Siena Tavern

A friend told me about this place and I was a bit skeptical as I was looking for a river view location. However the food blew me away!!! The seafood salad was to die for and their pizza and cocktails fabulous. Next time I’m in Chicago I’m going back. Can o have the recipe for that salad please?!

We had a great dinner– pasta and pizza– and then we had two desserts — one for there and one to go! Amazingly great desserts! Jenni was our server and she was fantastic!

This is a great spot with what looks like a great menu. We only stopped in for dessert after seeing the flight of gelato offered… so that is what we got! We sat on the patio and had great service! Their dessert did not disappoint. The salted caramel gelato is delicious!

Siena Tavern has long been on my list of restaurants to try, but for some reason, hadn’t gotten around to for various reasons. Mainly, I live in the ‘burbs. I also worked in the Loop and don’t get out to River North often. My fiancé and I prefer to visit neighborhoods further north when we go to the city since we don’t like to pay an arm and a leg for parking.
However, a new job brought me to Siena Tavern as part of a welcome to the firm lunch. The restaurant is about a 3-​minute walk from my new digs. I was super excited, especially given the raves reviews I’d seen posted about the place.
Our reservations were for 12:15 on a Friday afternoon. The place was rather busy with the lunch rush and the patio was full with diners enjoying the warm weather. We waited for a few minutes while our table was being prepared. We sat in a booth in the raised section of the dining room. The booth was relatively comfortable, but I didn’t quite like how close the table was to me. I couldn’t cross my legs comfortably at the table and had to keep my feet flat on the floor as not to hit the legs of the person seated in front of me. Eventually, I became accustomed to the somewhat awkward seating, but definitely would have preferred to eat at a regular table.
We started lunch with the coccoli. Our server described it as a deconstructed ham and cheese sandwich. You cannot go wrong with ham and cheese! The coccoli is made up of crispy dough, stracchino cheese, prosciutto di parma and truffle honey. Four pieces will set you back $ 17. Our server was kind enough to include an extra piece so that each person in our party could have their own piece.
Definitely get the coccoli if you go! The dough is light and fluffy. The cheese is creamy and the prosciutto adds the saltiness to the coccoli. The truffle honey adds a nice sweetness. I could have been satisfied eating that for lunch.
For my entrée, I ordered the truffle mushroom pizza, which is topped with roasted wild mushrooms, garlic cream, mozzarella and white truffle oil. I’m a mushroom lover and prefer white pizza to red pizza, so this hit the spot! At $ 19, the pizza was *huge* — about 8 slices and definitely can be shared by more people. I ate two slices, took the rest home and ate them for dinner later that night. The pizza tasted great cold. However, I wasn’t a big fan of the crust, which was a bit dry and bland. It would have been nice if I had some sort of a sauce to dip it in. But, overall, an excellent pizza and I’d definitely order it again.
Service wise, our server was friendly and efficient. The busboys were also friendly — refilling our water glasses whenever they looked low and offering us boxes and bags for our leftovers. A woman brought out a clean set of silverware for us to use for our entrees after we ate our appetizers, which was nice.
Overall, I’m impressed with Siena Tavern and am looking forward to going back to try the rest of their menu options. I’ve heard wonderful things about their pasta dishes (a co-​worker ordered the carbonara, which was served in a jar that the server shook before putting it onto her plate). The brunch offerings look delicious as well. While River North is somewhat of a trek for me coming from the ‘burbs, Siena Tavern is easily accessible with plenty of public transportation options to get to it, so that’s not really a good excuse as to why I cannot visit it again. And, since it’s so close to my work, I can definitely see myself having lunch there again.

We came here for brunch while we were visiting Chicago from New York. The place is cute and in a good location. My boyfriend got the steak and eggs which he raved about. Our friends got mimosas, belinis and we got tea and cold press juice to drink — which were all quite delicious.
The only reason I give it a 3 star was because of the lack of options for me. I am vegan and gluten free and the options they had for me were so limited. I had to resort to ordering a salad and side of shishito peppers because they were in fact the only things that I could eat on the menu.

