I love this place! Everything is so fresh and made from scratch. I brought my boyfriend here for a…read moredate night and we loved it. Such a warm, friendly, chill, lovely vibe there. It feels very open and spacious inside. Open kitchen so you can watch everything being made. The chef is from Italy and the food is amazing. The rigatoni carbonara was perfectly al dente and flavorful. The chef's special that evening was delicious too, with fabulous mushrooms. The house red wine was smooth and excellent. Fantastic, friendly, and attentive service. I'll definitely be back.

Italian Homemade Company was such a delight! We went midday on a Saturday right when they opened…read moreand had the place practically to ourselves! The vibe is modern Italian, but nothing particularly fancy or special to call out compared to other places. For drinks, I got a Negroni and my friend got an Italian beer. The waiter was very helpful recommending his favorite beer, which my friend enjoyed. The Negroni was tasty. One of the better ones I've had in Chicago. Although, I am getting tired of giant ice cubes, but I digress. I ordered the pesto gnocchi and my friend ordered the spaghetti bolognese. Both were delicious and tasted homemade! We enjoyed getting to pick which shape of pasta we wanted and pairing it with a sauce. It was a fun way to meet any craving! We finished with the tiramisu. Instead of marscapone, the cream tasted like it was made of egg whites. I did enjoy it, for it was pretty light and fluffy - a refreshing highlight after a heavy meal of pastas. The slice was pretty big though, so don't let them tell you otherwise. Overall, a very nice experience with tasty food and drinks. Would happily return for a lunch!

We ordered: 1. 44oz Bistecca Alla Fiorentina…read more2. Lobster Diavolo - squid ink pasta, uni butter, spicy tomato sauce 3. Chocolate Cake - hazelnut praline, Nutella, caramela 4. Lemon Meringue - kalamansi curd, graham cracker 5. Beet & Burrata - fennel pistou, blood orange, arugula, grape saba 6. Grilled Asparagus - bagna cauda, cured black pepper egg yolk, garlic bread crumbs Florentine style steak had solid beef flavor, tender, and cooked medium rare for the most part. Lobster & squid ink pasta was indulgent and cooked perfectly. Chocolate Cake was moist and decadent. Lemon meringue was textbook. I'd recommend all of these items. I found the appetizer, Beet & Burrata salad, to be the only slight disappointment. Friends were happy with the flavors but I was disappointed with the very few slices and pieces of beets and arugula. Our server, Marissa, and her fellow staff were very good; attentive to our table and friendly. Classy, comfortable ambience.

We had a great experience at Fiorettas Steakhouse during our visit to Chicago. The service was…read moreexcellent from start to finish, and the drinks were well made and enjoyable. For dinner, I had the filet mignon, tableside Caesar salad, and a side of pasta. Everything was delicious, and the tableside Caesar salad added a nice touch to the overall experience. The filet was cooked perfectly and full of flavor. My friends enjoyed their meals as well. One person in our group also ordered the filet, but unfortunately it wasn't cooked as requested and wasn't as enjoyable as the rest of our dishes. Despite that, the overall experience was still very positive. Between the attentive service, great cocktails, and quality food, we had a wonderful evening and would definitely recommend giving Fiorettas Steakhouse a try.

First and foremost, our server Wes was amazing and deserves so much credit for making our…read moreexperience light and fun. 10 stars for Wes! Dining at Rose Mary is a treat. It's decorated so beautifully. Love the hanging plants. It's obviously a hot spot, yet isn't at all pretentious. I wish we could have tried every single thing on the menu, it all sounded delectable. Alas, we'd had a huge lunch so we weren't starving when dinner time arrived. My girlfriends and I shared the zucchini fritters, triangoli pasta, tuna crudo and pork ribs. All four dishes were great. But that bite of crudo was *chef's kiss*. So perfectly salty and briny and good. We had a few great cocktails to round things out. If you're visiting from out of town, I recommend prioritizing a meal at Rose Mary (they also have another location) if you're able to get a ressie!

