Marinella Italian - Glen Ellyn

We made the unfortunate choice of ordering takeout from here tonight. We called at 5pm to place our order, were told 30 mins and arrived at 5:35 for pickup.Our order was NOT ready and the staff seemed to have no idea that our order existed. My husband went to the back area only to find 4 workers having themselves a lovely glass of wine. He then had to RE ORDER our food after someone asked “well what do you want?”We then had to wait 15+ minutes for them to make our food. Only to get home (5 min drive) and have the pasta be congealed together.I would’ve kept the bruschetta separate but instead they chose to plate it inside of the to go container so it looked like slop by the time we got home.We have had this place on our want to try list forever and we won’t be back.They had two tables of customers in the restaurant a total of seven people.When I asked one of the workers what happened to our order she said the ticket got lost in their system. Unsure what happened to the woman who took the phone call and didn’t realize for 35+ minutes that the order was not ready nor being prepared.The pictures speak for themselves.$8 for 2 meatballs. $7 slice of tiramisu. Don’t bother with the carbonara.

Love to visit cozy mom-and-pop places where the owner visits with you. Homemade ravioli is delish and thank you for not oversalting the Pollo Marsala! Very tender. Enjoyed the chicken soup on a rainy evening as well. Enjoyable dinner for two.

Great food and service. We will definitely come back.

Loved everything about this restaurant! Joanna and Sam provided wonderful service. The food was so delicious: Butternut squash ravioli with vodka sauce, chicken picante, veal parmesan, homemade cannelloni, all great! Pumpkin pie was a perfect exclamation point in a fabulous meal.

Worse experience we have ever had. Our server Joanna took our drink order for a bottle of wine to never be seen again. We had to literally get up from the table to find someone so we could order food. The bruschetta was excellent, the calamari was rubbery. We were acknowledged more by the bus person and other waitstaff than the server Joanna who started with us and never heard where our food was after half hour. Her attitude and condescending tone which shocked the other customers as she was loud and rude. We asked to see the manager, she said I will do one better and get the owner. The owner was not much better than Joanna which shows why the waitstaff is as rude. We will never step foot in here again. We went to another restaurant in Carol Stream to eat a lovely dinner that we never received at Marinella's after waiting over 40 minutes. Joanna told us she was busy with other tables that were more important. The owner sarcastically said he would charge us only for the wine, we insisted on paying for our appetizers and what we ate but the bill did not reflect that and I have to say we were not impressed with him doing it because it was not sincere. Lesson learned just because a restaurant has 4.5 stars doesn't mean it's true.Sir your response speaks more volume than your 30 plus years in business. We never got our food, you didn't acknowledge that. We are well aware of how made to order is, Il Sogno, where we should have gone or numerous others we have been to. We have never been treated so poorly throughout a dining experience. Short staffing is a problem everywhere but not used as an excuse for rudeness and bad service by the establishment. We do not need to continue this conversation. My review stands.Anna you were not the person who came to our table last night, we insisted on paying for what we ate because the reluctance and attitude we received from all of your staff was not worth the free food. Joanna came to our table once the other times were because we had to ask the bus person or other waitstaff to get her, so please you are really making yourselves look bad for encouraging this type of behavior from your staff and yourselves, when clearly it is yours also, with the customer is always right attitude. Customers are not always right but we were treated horribly and no matter how long you have been in business or how good your food is that is inexcusable behavior from staff and owners. MY REVIEW STANDS and it will not be changed.