Restaurants in Romeoville

When brothers Mario and Phil Aliano set out to start their own restaurant, they kept three simple principles in mind: pizza, pasta, and friends. Today, that triumvirate remains on the crest of Aliano’s Ristorante, emblazoned across an Italian flag that symbolizes their dedication to old-country recipes and hospitality.

Though the brothers’ piles of pasta, piping-hot pies, and pressed sandwiches evoke the flavors of the distant Italian countryside, all of their dishes are homemade with fresh ingredients. They also look closer to home for inspiration, drawing on Italian-American inspirations to concoct Chicago-style pizzas famous for thick crusts that stay anchored to the ground on windy days. Occasionally, guests can enjoy occasional live entertainment from musicians and comedians—if they can pry their attention away from the veal cutlets or pastas piled on their plates.

Flavors from India and Pakistan meet on Sara's Grill & Eastern Cuisine's menu, which incorporates halal meats and fragrant spices into its extensive selection of dishes. Decadent curries send savory and spicy aromas wafting past diners' tables to tempt taste buds with lingering scents of cilantro and ginger. In the kitchen, a clay tandoor oven bakes orders of naan and roasts skewers of marinated chicken or goat. Cylindrical pendant lamps and sconces illuminate damask-stenciled walls to create an intricately artistic vibe, much like a tattoo of a Rube Goldberg–device.

Lucia’s Pizzaria's menu includes Italian sandwiches and a roster of inventive pizzas, such as the tipsy margherita, which pairs plum tomato vodka sauce with fresh mozzarella and basil. Named a runner up in the 2012 Elmhurst 205 Foundation's "Top Pizza" competition, Lucia's Pizzaria is an active member of the Elmhurst community.

Mrs. T's Pizza has been family owned and operated for 30 years. Cooks slide thin, pan, and stuffed pizza crusts into ovens, each crowned with a custom-built combination of toppings ranging from green peppers to fresh garlic and bacon. Along with the pies, cooks also load italian beef on crusty rolls and bake pans of mostaccioli under a bubbling layer of cheese. The freshly homemade dishes cover high-top tables filled with diners watching sports on flat-screen televisions and sipping draft beer. Customers may place carryout or delivery orders to enjoy their meal at home or in a neighbor’s mansion. There is no additonal fee for delivery.

Owner and chef Bob Airdo—a veteran of upscale hotel kitchens such as Chicago's Ritz-Carlton—leads a team of culinary savants as they infuse Vincitori's menu of upscale Italian dishes with unique style. Classic offerings include handcrafted pasta dishes, which arrive tossed in creamy or wine-infused sauces, and the menu is also peppered with intriguing flavor combinations such as potato skins stuffed with cheese, pancetta, and sundried tomato pesto. Hot giardiniera peppers, prosciutto, and other Italian toppings perform folk dances atop thin-crust pizzas, and seafood, steaks, and meaty plates make a strong showing as they arrive trimmed with vegetables or atop saucy slip 'n' slides.

Diners savor their plates beneath ambient pendant lights in the warmly painted dining room, which is adorned with vino artwork to complement the pours of fine wine coming from the granite-topped bar. The lounge fills with live entertainment starting at 7 p.m. most Fridays and Saturdays, and Vincitori also hosts banquets and caters for weddings, graduations, and long theme-park lines.