Juliet’s Tavern

Juliet’s is the hallmark of the revitalization of Downtown Joliet!
We were diners here when it first opened, and we’ve always left impressed. No surprise when we decided to host a graduation party here — our families have been raving about it ever since! I have even passed on contact information for a family member who is planning his wedding.
Firstly, Deborah and the events team were quick and responsive. I got every question I had answered — often, in minutes. They were also very accommodating and always a step ahead of our guests if an item ran out.
Secondly, the ambiance and décor is amazing! Little is needed for outside decoration because the spaces are already very well decorated with a classic style suitable for any occasion.
Thirdly, the pricing was very reasonable! We definitely got a bang for our buck. Everyone left happy and there was no need to break the bank.
Finally, the food was phenomenal! I was originally concerned that the pasta dishes would not be the same as we had before, but I was very pleased to see that Chef Tom keeps high standards at all times. Oh, and the teenage guests devoured to desserts before the adults knew they were out.
Needless to say, that Juliet’s and its staff exceeded our expectations. Not only will we continue to be regular customers, but we will ardently refer everyone we know to this establishment.
Thanks again!

Great food, awesome specials too! Kimmie is a delight! Highly recommend!

Underwhelming at best.
First off it’s kind of confusing as to who even works there. We walked in and sat by the host stand for a few minutes and watched several people walk by but couldn’t tell you if any of the worked there, though I came to eventually find out they did. See the thing here is that no one we encountered was rude but at the same time no one was overly welcoming or friendly either. We were sat in a fairly empty dining room for 7:00 pm on a Friday night– which should have been my first clue.
At the table was some horribly foul tasting olive oil and shaved Parmesan cheese on plates (and all over the table) with a small loaf of cold French bread.
Now onto the menu– if you are the type of person that likes options, this place isn’t for you. There is very little selection. On top of that, many things were crossed out on the menu in sharpie on top of that! Overall I think there were maybe 20 things to choose from. Mostly pasta or pizza, a few sandwiches and salads and 1 – 2 fish/​veggie options. And there are no specials or at least none our server told us about.
I’ll be totally honest, I wasn’t really in the mood for Italian to begin with but we were there for my father in laws birthday and it was his choice. I finally decided to just get the bottomless salad and split a 12 inch pizza with my 2 boys. If I had to give them one kudo it would be that their prices for the most part are pretty reasonable. Especially for the portions. That said I didn’t think there was anything special about the pizza or salad. The other people in my party all had the same sediment– the food was ok but nothing anyone was blown away by.
The service, like the food, was also just «meh». Our server was pleasant and competent but didn’t exactly seemed passionate about her job. And service was slow. Now mind you I’m not asking for my server to push me out of a restaurant, but the whole dinner just seemed to drag. It seemed to take longer that normal for everything, which was odd because again the place was no where near busy. It’s just seemed to be the pace of the place. A corner booth sat empty and dirty almost the entire time we sat there. It wasn’t until just before we left that someone finally cleaned and re-​set it.
Overall, this place is nothing special. I keep hoping Downtown Joliet will get some decent places so the area can start moving up, but this place isn’t going to do it.

Juliet’s was fantastic! Our large group had a terrific experience… the food and service were outstanding and the prices were great. The calamari was outstanding! The restaurant was full but it wasn’t loud… we could actually hear each other. I want to go again and sit in one of the booths as it appears they have curtains that can be pulled on the sides for privacy! Juliet’s was a wonderful surprise… highly recommend it!!!

Amazing job by chef Tom, Drake and the Juliet’s team hosting the Sam Adams beer dinner tonight. 5 Amazing courses complemented some tasty brews! Diamond in the rough in downtown Joliet… can’t wait to be back!

Went for dinner here before going to see Shatner at the Rialto. My husband had the prime rib which he loved. I had a lobster sandwich which was good also. This place use to be the Department and I’m so glad the ambiance is about the same!
Our server, Allie, was wonderful.but.she was running her butt off as were the other servers. I found out later that the owners cut back the staff for the evening. Really?! Saturday night. Show at the Rialto. and the place was packed.
We enjoyed & will be back
and note to management. it’s mid January. take you Christmas decorations down.

