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    Ovvio Italian Taverna

    3.9 (88 reviews)
    Closed • 11:00 am - 9:30 pm
    Updated 1 month ago

    Ovvio Italian Taverna Photos

    OVVIO ITALIAN TAVERNA ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Outdoor seating
    Dogs allowed

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    Recommended Reviews - Ovvio Italian Taverna

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    Inside
    Munsanje M.

    These place has been on my list forever! I've seen mixed reviews so I'm glad I came to try it out myself. The service was phenomenal, he recommended the calamari and the caesar salad. Both were SO good! If I was rating on the apps alone, it would be 100/10 but the pastas weren't the best. The noodles were cooked perfectly al dente but the malfadine lacked flavor but overall enjoyed the shrimp scampi the best. Not your typical scampi but still delicious! They were able to seat us without a reservation which was nice and the space alone is gorgeous and huge. Will definitely be back for a drink and some apps!

    Karyn M.

    I met some friends at Ovvio Italian Taverna. It's on a busy stretch of Waukegan and the small lot is valet parking only. It's a beautiful restaurant (my friend said it used to be a garage). We split some grilled bread with fig jam, whipped ricotta and olive oil and also shared some fried zucca chips. We also had salads, and I enjoyed my Ovvio Chopped salad which was generously portioned with soppressata, provolone, peppadew (love peppadew!). I'll have to come back for the homemade pasta (gluten free upon request). The staff was so accommodating and friendly, considering the restaurant quickly filled up and we were still lingering.

    Cesear
    Hannah H.

    R came here to celebrate my sisters birthday and we all walked away super impressed. First off, the vibes here are 10/10. The service is also really great and they have a ton of people working. We started with the bread which was to die for. Everyone loved their meals so much, especially the truffle pizza! I can't wait to go back.

    Butter can was just a dry plain cake
    Ari R.

    Was excited to try this place for my bday dinner. Loved the vibe but it was so extremely loud you had to yell to hear and we were sitting against the window. Taste was decent but not the best. Mozzarella log - best thing we had by far. Super crispy and cheesy, it was amazing. Only thing is we didn't love the sauce. It's sugary and sweet without any texture. Fennel arugula salad - was all arugula , no topping. Like literally 4-5 small shaved fennel pieces, a couple grapes, little nuts, Gorgonzola cheese, and they forgot the apple. It was all lettuce, barely any topping, and therefore flavorless. Plus they forgot the apple which they layer helped rectify but the whole salad was a disappointment. Sausage vodka sauce pasta - I expected more. Very minimal sauce (and it was sweet sugary sauce we didn't like), only a few chunks of sausage, and almost no cheese. Sauce is the texture of canned tomato soup, thin and watery. It was nothing special at all, it felt skimpy. Expensive for the small portion. Branzino - sooo salty! My mom can't have added salt and she couldn't even eat this. My dad and I also found it extremely salty to the point it wasn't as enjoyed. Expensive for a small piece that comes with no sides and nothing else at all. Twice baked gnocchi - loved the cheesiness of it! The gnocchi itself though was super firm and hard, not the soft and fluffy kind I would have expected and better enjoyed Butter cake - questionable. I've had many warm delicious butter cakes, but this was very sub par. Dry, barely warm, and no flavor. No crisp edge and buttery bottom either and the scoop of ice cream was skimpy as well.

    bunny-hopper
    Nazia C.

    I came with my family over Easter weekend. When we arrived, the parking lot was empty but all the spots were blocked with cones. The valet told us we couldn't park in their lot and that we could only use valet or park on the street. Free street parking was easy to find at that time but it wasn't a great first impression of the restaurant. The interior is very nice. We had a reservation so we were seated right away. Our waiter was great. I ordered from the special Easter menu while my kids ordered from their children's menu. The lamb shank was good. I'm not a big fan of risotto anyway but I ate the lamb. I had the bunny-hopper drink drink. My daughter's steak was cooked perfectly. My husband really liked the seafood dish he ordered along with a mocktail. Also, it was only after talking with the waiter we found out that valet parking is free - the valet guy never told us it was free valet.

