Al Primo Canto

I ate here for Valentine’s Day. My boyfriend and I got the all you can eat. The food was pretty good. He especially liked the mushroom past and got seconds. I did not like how narrow the restaurant was. The tables were SO close together that we could easily overhear the conversation of the couple next to us. Additionally, we were seated next to the bar. The bar was packed with people waiting to be seated. People were standing right next to our table, listening to our convo and watching us eat. So much for a romantic dinner!

Ordered all you can eat.
Would not recommend. The over priced restaurant.

Made reservations. Came in, sat down, looked very nice and cozy. Ordered appetizers. Never got them! Ordered rear. got well done meat! Instead of mashed potatoes we got baked potatoes. Muslim girl orders beef, gets pork in questions.
We ordered a bottle of wine and the cork fee is $ 10.00. Sharing desert increases it’s price!
We brought in a coupon from
, it was never applied, waitress was nice but totally misinformed. Ended up paying almost $ 140.00 for dinner of 3 and a split desert… +tip of course, but got yelled at by the management because of questioning charges on the receipt!
This is not a place any of us would visit again…

I went with my girlfriend at ~730 on a Sunday night and we were literally the only customers. I thought we’ be kind of rushed etc and just wasn’t very optimistic, but everything was great.
The food was very good. The lamb was excellent as was the chicken. The beef was pretty good. The pão de queijo was not the best I have ever had but it was pretty good. The pasta would be sub par if it was my main dish in but as a quick bite with three different sauces on standard overcooked spaghetti worked fine as well. I got a caipirinha which I didn’t think was the best. I think they don’t have any of the Brazilian beers I wanted but I haven’t seen any of them anywhere in the US anyways.
I could see that its a bit confusing having this mixture of Italian and Portuguese terms on the menu (name of restaurant is Italian) but it really did remind me of southern Brazil. I don’t really see why it’s not more popular.

I felt like I was secretly being filmed for an episode of Kitchen Nightmares with Chef Gordon Ramsay during my first dining experience at Al Primo Canto this past weekend!!! WTF was going on in that kitchen???
This place really deserves 1 star, BUT the bartender and wait staff at this place deserves 5 stars… so I am compromising and giving Al Primo Canto 2 stars.
Let me take you through our evening… you are now entering The Twilight Zone!!! We got to the restaurant at 7:00 pm, a full hour before our reservations to grab a drink at the bar and relax before our party of 8 fully arrived. This was Valentine’s Day weekend and we had initially been concerned that a restaurant could accomodate a party of 8 only days before Valentine’s Day weekend, but the place was packed. Marcello (I hope I spelled that corerctly.), was the bartender… the bartender… the only bartender… for the bar and entire restaurant!!! He was busy!!! However, he was also amazing and super duper friendly!!! I would have to say that Marcello was the bright point to our experience here. His drinks are delicious and nicely strong!!!
Now begins the slow decent into hell. Our party arrived in full and we were seated at the front of the restaurant… right beside the door… it was 30 degrees outside and every time someone opened the door we were freezing. Some of our party even ate with their coats on. We ordered multiple appetizers and I will say that I thought that all of the bad reviews I had read about the food here were bogus… the appetizers were actually pretty tasty. We then ordered our entrees. Most of our party ordered the pork or beef tenderloins and I ordered a trio dish that had a fish (Mahi I think) and scallops and shrimp. While waiting for the entrees, we feasted on the baskets of bread that included pita bread and cheesy bread balls. also very tasty. The entrees arrive… all of the entrees except for my fish. OK… no biggy. We are all friends with manners so everyone waited for about 4 minutes to begin their meals so that I could enjoy with them. I finally told everyone just to go ahead and begin and not to worry. I asked the waiter if my fish was coming…“Yes, yes, give me 2 minutes.”. OK… no worries. One person cut into his beef and could barely cut through it because it was so tough… he had ordered medium rare… this was far from it!!! He sent it back and he was given a new dish about 5 minutes later… my fish had still not arrived!!! Are you kidding me??? Getting a little impatient at this point. I asked again about my dish…“It will be right out… very sorry.” So, people are finishing up their meals… finishing up… my food finally arrives. WORST MEAL EVER!!! My fish was almost raw in the middle and bizarrely overcooked on the outter edges. The scallops were gelatinous. However, my 3 shrimp were delicious!!! Thank God for those 3 little shrimp because that was my dinner!!! I am sooo not a food sender backer, but this was bad. I complained and we demanded to not be charged for it. Let me say, however, that I had a full view of the kitchen and entire restaurant during this fiasco and I could see our waiter Luiz running around like crazy trying to take care of everything. He really was trying to help us out and make up for whatever was going on in that kitchen!!! So, thank you for your effort Luiz!!! At the end of this meal, I noticed a man walking around in a suit and speaking to our waiter, etc. I determined that this must be the manager. We waited for him to come address our table… never did. I went to the restroom (nice and clean) and as I was returning I noticed this man and our waiter at the bar speaking. I interrupted them and introduced myself to this man and let him know that we were not upset with Luiz, but we were very upset with the meal and the experience. He apologized, told me his name was Dino and offered to buy a round of drinks for the table. However, Dino NEVER came over to our table in person to apologize.
The restaurant did try to make good on this horrible evening. They admitted they were just so overwhelmed with the crowd that night, they did buy us drinks and they also either took 2 of our meals off or gave us a discount. This place just perplexes me. How can you have just a fantastic staff in the front of the house and then such bad staff elsewhere… I don’t get it!!!
Oh, almost forgot… the valet never came for one of our party member’s cars so his car sat in front of the restaurant with its flashers on for 3 hours. The restaurant was made aware of it, but nothing was ever done. Somehow, the flashers being on for 3 straight hours drained the battery (???) and the car would not start. Marcello, the awesome bartender, came running to our rescue!!! He brought his own car around and jumped our friend’s car… all while still bartending!!! Who does that??? As I told you that night, we love you Marcello!!!
Will we be back?

