The Italian Village Restaurants

Italian food was ok but atmosphere was not the best. We were seated in a little ‘closet’ across from the ladies restroom and it was a little tight for three people. When I first arrived, there was a strange odor and I immediately associated it to the restroom. Quickly diminished my dining experience.
Food was ok, I was expecting more, in terms of taste and presentation especially for the price of the food. On the positive side, the size portions were big, I ate ¹⁄₃ of my food and my husband enjoyed the leftovers the next day.

Wow. This place is excellent. Goodness. The bread they bring out is spectacular. Except for those REALLY hard small pieces that are like pretzel rods, but not as good.
I ordered up the chicken fettuccine Alfredo. It was delicious. Nice vibe, beautiful atmosphere, and fun to be in this place. The interior is beautiful!

Absolutely fantastic service! I’m not used to authentic Italian food, so i was surprised with the lasagna and couldn’t get past my unexperienced palate. They were more then understanding and were only concerned with my satisfaction. I’ll will definitely return when I’m in town!

This place has amazing food. However, I came to appreciate it much more last night when we were headed there before seeing Sound Of Music. We got stuck in nasty traffic that had us 45 minutes late for our reservation. They were super accommodating and understanding. When we arrived they already had a spot ready, they rushed our food order, got it served and we were back out the door in just enough time to make the show. Now that is service. Well done.

We have gone here every year as part of a performance festival I attend in Chicago. I have always been impressed by the service, graciousness and their willingness to accommodate our large somewhat zany bowler-​hat wearing group… The food is always wonderful and they bring plenty of it. They are are always attentive to our needs and we always feel as though we have the place to ourselves even though we know we don’t. All around this is a gem of a restaurant. I would highly recommend!

I was visiting Chicago from out of town and Italian Village was down the street from my hotel. My friend and I shared the pasta bolognese and the asparagus risotto. The bread that they brought out was amazing (perfect since I had no lunch that day). I loved the risotto but the bolognese was nothing to write home about. It was too sweet and I wasn’t a fan of the spices they used. The prices were about what you can expect from a nice Italian, although the atmosphere was pretty dead on the night we went (a Wednesday). I would definitely recommend it if you’re in the area but wouldn’t go out of my way for it.

This is for the upstairs ‘village’. Called and made reservations, seated immediately on Saturday at 6. Loved the ambiance, first off. Food was alright: some good, some bad. Bread and breadsticks were awful, but the chicken brother wasn’t bad. Salty, but had taste. I wanted the braciola due to reading someone’s review saying that it was a special. they made it one-​off for me which was fantastic, and it was bathed in marsala sauce. It was very tasty, and HUGE. I have so many leftovers! Their meat ravioli and MEAT sauce are great too — marinara sauce not so much.

Service was outstanding. It was late on a Thursday night an while everywhere else we went downtown closed their kitchen at 9. This place was our salvation. Food was excellent an for the $$ of you walked out hungry it was on you.

The bar upstairs is a special place. Smallish, dark, dreamy and welcoming. Semi circular bar with painted murals all around. After a few stiff ones you’ll feel as if you’re dining at night alfresco in the Italian countryside. Literally every liquor you can imagine or want. Many, many champagnes, prosecos and wines. Eat anything off the menu at the bar. My favorites – baked clams, antipasto plate and perfect fried calamari. Check out the other dining rooms. All ooze atmosphere and are distinctive in their own ways. Food is good, consistent, though not memorable. Medium-​priced for downtown. This is traditional at it best. A blast from the past that has remained unchanged in the 35 years that I have been going twice a year. I truly f‘ind the whole experience mesmerizing.

This was the first place I ate at when I got to town and it was fantastic. This is a real Italian restaurant with real Italians working there, so you know everything is authentic. The portions were huge and everything was delicious. It was like $ 100 for 4 people not including the tip just to let you know what your dealing with but its worth it. Can you find the same food for less? Yes but I’m not from the Chi and it was a special occasion. This place had 3 levels depending on what mood you were in or the occasion. I think the bottom level was pizza and stuff like that then you had the middle floor with a nice menu and the 3^rd floor was more upscale with some extra items on the menu. I didn’t take a pic of my food but I got a few pics of the wall of fame, all the stars that have eaten there and a pic of the booth we sat in, real intimate.

Let me do this update on my experience with The Italian Village. I receive a message from Joe D., general manager of this restaurant. He was really interested about fix the problem. This is a worth mention attitude. He apologize for the situation and ask me to come back to the restaurant so they can show who they really are. I think this is a big step. They could overlook this situation but instead they look after ONE client and try to make things right. I’m adding two starts because his attitude. I am a fan of people who recognize a problem and try to fix it. Congrats to Joe and his team for this attitude.