    Grilled bread jam and hummus
    Richard Y.

    We so enjoyed our first visit and couples dinner here! The ambiance is lively and modern. We were seated for our reservation right away. The menu is packed with great choices including lots of cocktails. We started with the grilled bread, jam and hummus with calamari-- both were excellent-- the calamari was fried perfectly and not very oily with a nice coacktail sauce. We enjoyed our entrees of chicken piccata, shrimp scampi, and salmon entree. All the food came out warm and our scampi pasta was steaming hot. It all looked as good as it tasted! We appreciated the managers/ owners stopping by to make sure everything was great too. The table service was spot on with water refills and plates cleared without asking. It's so great to have a solid Italian option so close by-- Squisito!

    Martha K.

    This new restaurant is great! We had their pasta alla vodka and the honey pizza. They were both amazing! The service was very quick and our server was pretty nice. The interior is very pretty and half of the restaurant is in bar style. Pretty cool. I will be coming back here. Only thing is the parking is valet only and if u dont want to pay/the valet is full, you have to park somewhere else in the neighborhood and walk

    Bucatini Carbonara
    Joy C.

    My kids and I have been looking forward for Ovvio's opening. The lot has been empty for several years, after the dry cleaning business closed. My son and I made reservations for dinner, a week after they opened. We were not impressed with the food that we've tried on our initial visit, so I thought of giving it another try. I came back with both my kids after a couple of weeks for dinner. For both visits, I've tried: Hand Cut Truffle Fries, Calamari Fritti, Rigatoni Al Pesto Ross, Filet Spiedini, Pappardelle Short Rib Bolognese, Maine Lobster Ravioli, Bucatini Carbonara, and the Italian Wagyu Meatballs. The only dishes I (we) liked were the Calamari, Fries and the Meatballs. Everything else was bland. We tried adding salt, mixing sauce or sides from the other dishes, just to add flavor to our dishes.. it was disappointing. The service was friendly and efficient. I've noticed that on both visits, our servers would have to look at the menu and asked us to point at the dish that we were trying to order. It gave the impression that they were not fully familiar with the items on the menu. The cocktails are good, and the interior is neat. Parking is basically valet only, unless you find parking spots on the residential streets. If ever I visit again, I hope the food will be more flavorful and enjoyable. I am glad that there is a new restaurant that is conveniently located near my kids' place. I highly suggest making reservations online because the place gets really busy.

    Arugula and grape salad
    Pooja P.

    I was really excited to try Ovvio Italian Taverna since it's new in Glenview and so close to home. Unfortunately, the experience was pretty underwhelming. We went during a late lunch / early dinner time. It wasn't busy, yet the service was still very slow, and everything took much longer than expected. Parking was also a bit frustrating. Even at that off-peak time, the lot is quite small and it took a while to find a spot. I can only imagine how difficult it might be during prime lunch or dinner hours. The roasted Brussels sprouts had good flavor, but they weren't crispy and ended up a bit soggy. I ordered the Mezze Lumache alla Vodka, which was the biggest disappointment. The sauce tasted like plain marinara rather than a creamy vodka sauce. The arugula and grape salad was fresh and good, just very basic. Nothing particularly memorable. The highlight of the meal was definitely Nonna's chocolate hazelnut cake. It was good and a very generous portion. My friends also tried the calamari, Marsala chicken, and Wagyu meatballs. The calamari was probably the best dish of the night. The meatballs, however, were not good and ended up being sent back. Overall, not a terrible experience, but not somewhere I'd personally go back to. Hoping things improve as they settle in.

    Tricia D.