Ladies, let me fill you in on a little secret. All those attributes you want in a man that you have listed in a top secret document in Microsoft Word, can be found in the sizzling Brazilian waiters at Al Primo Canto. That’s right. Click ‘Print’ and whip out that Sharpie. Now let’s read along together and check off each item:
1. Attentive
2. Listens
3. Assertive
4. Takes charge
5. Educated
6. Has your best interests at heart
7. Knows how to pour a mean glass of ale
8. Knows good food
9. Sweet demeanor
10. Super hot.
My yummy waiter fulfilled each of these ‘musts’ that I need in a man… I mean a server… Unfortunately I had to experience this perfect man while out to dinner with my fiancé, who found no humor in the several hisses I made at him throughout our dinner, «Why can’t you take charge like that??» «You could learn a lot from that guy!!» Terrible, aren’t I? It isn’t my fault really. Miracle Men like these are no more than pipe dreams to ladies. So when we actually meet one of these mystical men, we tend to forget our manners.
I’ll explain how I found Miracle Man. We had YouSwoops to the restaurant for the all-​you-​can-​eat dinners. However I wasn’t ravenous, like I should have been, but my fiancé was. My server asks me what I’m leaning towards, I tell him, and he promptly whisks both our menus away and says, «I know exactly what you need. Leave everything to me, I’ll take care of you.» Now tell me that didn’t excite you just a little. It did, didn’t it? Within minutes, the first course on the all-​you-​can-​eat menu is served and our waiter is back to tell us we are to share everything brought for my fiancé, and that he has a delectable fish entrée coming out just for me. Swoon! Thank you, Miracle Man!
I was able to try everything I wanted from my fiancé’s giant trough of goodies, like braised polenta with parmesan, grilled veggies and three types of pasta, and still enjoy an amazing cut of sea bass and accouterments.
Ladies, do yourself a favor, and go meet Miracle Man.

This was just terrible.
We waited 10 minutes after sitting down before our drink orders were taken. The cuba libre (which the waiter insisted meant Coke + rum + soda … but we agreed to disagree and told him she intended to order Coke + rum + lime c.f.
) was terribly mixed. Not an auspicious start, but we were hungry and the options looked good so we were still hopeful.
We ordered:
Two bruschettas: mediocre bread with cold toppings. Decently flavored, but poor presentation.
Gelato Al Primo Canto: This chicken dish was cooked well but incredibly bland. The potatoes it came with were lukewarm by the time they got to us and a little undercooked at that. It also came with an assortment of vegetables that looked (and tasted) like it came out of a mixed vegetable freezer bag.
Porco a Bluemenu: Well cooked pork, okay flavor, probably the best dish any of us got.
Churrasco: bland beef.
One All You Can Eat assortment: The only item he thought stood out was the lamb and even then it was light praise.
The best part of the service was that our water glasses were constantly full. So we left hydrated. Even with a $ 50 coupon, we spent $ 80 for four people for food that was at par with Chili’s. Mediocre food, poor service AND high prices? There’s too many excellent places in Chicago to waste time and money here.