Absolutely LOVE Italian Village, every time I go it’s a great experience. I used to work in the building down the street, so picking up lunch was a breeze. I’ve gotten the chicken breast sandwich before and let me tell you, it is HUGE. Large pieces of white meat chicken, roasted peppers, and I got it with a side of their freshly made chips. I also recommend going down to the basement for a drink, the bartender that works down there is the best of the best. Upstairs eating in the booths is also a great experience. No matter if you’re eating pizza or enjoying a glass of wine, the ambiance is fantastic: dark, candlelit, with soothing Italian music playing. I have been coming to this place since I was a kid, and will continue to visit every chance I get!

Always enjoy going to this place. It’s old school and bustling. Food is always on the money and plenty of great service!
Don’t understand the «Haters «that posted some bad reviews on this place. The only thing I can guess is that they really wouldn’t know a good eatery if it hit them in the nose.
That aside «Highly «recommend Italian Village!!!

Highly recommend this place!
Ate there on Saturday March 12, during the St Patrick’s celebrations. Our server, Dragana, was very professional.
My guest and I split the fettucine alfredo and was enough for a light/​moderate meal for both of us. Very delicious!
Absolutely loved the ambiance. Very unique and a lot to look at. Didn’t make us feel like we were in a busy restaurant, but by ourselves.
We were amazed at the number of staff members working. They were very on-​top of things. Our water glasses were never more than half empty.
Must visit this place.

An «unimpressive» experience. I’ve been to Italian Village before and I’ve just seen it become pretty average for and Italian Restaurant in the Loop. We showed up and there was a 30min wait at 5pm on a Wednesday for a table at the upstairs restaurant. Not able to wait that long they offered to see if we could be seated in the downstairs restaurant which we accepted.
The place was may ¼/​-​½ full downstairs which we thought would be good because we were in a little bit of a time crunch. We were seated in a booth and brought water. We waited. Nothing. Others were seated. They got water but also menus. Our location required most of the staff to walk past our table. They would look our direction but nobody said anything. They gave that look like «oh — you need menus or something» but then just moved on. I guess thinking someone else was taking care of us but never bothering to ask.
I finally flagged someone down and managed to get menus. Eventually our server showed up and said he was in the bar and (murmur murmur murmur blah blah blah). Not really sure what he said but wasn’t going to change the fact we sat for 15 min without menus or service.
Since I had acquired menus for us before he arrived, we pretty much new what we wanted. The item I was interested had a name I wasn’t sure how to pronounce. More out of interest than anything, when asked what I wanted and I tried to pronounce it (usually the server jumps in and helps — nothing again) I pointed and he nods. I asked «how do you pronounce that» he replies «I have no idea.» OK then. Having been a waiter before, where I worked if you didn’t know the INGREDIENTS the chef/​owner would go ballistic. Not being able to pronounce items on the menu seems to be «dismissal level».
We ordered drinks, food and waited. We had to ask twice for our drinks, btw as our server who was serving a lot of drinks to other tables seems to have forgotten our order. Eventually the drinks arrive.
A runner showed up a few minutes later with a 3 level cart he wheels around and on it there were 2 little soup cups. He stops at the table next to us and they inform him they hadn’t ordered yet. I tried to get his attention but he turns and wheels the cart back to the kitchen. A few minutes later the cart and «driver» re-​appear and he clearly now has figure out which is the right table. He picks up one soup and says «how has the additional charge soup?» — not «who has the Chicken Noodle soup. Nice. I say «he does» motioning to my friend and he puts it down in front of me and my soup in front of my friend. We swap.
The entrees follow and I can say that they are «good» — not «great». Not bad by any means, but nothing exciting.
I think this place is catering to the theater crowd and as many of these people are from out of town and more concerned about location and timing than food — and the fact Italian Village has been around forever so «it must be good» — that this place somehow manages to survive without any improvements.
I think I’m done with Italian Village — particularly when there are so many better places — both in food AND service — within a block…

Drinks and desserts only.
Mid afternoon and my husband wanted to visit to see if it looked the same as when he visited years ago.
We opted for the bar area on the second floor. It was very dark and the atmosphere was pretty much the same. Cramped in the corner booth I didn’t complain as we were just there for a dessert snack.
The prosecco they provided was delicious. it was a served in a mini bottle and champagne glass and it ended up being about 2 glasses. My tiramisu was just ok, the top was runny and yet some of the lady fingers were frozen. Quite a disconnect.
My sons chocolate mousse was super rich and really thick, more like a ganache, not the light and airy dessert when you picture a mousse.
My husbands rum cake was just ok, a bit on the dry side. (my mom and my brother make better rum cake. note to self, have them make rum cake the next time either are in town)
Our server was really sweet and friendly, hence the 3 stars instead of 2. I’m not sure I’d come back to dine. Drinks maybe, but that’s it.

