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Vinny Vanucchi's 'Little Italy' - Galena
From the moment you enter Vinny Vanucchi’s ‘Little Italy’ in Galena, IL, we’ll welcome you with open arms and make you feel like part of the familia. Perched halfway up a cobblestone street, Vinny’s charming Galena location is complete with an Old World Deli and Import Store, artifacts, signs and vintage family portraits, and four distinctive dining areas. Each dining room has the feel of an authentic trattoria with native wood, Galena brick and checkered tablecloths.
You’ll find Vinny’s ambiance is, at once, both casual and elegant.
• Family Recipes Passed Down 5 Generations
• Pasta Bowls and Baked & Stuffed Pastas
• Chicken and Veal Specialties
• Extensive Wine List
• Outdoor Cappuccino Garden
Safety precautions
- Surfaces sanitized between seatings
- Common areas deep cleaned daily
- Digital, disposable or sanitized menu provided
- Limited number of seated diners
- Distancing maintained in common areas
- Extra space between tables
- Waitstaff wear masks
- Diners must wear masks unless eating or drinking
Popular dishes
Soup, Salad & Garlic Bread
2 reviews
Garlic Bread
19 reviews
Pasta ala Vinny
Linguine Pasta in our Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Garlic and Hot Sauce tossed with Shrimp, Scallops and Real Crabmeat
10 reviews
Great food! Great service! Fun environment! Would definitely add it to my list to visit again
The food ands service were good. A little expensive for the amount of food on plate. The bread was so good!!
I would not recommend this restaurant. The only thing good was the garlic bread.
Food and ambiance was great! Good wine too🥂! Definitely will be back
The chicken was heavily breaded and stringy. Waitress didn’t ask how meal was or offer us dessert. Manager did not seem concerned when I shared this with him. I used to LOVE this place.
Walking to the table, we had to take stairs, I held the staircase rail and I touched what I thought were boogers. GROSS. We ordered bruschetta which was the best we’ve ever had but downhill from there. Our steaks were $32.00 and tasted like a steak I could cook for myself. Asked for a cappuccino which was on their menu and server said they don’t have it. So then asked for an espresso which was in their menu and server said they don’t have it. Server seemed like we were a nuisance for her.
Delicious!
Great food, great service and the place is just adorable!! We go here every time we visit Galena!
We have been dining at Vinny's for many years. Vinny's remains one of our first picks when we are in Galena. We are never disappointed. We took our family to Italy three years ago, so we enjoy looking at the Italian photographs while we are dining.
Excellent food. Was seated on time thanks to our reservation. Waitress seemed stretched thin our section and caused some delays.
Server forgot to enter our appetizers, they were not crowded so should have been no excuse. Food was mediocre at best. Would not go back, much better options in the Galena area. Very disappointed.
I will ALWAYS eat here when I visit Galena!!! Food is AMAZING!!!
Very good food, great service and had a window seat with a perfect view of town!
Great food and great service!!
Delicious! So much so that I’m giving a four star review even though both my food and wine were incorrect. We went for my partners birthday and had a lovely time. The salad that comes with the entrees was excellent. Garlic bread was a little heavy on the butter for me. He really enjoyed the manicotti. I thought the tiramisu was delicious.
The portion sizes were a bit underwhelming, but the staff was kind and informative
Visiting Galena & one of our favorite restaurants there. Arrived a little early but were seated & served right away without being rushed. Always excellent & friendly service. Very pleased with safe distance seating.
Love this place, we go everytime we are in the area! Always great food!
Overall food was great . Garlic bread was not as good as before
We were sat down by the hostess without menus. Waitress brought us some, but then asked for our drink order and we didn't have a drink menu. Waitress then went to get that. Salad and bread were okay and served family style. Our drinks were either a hit & miss for everyone at our table. One person's wine was served in a champagne glass bc they ran out of red wine glasses. However, the actual entrees were the biggest disappointment. Manicotti was pure mush and overcooked. My Alfredo was watery and separated and definitely not worth $19. Food did not seem freshly made or from scratch. The outside building was very cool. However, we were sat in a newer remodeled room and there was zero charm or character. Random grocery items on the shelves and poorly decorated. Would not go back.