I took a client here for dinner this evening. As a local political figure, he gets to eat at some of the nicest places in the region. So, when he very emphatically stated after we left that it was one of the best meals he has ever had in Chicago, it was a compliment of the highest order.
Service was unobtrusive, but very warm, efficient, and thoughtful. The staff has mastered the rare art of knowing how to keep service flowing while remaining almost invisible save for just enough personalization to make you feel as welcome as if it were a neighborhood hang out.
The food was outstanding. The chef clearly favors hearty flavors, simple seasoning and precision kitchen skills. Vegetables were cooked perfectly al dente. Meats were tender, with a perfect sear on the outside which rendered the insides positively juicy and extraordinarily flavorful without need for sauces, etc. Meat prep like this is an art unto itself as it takes a deft hand and palette to coax such seemingly simple materials into such memorable entrees.
According to friends in the know about Brazilian cuisine, Al Primo Canto is the real deal. While I can’t speak to that from first hand experience, I can say that a visit here offers more sophisticated foodie palates something exceedingly more distinctive than the protein-​to-​stomach-​pump, big chain Brazilian steakhouse fare. From the unique drink menu to the authentic desserts and all things savory in between, Al Primo Canto delivers a dining experience that is loaded with terrific ambiance, texture, and fine tuned flavors.

I am really surprised by the negative reviews. My friends and I had an amazing time here. Great location. Impeccable service from the moment we walked in the door. Extremely attentive wait staff without fail. Great value (friend had $ 30 Groupon I believe). Drinks were fresh and not overly sweet.
The 6 of us all did the unlimited option. I’m not going to repeat other reviews and list all the courses, but out of every round there was at least one dish that made me stop and say, Oh my gah. I am almost always satisfied at ‘comfortably full’ but I knew from from the first course there was no way I was going to leave without thinking, What have I done? 100% worth it.

Great place! We received excellent and attentive service from Gerardo. After reading online reviews that were one extreme or the other, I was curious to try Al Primo Canto. My friend & I decided if it was bad, we’d have a good adventure to laugh about later but if it was good, we’d have a new little spot (and with a $ 25
certificate @ 70% off, a real deal). We were pleasantly surprised to have a wonderful meal. We opted for the «all you can eat» and found most selections delightful. We tasted but didn’t finish the pasta course– nothing special & we didn’t want to fill up on starch. The cheesey puffs were yummy, the dip tasty, beef & lamb were very good, green beans nicely done, and the chicken was SUPERB. We also enjoyed the salad and polenta. It was a very nice, well balanced meal.
We will be going back w/​out more
certificates. It was a wonderful little place– cozy & intimate but not too dark & small. The entire staff was friendly & polite and seemed genuinely interested in making sure we had a positive experience. We got there right at opening time on a Saturday night but it still was not crowded by the time we left 2 hrs. later. Hopefully, it will remain successful enough to stay in business.

This place is amazing! I ordered the Porco A Blumenau, pork tenderloins with mashed potatoes and asparagus, and it was fantastic. I almost never order pork, but the waiter recommended it and he was right. It was cooked perfect, and I was happy it came in big portions — so good. My friend got the fish, and while I don’t like fish, it still looked really good.
The décor is nice, very modern and hip. The service was excellent, helpful and polite. It struck the right balance between being attentive and being annoying. Overall, it was a great experience. I’m definitely coming back.

Everything about this place was just ok. The food was ok. The atmosphere was ok. The price, not really worth it. You do get a lot of food and it’s decent food but for $ 5 more per person, you could go to Brazzaz and get a meal that’s 10x better.
Nothing wrong with Al Primo, but nothing overly right either.

What a great spot. I went with a Groupon and will definitely be back without one. This is not another quantity Brazilian steakhouse. This is pure quality and more than enough to go around. ½ price bottles of wine on Mondays!
As I review the other reviews, it just goes to show you that if you have one bad experience, you will tell twelve people. If you have a good experience, you’re likely to tell no one.

