We have been going to Francescas for several years. By far the best restaurant in downtown Naperville. One can actually have a peaceful dinner here! Food is always amazing and the staff (many have been there for years), are top notch! Thank you! read more

My family and I met our lovely friends for dinner at this 'fantastic' restaurant. The moment we walked in we were greeted with smiles and the staff made us feel like you were getting ready to eat at an Italian Villa. We were all seated at a lovely dinner table. Our waiter was fabulous and so friendly. He was very attentive especially to our little girl. She was having a hard time deciding what to eat and he helped her just like an uncle would do. We started out with what I call, grandma's fresh, hot yummy bread with fresh grated cheese and spectacular olive oil. Then our next course in our tasty food extravaganza was the perfectly fried CALAMARI FRITTI Crispy calamari with marinara. Our young daughter who has never had this before, absolutely LOVED IT as did we. We order a large plate and all 6 of us feasted on this delicious calamari. For our main dish was, POLLO ARROSTO ALLA ROMANA Roasted half chicken, garlic, shallots, rosemary, lemon, olive oil, roasted potatoes. This was fresh chicken, with a zesty taste of blended ingredients. Every bite was an absolute delight to eat. The portions were generous in size just like an Italian grandma would feed you. Now keep in mind, there were 6 of us eating and having a fun loving conversations amongst ourselves. It truly was a culinary experience in a warm and inviting atmosphere! (5) rating. If there was 6 s they would be the ones to receive it! We (all 6 of us including a young child) highly recommend this restaurant for the experience, ambience, brilliant staff, and fabulous food. You will not be disappointed you came! read more

My family and I went here a few weeks ago to celebrate a special occasion. We had reservations, and though it was not very busy for a Friday night, the awkwardness of the employees standing at the front, not knowing what to do with said reservations, made us hesitant at first. Our server was a bit off and they didn't make general conversation with us and seemed to be preoccupied with other things. However, the food and drinks were phenomenal. Though the menu seemed scant, there were plenty different options to choose from. The drinks menu was the same way. I would definitely like to give this restaurant another chance post-COVID. read more

La Sorella di Francesca - Linguine al fagottaro-- the fresh mozzarella was delicious. - Italian Near Me - Naperville, Illinois

Steve is the best server around! Ask for him if you want 100% service. Management is amazing and always makes you feel at home

My sister was in town and wanted Italian food, so we decided to check this place out. We were very underdressed (as in we just finished playing tennis so we were dressed in sweats) but luckily that wasn't a problem. We ordered the bruschette alla romana and paccheri alla vodka, which were delicious! For dessert, we ordered the tiramisu (a classic) and profiteroles al pistacchio, which were also amazing read more

La Sorella di Francesca - Profiteroles al pistacchio - Italian Near Me - Naperville, Illinois

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The food was AMAZING and so was the service! It was a midweek night so they didn't have a lot of patrons, but they treated our party of 8 like royalty! Attentive and prompt care! The appetizers (bruschetta and Calamari) blew me away, so I knew dinner was going to be awesome. The Caesar salad was OK, but the Fruti de Mare seafood dish was PHENOMENAL! Finally, the desserts were to die for! Worth many return visits! read more

Excellent food, wine and service! The vodka sauce is my absolute favorite and La Sorella is the best! Manager came by our table twice and that personss as l communication shows their dedication to excellence. Everything is 5 star & if I had one criticism it would be the small spaces. They make the most out of their real estate but I would prefer a little more elbow room for my rather upscale dinner! read more

Favorite from years ago. Classic Chicago feel with excellent choices and and amazing staff. Favorite place to bring family and friends.

Great food. Good value. Nice ambiance, cool historic building in downtown Naperville.