Pretty impressive for a first time visit. We were greeted by a polite hostess and seated right away. The atmosphere was very relaxed with still a higher class feel. The service was stellar! You couldn’t ask for a better staff making sure you have everything you want! I love the fact bread and cheese was served right away. We ordered the margherita pizza. It was really good minus it could use more cheese. If it had more cheese I would have given this place 5 stars instead of 4. Prices were extremely affordable. I will be back. :)

Decided to dine here since it was the closest to the Harrahs where I was staying. Food was delicious!!! Very cute ambiance and the staff was friendly. Cheap beer and a great carb meal. Restaurant was clean, decorated nicely and had great staff .4 min walk from the harrahs. Ordered 2 dinners, 1 appetizer and 1 beer –bill was only $ 45

Great place in downtown Joliet, Too bad the downtown area isn’t more lively.
First time coming here since it was the Department, and I will definitely be back. Wonderful atmosphere and great food.
Good selection of appetizers: we got calamari which was pretty good. Only recommendation is offer side Caesar salads. Money out the window when say you don’t have it. I would have gotten one.
Entrees: huge selection ranging from pastas to pizzas to fish to steal. I ordered the chicken Parmesan which was really, really good. It had a crispy breeding and topped with very mozzarella. Also came with side of spaghetti, either with marinara or bolognese. Another nice thing about the menu is they pair up each entrée with a preferred wine, to bring out the flavor.
Desserts: only $ 4, so why not. We shared the chocolate mousse and tiramisu, both of which were very delicious!
I will be back here again multiple times, and you should too! Downtown Joliet needs to be pippin’, which it is not now.

Very disappointed. We came here based off Unilocal reviews and will not come back. We got sat 15 minutes after our reservation time and then it took 20 minutes to get a drink. 1 hour after being seated we finally got our food. One order was wrong, and one of the pasta dishes were extremely overlooked and gritty. The pasta meal was taken back and we ordered a burger in its place. It took another 20 minutes to get the replacement meal. This was all on top of us never being able to find our waiter until the check came. Very disappointing.

Great restaurant in downtown Joliet! I made a reservation for 6:30pm on Saturday in case it was busy. It really wasn’t, but when we arrived the hostess explained a large party just came, but we could sit in a high top by the bar. We happily agreed. Our waitress, Kimmie, was extremely nice and friendly! I felt bad that she was a server and bartender that night, not sure if this is common there. There was not many wait staff so service was pretty slow. The calamari was subpar, wish it was crisper but that’s just my preference. My date and I ordered chicken Parmesan and penne alla a vodka. Both were extremely tasty and perfect portion size. We were both very pleased. We shared the house wine as well and ordered tiramisu and chocolate mousse for dessert, all of which were great ad would recommend.
I really hope this restaurant makes it. There is so much potential and truly was a fun place to be. I felt bad when we walked out around 9pm on a Saturday that most of the customers had cleared out. I would highly recommend to anyone and will be back!

This place is great! We got to come here last night for their New Year’s Eve celebration it was all you can eat and drink for a great price. The restaurant and bar itself is gorgeous, the staff was so much fun and took really good care of us. The chicken piccata was perfect and my friend said he could eat a whole plate of their stuffing lol! The pizza was not good though; idk if they even have that on their regular menu.

We had our work Christmas Party here on a Friday afternoon. The service was great, we were especially happy that they let us order off the dinner menu even though it was lunchtime. The inside of Juliet’s is very cool, I like the exposed brick walls and the general vibe of the place. Our server was as sweet as can be and very helpful. We ordered the veal meatballs as an appetizer (I did not partake, not a fan of veal) and the fried ravioli, which was really good. We also did the salad bowl, which was quite good. I had the filet and french fries, which I would get again. The reason for three stars versus four, their website is out of date and the menu posted on it is old not current. I had my heart set on the ribeye steak with a side of lobster mac-​n-​cheese, and they don’t have either on the menu anymore.

