Tyroni's Italian Cafe in Bartonville, Illinois: WHy I Left Unimpressed and Cold

After hearing rave reviews about Tyroni's Italian Cafe in Bartonville, Illinois, I knew that I wanted to eat there someday. People always talked about how delicious everything on their menu is, so I knew I would have to try it out. While I'm not someone blown away by overpriced pasta, I love pizza, and the locals just go on an on about how wonderful the pizza is at Tyroni's.

I got the opportunity to go to Tyroni's Italian Cafe last Friday for my mother's birthday. One of the wonderful things Tyroni's does is that they send you a card before your birthday, and if you eat there, the birthday person's entree is on the house. When mom told me they were going, I told her that everyone said it was such an amazing place and even my mom raved about it. I knew I couldn't miss out on it!

We got there at 5:30pm. When you pull up to Tyroni's, you are completely unimpressed by the outside of the building. It's in this crappy old strip mall with a video store. Now, I don't judge a book by its' cover, but for the reviews I was hearing about this place, I was expecting a little more grandeur. There wasn't a whole lot of parking for the place either, but luckily we snagged a spot.

Now walking into Tyroni's is totally different. The atmosphere is very charming. It is completely like a little italian bistro. We were immediately greeted and seated by a very friendly hostess.

The room we were seated in was alright. It was a small room, but it's also the room that has the "carry out only" door, and unfortunately, we were seated right by it and the kitchen and the bathrooms and the counter where people getting carry out orders pick up. We were constantly hit with a waft of frigid air every time the door swung open, then we were left feel awkward as every carry out customer stood directly next to us as they waited for their orders.

Our waitress was friendly, but took her forever to get the drinks to us. My mother ordered a calzone and the rest of us decided to split a family size pizza. My son got an order of garlic bread with cheese, because basically, he'd live off bread if I'd let him. My husband and I also ordered dinner salads.

The dinner salads were pricey, but well worth it. Most dinner salads consist of a cucumber slice and some tomatoes. Tyroni's dinner salad was nice. It had all of the above, plus mushrooms, sweet peppers, green pepper, croutons, and the waitress offered fresh cracked pepper.

Finally, our food arrived. The calzone looked pathetic. It looked like they just folded a pizza in half. My mom said it tasted of nothing but bread and cheese. She wouldn't be ordering that ever again. Our pizza was just okay. It wasn't what everyone raved about. While it was good, it didn't make me like it more than somewhere like Pizza Hut. It was a thin crust pizza, but I have had better. My son's garlic bread with cheese was hard as a rock, but he ate it anyway, because, well, it's bread.

At the end of the meal, the waitress shoved a comment card at us and told us that we'd get in a drawing for a $50 gift certificate and then get the birthday card that my mother had gotten when our birthday neared. I felt that those cards should've just been placed with the check and placed on the table. It was like a car salesman was standing at the table.

I left cold and feeling unsatisfied by our meal. The only thing the place had going for it was a bit of ambiance....but that was ruined by the chill and the carry out customers lingering by our table.

I give Tyroni's Italian Cafe 3 out of 5 Tiaras on the Amy Gayle Scale. The food was OK and the ambiance was nice, but that was about it. It's not a place I would leave craving to go back again.