This is a lovely restaurant in a beautiful downtown building with a charming old world feel & decor. Too bad the service was lacking and didn't match the ambiance of a fine dining establishment. We waited a long time for a wait person to arrive to our table We waited a long time for our order to be taken. We had to ask if bread would be served, and waited a long time for it to arrive once we asked for bread. The breading color on the Calamari we ordered as an appetizer was very pale; the calamari was undercooked. I like my calamari undercooked; this was way undercooked. When our entrees arrived, the pasta with vodka sauce was cold; brought out from the kitchen cold! it was not even room temperature. The pasta with scallops & shrimp we ordered was delicious and it arrived to the table hot. When I mentioned this to the server, she said that the door near the kitchen is used for deliveries and is often open for delivery staff to pick up deliveries. It seems the pasta with vodka was prepared first and sat for a long time and the door near the kitchen used for delivery was left open & any food to be served near the open door quickly cooled off from the door being left open. When I told the wait staff about the pasta being brought to the table cold we were offered the above explanation; but no apology was offered. How could the chef, any chef and a wait staff person be comfortable with serving cold food? There was a total lack of concern. This is a moderately expensive restaurant. The food and service should reflect this. Their wait staff should be trained or retrained to be professional waiters & the chef should be notified to serve food hot or not at all. read more

My boyfriend and I dined at La Sorella di Francesca the other night for Valentine's Day. We brought our own bottle of wine that had wax on top of the bottle. We were extremely excited to dine here since we love Italian food. While there are alot of options in downtown Naperville, we chose here. Let me tell you it was the wrong decision. The service was the worst service I've ever had. For starters the server had to be told by us how to open the bottle of wine because it had wax over the top. That's fine whatever. The night went on and we had finished our dinner and it was time for dessert. I could've sworn I saw something while booking the reservation that a Valentine's Day special was dessert included. When I asked the server if this was true, he said he wasn't sure and had to go ask the manager. The manager and him were laughing behind the bar and it really annoyed me because I could see it right in front of my eyes. The server came back and said that this was not a thing. Lastly, we asked for our wine to go. The server found a bottle to put the rest of our wine in. As he was pouring the red wine into the empty bottle, it went all over my boyfriend's white quarter zip. This was the worst part of the night as I had just gifted my boyfriend that white quarter zip for Valentine's Day. Just all around terrible service, and the night was ruined by the spill. I probably won't be returning here, as there are many other options in downtown Naperville anyways. read more

I came to La Sorella for lunch around 1 pm on a Tuesday . It was not busy. We waited for our waiter to come take our order. Waited and waited. He finally came. We asked if they can make a spicy meatball spaghetti and the waiter said yes. I was hoping the kitchen makes it right because it was for our guest. We waited quite a while for our food (especially when it's not busy!) and finally it came. Sadly, the spaghetti that we requested to make it spicy was not spicy. My boss finished her ice tea and was hoping the waiter would stop by to refill her cup. Nope. He did not stop by for that. He didn't stop by to check on us to see if we needed anything. Poor and slow customer service. My lunch combo was ok. I got a meatball panini and I only enjoyed the meatballs. I'm not sure if I will recommend my friends or con-workers to come here for lunch. read more

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Celebrated my daughter's sweet sixteen with friends here. On the first phone call, the staff were so nice and promised to make her party a blast. They have an outdoor side patio which is strung with lights and was very cute. The food was fresh and tasty. The entire experience was wonderful. We will definitely plan to book future special dinners here. Loved it. read more

My husband and I have been coming to La Sorella for over 20 years and celebrating our anniversary there. It pains me to say that it was not good tonight. It was a Tuesday night so no crowd, in fact there were 2 tables and a few people at the bar. We started with mussels which were not hot and didn't taste fresh. Then we shared a pasta dish which was bad. The pasta was very starchy and again the fish not good. We normally would order an entree, but at this point we were no longer hungry and nothing tasted good. We ended the night with pistachio gelato which was good. Really too bad, but we won't be back any time soon. read more

Super disappointed in this location. We loved going to the Bolingbrook one, and we hoped to have the same high quality experience here. It was the opposite. To start, the restaurant is tiny. We were placed a table smushed between the bar and other tables. Waiters were constantly rushing past us, which made us extremely uncomfortable. We eventually asked to move as we were sick of waiters and customers constantly brushing past us. Thankfully there was an open table, so we were able to move. When we finally received our food, it was cold. We ordered two pork shanks, and they were not cheap. We then had to wait for them to remake the food. Once we received it the second time, it was warm. However, it tainted our experience. It's not too much to ask for warm food. The whole time we dined here, we watched the manager check on other tables--some multiple times--but never ours. She finally checked on our table as we paid the bill. We told her about our experience as she clearly had no idea what was going on in her own restaurant. She quickly apologized and comped us one of the meals. While this is a nice gesture, I don't think we will return to this location. We prefer to give our hard earned money to places with attentive service and food cooked correctly the first time. read more

Good spot, really nice fresh menu and location is good for the area. Never seems to be overcrowded.

