Ciao Amore Ristorante

The gnocchi were made in heaven! I cannot get enough, despite the generous portion, I always end up with the feeling of wanting more and more — just because they are that good. It must be the finger linking porcini sauce — definitely not for the health calorie conscious person — this sauce is creamy and delicious.
But before you jump into the main entrees, you must try the fried calamari. They are by far the best I have ever had! I lived in South America for 15 years and I have traveled throughout the Caribbean extensively, so am familiar with fresh and crispy Calamari, but Ciao Amore took it to a different level. If there is a competition for crispier and flavorful calamaris these one would take the award hands down.
I have been here several times, because I became a true fan. Therefore, I warn you to go to enjoy the music, the company, and make sure to bring your wine or beverage of choice, since it is BYOB, to culminate the experience with the most delicious Italian cuisine in Chicago.

Visiting Ciao Amore was a terrible experience. The manager failed to honor a $ 10 gift certificate and yelled at me in front of other customers saying the gift certificate service he signed up for was not helping his business. NOT MY PROBLEM! He went on a rant and stormed away from me into the kitchen to hide like a child. I paid the full price, $ 60 on mediocre Italian food, and will never visit this place again. Travel the extra mile, Taylor st does way better Italian.

I was also there on 11 – 6 will never return there again what an embarrassing experience especially since it was a birthday celebration for my mom who all us drove more thsn 30 min to get there. Bad service, bad attitudes, but the «others «sitting in the front had top notch service hmmmm wonder why? Drop in one night and you’ll see why. DONT waste Your time dining there take Your food To go.

First off, I would’ve give this a 4 star rating for the food. The food was very good. Second, we were a large party of 13 celebrating my mom’s birthday. I really wanted to give this a good review but after our experience, doesn’t seem possible.
3) They did not have our reservation down but luckily it was 6pm and empty.
4) The waiters were not very friendly or welcoming. This was the worst experience I have ever had with waiters. They didn’t seem very apologetic and when I told the waiter-​you are serving me food with 2 large chips on the plate? His response was, «that’s what we have». Really??? When we asked for appetizers, it was clearly not enough for 13 people (we had asked for 2) and the waiter said, you should’ve ordered more and I told him you could have told us it would be best to order more! They gave our table 1 plate of bread (mind you this is an Italian restaurant) and when we asked for more the waiter kept saying they were in the oven. My grandmother wanted Cannoli for dessert and after half hour we told the waiter just put it to go. It wasn’t until after we received the check that he told me they ran out. Sigh… Once we received the check the other «nicer» waiter apologized for such crappy service. They were short handed and only 1 cook (or something to that affect).
5) The food-​we all had something different and it was very good.
Truly disappointing in the service my family and myself received.

I recently went to Ciao Amore once more and they really need to hire more staff. The only reason I’m giving 4 starts was our awesome waiter Santiago, he was very attentive, explained the menu well and great recommendations! He always made sure our water was refilled, plates cleared and helpful with dessert options.

We went here with a Pilsen local the night before the Chicago Marathon. The chef makes the best pasta I’ve had in my entire life — and I’ve traveled in Italy! The atmosphere is warm and friendly. I highly recommend this restaurant! Wonderful all around.

I’m baffled at what just happened. The owner of this place has no clue how to deal with customers. I would suggest to stay as far away from this place as possible. Horrible!

I think the food is excellent, the plates come wth a good portion, the atmosphere is very nice and the music to
100% recommend

One word: Overrated. Save your money & your time. The food was overpriced and nothing special. The service was also mediocre. It was not the servers fault, at the time they had 1 person servicing the entire restaurant. Just not very good for customer service. This place was a big Italia-​NO.

0 stars would be more appropriate! So what’s wrong with this place?
1) Saturday night… ONE PERSON WORKING the dining room as, host, server etc. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
2)Had to beg for bread, at an Italian restaurant… ARE YOU KIDDING ME? (Which ended up being yesterday’s bread, toasted!!)
3) «Sorry, no veal tonight». At an Italian restaurant?
4)The lasagna was literally swimming in liquid that had the consistency somewhere between water and cream soup… yes, liquid, not sauce.
5) My gnocchi had the texture of marshmallows. To top it off, it was stuffed with red peppers (uh, not on the menu) which I continue to taste hours later :(
6) Premium prices for so so Italian. Other reviews that have been answered by a manager or owner explain that since they don’t serve alcohol, they basically have to gouge customers everywhere else. Expect it.