Wow this place is SO good. We walked up on a Thursday evening and waited no more than 15 minutes. We got the Coccoli, Proscuitto pear pizza, short rib ravioli and bomboli.
Coccoli — AMAZING. Just the right sweetness and the dough melted in your mouth.
Proscuitto Pear Pizza — So yummy. Loved how fluffy the crust was
Short Rib Ravioli — So goood. all the sauce just really makes the dish. Each ravioli was stuffed with short rib meat.
Bomboli — donuts with 3 different sauces. The donut just melted in your mouth. I loved pairing it with the caramel sauce.
No 2 Drink — Really delicious. Very light and floral.
Overall SO glad I came here and definitely want to come back to try more!

The ambiance is very nice! …been here a several times. Depending on your location, it can be romantic and warm with flickering candles and dimmed Edison bulbs glowing over head.
The waiters and team are friendly and professional. We’ve always had a positive experience with staff. Their facilities are clean and the establishment is enjoyable.
Our meals are usually very good! They offer a variety of menu items, not too broad, with a few signature dishes. Due to the River North location, which is a great place for action, please note, their prices are expensive!
A reasonably priced item and an amazing choice is always their flame baked pizzas. They are delicious and a must try!
It is a popular place, and although that’s a good thing in terms of what it speaks to their reputation, honestly, it can also be annoying, because it get’s so packed! For instance, it’s difficult to get decent dinner reservation times, weekends. If you are a ‘walk-​in,’ even if just for drinks, you’ll either be standing or shoulder to shoulder in your bar stool. Siena Tavern can also be loud, often with frequent bachelorette parties or celebratory birthday groups, but it’s always a diverse crowd.
All being said, we would still return!

This restaurant, which has been on my Chicago bucket list for a while, was just down the street from the Westin River North, where I was staying for a conference. So skipping the conference sponsored dinner at a nearby tourist trap restaurant, a colleague and I came here intending to enjoy a quiet Italian dinner.
The place was LOUD, not too conducive to quiet conversations, but we liked the décor and food options, so decided to stay. Service was prompt, and our server wasn’t averse to yelling out a few recommendations. She suggested we share the Wagyu beef meatball, and steered us towards the pasta entrées. My colleague chose the pappardelle bolognese, I opted for the orecchiette with Italian sausage.
The Wagyu beef meatball arrived, and it was so HUGE that four people could have shared this appetizer. More importantly, it was DELICIOUS, the beef tender and flavorful, the sauce rich and creamy. Five stars for sure!
The entrées arrived, and we shared them family style. The pappardelle bolognese was good — the pasta cooked perfectly and the sauce authentic. The orecchiette, on the other hand, was disappointing — a bit undercooked, with a late-​arriving heat (from either peppers or the sausage, I’m not exactly sure) that was unexpected and unwelcome.
One more restaurant is now off my Chicago bucket list. Not sure I’ll be back — there are so many more places to try. But if I’m staying at the Westin again, I may just call-​in for a to-​go order of that humongous Wagyu beef meatball!

Let me start by saying our dining experience at Siena Tavern was by far the best experience I have ever had.
My husband and I were in Chicago for a long weekend celebrating our anniversary. I read good reviews about Siena Tavern and tried to make a reservation. The restaurant was booked for normal dinner times so on a whim I emailed the resteraunt to see if anything could be worked out. Almost immediately I received an email from Morgan, catering/​event director, confirming our reservation for 5:30pm no questions asked! She was amazing!
Upon arriving to the restaurant our server, Sam, congratulated us on our anniversary, again thank you Morgan! Sam did not miss a beat and served us like royalty the entire time! He had wonderful drink recommendations and we started our meal with the meatball, a must try for sure! I ordered the Pappardelle, fresh thick pasta in an amazing three meat sauce. Hands down the best pasta I have ever had. Taking Sam’s recommendation my husband ordered the Brick Chicken Diavolo. You might be thinking who orders chicken at a restaurant because that’s exactly what we thought! However, this was the most delicious, moist, perfectly seasoned chicken! It had a crispy skin and an unexpected blood orange spicy rub that was to die for!
Our wonderful customer service didn’t end there. The general manager, Rai, came to our table to congratulate us on our anniversary and give us some tips on where to continue celebrating in the neighborhood. Rai really took the time to make sure we were having a perfect evening!
Then we looked to the table behind us and Anthony Rizzo from the Cubs was dining right behind us!
To end our experience Sam had dessert delivered to our table with Happy Anniversary spelled out in chocolate! And to our surprise Sam heard we were headed to Howl at the Moon and used his connections to get us in the VIP list for our anniversary! When we arrived to Howl at the Moon we were on «the list» and throughout the night the performs continued to give us shout outs and dedicated songs to celebrating our anniversary.
The food at Siena Tavern is out of this world and the staff made it their personal mission to give us the best anniversary we could have ever hoped for. From the general manager, Rai, to our server, Sam, to our table attended, Steve, our wait staff was out of this world! The Siena Tavern will forever be our favorite spot in Chicago because of our perfect experience!