    I like... the dark, elegant interior. Very downtown Chicago-esque environment. Kiddos liked that the kids' menu came with a scoop of vanilla or chocolate gelato, LOL. Serving size and value for pasta entrees was very good. Husband enjoyed his carbonara. The noodles in my short rib bolognese dish were fresh; meat sauce was a little salty. Cheese log appetizer was satisfying, hot, and crispy. We liked the option of the classic butter cake on the dessert menu, but it was very average and served with stringy caramel sauce. I wish... the parking lot was bigger and that valet isn't the default option. Just my personal preference. Also wish that the bread and ricotta appetizer wasn't served with burnt bread. It was supposed to be grilled, so that was off putting to start out the meal. I wonder... if service is usually hit or miss. Our waiter was hard to get a hold of.

    This shows my stuffed olives, and the "deli skewer." The deli skewer olive is smaller than the stuffed ones, but hard to tell here.
    Ann M.

    I feel like Ovvio will get to five stars from me soon, but there were a few little things that bumped it down a notch. tldr: The food was great, several other things were weird. First, as we pulled in, we looked as we usually do for a handicapped spot. As we pulled in, we noticed the two two handicapped spots on the right were already taken, but a regular spot next to them was open and unmarked, so I pulled in. There were also spots that were marked with cones, so I figured those were for valet. No worries, our spot was right outside the door, easily close enough for me to "cane" in. As soon as I pulled in, a valet came up to my door and gestured at me. I explained that no, we didn't need valet since we would normally have taken a handicapped spot, but since those were full, we'd parked here, thanks. He seemed a bit bothered, and only very reluctantly walked away. This experience was awkward, really quite uncomfortable, and a bit confusing. Once inside, everything was smooth. Our reservation was found, and the request I'd included for half-booth seating was enthusiastically accommodated. Our table was in what I gathered was the main dining room, and it was very nice. Our food was wonderful -- We decided to try a couple small plates and a pizza to get a good cross-section of what they offer. We figured we'd try the pasta the next time. We chose the Sausage Arancini and the Vito Sliders. Both were excellent -- the sliders were bursting with flavor, and while the arancini was a bit bland unto itself, the pomodoro zipped it up amazingly. The sliders arrived with some large fries that kind of resembled mini, peeled potato skins. I decided that was too much since we still had pizza coming, so I took those home and had them the next day topped with olive tapenade -- delish! We also each ordered a cocktail. My husband had the Glentucky, and I had the Antipasto Martini. My drink was described as coming with a "cured olive, and deli skewer." Since another martini was described as coming with blue cheese stuffed olives, I asked our server if I could substitute a blue cheese olive for the cured one. She ran to check (telling us she was brand new so didn't want to tell us incorrectly without checking -- perfectly fine with us!), came back, and said sure. When my cocktail arrived, it had two blue cheese stuff olives, but was missing the "deli skewer." I didn't notice this until she'd walked away, so I waited a minute until she came back by and asked her about it. She explained that she'd decided that rather than substituting one olive for the other, as I'd asked, that she'd just substitute the whole garnish for the olives. (??) I was disappointed, and mentioned I'd also love to have the skewer, even if there'd be an upcharge. She said this wasn't necessary, disappeared, and came back with the "deli skewer" on a plate. See the photos -- it still had the cured olive on it, which was fine, but the "deli" part was a tiny square of cheese and piece of sausage on a toothpick, each about the size of my index fingernail. I guess I was expecting something a bit (lot) more substantial since it was specifically mentioned in the menu? We'd asked that the small plates be brought out first, and that the pizza not arrive until after we'd finished those. This was handled very well! At some point a manager stopped by (I think it was before the "deli skewer" arrived, because I didn't mention that to her, as I think I would have if I'd already seen it. I did mention the parking lot discomfort, to which she replied, "I'll check, but they were probably just doing their jobs," and "The valet parking is free," as if this excused everything. Free, sure, but there was no need, and I always tip valets, so "free" isn't really free. She just seemed a bit dismissive, which kind of surprised me. A simple, "Oh, I'm sorry, I'll mention it to them so we can avoid that in the future," would have been great. Our pizza arrived on schedule, and was delicious. I love white pizzas, and was thrilled to see they had several on their menu. We selected the Meat+Cheese one. It was just as advertised, New York style (thin, bendy crust), and was the closest to authentic Italian pizza I've had in the States. Definitely five stars here. My husband was kind of lukewarm to it, but he's more of a deep dish or cracker thin kinda guy. I'm the foodie in the family, and he's more the "I would have just had the spaghetti" kind of guy. (These were his words to me when I suggested what we could order.) We each had another cocktail and skipped dessert. (Too full -- next time!) I also had to wait when the same manager was using the handicapped stall in the women's restroom, which surprised me. There were only two stalls, and she dismissed me sharply with "the other one was occupied," even though there wasn't anyone else in sight. Something to ponder. Overall we liked it and will be back, and we're hoping those little bumps have been smoothed out by then!

