Venice Cafe

Came here today for the first time in six years and it was only OK — not as good as I remember.
First, if you order pasta, let them know not to drown it in sauce. There was so much red clam sauce on my pasta it was hard to find the strands of spaghetti, and they got mushy very quickly. Not enough clams in the sauce, either, by the way. Rather hard to find, and I didn’t really taste them.
Also, sadly, the wonderful garlic rolls I remember from a decade ago have changed. They’re no longer hot, the garlic seems lacking and there’s a dominant taste of parmesan cheese, which I found repelling. Parmesan cheese doesn’t belong anywhere near a real garlic roll.
I might try it again sometime, but I’m in no hurry. Lots of better places.

Another typical working day and I wanted to try something new. Venice Café definitely looked the part for a craving of Italian. It had the enticing lunch specials, typical look and feel, and a diverse selection of pizza, soup, and sandwiches.
I ordered the hot chicken noodle soup for the cold Chicago weather and the Italian beef sandwich. Sad to say, I was very disappointed with the food. Sandwich was bland, dry and needed some help in the flavor department. Soup was bland and resembled more of a vegetable soup broth instead of a rich chicken flavor. Everything here was comparable to school cafeteria, so I wouldn’t doubt the rest of the pizzas, sandwichs, and soup would be underwhelming. In the end, I think I got what I paid since it was cheap. I left with the feeling of dissatisfaction and still wanting something more. Given the selection around the area, I could have gotten possibly better at Café Bacci or Avanti Caffe. My rating of this place is reflective of whether I will recommend it in the future or if I will bother coming back, which shouldn’t be too difficult for you to figure out. I generously added another star, since they ran out of the pasta sauce + pasta for my friend’s order and gave him any pasta of his choice with no extra charge.

I must say, since I work in the Willis Tower and love Italian food, this oughta be convenient enough. But I stopped going there altogether a couple years ago since the service was intolerably RUDE and the management was indifferent. I had the misfortune of going there the day afte my Dad died and was treated like crap by the woman behind the counter. Never again! You’re not missing much — the food is a C+ at best.

I really like this place. The lasagna with meat sauce comes in a huge portion, and its sooo good with a little extra parmesan, for only 9 bucks. I eat off of it for 2 days.

Got the wrong order yesterday — this order had Alfredo sauce in lieu of marinara sauce. I cannot eat Alfredo sauce. I spoke with the manager and he told me there was absolutely nothing he could do (it was a «to go» order) and that his staff makes mistakes but he would not rectify the problem. He then proceeded to yell at me and said I should have called in and told him yesterday afternoon as he was there until 5:00 p.m. Forget the fact, that my boss was on trial and I worked overtime until 9:00 p.m. and was too busy to call. When I explained that to him, he said: «Lady, we all got problems.» I will never, ever eat there again.

I work in the building and really only frequent Venice Café in emergencies… such as its pouring rain out and I don’t want my shoes to get ruined, or I don’t want to cross the street. You know, emergencies!
My experiences with Venice Café have just been so-​so. I’ve never had the pasta as I don’t like to endure the afternoon food coma, but I’ve tried a few items:
—the Cesaer Salad was just meh. Good dressing but sad romaine lettuce and even sadder little square croutons that likely came out of a box. This place makes homemade garlic rolls every day why not save the leftovers and make homemade croutons each day? Odd.
—the meatball sandwich. This was delicious. Big crusty bread and three hearty meaty balls and a very tasty red sauce. Highly recommend, but again not something I could eat every day. They also don’t offer chips, again weird, but do offer soup/​salad w sandwiches. Too much food for me, I’d rather have a small bag of 100 calorie baked lays. Because you know, when eating a meatball sandwich clearly you’re watching your figure!
–breakfast. Pretty standard fare but they don’t let you make a plate ala cart. Like its either a huge full breakfast w eggs, meat, potatoes, and bread… or a breakfast sandwich. What if I just wanted two eggs and a few pieces of bacon? Weird.
Staff seems friendly and efficient. Overall the place is very clean but kinda sterile décor, fine for a quick lunch alone or with colleagues, but you’re not going to be bringing anyone here to impress them.

You are over cooking the pasta. The manager, who looks very Italian, should know what al dente is. The pasta is well beyond al dente.

Terrific pizza slices — I think I’ve found my non-​healthy lunch spot.
One thing I love about Chicago is the vast amount of healthy places to eat (Protein Bar, Freshii, etc). However, some days you just want some pizza and today was one of those days.
I had two NY slices — one cheese and one pepperoni. Both were spiced well and delicious. VC also has deep dish as well as more topping options and a host of other foods.
I’ll definitely back for some deep dish… and some different toppings… and a lot of things. You know, for science.

Venice is a good lunchtime spot if you are looking for something different than the traditional fast food options. They get a fairly large lunch crowd rush so you may have to wait a little bit but they generally move the line along pretty fast.
I’ve had everything from the Italian Beef sandwich to the pasta dinner to the calzone. With the exception of the calzone, everything is pretty much average taste wise. The pasta dinner looked and tasted like something you could buy at the grocery store and heat in the microwave. Wasn’t impressed at all. Italian beef sandwich was average as well. Not disappointing but there are far better options for Italian beef in the area.
Now Venice’s calzones are really, really good. It’s easily the best thing on the menu in my opinion. The sauce that goes along with it was good as well.
Check their website for specials of the day. It’s really inexpensive in general but you may manage to find what you are looking for as the special that day.

