We are, by habit, second-chance diners. A restaurant deserves to be judged on the evening in front…read moreof it rather than on its history, and Primo had a history with us. Across a few visits many years ago, neither the cooking nor the service ever gave us a reason to return, and for a long while we didn't. A recent family dinner at what is now Primo Steak and Seafood in Gurnee, formerly Primo Italian American Cuisine, was a chance to start over, and Primo made good use of it.
The evening began well. We were greeted warmly and invited to choose our own booth, a small courtesy that sets a generous tone. Primo presents itself as a cross between the classic American steakhouse and the Italian restaurant, staged in a grand room of high ceilings and marble, and the setting lives up to the billing. We liked the mood of the place, and, no small thing these days, the noise level allowed for easy conversation across the table. The booths are mostly comfortable, though the table sat closer to me than I would have liked for the entire evening. It never spoiled the meal, but I never stopped noticing it.
Service was the clearest sign of progress. Our server was excellent: helpful, attentive, and genuinely good at the job. For a restaurant that once lost us partly on service, that alone marked a real turnaround.
The bar held up its end as well. Cocktails and wine alike were very good, and the choices on offer are well considered, with a wine list that runs past a hundred bottles.
The kitchen was less even. Soups and salads were good but not great, competent openers that did their job without lingering in memory. Most of our table ordered fish, and here Primo was at its best: every entrée was very good, which seems only fitting for a restaurant that now puts seafood in its name. The trouble was the plating. Presentation lagged behind the cooking, and the dishes arrived looking less considered than they tasted. In a room this handsome, at a restaurant with these ambitions, the eye deserves the same care as the palate, and presentation is the area most in need of attention.
Taken as a whole, this was a far better showing than anything Primo had given us before: gracious hospitality, excellent service, a strong bar, very good fish, and a room where you can actually hear one another. The distance between a good evening here and a memorable one now comes down largely to a few refinements on the plate. We'll likely be back, hoping to find the presentation has caught up with the cooking.