I've been hanging around Chicago's food scene since ye olde meat-and-potatoes days (who else…read moreremembers Ronny's $1.79 steak dinners?). Hoo-ee, we've come a long way! Today, innovation layered on top of innovation makes 'normal' food seem humdrum, and that's where Rose Mary shines. Getting a prime time reservation here is like trying to nail Jello to the wall. The hack is to do it online at 12:00:01 AM exactly 30 days before the desired date; preferred time slots tend to fill up quickly. The Missus and I went for dinner on a Sunday. The décor is contemporary and exciting; even when the restaurant is crowded (which I'm told is always), you don't feel hemmed in. The fusion menu is unequivocally unique. I suppose you could call it "Crotalian." Cevapi meets cacio e pepe! Our server was professional and efficient. She knew every nuance of the menu and food prep, and was there whenever we needed something. Although the menu is not huge, there are some vegetarian-friendly items and also the kitchen offers a dairy-free menu, perfect for my cheese-averse Missus. Rose Mary encourages diners to order at least two dishes per person and share, share, share. But c'mon, our utensils were never replenished and we also had to reuse the same dinner plates for each course. We feasted on roasted pear salad, sweet potato, branzino, and pork ribs pampanella. Composed of high-quality ingredients and inventive flavor combinations, each dish blew us completely away. I particularly enjoyed the pork ribs - Italianized Texas BBQ plated in a pool of spicy sweet & sour sauce. The meat (tender but thankfully NOT 'fall-off-the-bone') had a nice crunchy char amplified by chopped walnuts. I requested the accompanying "cabbage & yogurt relish" (Greek coleslaw, I suppose) served on the side, not dolloped onto the ribs. For dessert, my Missus had chocolate gelato and I went for the cherry sorbetta. The latter's flavor was so intense and tart, it was like sucking on a raw lemon. Not my favorite. Italian-inspired coffee by Caffé Umbria was superb and rich.

This was truly the best pizza spot I've stumbled upon! My friends and I randomly found upon this…read morespot as we were walking around looking for lunch. We were intrigued by all the variations of toppings and the ability to customize how much of it we wanted. We got 4 different pizza toppings and they were all delicious! I loved how thin the crust was, yet how flavorful everything was. I wish we had it again before we left, but definitely a place I need to stop by when I come back to Chicago. The service was quick and friendly. There was some seating outside available, but many people take it to-go.

Tbh very good, love that you can get however much of whichever pizza you want, lets you try a…read morebunch! They were very yummy - especially the crispy onion and hot honey chicken, those are unmissable. The spicy eggplant pizza was also good. Would definitely return and try more kinds

Our server was excellent, the wine was delicious, and the food was incredible…read more All three antipasti we got were really really good. My favorite was the lamb ribs (abbacchio alla scottadito). The flavor was delicious, the sticky, honey-like sauce was great, and they were tender with a nice crisp. The artichoke (carciofo alla giudia) was the next best and super unexpected, though I guess it should've been expected given the name of the restaurant. Really well cooked. And the feet suppli (ragu) was also really tasty, though I didn't really taste too much beef but the rice and cheese and crispy outside were great. The pastas/pizzas were split. The gnocchetti with mushrooms was my favorite. It was creamy and a good amount of mushrooms. The carbonara was pretty good. The guanciale was the best part, with the rest of the sauce leaving a little something to be desired. The boscaiola pizza wasn't my favorite. I didn't really taste much sausage and the crunchy veggies were a little overpowering for me. The veal (vitello) was excellent. The prosciutto added the right amount of salty and and there was a bunch of sauce. The pork (maiale) wasn't my favorite. I thought the belly portion was kind of chewy - it stuck in my teeth - and I'm not the biggest fan of a really bell peppery salsa verde. We got the asparagus die which was creamy and mushroomy and I really liked! We finished with a tiramisu which was really big and great!

Stopped here for a Sunday night dinner while staying in the Chicago area…read more The menu looked good for the most part so we booked it. There were plenty of reservations so I figured the place had a variety of seating options and was large. Both were the case. Large place with clean designs and dark accents, Things started out with weird energy from the hostess station when we checked in. There were two girls there - one smaller and darker hair who was nice and friendly, and the other a blondish haired girl who gave off some incredible "what are you doing here" energy asking if we had a reservation. She genuinely looked disappointed when I said we did and gave our name. Really weird. Anyway - we were sat at our table and an army of guys came and switched out glasses, gave refills, and plates etc. However, our waitress was there for the ordering, then at the very end. A manager type came to get our refills which took forever and in one instance came all the way from the bar dropped off by the bartender (it was an iced tea) We started with one of the four pizzas that had little to no normalcy in terms of ingredients. We ordered the mortadella which came with fennel sausage, (over the top name for broccoli rabe), and cheese. Main issue with this was the broccoli rabe on it also included the stalks. Had to pick those off bc they were inedible. For my entree I ordered the rigatoni carbonara which was outstanding - really liked the silky consistency of the sauce- a lot of times carbonara sauces get gritty and separate. This place did it right. The [bacon] was crispy yet tender. For dessert, I got the pistachio cream cake. It was ok. Overall, it was ok. The entree saved things, if I were to return I would hope to see our waitress more, not have to wait for a refill to come all way from the front of the house by the bartender, and to not have the hostess treat me like I didn't belong immediately walking in the door. I would seriously recommend relocating that person to another department in the business.