My husband and I went last night to use a LivingSocial deal for $ 40 worth of food. Thank goodness we weren’t there for full price. Bland food and crappy service.
I found it odd that when we were seated we were just given drink menus. Our server showed up about 3 minutes later with the food menus, gave the mini spiel about the all-​you-​can-​eat (including informing us that you can’t take anything home– duh), but no mention of specials. We heard the other server in our section tell another table specials, which we would have appreciated.
Our food came and it was incredibly blah. I ordered the gnocchi caprese– the gnocchi was packed tightly, not nice and soft like it should be. And the sauce really lacked in flavor. I had about half of it and declined to bring the rest home. My husband ordered the rigatoni with sausage and tomato cream sauce. It was better than mine, but not by much.
We also got an order of the fried polenta, which was passable. My husband bit into what looked like a shard of a plate in the polenta. When our server did come to check on us, we showed him the shard, and he took it back to the kitchen. But took his sweet time coming back. He finally arrived, by which time my husband had bitten into another hard thing– this one looked like a small piece of bone– from his rigatoni. Server took this piece back to the manager, who probably took another 10 minutes to come over. He told us it wasn’t a plate, then offered us free dessert. We declined, so he said he’d take 20% off our bill. Really? No comping? And no apology? Seriously, this guy didn’t say «I’m sorry, what can I do?» It was just «do you want dessert?» Of course not. God knows what else we’ll bite into– I have no faith in your kitchen.
This screwed everything up with our LivingSocial since it brought our total back below the $ 40 we were trying to use up. It took probably 15 minutes for them to figure out our bill. We paid the tax due in cash and left.
We will not be returning.

Two main things to cover in this review — first, the food, then, the service. The punchline is, despite the ok tasting food, we will never come back to this place again.
The food isn’t bad at all. Our birthday party of 10 people came here on a busy Friday night and orderd the all you can eat option. The menu has a nice selection of apps, salad, pasta, and grilled meat — all nicely done (hmm…some were well-​done). Pricing is $ 30 each — I don’t think the food is worth $ 30 a head, but hey, you could do worst in Chicago.
Next up is the service — dining here is like buying a used-​car from a crooked car salesman — very confusing and you walked away almost certain that you got ripped off.
The waiter first suggested he would only charge us for 6 all-​you-​can-​eat meals because the portions are generous, and we thanked him for the «hook-​up». Then he somehow proceeded to bring out food we didn’t order because he said the manager may review the check and he has to make it look like we’re order for 10 people. So without our approval, he brought out two orders of fish and an extra bottle of wine. We let that go because he said he would give us a coupon to «cancel» the fish orders.
Well, we got the final check, and guess what — we got charged for all 10 all-​you-​can-​eat, two orders of fish, and that extra botttle of wine. After some of my more vocal dining partners voiced their concerns, the restaurant reluctantly cancelled the two orders of fish and the extra bottle of wine. They then tried to make it up by giving each of us a 20% off coupon for the next visit — well, we all left the coupon on the table when we left because we won’t come back here again.
Diners beware.

The meat here was unbelievable. I came for a friends birthday and they gave us an option for a set all you can eat menu or a just to get items off their menu. For the set all you can eat, they gave us 3 different pastas as appetizers. There was a mushroom, a garlic and a marinara spaghetti. Each of these were killer. The garlic was probably my favorite one but I couldn’t eat too much of that because I would fill up and would be farting the entire night.
For the main course, they brought over a bunch of vegetables and plates of lamb, chicken and beef. The lamb was perfectly cooked to medium rare. The chicken was extremely tender and juicy. The beef had plenty of blood and just melted in your mouth. A couple people got items from the menu which looked really good but the star was the meat. I think the total for the all you can eat was about $ 45/​person. They gave us the upstairs room because there was close to 15 of us and we somehow got BYOB so there were 3 – 4 magnum’s of champagne, 8 bottles of wine, a couple bottles of vodka. They provided the mixers. They hadn’t gotten their liquor licence yet so we were able to pull this off.
It was one of the most delicious meals. I definitely recommend going there.

