Minneci’s at the Crossing

Awesome! Had dinner here last night with my parents and a close family friend. Our friend recommended coming here for dinner, since we were interested in a good Italian restaurant. We all enjoyed the food, atmosphere, and our waiter, Gabriel. He was very friendly and professional. He was training a waitress, and he was a good choice to be her trainer. My dad and I love bread, and the bread basket has a few different choices. It is also refilled upon request! I am deducting a star for two minor irks: they were out of red velvet cake, so I decided upon a cannoli for dessert (which was wonderful, by the way, but I love all things red velvet!), and they did not offer Dr. Pepper or Mr. Pibb. Definitely worth a return trip! You may want to do what we did on a Saturday night, which was arrive at 5:00. Either this is before their dinner rush (it did get busier as our meal went on), or we just happened to luck out on this particular evening. Since we live in St. Louis, this is a place we won’t get to often, so when we do go, it will continue to be special!

I’m not sure how this is only a 3 star restaurant. We eat here frequently and it holds up much better than any of the chain Italian you can get. With all the sauces made in house, fresh is one of their main selling points. If nothing else give a local place a try rather than going to Olive Garden or Biaggi’s!

Cute place and Michael our server was fantastic!!! Wanted to love this place but was not a fan of the food. Italian dressing had too much vinegar, garlic and oil was not well done with just chunks of garlic leaving it bland, meat sauce is a little weird, the breadbasket was fantastic though. Our server is why I gave this 3 stars; Michael was 5 stars food was 1 star

I would have given a 0 star if possible. Horrible Service, dirty seats, okish food. Had gone for lunch and the booth they seated us had dirty seats. When I looked around the other booths also had dirty seats. I ordered a sandwich and told him no lettuce and he brings a sanwich with just the meat in it with no tomatoes and onions and when I asked him why it does not have any of that he just remarked saying he mentioned no lettuce and the chef probably thought no veggies. He was not apologetic and was stating as if that was correct. There second item we ordered was supposed to accompany fries but he gave us potato wedges. At the end of it he charged one of the item at 15 instead of 12 dollars. When we asked he said the menu prices got changed but he can reduce the price for us as if he is doing us a favor. If prices have changed they have to indicate it in the menu (or) atleast inform us upfront. The attitude was really bad more than the fact that they messed up order and indicated wrong prices.
That said the food overall was ok-​ish and nothing great. Never going back here.

Well, they’ve managed to exceed my expectations. Expectations for how long they’d remain open, that is. In a strip-​mall called «The Village at the Crossing» where pickup places like Jupiters survive (with kids’ game room and grandpa gambling (OTB) in the basement, and hookup bar/​pool/​and frozen pizza upstairs) and Billy Barooz (bar food, bar atmosphere), and nearly every other restaurant has failed within a few years, Minneci’s is still in business after a few years at this location. They are not usually crowded, and the food is marginally better than it was a few years ago. I had soup and salad, not trusting much else, and it was probably marginally beneath Olive Garden soup and marginally above OG salad — I like that it comes in a single bowl to you, not a gargantuan salad bowl for you to serve yourself. My son had a kids spaghetti and meatball, which he ate (which is a good sign), along with a chocolate cake that looked to be above Olive Garden quality. My wife had chicken and spinach cannelloni in a cream sauce that also looked about olive garden level. For CU-​folks, the food is somewhere between Olive Garden and Biaggi’s, probably closer to Olive Garden. But, it’s much closer to where people live (that’s a plus) and there’s not a wait (OG tends to be packed with mall-​goers). Also, given the lower key atmosphere, it’s not as loud and the service is faster than OG or Biaggi’s.
I am surprised that they are still in business, but remain hopeful they will continue to improve, as we certainly could use better dining options on this side of town.

Minneci has always been a great place for lunch and dinner. My wife and I went to their Sunday brunch today. All can say say is I wish we had gone before and we will return many times in the future.