Juliette’s makes its home in the former restaurant called The Department. Nothing has changed in the interior. I recommend making a reservation especially on a show night at the Rialto. Very crowded. The young girl we had as a server was friendly and provided good service. I wish I remembered her name! The menu is predominantly Italian. Our party of four shared the veal meatballs appetizer. The marinara was very good and the meatballs soft and full of flavor. We then had the bottomless salad, which was mixed greens with a balsamic dressing. I had the orecchiette in a marinara sauce with veal meatballs for my entrée. I just loved the meatballs that I had to have more! They were that good. The only negative was the bread. I like a crusty Italian loaf, not what they provided. That is just personal preference, though. This Italian girl likes a crusty pane or ciabatta loaf that can stand up to being dipped in olive oil & parmesan.

My husband and I decided to try Juliet’s before a concert at the Rialto last evening regardless of the mixed reviews. We used to love The Department. We arrived at our 5:15pm seating time and were shown to our table immediately. The dining room was full and it was standing room only at the bar.
To be honest, all of the servers were a bit overwhelmed by the theater crowd. That being said, we had an average experience. Our drink order was taken and brought to our table in a reasonable amount of time. We ordered the calamari for our app. It was prepared well and it was a portion for 2. We ordered a second drink between the app and entrée. The server took a long time to pick up our drinks at the bar as she was busy serving French press coffee to another table. My husband ordered the flat iron steak with garlic mashed and I ordered the pork shop with the roasted potatoes. It took longer than I expected between the app and entrees, however the food was hot, cooked as ordered and delicious. The roasted potatoes were awesome!
We had to skip coffee because we did not want to be late for the performance. We told our server we wanted a tiramisu to share (which was ok) and the check. As it got closer to theater time, the restaurant and bar emptied. We made it to the Rialto and to our seats as the house lights were dimming.
We agreed that the food was good enough to try Juliet’s again when there was nothing going on at the Rialto. We enjoyed our meal, the service was pretty good and the staff was friendly. I will update my review after our next visit and I am hoping it will be 5 star.

I used to rave about Juliet’s. Nice for a casual dinner, yummy bacon dates. So I’m sad to have to leave a 1-​star.
We had an event there a few weeks ago, and the event order listed for dinner to be served at 6pm. We had one server for a group of 16 and he was just starting to set the table at 6pm. They had no other events on that night as far as I could tell. I had visitors flying in from overseas coming directly from the airport, and they didn’t even get salad until 7pm after multiple requests.
I was literally giving people granola bars I happened to have in my bag. Super embarrassing.
I had a guest who needed to use their elevator and the light was out, so it was completely pitch black. When I asked for a flashlight or something for him, they shrugged.
To make it even worse, I went home and sent an email describing the issue and three weeks later, not even a response. Yikes.

The make your own Pasta I like alot being a former Chef et al. The Penne pasta was very good. Kimmie the bartender was excellent in every way possible. The strawberry cheesecake Cannoli dessert was unique and tasty.

Our group of 4 called ahead at 10 to confirm they where still serving food. They close the kitchen at 10:45 but assured us that wouldn’t be a problem.
We where seated quickly and one of the bar tenders acted as server. She did a great job taking orders and was very attentive.
As a group we had the salmon, filet and chicken sandwich and ordered two appetizers.
Oddly two of our four entrees came out before the apps.
The garlic bread appetizer arrived it was table bread with butter. Don’t bother with the garlic bread. The fried ravioli was pleasant but unremarkable. The calamari was well prepared but again unremarkable. Oddly enough, the same marinara sauce with all apps.
The rest of the food was quite good and a very good showing for late night. Lost a star for the entrée before apps, and the flaccid attempt at garlic bread.
.