During an extended business trip, I found myself not once… but TWICE enjoying myself and a great meal at Siena Tavern. Is it elevated fine dining… no but it’s the type of great experience where you actually connect in a friendly way with the staff and enjoy some really well executed upscale food in a modern tavern environment.
For starters, the staff is excellent… both our brunch and dinner experiences had passionate servers who were not only knowledgeable about the menu but truly loved talking with people. We ended up just talking about other great places to try for other meals and they honestly felt so happy to hear that we felt they were executing better on similar dishes compared to the sister restaurants (bar siena). It was great to see the friendly competition come out and the smiles from knowing they did better.
For brunch we may have over did it but we ordered a lobster hash, shrimp and calimari salad, caramelized brussel sprouts with pancetta, and a caramelized waffle with nutella, chocolate, and maple syrup.
As weird as it sounds… the brussel sprouts and pancetta really was amazing. The pancetta pieces were plentiful and cooked to a crisp like bacon which added to the nice sweetness from the caramelized sprouts. Did it convert a sprouts hater… absolutely. The pancetta helps. a lot.
The waffle is deserving of another nod. The great thing about this is that it’s made from a yeasted dough instead of a gooey soft batter. So it crisps up more like an European waffle. Loved it! It was the perfect sweet component to brunch.
The lobster hash was very tasty and had plenty of good lobster chunks that werent rubbery. The salad was good but not a stand out compared to the waffle or sprouts.
For dinner, we arrived early because my plane was departing early evening. The dishes arrived quickly to accommodate and I was sincerely grateful. We ordered the grilled octopus, hearts of palm salad, caramelized sprouts again, broiled salmon, caramel cookie jar dessert and the gelato of the month.
We had one of the stand out dishes of our entire Chicago trip here… the grilled octopus. We were told they marinated the octopus overnight before grilling it to get the charring and crispiness on the outside. Honestly… it’s incredibly flavourful and tender. I loved this dish… the smokiness from the grill wasn’t overwhelming but just enough to compete with the sweet acidity of the balsamic. The crispy potato chips was just extra … I could have eaten more of this. We tried the octopus at Bar Siena just days before… how did it stack. Siena Tavern definitely was the winner.
The hearts of palm salad was a bright beautiful salad… was it amazing. It was good but the visual colours made it the most exciting. I do love blood orange so I’m a bit bias. Definitely a good bright light flavourful salad for the hot summer days.
The sprouts proved to be a 2 time winner… baconny goodness from the pancetta and the crispy sweetened caramelized sprouts. So good!
The salmon was good … was it the best we had in Chicago. Oddly enough … no. The salmon was well cooked but compared to Bar Siena… it just wasn’t as good. I did love Siena Tavern’s take better though… I found the tamarind glaze, carrots, and lentils a better match to the salmon than Bar Siena. So it’s a tie between the two restaurants.
For desserts, we had the gelato of the month, Peanut Butter & white chocolate and the crazy indulgent Caramel Cookie Jar. We had a lot of gelato here in Chiacago… Black dog is a favourite but Siena Tavern’s gelato of the month is on par. The peanut butter flavour was really pronounced without being Jiify PB sweet. It was more on the savoury side but it had a good sweetness at the end from the white chocolate. Honestly… one of my favourite non traditional gelato flavours this year. The caramel cookie jar was over the top… freshly baked caramel cookies that were crispy edges and softer interior and you could dip them into the nutella mousse… did I go into a sugar coma? Yes… was it worth it? Oh yes!
Overall, great restaurant to go for brunch and dinners. Service is warm and inviting while the food is just as good. It’s not fine dining but it’s a place you’d want to keep coming back to try more options. Next time I’m in Chicago, I’ll give the halibut and pizza a try!