I have been back 3 times since my original review. The first time back I again ordered the Chicken Marsala and this time it was not anything like the first time. It had pasta noodles in it and it was burning hot like it had been microwaved. The flavor was off too,
The second time back I had the Sunday brunch. There was not one thing on the buffet that I could honestly say was stellar. It was just kind of there.
The third time back I wanted to try the Chicken Marsala again. This time it was just OK. I think it sat in the kitchen for a while because it was luke warm. The potatoes in the dish were good but the rest of it was not. It is certainly not worth the $ 18 price tag they have on it.
We have decided that third times a charm and will not go back. There are so many other good places in town to choose from.

Minneci’s could be compared to the non chain version of Biaggi’s. It offers many pasta dishes, soups, salads, sandwiches, and plates. They offer three types of bread before the meal. They also are good about accommodating for large parties because they have adjustable tables.
I ordered the «unlimited» soup, salad, and bread. The service was slow; it was around 1:30 pm when I ordered. But I had to flag down my waiter several times to tell him to bring me more food. I could have ate more, but by the time I had my food my party was done eating. My waiter was kind enough to give me a large to-​go container of soup.
My parents had different pasta dishes that I tried. They both were flavorful.

Wow. Such salt. It’s like they over salt to compensate for the lack of real food and flavor. Very disappointed. Would not recommend.

Brunch has been great the last couple of times we went on Sunday. And they open at 10am too!

My partner and I came here on a Friday evening. I would recommend making a reservation for busy evenings (Fridays, Saturdays), but not vital. We were warmly greeted by the hostess and brought to a booth where we were served warm bread and water. The bread was great with their freshly grated Parmesan and olive oil! My partner had a small classic Italian salad, while I opted for the Caesar salad. Both were very good and very fresh.
For our entrees, I had the Fettuccini Frutta Di Mare and my partner had the Primavera. I loved my entrée — there was a healthy amount of lobster and shrimp, and the creamy sauce was very rich and delicious. My partner’s Primavera was pretty basic. The taste was nothing extraordinary, and we easily could have made his dish ourselves.
The ambiance of the restaurant was warm and welcoming, but the noise level gets pretty loud at times. Our waitress was friendly, but also rushed us at times. Our entrees came almost immediately after our salads were brought out — which left them a lot of time to cool down and I didn’t really like that.
Overall, this is a very nice Italian restaurant and worthwhile to try!

The FOOD is so good here. Favor TOWN for sure. I appreciate the atmosphere and the extreme love of bread and Olive oil and Parmesan! Amazing! I will come again. The service was a little lacking with the tables around the large party I was with and with our service. Sometimes it is the little things.

Had a group dinner on 9÷1÷2015. Maybe 30 of us. Service was terrific. Salads and entrees served timely. Entrees were hot and delicious. I had the spinach tortellini and will be anxious to try again. Very good. Servers were great. Highly recommend.

Minneci’s has been a very convenient place to eat that is close to our home. However of late the food has not been consistent as it had been. I’m am truly wanting this restaurant to do well, but I think that the owner needs to be a bit more concerned with the quality of food placed on the table. Several times the food was so salty that it was difficult to eat, and I like salt. I hope that people try this place and if you feel your meal lacks, it would ideal to let the owner know. Restaurant business can be difficult at times.

Restaurant review
I may be on a roll here with 2 great restaurant experience this weekend in Chambana. I have seen this place so many times and thought that it would be over priced average Italian food. Instead I find out that it is a very reasonably priced italian food with above average food. Don’t get me wrong, this is not a Volare or Quartino which are some of my favorite Italian places in Chicago. The restaurant itself is relatively small compared to the outside appearance. Staff are quite friendly and helpful. They have one of the best complimentary bread bowls in this area with garlic bread, french bread, and another bread all served hot and warm. You have fresh grated Parmesan and olive oil at the table. The bread company should come here and learn a thing or two about bread! I ended up trying the chicken saltimbocca which was breast filet with melted cheese and proscuitto in a white wine sauce. The chicken was quite tender, but the one comment I would have is that the sauce was lacking flavor or saltiness. The angle hair pasta was very bland otherwise, however with some grated parmesan cheese it tasted better. My wife had the Fettuccine Frutta Di Mare which was squid ink fettuccine along with shrimp, lobster, and mushroom in alfredo sauce. The noodles again cooked to perfection, sauce was lacking saltiness for some odd reason. Even with the flavors a bit lacking, the amazing bread basket along with the relatively inexpensive price of 17 dollar for premium italian dishes bushes this to a 4 star Unilocal experience. I just wish they could get the sauce down. I unfortunately was too full to eat and review the dessert, but they say on the menu that it is the best dessert in town…
Pros: Hot/​fresh/​variety bread basket, noodles cooked perfectly, inexpensive
Cons: Sauce could use a little work, not enough saltiness or flavoring
Hidden deals: Mon and Thursday live piano during dinner hours, Wednesday ½ price wine, and Sunday brunch for 20 dollars (not sure if I will be back to try this as it looks like a pretty standard brunch food)
Health code rating: B, looked like a very clean restaurant but some off marks on the restaurant inspections