We threw an amazing 80th birthday party for my mom there. The event went spectacularly. The venue, service, food and staff were all fantastic. Mike the event planner extremely collaborative. Donnie the general manager was a huge help setting up and is just a great guy. Margo our main waitress was fantastic and the whole staff was really attentive to our group. We loved every minute of it. read more

Family was together for rehearsal dinner before a wedding. Very good meal, very nice ambiance, good drinks. I had the filet in a wine sauce it was very very good. Tiramisu good. My first Aperol Spritz very enjoyable as well. read more

Another awesome place at Naperville downtwon. If you love the Francesca chain, this one is a good one to hit. Other than parking was a problem at Naperville downtown as always, My little girl and I enjoyed the girls' night out time here. My daughter loved mushroom and pizza. And we were lucky enough that they have mushroom pizza on the kids' menu. I picked my usual item - seafood pasta. The pizza looked great. My daughter was already had more than half loaf of the bread down and ate half of the mushroom pizza. My seafood pasta was huge. The shrimp was plump and juicy. The soup tasted great the bread I fought from my daughter's hand. It was excellent. I still saved myself a bit place fore desert. The lava chocolate was delicious and then I found a tiny piece of foil at the bottom of the cake. I present it to the waitress who immediately took to the restaurant manager. They apologized to me and took the dessert charge off from the bill. I had no issues with this episode. Most likely will dine here when come to downtown Naperville. read more

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Went last night for our wedding anniversary. Our anniversary is technically today (Sunday) so it was a bit impromptu. I asked the host for a window table. He said they were extremely busy and that would be very unlikely. I didn't mention our anniversary so we just said OK and then sat by the bar. But then I mentioned it to the bartender George and he took care of us right away. He told his manager and we were almost immediately seated in the window. And then the manager came over and served us a complimentary glass of champagne just as we were about to order ours. and said to let him know if there was anything he could do for us.The meal was amazing as usual. Had the striped bass and the chicken saltimbocca. Both were excellent. I did not care for their "wedge" salad-it's made with Romaine, which just doesnt have enough crunch to be in a wedge salad. Otherwise a very wise choice and a lovely evening! Thank you Francesca's! COVID UPDATE: my hats off to this place. We ordered takeout and it breaks my heart to see them at a quarter of the tables inside. They are doing it right though. Hang in there guys! I'll do my best to support you! read more

Sat at the bar to get seated quicker and served quicker. Since I didn't order wine or any other alcoholic beverage, the experience went downhill from here. I was ignored countless times and had to flag down the bartender if I needed anything. The entire dining room was packed and everyone was having a great time. I ordered a penne alla diavola with chicken. My dish came out super hot which is great. However, it was on the salty side that it overwhelmed the spiciness and flavor of the actual dish. I was charged $4 for chicken and maybe received three or four small strips. At first, I thought I mixed my dish around so all the flavors could combine. That didn't do the trick at all. There were bits and pieces of yummy but those were few and far between. Did I offend the bartender by not getting an alcoholic drink? Did I come at a bad time? 7:30PM on a weeknight for that matter. Was it my Blackhawks hat? Was it my choice of shampoo and soap I used? I'm so confused why the service and food was subpar. I received no recommendations and was brushed off quickly from the get go and throughout my dining experience. For the price of the meals, I rather go elsewhere. I might be back but so many Italian places populate the area. I will try those first and would recommend you do the same. read more

La Sorella di Francesca - Penne alla Diavola with chicken. Too salty with little to no flavor. Definitely looks far better than it tasted. - Italian Near Me - Naperville, Illinois