Handsome Italian hotspot in RiNo. 4-​stars for beautiful cuisine, great ambiance, friendly staff, good cocktails, generous portions. Coccoli was to die for, lobster squid ink linguini — in a word, mindblowing, short rib ravioli was savory and perfectly al dente. Opt for alfresco for incredible people watching. Highly recommend.

Spicy pizza is definitely spicy!
There are cute comfy couches for romantic dates or casual group gatherings. Can’t wait to go back and try more

Love love love Siena Tavern! Not only is it located in a prime spot in River North, but the restaurant itself is trendy and hip, and the FOOD is amazing.
A group of us went during lunch and ordered a few different things including the Meatball, Pepperoni Pizza, the Pasta Carbonara, and the lobster roll. All of it was outstanding! The meatball was flavored perfectly, and large enough for the four of us to share as an appetizer. The pizza, pasta, and lobster roll were all delicious too! I feel like everything there has got to be incredible and I can’t wait to be back and try more things.
HIGHLY recommend to all!

Thank you Chef Fabio Viviani! We had a great experience at Siena Tavern. My husband and I were visiting Chicago and celebrated our first anniversary here. It is my friend’s and my sister’s favorite restaurant in Chicago and the two of them joined us for dinner that night. Our waiter Devin really helped make our night wonderful. We can’t thank him enough! In addition to our anniversary, we were also celebrating two birthdays from our party of four. I’m so glad I took the recommendation and made a reservation here.
The food/​drinks were outstanding…
Drinks:
All of the cocktails we tried were delicious. I remember #2 and #27… Both good.
Starters:
Burrata-​creamy and delicious, I loved the tomato jam
Shaved Brussels Sprouts-​unique preparation, they were crunchy (reminded me of cabbage) with a light coating of Parmesan, almonds, and probably some other spices. I’m used to brussel sprouts being roasted or heavily coated but this dish was lighter and room temperature
Entrees:
Gnocchi-​Best dish of the night! Creamy, pillowy gnocchi. Definitely must try. We are vegetarian and we got it without the pancetta. (Siena Tavern has great vegetarian options)
Truffle Mushroom Pizza-​also delicious
Desserts:
Warm Flourless Chocolate Cake – can’t go wrong with this dessert. We substituted the peanut gelato for salted caramel which was an excellent decision
Tiramisu-​large portion, decent tiramisu
Overall, excellent drinks, food, service, and fun/​trendy ambiance. Major plus that they have great vegetarian options.

Fell in love with the Pistaccio Cake. It was perfect. This a new dessert that was added to the menu. However I’m not sure if it is seasonal… That’s why you need to go now and try it!
The Coccoli is also yummy! The honey truffle wasn’t over powering, but that’s what I like. Everything worked well together including the stracchino cheese and prosciutto de Parma.
Go already and experience the amazingness

