Joe Boccardi’s Ristorante

How is this place voted 4 stars? We went with a party of 10. We are from out of town, so I suspect the reviews are from the locals that are used to eating here.
I would have given zero stars (food), but I gave 2 stars for the service (sweet waitress that worked hard), environment (looked clean) & salad (fresh & cold w/​good dressing choices).
We ordered a large variety of dishes.
Lasagna that was bland, hardly any sauce, cold in the middle of the piece.
Burgers over cooked.
Breaded chicken over cooked– so hard on edges it couldn’t be eaten.
Nothing special about pasta/​sauces.
Pizza & garlic bread was the best thing on the table.
So very disappointed. I would not go back, nor recommend this to anyone.

Third experience here and we are not disappointed!!! The pizza was awesome and my Chicken Marco was a delight and my first to try– waitstaff suggestion!
The waitstaff was all over customer service!

A great local Italian restaurant run by people who care about their work. Great food and good service. Been going there for over 20 years and no plans to stop. I invite you to try it.

Not a fan of this place is all. Weird service and mediocre food. It’s hard to describe the experience… there was a balloon artist. Won’t be going back.

My husband and I really enjoy having dinner at Joe Boccardi’s! They have good salad and we are big fans of their Buffalo Chicken Pizza. We have always had good service and I really enjoy their wine selection. This is a great place to enjoy a relaxing dinner!

If you are looking for good, authentic feel Italian, it can be found in Columbia, Illinois thanks to Boccardi’s.

Great pizza but a little too pricey on their salads.

Two Words — - HEAVENLY PIZZA…
Not kidding, some of the best pizza in the St. Louis metro east area– if not THE best.
My better half even woke up in the middle of the night thinking about the pizza– yes, seriously.
And for some odd reason, when we go out in Columbia, we hardly ever think about going to Joe Boccardis– (mainly I think because I am not a huge pasta eater)
But the pizza… WOW…
Let me just say– you must like provel– or you will not like this pizza–
Me? my heart if made of provel, true st. louisan i know.
We ordered the bacon and mushroom pizza– the bacon was in strips– and so good! cooked to bacon perfection…
the pizza was hot, and the beer was cold. !
We ordered the Joes special salad with their house dressing, and it light, awesome, fresh!
Their pizza was voted number one by their customers, and for good reason…
My only downfall is they dont have jalapenos… which has become a staple on my pizza lately.
So, if you ever venture over to the IL side– come to Joe Boccardis– order a pizza, and then go next door to the wine bar and visit Bob!
Cant go wrong!

We love Joe Boccardi’s in Columbia! Pretty sad that one of the waitresses knows us and our drinks and usually our food order! Wonderful pasta, really good toasted raviolis and the cheeseburger is awesome! (Yes cheeseburger, Italian style). I usually get the spinich salad everytime, it’s that good!

We’ve finally found our new favorite Italian restaurant. Great service. Very fast! Extremely attentive staff. They all seemed to work as a team. Their sauce is very good. The prices are very reasonable.

For Saturday lunch during a miraculous weekend in Illinois.
We both ordered a beer and a pizza.
I forgot what toppings she got on her pizza, but it was a hit!
I got Italian sausage on this «personal pan pizza» which was huge!!!
It’s served on a cookie sheet. Does that tell you how big it is?
Plus it comes with a salad. And the salad was served on a plate. I cannot say how grateful I was for getting a salad served on a plate, so I could toss it appropriately! Bleu cheese dressing was so lovely.
After having eaten all the salad, I couldn’t eat too much pizza, but it was delicious.
And we had a discussion about what cheeses were on this pizza. We decided there was some cheddar in the mix. Nonetheless, it was marvelous.
I checked out with an $ 11 tab for all that, and took enough pizza home for one or two meals!

Joe Boccardi’s has three locations — in Eureka, Crestwood and Columbia, IL. We’ve only been to the Columbia location. Made probably our third trip the other day with little one in tow. This is a very family friendly restaurant. Not much has changed over the last 6 or 7 years that I can detect. Lots of bustle, vinyl tablecloths, booths… very St. Louis standard Italian.
We had two pasta dishes and a small pizza. The pastas — Penne with Vodka sauce and Linguini Pescatori with cream/​marinara mixrd — were both fine, but nothing special. The price is right at $ 13.50 including a salad. The pepperoni pizza was a decent St. Louis style, although it was much thicker on one end than the other, which was kind of odd. Service was very attentive and friendly and the pour of house cabernet was generous.
My recollection from previous visits was about the same: Joe Boccardi’s has nothing dazzling to offer, but if you feel like getting out of the big city, Columbia has a cute littls downtown area and right now it’s all lit up for Christmas.

Having grown up in Columbia, I’ve been to this Joe’s several times. We decided to eat there last night on a whim. I have to say, it’s not that they have bad food, there are just better places to get great Italian food.
I will say I absolutely love their spinach salad. Every single time I have to upgrade my side salad to the spinach. If you are a spinach salad person, you must try it. My husband always upgrades to a small chef salad, and you get much more on the spinach salad. It’s well worth the $ 1.50 up charge. Last night I had the chicken giuseppe. It was just ok. The sauce was kind of bland. The chicken was nice and juicy though, but the shrimp on top was a joke. My husband had the chicken alla mario and his was slightly better than mine. He also noted it was nothing special, just average. I’d also stay away from dessert. For $ 5 we got the smallest piece of chocolate cake I’ve ever seen.
Service was great though. We always had full glasses and plates were cleared in a timely manner. It has been years since either of us has had their pizza, so perhaps next time we will give that a shot.
Overall, it’s good, but not great. For the price you would expect better quality.

Contrary to popular belief, Illinois is not a fortnight away. the river might be a mile wide, but it is not long for crossing, and sometimes, the road less traveled is a road trip worth taking. especially when it comes to pizza and Thai food, but that is another review.
Did you know that there is a Joe Baccardi’s in the lovely hamlet of Columbia Illinois?
Yes, I know you can just as well visit the JB in Crestwood/​Webster, but that might still be far for some of you, and yes, there is that location in Eureka, but does anyone even know where that place is without a map?
All you need to do to get to one of the better pizzas in the stl area is head down 270, and in an instant you’ll be crossing the great JB Bridge on 255 S, and exiting on the venerable Route 3. Take the first exit on the left and mosey your little way through the old part of town until you see JB on the right side.
The pizza and salads here are amazing. Saint Louis style all the way, without overboarding it like Imo’s, JB’s puts up a quiet fight in the pizza war throw down going on in Saint Louis. When it comes to pizza, no description is needed, you just gotta try it.
If you need an excuse to head south into the wonderlands of southern Illinois in order to give this place a go, find some dude with a motorbike, tell him you want to go for a ride, eventually you’ll end up on Route 3, stopping to eat JB pizza, mildly staring at the homegrown high school waitresses, and drinking some buds at Tiny’s. Then again, that’s a whole other review.