This is always our go to place. We have had dinner here several times and the Sunday Brunch once. Food quality is amazing. my favorite is the bruschetta and tortellini. Very cozy and inviting atmosphere, quick service, and prices are quite reasonable.

Timing is everything — Took my dad out for Father’s day here last evening and the food was great. Wednesdays is ½ off house wine night so we decided to take advantage of that. Waitress was very attentive but missed the mark when our entrée arrived immediately after our salads did. The restaurant wasn’t busy so I’m assuming the kitchen was looking for something to do and BOOM, our meals were done. Disappointed as I then felt hurried to eat my salad before my meal got cold.
The food was wonderful, wife ate the meat manicotti and it was the best since the old ‘Dom’s’ closed. Fresh bread was plentiful, and the ½ price wine made it a great deal.
Would have been 5 stars and I will give them another chance sometime to earn it.

If you’re in the mood for Italian American food, it doesn’t really get much better than this. I wouldn’t expect any exotic dishes but for what it is, it’s pretty good. I liked their old location but I guess the new location makes more sense for families. Our club had an event here which turned out very good! The food was delicious and the event was an overall success. The wait staff was attentive enough but could’ve done a better job when late comers joined the event. There wasn’t enough seats and everyone kind of stood around with their hands in the air. I will say that it became a little awkward for the other parties who were seated in our area. I wish there was a more secluded area we could reserve for events like this.

I wasn’t impressed by my experience at Minneci’s, but I left feeling satisfied. We arrived here for an early dinner at 4:30 PM over Dads Weekend at U of I and our party of eight was seated immediately. Service was a bit slow at times. We waited ~10 minutes before a server brought us our waters. However, this was almost made up for by the fact that the server brought us several baskets of warm garlic bread. Yum! We filled up on that, so we didn’t have to bother with ordering appetizers. This was a definite plus.
I decided to order the white pizza flatbread. Our wait was a bit longer than it should have been, but I wasn’t particularly hungry and the conversation was good, so it didn’t bother me too much. My flatbread was good, not great. It wasn’t particularly special or flavorful; I probably could have baked something similar in my own kitchen. Overall, I felt like the price point was too high for the quality of food we got. $ 17 for the chicken parmesan my brother ordered was much too high. This isn’t Chicago, after all; it’s Champaign.
At the end of our meal, we felt like we were kind of being pushed out of there. They kept taking different items off our table, like the napkins, silverware, baskets of bread, etc. They clearly were trying to get us out of there because we were still chatting after paying. Also, my brother’s girlfriend told me the manager winked at me creepily as we were leaving. Overall, our experience was satisfactory and everyone else in our party was satisfied/​a fan of the place. Maybe living in Chicago has just spoiled me for my food standards! My impression is that this place is perfect for people who don’t like anything outside of the box. People who are impressed by Olive Garden will be blown away by Minneci’s. To each his or her own!

There is nothing wrong with Minneci’s, but it is not memorable. The menu is generic Italian, the word dull comes to mind. We started with the caprese salad, it was just ok the basil was bitter. I had the pasta primavera, (which was the most interesting pasta dish to me) and it was under seasoned and one note.
My partner had the unlimited soup and salad. Again, uninspired. The salad wasn’t anything special, nothing that made it stand out. Soups were fine, most likely frozen and not made in house.
The restaurant was clean, comfortable, and inviting. Service was good, wine and cocktails are tasty.
It would be a place I’d bring my unadventurous parents (who are in their 60s) and like restaurants to be familiar.
For me, there are much better restaurants in Champaign and I would rather spend my time and money elsewhere.