidden gem.

It wasn't very crowded, but there was a very large office party so the food came out a little slow (but it was well worth the wait!) However, our waiter was VERY good at communicating the status of our order, and apologetic about the wait.

The prices were very decent, and comparable to many Italian places in the area. We ordered a variety of food- starting with calamari, bruschetta, and artichoke hearts. All of the appetizers were awesome, and I recommend all of them. Also, all pasta entrees come with your choice of soup/salad- which is really nice to be included in your meal..You can definitely tell that their pasta is homemade- their rigatoni with vodka sauce was fantastic.

We didn't sit in the bar, but it looked very nice and accommodating.

I'll definitely be back to try some of their other entrees because mine was so good I practically licked my plate clean!

Hit or Miss. This pretty much describes our two visits to Trattoria Totuccio in the past week. Our most recent visit was for an early New Year's Eve dinner. We started with the rolled eggplant appetizer. It was just OK. It needed seasoning. My wife thought it tasted like it had been on the grill next to some fish. Next was the lentil soup. The soup was hot and very good. It tasted homemade but was helped by a pinch of salt.

For entrees we ordered the filet special and the much anticipated Homemade Rigatoni with Bolognese sauce. I had ordered the filet medium rare. It came out somewhat shy of rare. It took several minutes to get our servers attention. He apologized and took it back to the kitchen. A short time later the hostess brought out the re-fired steak. This time it was cooked perfectly. It went well with the Medoc sauce. When our server went by he asked, "Is it cooked more to your liking?" I was thinking, "No, it's cooked the way I ordered it!" but I just said, "Yes." The problem with the dish were the grilled veggies and the potato wedges. They were all undercooked. The potatoes were still slightly hard on the inside.

The biggest disappointment of the evening was the "Homemade" rigatoni with Bolognese. The pasta tasted homemade but with too much flour.. The bolognese sauce was just average. It lacked any flavor or seasoning. Where were the carrots, onion and garlic?

It was New Year's Eve so they had live entertainment. It was, well... LOUD. Service was above average.

Bottom line: Might be worth a try if you haven't been there.Hopefully you will have more hits than misses. Trattoria Totuccio doesn't quite make it to A-OK so only two stars.

Based on a recommendation from EA who had been here before, we came here for a business dinner with two birthdays to celebrate as well. It was just a short (sober) stroll from Hotel Arista located in an almost desolate shopping strip mall. Upon entering, it's dim with a warm atmosphere, a very family run place. We found our friends at the bar with drink in hand and we were seated right away. We were recommended to try the grilled (not fried) calamari as an appetizer. Of course, I wanted to try the escargot. In addition, we also ordered the brushetta. In tradtion, I had to have balsamic vinegar with my EVOO for bread dipping which was delicious. The server was accomodating and we all ordered a glass of wine which went very well with our meal. I ordered the veal with capers which was really tender, juicy and very tasty. The capers were of the larger more oval kind, not the typical round capers. I started off with the minestrone soup which could have used more flavor. It was watery and lackluster with no strong broth flavo,r so I would recommend having the side salad instead. My dish also came with a side of rigatoni which was really delicious. (I'm actually not sure of it but it appeared and I didn't question who it belonged to. LOL!) It was not too saucy or sweet but flavored just right. Probably would be good to share with a toddler but I would probably eat it all by myself. There appeared to be a head waiter in addition to our server, he was a real character. He joined in our chatter and made us feel at home. I had indicated to him that we were celebrating two birthdays, and att he end of our meal, he brought out a genuine tiramisu which was pretty good. It didnt have a strong alcohol flavor which I prefer and the consistency was very creamy and not too sweet. I do know my colleagues enjoyed their dishes as well. This is a great place for groups, as well as, solo dining. We were the only party in the dining area on a week night, so we had their full attention. Too bad this place is not in a more populated area, I'm sure they would get more business.

Took a party of six last night... had a great time. I ordered the Shrimp & Crab Fettuccine. It has caramelized onions and a lobster sauce. Needless to say -- no leftovers! I passed it to share and then finished it. Since I was in public, I did NOT lick the plate, but OH, I wanted to!!

Like other reviewers, I came here with a large group from work. We were staying at the Hotel Arista, it was 10 degrees out, and didn't feel like venturing far. The physical atmosphere is nice, but the Sinatra-only soundtrack wore a bit thin its third time through. The food was decent, service slow, and I was left puzzling why any local would come here.