So, if you want fast Italian and you want some good penne bolognese, Venice Café should help you with your fix. I have gone to the location in Sears Tower where the preparation of the same dish vacillates between good and okay, depending on the cook behind the counter. At the Monroe Street location, everything has been consistently good.

Food is only good for those in the Willis Tower too lazy to cross the street for food or don’t have the patience for the food at the Corner Bakery upstairs. Their cafeteria modeled establishment is nothing different than your typical commissary at the military barracks. The taste of the food is equally the same, bland. If you really need your pasta fix, try Panda Express. Conceptually the same except their noodles use mostly brown sauce, not white or red.

Great lunch specials for those people that work in the Loop. Always pleased with the food and their rolls are top notch.

Absolutely the sh@ttiest service I have EVER received. Their credit card reader was malfunctioning and the guy had me stand at the register while my calzone was getting cold to rerun the card. I offered to pay him $ 5 for the calzone as this was all the cash I had in my pocket and the manager snapped, «No that isn’t enough!» If your f@cking machine isn’t working, don’t make the customer suffer. Customer service dictates you make a complromise. I will NEVER patronize this location again. I have also let everyone in my office know NOT to eat here. Too bad becuase their calzones are good as hell.

I remembered this place from years ago when the portions were huge and the food excellent — ran into the Sears Tower for lunch and grabbed a sandwich special. The sandwich was ok, service slow and prices high. I’ll likely go back for something else, but might not run there.

Food always hot and fresh. My daughter loves the chicken Caesar salad and the wife raved about the sausage and pepper calzone. My chicken tortellini was fresh and delicious.
Why can’t we have something like this in the Southwest suburbs like Orland Park?

I used to eat at Venice Café at least once a week back when I worked on consulting assignments in the area.
The vast majority of the time, I went with the sandwiches, which were always great and for the most part healthy. Served with a small salad or a cup of soup, they made for a great and very reasonably priced lunch. However, Venice Café also offers some very good salads, along with pizza and calzones. There are also a variety of Italian entrees which are (along with the salads) served with Italian rolls that are baked in house and excellent.
I always did carryout from Venice Café although the one sit-​down lunch I had in the place was very good — the quality of the food was what you’d have expected from a much more upscale place. (Not that Venice Café is a dive by any means — it’s just intended more as a quick lunch place than anything else).
It can be a little bit of a madhouse during the peak lunch hour, but they do a good job of keeping the lines moving along. The best time to show up IMO is after 1:00PM.
Great place to grab an Italian lunch for a reasonable price.

This place reminds me of an old diner back to 60s. It could be quite confusing for a first timer. They have three lines for different things. Sandwich and pasta one line, Salad another line, then Pizza and Calzone is another one. What if I want soup? What if I want one piece of pizza and Salad, standing in the line twice?
Ordering at the counter is a challenge thing when I go into a new place AND a long line behind you. Too much pressure. I quickly decided on Mediterranean salad with Cajun chicken and Minestrone soup.
Although this Mediterranean salad didn’t have garbanzo beans but I really like the dressing: light and refreshing. Cajun chicken was tasty and spicy. I love the minestrone soup. Just right density with just right amount of salt. The pasta was not over cooked and veggies were cooked right as well. Both of them were decent lunch items with the right price too.
As it is so close to my work, I will be back to try calzone or some pasta. Anyone knows where I could find some coupon?

Gotta love this place. You can get pasta, pizza, and calzones that not only taste good, but fill you up with their decent size portions.
My personal favorite is getting 2 slices of pizza. I may fall asleep an hour later, but I fall asleep with a smile on my face. haha
They usually run 2 or 3 specials every day and if there isn’t a long line waiting to pay, the specials are served up in less than a minute.
So far I have no complaints except the tiny waiting area next to the drink dispenser and utensils. People go in and out so fast you have to make sure to hold onto your tray and your drink or someone is probably going to bump into you and spill it.

i went there for lunch. its a little pricey, but i guess since its in downtown, its expected.
darnit, i can’t end the review in my customary fashion of a review of the bathrooms. that will be my to-​do!

I park in this building for work, so suffice to say I’m in and out frequently.
The Mediterranean salad is pretty awesome mainly due to the creamy oregano & garlic dressing. I kind of pick around the olives and sometimes you get a bitter mouthful of greens (frisee is SO wrong) but I’m telling you: The dressing and abundance of feta cheese more than make up for it.
If I’m having a fat day there’s nothing I crave more than the meatball sandwich with mozzarella. I know that each and every time I eat it I’ll have raging heartburn within 20 minutes, but for some reason I’m never deterred. Imagine three huge meatballs on top of a soft, grilled roll and absolutely smothered in chunky marinara and melted cheese. Yeah. It’s amazing.
Service? Very organized. I secretly call this place The Pasta Nazi because if you’re in line and you don’t know what you want to order the guy behind the counter will not hesitate to yell at you. So word to the wise and be prepared. There are different lines depending on if you want pasta, pizza, salads or sandwiches so things move along quickly.
Outdoor seating available in the warmer months makes this a choice spot for Lunchin’ in the Loop.