I decided to give this place a second chance being that they’ve been open for 6 months now. What a mistake! I will never go back here. 1 bonus is that they finally have their valet open and it’s complimentary which is nice. I had an 8pm reservation for 5 people. We arrived at 7:55 and there was no one at the host stand. There was a heavy metal show next door so Juliet’s bar was packed. We waited over 5 minutes before the manager came over and told us they were setting up our table. Another 10 minutes went by and he asked if we were still 5 or if we were 4 now. I said I could find out (we had one person who was a maybe). He said this was because they had a 4 top and a 5 top set up and it would make a difference. Ok, fine. Another 10 minutes pass and he comes back and I said we were 4 and asked if we could be seated because I was thirsty.
He wouldn’t seat us, but he did get me a glass of water which was nice. It’s now 8:30, our entire party is there, and we are still waiting to be seated. Imagine my surprise when we finally sit and the dining room is HALF EMPTY! Now I’m irritated because what difference did it make if we were 4 or 5 when half the tables are empty anyway?
They had like 1 – 2 servers, 1 bus boy and half the tables were dirty. It took forever to get drinks, forever to get our food, etc. The server mentioned that because the concert venue next door was at capacity that a lot of those people ended up coming back to the bar so they were pretty busy. I get that, but it’s a SATURDAY night. The management should know what shows are going on in Joliet and plan accordingly. Plus, all those people were at the BAR and not eating in the dining room so there was no excuse for our poor service the entire night.
I couldn’t get out of there fast enough, what a waste of my evening and my money.

We met some friends for a Christmas dinner at Juliet’s last night (Friday night). This is the newest addition to downtown Joliet and every foodie in the county is praying that these downtown restaurants survive and attract more upscale establishments. Juliets is located where «The Department» used to be. The Department was relatively new and updated so when you walk in you will only notice subtle changes. No major overhaul was needed.
We utilized the complimentary valet (awesome as some of the lots in this area are spooky as f#%k). We were greeted by a well dressed man who was very pleasant (turned out to be the GM) and were seated quickly.
Now, I am always 100% truthful when I review so I have to warn you… it’s going to get a little rough from here forward. Our drink order was taken by the GM and eventually we met our server. She was obviously overwhelmed and out of breath. I looked around and realized that the whole restaurant had filled up (approx. 40ish people) and they only had two servers working! (I found out later that they cut everyone right before it filled up) Everything suffered because of this mistake. We asked for oil and Parmesan cheese, came an hour later; we sat with empty drinks for 10 minutes; we ordered bottomless salad for 8 people and they brought one little bowl of salad and we didn’t see another bowl until our entrees were being served. Soooooooo… it can be said that the service was sub-​par to say the least.
Now, I AM NOT SAYING OUR SERVER WAS AT FAULT! She did the best she could (as well as the GM!) The blame falls to the manager that cut the staff at 6;15 on a Friday night to bare bones coverage.
When I own a restaurant I am going to follow one HUGE rule, and all other new restaurants should listen carefully:
— — — — - HIRE AND STAFF REALLY HEAVY FOR THE FIRST FOUR MONTHS AND DO NOT CUT FOR ANY REASON!!!
WHY? Because waitstaff is cheap. Having your reputation murdered for a couple hundred dollars in payroll is VERY EXPENSIVE!
Now, I really enjoyed the food. The only complaint I really had was the portion sizes on the appetizers is laughably small. They obviously have skills in the kitchen though. We ordered the veal balls (A), Calamari (B), Bacon Dates (C– Try not to burn the shit out of them next time!), Oysters (B).
For dinner my wife and I had the Venetian Mussels (B — Over salty) and the Veal Parmigiana (B+). So pretty good especially for Joliet.
I will eat here again and so should you. Hopefully they get the staffing issue resolved before they do too much damage to their reputation to survive!
I look forward to improving my review next time we dine/​drink at Juliet’s!
Also, the bartender (cute African-​american girl) was exceptionally friendly and explained (apologized) for the staffing issue. She also invited us to try the raw bar on Thursday and Friday happy hour… which I will do! Thanks for the heads up!