This place was a vibe! A first time for me, I attended a private event here and thought it to be…read moresuch an interesting venue to host a big seated dinner. Very unassuming, considering it's just your good ol' neighborhood butcher shop / market by day. Off the bat you can tell they carry clean, wholesome products. The shelves and fridges are stacked with the likes of fresh meat cuts, house-made sauces, cheese, jams, pickled goods... the list goes on. I can only imagine their deli sandwich are incredible. I'll have to return to order from their regular cafe next time I'm in town. The event however, wow very well done and the menu was stacked. Their sweet staff kept bringing out family-style dishes and I didn't have a single bite that wasn't delicious. From the butcher's steak to the mussels and everything in between. Oh and the night finished with some kind of apple/cranberry pot pie situation. Wow. Oh and plenty of wine and cocktail options here too! Like plentyyyy. Keeping this place on my radar for when I'm next in the city. Thanks for having us!

I wanted to like publican, but overall thought it was just okay. The portions are quite large, but…read moreis missing the finishing touches that are thoughtful to the customer. For example with my mussels, rather than this large chunk of baguette, I wouldn't preferred it pre-sliced. We went on a busy Saturday night and it was popping in here for sure. However because it was so busy, my table ended up being neglected and our waitress was impossible to flag down. In terms of vibes, it seems like a pretty cool place to be. I liked the chairs and then the little booths seem like a fun time. I was also a big fan of the bathroom sink. Overall, Publican was a fine time, and even better time if you're looking for meat forward dishes.

Last night, after a genuinely frustrating experience elsewhere, I walked into Bar Siena not…read moreexpecting much (if anything), just hoping for a reset. When I asked about the wait time, the host joked that it was two hours. Under normal circumstances, I would have laughed and played along. Given what had just happened minutes earlier, it did not quite land... but to their credit, the moment I explained the situation, everything shifted. They sat me promptly and turned what could have been a lingering bad night into a completely different experience. Julio, my server, set the tone immediately. Julio was professional, attentive, and generous. He brought out meatballs on the house, which were excellent. I ordered calamari, rigatoni alla vodka with shrimp, and what I believe was a chocolate torte for dessert (also on the house, which I was not expecting). Everything was spot on. The rigatoni in particular stood out. It was made in house and had the kind of texture and quality you notice right away. The Manager (Lance) also stopped by, having been present when I explained what had happened earlier. That kind of awareness and follow-through matters more than people realize. It what separates a place that serves food from a place that understands hospitality. By the time I was finishing dessert, I found myself watching pizzas go out to nearby tables and immediately reconsidering my menu choices for the evening. That's usually a good sign. The host who initially joked about the wait time also came by at the end of my meal. She was polite, thoughtful, and clearly intentional about making sure the experience landed well. I appreciated this gesture. When the bill came, I asked what the total would have been without the discounts and complimentary items. Once I had that number, I tipped Julio the difference. It felt like the only appropriate way to reflect the level of service and generosity I received. I'll be back (for the pizza). Overall: Food (yes) Service (yes) Ambiance (yes)

(Kari's Rating 8/10)…read more TLDR: -Attentive Staff -Smaller portion sizes -Dark atmosphere Came here on a weekday with a friend and had a reservation for Monday at 7:30pm. We had to wait a little bit for a table so we sat at the bar because my friend and I aren't drinkers. We just had glasses of water while we waited for our table. Once we got seated, our server took our order relatively quickly and we ordered the House made for Kasha with a goat cheese and honey topping, the grilled octopus appetizer, and because we were enjoying our conversation so much we ended up just skipping Wright to dessert and ordering the gooey butter cake. For a light meal, this was relatively satisfactory. Our server said they come to the octopus because we waited so long, so it was nice that the staff was acknowledging that we waited a little bit for our table and we're willing to compensate us. As someone who lives in the river north area, I have actually been here, probably a dozen times, and it's always a good little spot but a little bit pricey for what you're getting. I would still probably come back with some friends, but I wouldn't go on my way to come here if I was bringing people off from out of town.