This restaurant is everything restaurants should be — full of delicious food, nice people, and beautiful art. This is a true gem of Pilsen. It’s down the street from St. Procopius, a 5-​min drive or 15-​min walk from St. Pius V (the St. Jude Shrine), and a 4-​min hop off I-​90/​I-​94.
Service:
Everyone here was so nice. Chef Cesar came out to the dining area to introduce himself; he’s got a great personality and makes you feel at home. Another great thing about a small business: meeting the chef and owner! :)
Food:
The standout for us was the spinach gnocchi — at first bite, the gnocchi melted away in our mouths, and we were hooked. We wanted to bottle up the sauce — maybe an idea for Chef Cesar!
Every plate we had was 5 stars. Even the olive oil they serve with the lightly toasted bread was good — how is that even possible? The calamari appetizer was so fresh, and the red sauce served with it was flavorful. We had the spinach gnocchi of course *hands raised in grateful prayer* and would come back for this alone. The Petti di’ Polo Porcini, compliments of the chef, had the most divine creamy sauce. The lobster ravioli (Ravioli d’ Aragosta alla Pilsen) was beautifully balanced and tasty. The brascole was flavorful, and frankly, we didn’t do it justice because we stuffed ourselves with all the other entrees!
When our patient and cheerful waitress brought out tiramisu, we all stared at it with fearful eyes because we were so full, but since we never waste dessert, we finished that off as well, and it was, of course, excellent.
Parking:
Our group of 4 dined here on a Friday night. We found a parking spot on a side street, and overall parking didn’t seem too bad. It was well worth the trek from the suburbs.
Edit to add: It’s a BYOB place, and they will bring you a nice little ice bucket in case your drinks need further chilling. There’s a liquor store across the street from the restaurant.

Im from California and so far this has been my favorite italian restaurant when im in Chicago. my girlfriend and i had our romantic valentines dinner there and just last week surprised her for her bday along with her family. Best surprise ever!
Thank you Ciao Amore for making it such an amazing experience and for ur excellent service and delicious food.
hope to see you soon :)

After I discover Ciao Amore I don’t go to any other Italian restaurant in the city. Make sure you bring your own beverage and come back at least once a week

I’ve travel throughout Italy and live in Boston for many years, which hosts some amazing italian restaurants in the Northend, and I know my Italian friends in Boston are not going to be happy (and you know who you are), but the food at Ciao Amore in Chicago has literary changed my life! My daughter, a self– declared athesist, put her hands together at the table and gave thanks to God for an absolutely heavenly food!!!
Chef Cesar came out to talk to us and it was like finding a long lost friend, we wanted to pack him up and take him back home. I love Chicago, but I would come here specifically for the food at Ciao Amore.

BYOB. Call ahead, tell the chef what you are bringing and he will cook to match. The lasagne was magnificent. Really enjoyed our time here. Menu is simple, and the space is nice.

This is a great place!
We had the polenta as an entrée, super tasty and it looked like a main dish based on the portion!
For main, we had the gnocchi. But they made a customized plate that was not on the menu! They included the veggies I wanted so that was GREAT. A lot of good flavours.
For desert we had the tiramisu!, like the rest of the food, the portions are big!
Service was kind and very attentive to any requests. Seriously we were so lucky to find this place! I strongly recommend this restaurant specially for a special occasion like ours! And remember. It’s BYOB!
Thank you ciao amore for the great dinner.

This place was such an awesome find! Food was great and paired with phenomenal service!

Dropped in this week to grab dinner with my team of cheap eats professionals; BYO and huge portions made Ciao Amore quite a good time. One of our group members had been before so we got the FestaItaliana, a massive portion of beef, sausage, pasta and marinara; we also got the vegetarian Gnocchi Ripieno Spinaci, which was our favorite of the two thanks to the incredible sauce that the gnocchi (stuffed with a bunch of asiago and ricotta cheese) was bathing in when the dish arrived. Both were great and served in huge bowls; these two plates plus an order of the calamari was plenty for our party of four. And very fast service – we got our food in under 20 minutes. Check it out!

This is a very cute italian place in a sea of Mexican resturants in Pilsen. It is spacious inside with very limited on site parking. It is also byob.
We started out with cypress salad which was huge. It also came with almost a green salad in the middle, which was unusual and great.
My friend had the chicken and potatoes, which was very good. I had the veal piccata which was ok, not the best veal I had. I would definitely return and try the pasta but skip the veal.
Overall, a very nice place with friendly service.

Good service.
Slightly cheesy atmosphere.
Really really good food.
This was one of the most satisfying meals I’ve had in Chicago.
Cioppino — I’m always looking for some form of tomato based seafood broth thing and this did not disappoint. If you’re a fan of olives and capers in your tomato sauce, you’ll love this dish.
Gnocchi in spinach cream sauce was super rich but the more I ate it the, the more I enjoyed it.
This was easily 2 meals for the two of us. The next day, I was interchanging bites between cioppino and gnocchi and it was delicious.
We wrapped up the meal with a tiramisu and a coffee and I was super happy. I’ve been looking for this type of food for quite a while now and I’ve finally found it. It’s unfortunate that we’re moving out to the ‘burbs :(