Great food and outstanding service. Try the lasagna and meatballs. Just like the "old neighborhood"
Delicious portobello mushroom ravioli ❤️
Garlic bread, salad out❤️
Food was very good! They even did not charge for desert for my husband's birthday. Would definitely come again
Been there many times, food is excellent, atmosphere is very nice, very old world Italian decor (except for the dusty vines and “greenery” above our heads; decor would be very nice without those!) food is excellent, garlic bread and salad excellent, they just don’t give you enough time to eat though, we were still eating our salad and the server brought our meals! (We noticed that happened at other tables, and it had happened to us before there; that’s why we stopped ordering soup or an appetizer, not enough time to eat it) other than that a nice meal.
We have always enjoyed eating here when we visited Galena because the food and service were always very good. This was NOT our experience the other day. First, we had to walk to the entrance with people smoking directly outside the front door. I don’t have a problem with smokers but it shouldn’t be allowed where people have to walk through smoke
to enter the restaurant especially for people with asthma, etc. Upon entering, we told the gentleman that we had a reservation and we were taken back outside to another room in the building. It was very simple and didn’t have the ambiance that you come to Vinny’s for. The waitress took forever to even acknowledge us as she walked around waiting on her other 1 other table. Just a hello and I’ll be with you in a minute...nothing. Service was very slow and she was just there to do her job, no more, no less. The food arrived and it was terrible! The sauce on the manicotti and the alfredo was so bland! We were actually shocked because it was very good in the past. The waitress never asked if our food was ok, nothing. Just a bad experience overall. Unfortunately, I don’t think we will be returning next time we visit Galena. There are many other restaurants offering great food and service so we will patronize those going forward.
It was very delicious. I got engaged here! This place will always be soecial because of that.
Everything was great. Our server Meghan was fantastic, her service really made the experience top rate.
Great garlic bread and chicken parm! We were very happy with our meal and everything came out very quickly.
We were greeted by the owner and seated by the hostess with our reservation ahead of time. Greeted by our server immediately with water and menus and he also took our drink orders. Server came back with our drinks in a timely fashion and took our dinner orders and returned with our salad and bread promptly. Food arrived with perfect timing even though they were busy. Great food and service overall.
Valentines day
Frequent guest of Vinnies . Past trips- years worth- always excellent. disappointed in this trip. Food Luke warm( waitress needed to carry out food from one bldg to other-) although only a couple seconds. Cover it??? 😃. Anyway won’t judge vinnies with this trip- will go again and look forward to it
Great stop in Galena - if you're from Chicago keep in mind small town dining is a lot different!
Great date night with good food. Soup was on point and loved it.
I typically love this place and tell lots of people/tourists to come here. However this it started with no one greeted me. There was 1 server working with 3 tables and gave no personalized service. On the reservation I even said it was our anniversary. My food was so cold so I took most of it home. So disappointing!
Very good food and service. Neat decor. We go every time we are in Galena.
Another amazing visit! We always have a wonderful time dining at Vinny Vanucchi's! Our feel and the service was amazing! Highly recommend!
First time there...I will book Fried Green Tomatoes next time. But thank you!
Friday night dinner for 6 was great. Sat in what I think was a newer or remodeled area with plenty of space to accommodate Covid guidelines. Food was good as always and love that dinners come with salad and very tasty garlic bread. Got a variety of dishes across our party but thing the pasta a la Vinny which is a spicy sauce was the winner.
Never disappoints and will continue to return.
Everything was absolutely amazing!!! The food, the service, the atmosphere!
Very disappointed in food taste and service. Have been here before and have had a very good meal.
FAQs
Vinny Vanucchi's 'Little Italy' - Galena offers takeout which you can order by calling the restaurant at (815) 777-8100.
Vinny Vanucchi's 'Little Italy' - Galena is rated 4.3 stars by 1759 OpenTable diners.
Yes, you can generally book this restaurant by choosing the date, time and party size on OpenTable. Due to local restrictions, this restaurant may not be accepting reservations at the moment.