Alberto's And Banquets - Carol Stream

Hotel restaurants. They can be mediocre, but more and more I find they are trying to rise above. Alberto 's does pretty well. We needed to eat, fairly late on a Friday. They were open, and we put in an order to go. They put together a nice tray, with plasticware but also real cups for our drinks. Service was very friendly. Sweetie got the Monterey chicken- a big breast, with bacon, cheese, etc. She said it was good, and the side of broccoli was perfectly steamed. I got the firecracker shrimp. Large, crispy, a bit of zing in the seasoning. Small portion for the price, though. We both got side salads, which were amazing: large, with a mix of greens instead of bland iceberg. They have breakfast but we didn 't have a chance to try it. A fairly standard menu with burgers, pizza, chicken, and a few surprises. Daily and monthly specials, which sounded pretty good. All in all, handy and decent, if overpriced.

Alberto's is now closed. Holiday Inn remodeled and renamed the restaurant to Burger Theory. The front desk said they would honor the Groupons/Local Flavor coupons I purchased but Burger Theory just said they will not honor these any longer.

Surprise, surprise. Improvements all around for my second go at Alberto's. I was in the restaurant for a meeting, and so I picked up a Farmhouse Burger while we chatted. The burger is eggs (your way), bacon and beef on a bun, along with fries or whatever other side you want. And it was good! The ground beef was well seasoned, moist and cooked right (or close enough to medium that I didn't notice any significant deviations). I liked the egg, and I really liked the paper-thin and crisp bacon that came on top of the burger. Now I'm interested in coming back. The fries were merely OK, but at least they were seasoned. For starters, I don't think they were fried... they seemed baked and didn't have any sort of crispy texture. Service was questionable, at times. I didn't have a problem, but my dining partner did. Pro tip: Repeat the order back to the customer before taking it to the kitchen. At about $10 person for lunch all said and done, this was good food at a good price.

Alberto 's is closed but.... they have reopened as burger theory they still have the easter brunch!

Restaurant Review Sunday lunch buffet. I didn't know what to expect after coming across this restaurant on my quest for food this past weekend. It is a Italian themed restaurant adjoining Holiday Inn out in the suburbs. The price had jumped up from 12.95 to 14.95 with a touted new menu. We showed up for brunch around 1130 expecting a large Sunday crowd, however there was only a couple tables seated. I was surprised by the small size of the buffet area. The menu included a salad bar, shrimp cocktail (small shrimp), breakfast items (french toast, pancake, tater tots, pigs in a blanket, bacon, canadian bacon, toast, 2 types of hot pasta (mac/cheese and bowtie tomato pasta). The other highlight was the prime rib which was top notch with horseradish sauce. Adjoining the carving station was an omelet station. There were also 4 types of cold pasta salads which were nice and cool. Finally dessert entailed a couple of mini petite dessert (brownie, apple tart) and fresh fruit. So the highlight would have to be the prime rib which was cooked perfectly. The only downside is that it was lukewarm and kept in a container instead of under the heat lamp. The breakfast items unfortunately were lackluster and forgettable. The main problem is the dishes were heated in buffet style containers with a covering which made the food damp. The pastas were a big two thumbs down overcooked and lacking flavor. Tater tots, pigs in a blanket, and the dessert were perfect. Pro- excellent prime rib lunch, good service (waiters were very attentive filling water and checking in on how we were doing) Con- the rest of the menu was disappointing, pricey at 14.95, very limited italian food items Hidden deal- Restaurant.com offers gift certificate with savings on your meal. Not sure if you can use this for brunch. United dining miles available.