    Farah A.

    First time at Ovvio and the food was really good. The food, service, and vibe was a 10/10! We had the margarita pizza, calamari, zucci chips, pastas and build your own pizza. Every dish was delicious. The pizzas are a hit. I would definitely come back here again. They offer valet so that is really convenient.

    Marianne P.

    First time dining at this location. We went for a lunch on Saturday. Walking in, the restaurant was actually very nice. Our server was great in the beginning but wasn't around when we wanted to check out. Two of us had the spaghetti and meatballs and two others had the bolognese. The meals were good but not worth $30 each for lunch. They should offer a lunch special. Once people started to arrive, it gets really loud. I can't imagine what it is like in the evening when all tables are filled. Because our server didn't come around, we weren't invited to take a look at a dessert menu. That was disappointing. For us, we tried it and we aren't interested in returning. I might have given four stars if a dessert menu was available.

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    We had a wonderful evening - great service and ambiance- - food good but it was really about feeling welcomed

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    We had dinner at Ovvio and thought the food, atmosphere and service were excellent. Highly recommend!

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    Wow! This is a truly must-see spot with beautiful decor, attentive staff, and delicious food.

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    Ask the Community - Ovvio Italian Taverna

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    Hate having to write this…read more First off, lovely spot on the golf course. Nice enough menu. Really rough night for the restaurant. Must say that the team of servers was absolutely fabulous under dreadful circumstances. Apparently, a graduation party that they were hosting outside had 160 people show vs the plan of 80. Crushed them. Was also a nice night, so suspect they had a lot of walk ins (we had a reservation). Net result was ugly. What should have been about an 45-60 minute long dinner was more than twice that. Servers and kitchen were slammed. Sigh. Too long waits for drinks, salads, and entrees. Like...really long. One entree (steak) came out cold and we (with profound apologies) asked that it go back and be taken off the bill. In fairness, the other three entrees (orichiette, eggplant parm, and check parm) were good and more than ample in size, as was the large salad (enough for four, as our excellent if stressed server advised us). When the bill came ... literally more than two hours after we were seated... I notified the team that they seem to have left a round of drinks off of our tab. I expected that the answer would be " we're sorry for the challenges tonight ... that round is on us." It wasn't. They dutifully prepared a second tab, with a good natured but ill-timed "we're generous but not THAT generous." We left a generous tip on both the main tab and the drinks-that-should-have-been-comped tab. Again, I feel awful for the team working that night who did their very best. But might have been handled way better. Would have been a good call to tell the tables who were waiting about their challenges ... to manage expectations. And yes, I'd have expected a gesture like "we'll buy you a round" for a pretty disastrous dinner. Great setting though. Nice though menu. And again, fabulous team. Sick that they were in such a bad situation.

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    3.5 stars Went with…read morea very large group recently. It was only alright. Fried zucchini app - the breading had mostly fallen off by the time it got to us so we were just eating zucchini which was mushy and wet. I'm guessing the moistness of the zucchini is why the breading didn't stay on but I dont know. Eggplant appetizer - this was fine Branzino special - good fish but they ran out of polenta and everyone was disappointed since a bunch of people in our group ordered it. Most ended up w a side of spaghetti that didn't have enough sauce and one got mashed potatoes that he said were bland. Tortellini special - overcooked, making the noodles too soft. Not enough sauce either Service - excellent

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