Amazing food tonight. My husband and I shared the Caesar salad. I got the Pollo Francese. It's perfect every time. My husband got the Paccheri alla Vodka e Salsic. Again always perfect and absolutely delicious. Our server Patrick was the ultimate professional. We've been dining at La Sorella for years and years. The food and service is always outstanding. The only bummer is they got rid of our favorite bottle of wine - Whitehaven. Unfortunately they didn't replace it with any other New Zealand sauv blanc. We tried an Italian bottle that was recommended. It was fine but definitely not that crisp delicious Sauvignon Blanc that were used to at La Sorella. PLEASE BRING BACK WHITEHAVEN! THANK YOU!! read more

Great food, great service ! Thank you Donny for always making our experience a wonderful one! Best Italian food in naperville

So fresh and delicious! Came by for Mother's Day dinner, and what a busy service night they had! Waiters and busboys were walking around serving tables nonstop; it was hectic for sure, but service was a little spotty for our table. The mussels are a great way to kick off the meal, and both Mom and I also thoroughly enjoyed the penne con prosciutto and eggplant/mushroom pizza. I wish I had unlimited amounts of that pizza! Drool. +100 on Opentable. read more

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We hosted a 16 person dinner party here. Everything was fantastic from their events team to the service the night of. A+ The food was delicious. Everyone really enjoyed themselves. read more

I was surprisingly very disappointed with the quality of food at this location. I ordered rigatoni vodka pasta and the dish barely had any sauce on it- the sauce is the best part of this meal for me. The portion left much to be desired, especially because you are paying the price of what should be high quality, enjoyable Italian food. The table bread was hard and dry- I was expecting very good things from this restaurant and I'm hoping they can do better in the future. read more

The environment is dimmed and romantic. The service is amazing every time I've been here. Along with that the food is incredible and I walk away with left overs each time. This is one of my favorite restaurants in Naperville. read more

The food is very good, but the prices have increased dramatically. Don't believe the menu prices that you see online.

Magnificent food, I've never felt more satisfied by pizza or pasta with all authenticity A place worth trying. Make sure to reserve ahead read more

Had an early dinner and the service was outstanding as well as the food. We were at the corner table and it was perfect for the two of us. As it got busier the server was still very attentive and the owner was making rounds to the tables to check in. Will definitely be coming back. I only wish I had taken pictures of our meals because they were so good. read more

Ok I will start with the good... this restaurant does not miss on the food! Everything is so delish. I had the Salmon and it was out of this World! The wine list is great too! Now for the bad. The REALLY bad...! My husband and I had an 8:15 reservation. We requested to sit upstairs because downstairs has tight seating and no privacy. Our server last night was really professional and attentive. However, towards the end of our meal at 9: 00pm ( early for a Saturday night ) the staff began to move tables and chairs around to set up for the next day. It was so obnoxious and loud it sounded like I was in a bowling alley! Totally get they have a job to do but it was 9:00pm and they say they are open 'til. 10:30 pm. We got the message Francesca's if u are a "late" or the last diner u are not valued. We got up and left and left our unfinished drinks. Unfortunately, we also left with a bad taste in our mouths! read more

La Sorella di Francesca - Yum!!! - Italian Near Me - Naperville, Illinois

Simply amazing! Great service, amazing food and reasonable prices. Reservations for a group of 4. No waiting and immediately escorted to our table. Seated on the 2nd floor, a rustic decor and tables spaced out appropriately (weren't on top of each other). Started with calamari and bruschetta and a bottle of wine (red blend Lyeth). Ordered a variety of dishes (pics below) and deserts off the menu. Overall authentic, fresh and wonderful service. read more

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Food were awesome! We've been here just a couple of times, it hasn't disappointed us at all. We tried pastas and other dishes, all great! Red wine "blend" was delicious. Service was great too. Friendly and quick. Would recommend for couples, family, or work group gathering. read more

Food is always delicious here and the staff is always super friendly. Loved my craft cocktail as well. Have been a long time customer and it never disappoints! read more