Brunch!!! Best meal of the week! I came in yesterday (my first brunch at Siena tavern) and what do you know it was perfect outside! My friends and I sat outside and enjoyed the amazing Chicago weather.
We had reservations so we got seated right away. The menu included brunch choices and lunch choices. We needed a few minutes but we knew we wanted the build your own mimosas. We ordered the bottle of Prosecco and it was accompanied by 2 ojs, fresh berries, green apple purée, strawberry purée, and peach purée. The build your own mimosa hands down is ⁵⁄₅. I could sit outside and drink it all day with all the options I was given.
Service unfortunately I give 2.5(3)/5. Although our waitress was helpful in discussing the menu and giving suggestions she seemed to go M.I.A after we got the mimosa’s. We were pretty hungry and it felt like we were waiting for ever to place our food order.
Food 4.5÷5!!! I was between 3 savory brunch options but per the waitresses suggestion I ordered the lobster hash! I very much enjoyed it. It was a great portion size. I assumed there would just be small chopped chunks of lobster but boy was I wrong. It was a generous portion of lobster, supper fresh and cooked to perfection. The whole dish was amazing (I will for sure return to try the other 2 items I wanted to order). My friends ordered the truffled scrambled eggs and the turkey club (they both seemed to enjoy their selections.
Overall my second trip to Siena tavern was pretty good and I will for sure return. Welcome back perfect Chicago weather can’t wait to enjoy you this brunch season.

Siena Tavern is one of my favorite spots in River North. Of note is the burrata, which is my all time favorite here. The outdoor space is perfect for a nice evening, but it was still a little chilly, even with the heat lamps.
We came here this past Wednesday night for drinks and dinner. I originally made a reservation for one (through OpenTable) but since my co-​workers wanted to join, I was able to update it to three upon check in (6:30 p.m.). The hostess was able to seat us immediately (thank you!).
We started off with cocktails. I had a glass of prosecco as I wanted some bubbly to celebrate my birthday. We ordered some appetizers to start. Of course, the burrata was one of the starters (yum!). We also had the prosciutto and pear pizza (also delicious) – this pizza was a seasonal item that was just added to the menu. For dinner, I had the spaghetti with lump crab meat and cherry tomatoes. The sauce was a little creamy as well as spicy. My coworker had the squid ink linguini, which was also spicy, but was topped with lobster. I finished the meal with the sorbet flight, which had three flavors: grape, strawberry and mango. The grape was my favorite.
Thank you for a wonder birthday dinner!

Tried this place a couple of times — great food and service! The squid ink linguini with lobster was phenomenal. The claw meat was so delicious and plentiful. We have also had the truffle mushroom pizza, the brussels potato pizza and the short rib pasta. I would recommend them all!
Seems best to make a reservation for dinner — this place gets packed and with good reason.

My boyfriend and I came here for Restaurant Week and left satisfied and stuffed. We were seated in a booth, which was surprisingly quiet for how crowded the restaurant was. Was definitely nice for a date night.
As appetizers, my boyfriend had the Wagyu beef meatball, which was a huge 12 oz. portion of delicious juicy meat. I got the coccoli, which was absolutely delicious. The dish came with puffy and airy dough pockets on top of prosciutto and stracchino cheese. To top it all off, the dough was brushed with truffle honey, which gave it a delicious sweetness that contrasted well with the saltiness of the prosciutto.
For entrees, both of us got the truffle gnocchi and we didn’t regret it. I’d definitely recommend this dish for someone who LOVES truffles like us. The truffle flavor is very strong though, so if you’re not a huge fan, I’d pick something else. The gnocchi was rich and melted in your mouth. Absolutely heavenly.
Finally, for dessert, we of course had to get the famous bombolonis. They were presented creatively in a paper bag and came with three different sauces to squeeze on top. The chocolate was our favorite, but the raspberry and caramel were great too!

I’ve been to Siena Tavern now on a few occasions and the food has always been great. I especially love the outdoor seating during the summer time. My boss was in awe of this place when I took her here the last time she visited.
I went for a special occasion this time. The Ciroc woman’s empowerment brunch was being hosted here. They sat us in a cute elevated section in the back that gave us a nice view of the restaurant. I enjoyed the donuts with the 3 different sauces they served at the beginning. Absolutely delicious! For my entrée I chose the steak and eggs. Awesome flavor to the steak. The service was great, sangria was flowing, and I was surrounded by multitude of empowered woman. Great time! :)

Lugar ótimo para estar entre amigos ou a dois. Ótimo som ambiente. Comida surpreendente. Pedi o risoto, mas não era feito de arroz e sim grãos de fava. Prefiro com arroz mas ainda assim valeu a pena. A sobremesa foi caramel jar (deliciosa). Recomendo a visita.