I purchased a YouSwoop coupon for this restaurant and the bf and I went on a Sunday evening and were seated immediately.
We ordered the $ 30 feast which they will happily let you split with the purchase of an entrée. Everything was so amazingly good! It’s been 2 weeks now and him and I are still ranting and raving about how great everything tasted.
Besides the food blowing our minds the location, atmosphere and service was stellar. I would highly recommend this to anyone. Oh and they took my coupon with no problem and even allowed me to purchase 2 cocktails that were on special which most places won’t let you do if you are already getting a discount.
I’m off to purchase a
coupon so I can go back again and again although I would gladly pay full price, it’s just that good!
OH!!! And they gave me us a 20% off coupon for our next visit and since I’ve returned they have honored it and handed back! Cannot say enough good things about this place!

2.75 Stars, rounded up to 3. As explained to us by the waiter, this is an Italian-​influenced Brazilian restaurant, with cuisine from southern Brazil, which has many Italians (learn something new every day).
There was no wait for a table here on a Saturday evening, which was very convenient as we had a movie to catch. The movie was «Salt» which was interesting in that there was none of it on the table.
The place looks nice and it smells good (like cooking meat) when you walk in. Nice décor and furniture.
The service was good. Perhaps a tad obsequious but I can live with that. It’s good for the ego, right? The «Brazilian lemonade» alcoholic beverage that my dining companion ordered was tasty. On the other hand, my iced tea turned out to be a bottle of sweetened Lipton poured into a glass with ice. Yuck!
The food was the weak spot of this experience, though not universally. The house salad was huge (enough to split) and pretty fresh & good. No wilted iceberg in sight! The bruschetta wasn’t so good though. And worst of all, neither was the meat. The chicken wasn’t terrible, but it had an odd flavor I didn’t much care for. And it varied from moist to dry. My dining companion didn’t care for his beef either. It was described as having a bad flavor and he said it was cold. The potatoes were good, but could have used a little salt (if you were paying attention, you know there wasn’t any on the table).
Maybe we caught them on an off night. Who knows? It’s conveniently located to me, but even so I’m not sure I’ll be back. There are just too many really good places out there.

Unlike some reviewer, I had a great experience at this restaurant. I took my cousin’s family there last week, they said they enjoy every single dish from beginning to end. I have been to their Devon location and had a great meal there, but seeing some of the review, I was a little worry at the beginning.
There were 4 adults, 2 of us did all you can eat, 2 order something else. The pasta was just so good. I am not a pasta fan but I can do a lot of damage here! It is fresh made!!! The lamb and beef was cooked to perfection. Juicy and tender. They also present it very nicely when it was bought to the table. Our server was really nice and polite. Overall, we had a good time and our tummies were very happy but not overstuffed.
So…all you can eat, you don’t have to stuff yourself silly. It just give you the opportunity to try more dishes. :) Ciao!

This is kind of a starter review. I think they have the ability to get to a four-​star level once they’re into the flow of things. I think it was actually their first night open. They didn’t have a liquor license yet, but I was a walk-​in and they were very up front about that.
Service was excellent. The server walked me through the concept — like many other Brazilian places downtown, they have an all-​you-​can-​eat option, priced a little lower than their competition. They bring you the food — there’s no «bar» to go to for the non-​meat options, which depending on your preference could be a plus or a minus.
For food, I bypassed the all-​you-​can-​eat option and ordered a house salad, sea scallops, and a New York Strip. The salad was good, but nothing special. The scallops, though a little on the small side, tasted wonderful — I’m a scallop fan in general, and these were very nicely prepared. They weren’t overcooked, the sauce with them was complimentary while still adding its own flavors, and they were served with some leeks and potatoes — which doesn’t sound like it would work (at least to me), but did, in fact, work wonderfully.
The steak had a nice, robust flavor although it was underseasoned. The fries that came with it were probably selected to look house-​cut since they were skin-​on, but they had the texture of frozen fries.
Oh, and I almost forgot: they have complimentary bread which is some sort of parmesean-​stuffed bread. I didn’t like it (even though I ate it all). It was low on flavor, but worse, it was tough. It was like heavy profiteroles with parmesean in the center. Parmesean is good, but it doesn’t melt worth a damn and is a very hard cheese. I like crusty, chewy breads, but these little balls just aren’t a good idea in their present form. They should either use parmesean with a regular bread dough, or use a softer cheese with the dough they’re using now.
All-​in-​all, I’ll go back after they have their liquor license and the kitchen gets into a groove. And if the meat is better seasoned, their complimentary bread is a little better executed, and their fries are crispier they could get four stars from me. I think they can pull it off.