I have never been to the Italian Village until Friday evening, when I attended a holiday dinner with my co-​workers. Italian Village has been around forever in the Loop, and consists of several different levels. We dined in the top level that is called The Village, decorated with colorful murals on the walls. Our long table was adjacent to an enormous mill wheel that turned and turned the whole night through.
We shared a variety of appetizers including sliced meat (think mortadella and salami), olives, seafood selections and zucchini sticks. I had a cup of minestrone soup, which was fine. My dinner selection was a very hearty plate of beef braciole with a side of pasta. The braciole was a special that evening and was basically wedges of Italian sausage wrapped with beef, so it was a very meaty and satisfying dish. My dessert was panna cotta, which was possibly the highlight of the entire meal because of its intense flavor and creamy texture. Others in our party enjoyed dishes such as beef carpaccio, Italian sausage sandwich with fresh cottage fries, steak, and a variety of huge pasta dishes. Everything was fairly straightforward, no culinary surprises, tasty and satisfying in an old-​school sort of way.
I must say that the service was exemplary. Even though my seat was situated so that my seat back was along an aisle, at no point did a server inadvertently smack me with a tray or serving cart or anything else. The very professional and unobtrusive service was greatly appreciated — good job. This allowed us to enjoy our group dinner at Italian Village even more.

I went here with a big group. Our server handled things really well, and the food came out fairly quickly. My friend and I shared the chicken marsala. They were super awesome about splitting the portions ahead of time for us. It was just the right amount of food and fairly standard overall. I think the service and the décor were really what made the meal shine. There was so much cool stuff to look at in the dining room. I can definitely see why this place is a Chicago classic!

Good but not amazing, I had a veal oso bucco that was very tasty with a starter salad that was okay. The food tasted good, but for $ 32 it wasn’t a dream to write home about. A few at the table had the soup which they reported was good not amazing as well. The others at the table has pasta, reported very good, chicken parm which was reported very good and very filling with the side of pasta.
Overall if you’re in the area and want some good Italian food you cannot go wrong, but it about $ 50 a head with a glass or beer or wine coupled with it, but very good service and wonderful Italian bread to start the meal.

What an amazing place and delicious food we had. The inside of Italian Village Restaurant is like Italy with small villages and lights all over. Great food, great service by Scott, a huge and great menu. Big portions on the pasta, and spaghetti. A of good bottle of wine, 2 main appetizers, 2 main dishes $ 108 dollars plus tip. Mangers and waiters do truly care.
Thank you again for a great meal and wonderful service.
Jack
California

Running off of the movie: «The Good, the Bad and the UGLY!»
The good:
–Nice warm bread. Complemented by good quality olive oil
–Superb drinks. The pineapple martini and Bloody Mary were what we ordered. They were A grade alright
–The ambiance is wonderful. Good place if you wish to bring a date, with the native music and all
The bad:
–Got the Three Cheese Tortelli and Agnolotti. These were just loaded with marinara sauce and were just alright.
–The portions seemed a bit low as well
–Breadsticks were hard and seemed a bit old
The UGLYY:
–Restrooms are friggin’ GROSSSS. Like seriously, a dive bar might be cleaner than these restrooms, jeez
–Minestrone soup was bland and pretty much sucked. Nothing fancy, just a bunch of boiled veggies in a flavorless broth
End:
Want to grab some drinks and warm bread in a nice cozy location? Come here. For everything else, skip this place

I got here a bit before my reservation and the rest of the party so I went to the bar; it was about 5:15. I ordered a drink and was given some free happy hour pizza. Quite a pleasant surprise! The pizza was great — hot and very fresh tasting!
When everybody else arrived we got seated and ordered some drinks and appetizers. The bread was amazing the capreese salad was great and a good portion size. After we ordered our meal the soups and salads came out quickly. Then we waited for what seemed like a really long time for our food. We were only concerned because we had a show at 7:00. We had told the waiter in the beginning, and everything worked out time wise just fine, in the end.
Everybody enjoyed their respected dishes — my seafood salad which was only about $ 13 on the appetizer menu was HUGE; I ate it for three meals! I also ate my dads chicken saltimbocca a few days later for leftovers and couldn’t believe how amazing it still was! I initially wanted dessert and probably could have squeezed it in, but I didn’t want to scarf it down so we opted just for the check. The food was great and service was on point!