VAI's Italian Inspired- Kitchen + Bar

The food is delicious and the staff is very attentive. I always enjoy my experience.
Also, Tara, the Event Manager, made sure my son's wedding rehearsal dinner was a success. Many thanks to all who make my experience worth it! Joan

Christina was our waitress, and she was amazing. She perfectly personified what "service with a smile" should look like and did everything necessary to make sure we were happy during our visit.

Our server, Eva, was great! Very attentive and had great recommendations! The restaurant can get a little loud, but to be expected on a busy weekend dinner time! Everyone was accommodating to find us a quiet spot! Our favorite restaurant by far!

YUM! I am officially a new fan of VAI's. I've heard nothing but good things about VAI's from friends in Naperville and finally got to try it out for dinner on a Saturday night.

My friend made a reservation the night before and there were only a few time slots left, so I definitely recommend making a reservation before stopping in. When we arrived and saw the full dining room and patio, I was both grateful we had a reservation and excited to see what all the hype was about.

We were seated in the main dining room which was spacious and noisy as there were many other parties seated in there as well. Next time I visit I will request a table on the patio (enclosed and heated with fireplaces!)

Service was great; our waiter was kind, personable, and made some great substitutions for my non-dairy and gluten-free preferences. He had the chef swap out the cream sauce for a lemon butter, and I did gluten free pasta. The lobster and shrimp was AMAZING!

For apps we went with the fried calamari which also had fried shrimp and shishito peppers. I could probably eat an entire plate of it to myself, it was so good.

Drinks were divine; I went with the #3: it's delicious and it did in fact live up to the name. My friend ordered a glass of red wine which was a bit of a disappointing pour (very little wine) so she went with the #3 for her second drink and was very happy.

Thank you VAI's for a great dinner, I can't wait to come back!!

We went back to VAI's tonight for a post-theater dinner. The restaurant has plenty of seating and a nice bar area. It also has an outdoor patio. Jay was our server tonight and provided great friendly service. He took my high maintenance order with no problem... leave off the tomatoes, make it well done, dressing on the side. Poor guy!
My husband and I started with cocktails, an old fashioned for him and a dirty martini for me. Make that extra dirty with blue cheese olives, please. VAI's makes some really good cocktails, but the food is where it's all at. I love VAI's grilled romaine salad with crispy leaks and pancetta. I asked for the romaine to be well done. I love it that way. Tim had the Italian chopped salad with soppressata, artichokes, mozzarella and other goodies. I chose a small plate for my entrée, the meatballs and polenta, and my husband had the lasagna. Both were such delicious Italian comfort food, but the meatballs reminded me of my dad. VAI's meatballs are the closest to my dad's - moist, soft and so flavorful.
Both the small plate and the lasagna entrée were generous in size and came with the best grilled crusty Italian bread.
Tara stopped by our table to check how we were enjoying our meal and we chatted for a bit. I love that special attention. The owner Michael wasn't there today, but he usually is the one to come by and check on his customers.
We thoroughly enjoyed our dining experience tonight. I definitely recommend this restaurant and I recommend making reservations. Try their sister restaurant Entourage. It's just as good as this place.

Came here when I was in the area. The place was very crowded even on a Wednesday night. I decided to take a seat at the bar as there was some availability. They have an extensive list of wines and other drinks.

For my meal, I decided to go with the vodka pasta and I added chicken to it. My plate came out in a reasonable time. The vodka sauce with the pasta was good but not as flavorful as other places I've been to. The pasta itself was really good though. Nice texture and paired well with the chicken. The garlic bread that came with the dish was very good and when I finished my pasta I used the bread to clean up the sauce on my plate.

The place can get very crowded so if you have a big party I'd recommend making reservations. If you're a smaller party try to catch a seat at the bar. I was there for a short time but saw how they interacted with other customers and they definitely care about the customer experience. Overall, the food is good, the place has a cool vibe, and the people are friendly.

Came here with a party of 11 on Thursday at 5:30. Made a reservation online and they had the table all set up with high chairs and they even offered a sling for car seats. It was also spacious enough to park a stroller. Waitress was friendly and I liked that you could order family style. There was serving spoons with everything and they even cut the steak for us.

Mushroom carpaccio - kind of funky with the goat cheese and mushroom. Very unique but I don't think I'd get it again

Fritto - fried calamari was good. But the portion was kind of small and oily

Salmon - nice risotto and tender salmon

Lobster - quite small but the rigatoni was good. I liked the chew and flavors

Chicken parm - chicken was quite dry but the rigatoni was good

Chicken and pesto pizza - I liked the texture of the crust but my husband thought it was a bit dry

Ny strip - great char and perfectly cooked

Spaghetti and meatballs - meatballs were a little tough and sauce was kind of like fruit punch. Very acidic

Shrimp salad - the char on the shrimp was nice

White wine cake - very moist and all of the flavors balanced well. The sauce was tart and the cake tasted like a churro

I have reviewed this restaurant before, but just wanted to add my birthday treat Affogato as I came with friends to celebrate two out of three of our birthdays. The staff there always treats you like family and enjoyed my lunch there. Usually go for dinner, but tried the lunch, special of brisket Panini with a side salad, scrumptious!

Hottest spot for great food and drink in the area! Highly recommend! Pasta to beef all good. Good service. Try anything!

Salad was really amazing, crab cake was good but nothing compared to Hugo's frog ,my absolute favorite !!! The margarita with 818 tequila was good but very sweet. When I asked the waitress to make it less sweet it seemed like she added more ice. The place wasn't very busy when we had arrived a little after 4, but was blowing up by 7pm

I'm disappointed that Naperville doesn't have any happy hours but was told they did before pandemic. I live in the city of Chicago and there's a lot of happy hours since the pandemic was over