Everything about this place was amazing! The service, the food, the ambience; everything was a…read moresolid 10 out of 10. My vodka sauce parm sandwich just melted in my mouth. It was so fresh and so comforting. Truly, I will be coming back to this place again in the future. This place is definitely not recognized enough for having it all. Well, only one small complaint about the cannolis. We were little disappointed that it wasn't filled all the way through, however, the texture and favor were great. Still would give this place a 10 out of 10! :)

Tl;dr everything is served to-go and I'd go for the thicker noodles and heavier flavors like the…read morewhite sauces. ===== Stopped by and tried the cavatelli florentina and the pappardelle bolognese with mushrooms. Even though we selected "dine in" on the tablet, everything came packaged up and in a bag with plastic utensils, which was sad. Hopefully one day they embrace reusable cutlery and tableware. Or at least don't ask a question when the answer is ignored. The pappardelle was extremely disappointing. Noodles were too soft and the sauce was very bland. Since the pasta is in a takeout container, the problem is exacerbated for the noodles at the bottom since they can't air out at all. Would not order this again. In comparison the cavatelli was a flavor bomb. Very garlicky and good amount of sun dried tomato, and just miles above the pappardelle in the flavor department. Texture of the cavatelli was better too, and much closer to al dente. Chicken seemed a teeny bit old and tough. If I came back, I'd probably order this again, or a different white sauce, with thicker pasta shapes. The inside is pretty nice with a good number of 4-seater tables and some bar seating facing the window. They also had some interesting sandwich and dessert options I didn't try. I appreciated the self-serve water. This is a very casual restaurant, so do not expect any table service. Maybe this is on roughly the same level or a little lower as the Vapiano's that used to be in Chicago (food-wise, loses ambiance-wise) if you order right, but it's definitely not as good as the Vapiano's in Europe. At least, not currently. Very convenient location right by the Morgan green line. Would I visit again? Hard to say.

Everything we ordered was delicious!…read more I hosted my visiting colleagues for dinner here. The ambience was great and intimate, and we didn't have to yell to be held. Always a plus! Service was attentive enough - not overbearing while not feeling ignored. We started with the salmon crudo, octopus, and baby beets to share. The first two were amazing. I'm not big on beets in general, so I could have done without the third appetizer, but they enjoyed it. My entree was the spaghetti à la chitarra. It was good. My colleagues had chicken sandwiches and a burger. We shared all 3 dinner sides: carrots, potatoes and broccoli. I'd have all 3 again. I had a warm, spiked drink. I can't remember the name of it...maybe a cider (in May), that I very much enjoyed.

Food was just fine here. I ordered the salmon crudo for a light dinner before going out with…read morefriends. The salmon itself tasted great, but I thought the puffed rice was too oily and took away from the fish. Given the price point, I expected better quality. Service was quick though and I did enjoy my espresso martinis.

This mini grocery was my father's favorite store because of a different variety of liquor including…read morewine and beer. The liquor shelves were fully stocked and organized well. They also have fresh veggies and fruits. Also if you're looking for a good quality and local coffee Garden Gourmet has.  I bought four bottles of different kinds of wine and a dozen of beer that I will give to my father. He also asked me to buy him a Montrose because he hasn't tasted it yet. And I'm sure he loves it because the owner of the mini store described to me what it tastes like. Owner also recommended the Rose wine Underwood and I bought also this.  And also if you are looking to cater your party they have a service. You can see the photos of their food in their business photos. I highly recommend this mini grocery if you're looking for a different variety of liquor.

One might wonder how does a market almost a block away compete with the Jewel grocery, but it does…read morein so many ways. First when I walk in I do feel transported to a market that I might wander into Smyth travels. It has a little bit of everything along with quality products, and during a time like the pandemic one can appreciate it even more for all the clutch things you need. I appreciate the variety and the staff is helpful without being overbearing. Prices are reasonable.