Thankyou La Sorella for another enjoyable evening! My wife's birthday celebration was last Saturday and I forgot to make a reservation until mid afternoon. Jerome answered my call and as we talked I understood that it was Naperville North's Homecoming and they were full. But, Jerome insisted that if we came in he should be able to find us a table for two with only a short delay. He was true to his word! We enjoyed a great dinner and Jerome even took a few moments and chatted with us during our dinner. His professionalism and winning personality makes him a real asset for LaSorella which has always been a fine restaurant with delicious food. Ed Fey read more

This is why i reserve 5's places that are exceptional! We are only in this area for one night .. had skipped lunch.. hungry and tired. Looked at some reviews and gave this place a try. :) Delish!!!! This cute town is packed full of restaurants, shops and street art. Loved every aspect of our experience here. Jamie seated us immediately.. i guess im picky.. but she was helpful and such a pleasant personality. I love calamari but not with tacticals .. she brought calamari rings with wonderful spicy marinara. yummmm. bread and oil were nice. in looking at the menu ... i didnt see what I wanted. i asked if you could order some thing not on menu and she immediately said absolutely..do it all the time. FANTASTIC. I ordered rigatoni with mushrooms in tomato cream sauce. it was perfect! pasta and mushrooms cooked perfectly... perfect texture. my husband got rigatoni with sausage and veggies and goat cheese.. he also loved it. The place.. the town .. the service... food ... all perfect!!! thanks Jamie for a lovely meal !!!! Highly recommend! read more

I somehow have lived in Naperville for well over a decade without going to La Sorella di Francesca. Everyone raves about it but I just hadn't made it in. I went a few weeks ago for a work dinner and oh man, does it live up to the hype! For an appetizer I had burrata con bruxelles, combining so many of my favorite ingredients: decadent burrata, brussel sprouts, fennel, and a delicious pistachio crumble on top. I could have had this as my main, the portion was so generous, and the flavors were simple but elevated and worked so well together! For the main I had the gnocchi mantovana - spinach stuffed gnocchi with wild mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, and pine nuts in a Gorgonzola cream sauce. Now I LOVE Gorgonzola cheese so this was a non-issue but it was a VERY strong flavor in this pasta - fair warning. But oh my gosh was this delicious. The gnocchi were so soft that it didn't seem possible they could be holding so much delicious filling. The pine nuts were a perfect crunch. The sun dried tomato provided some acid/tang amongst the super creamy, decadent sauce. I cannot imagine the calorie content but the flavor was unreal. I would get this entree over and over. It was a weeknight so I went with Diet Coke but those of us at the table who enjoyed wine were very pleased with the selections. We were too stuffed for dessert but those options looked fantastic too. We had a private little room upstairs but the dining room looked nice downstairs as well - moody lighting, decent space between tables, etc. Will definitely return for more delicious pasta and epic flavors from this Naperville staple! read more

I was able to make a last minute reservation for 10 to celebrate my daughter's first communion. Most of the adults ordered seafood dishes, and everyone thought they were delicious. The kids all ordered pasta dishes and enjoyed the chocolate deserts. read more

La Sorella di Francesca - Italian Near Me - Naperville, Illinois

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Everything was delicious and more the service with Uriel the waiter very attentive and friendly

I dunno. La Sorella used to be our favorite restaurant in Naperville. After awhile, saying "La Sorella is our favorite restaurant" became a familiar refrain among people we know. It seems that everyone had adopted it as a favorite. Which made me suspicious that it was just a nice unique place that was trendy. But we kept going a few times a year. Now I realize, either it is different, or we are. The past couple of visits were underwhelming. The seating is cramped (it always was), it was noisy...even at 5PM, (we sat in a window seat thinking it would be quieter), there were a half dozen flys (as in "insects") in constant attendance, the waiter and the greeter were very un-excited to have us there...and the food was uninspired. Three stars for that last visit. We will try again. I think they are just getting old...or maybe it's me. Add: WE have returned a couple of times since my original review. Why? Well, because it's one of our favorite restaurants in Naperville. Still loud & cramped. The food seems just fine but not knock-out amazing. Johnny is a manager who is attentive & personable. We like it. Upgraded from 3 to 4 stars. read more