Italian Village

Reviews 3

EF

Efrem Lirtzman

I visited Chicago recently with my girlfriend to celebrate both of our birthdays.I was excited to try Italian Village after it was recommend by the valet at our hotel. As we entered the restaurant I was hopeful, the semi-dark atmosphere with mood lighting was promising for an Italian restaurant. We were met at the top of the stairs by two men in suits and after no wait were being led to a table. This is when things began to go downhill. As we were leaving the front of the restaurant the man leading us (later identified as a manager) was questioned by the other man (I assume another manager) where he was taking us. Our guide responded with a yell the table number we were headed towards. The man asking expressed confusion around the tables availability, but our guide pressed on. We walked through a mostly empty restaurant filled with cozy looking tables and booths, and were led to the very back. We were seated at a table that had one side of a booth and a chair facing it on the other side. The chair stuck awkwardly into an aisle as if the table was meant for one, but had been converted to a two top. This was the least of the problems for this table. The aisle that the chair was in was the one leading to the womens restroom. It was also immediately adjacent to what appeared to be a private booth and the waiters station. As if this confluence of paths wasnt enough it also appeared that the door to the kitchen was right in the immediate vicinity. As a result while sitting at the table there was a CONSTANT stream of people back and forth causing what was seemingly an otherwise quiet restaurant to seem hectic. After close to 10 minutes of waiting we had not been provided with any service. We had not been greeted by a waiter, nor had we been given water or the bread that seemed to grace other tables. Occasionally a waiter would toss a furtive glance towards us as they left the waiters station but none of them seemed to think that our little table was their responsibility. Finally the manager who had seated us returned. Gruffly asking if anyone had been by. As we replied no, he grunted that he would be right back and ran off. Again we were left without water or bread and had not been told about any specials (if there were any).This time our wait was closer to 5 minutes when the manager once again returned. He asked if we would like anything to drink to which we responded that water would be wonderful. My girlfriend asked if he was our waiter, at which point he responded that no he is a manager. He returned with the water quickly, putting it down on the table and retreating without even asking if we were ready to order. Typically in this situation I am very forgiving. If a restaurant is busy it is easy for service to slide a bit, but in this case they were nowhere near full. I reached my breaking point after another 5 minutes of sitting without being approached by anyone. At this point we stood up and began putting on our coats to prepare to go. The manager materialized and questioned if something was wrong, seemingly oblivious to the fact that we had been there as long as we had without service. I responded that we hadnt received service so we were going to go somewhere more able to serve us. To this he responded that HE had provided us service. I had stepped towards the front of the restaurant and at this point he was between my gf and the door. She pointed out that she appreciated his attempts, but that without ever getting a server our dining experience wasnt going a good direction. The manager (a rather large man) argued again that he had provided us with service and asked if there was "anything he could do to keep us from leaving." His tone was rude and aggressive especially as he was blocking the aisle and addressing my gf. I made a move to step back around him, and my gf moved around me to go towards the front of the restaurant. I cant speak to if the food was good or not, but I can say the service and the managers final attitude are enough for me to say in a city with so many options this is not the one to choose.

KA

Karan Kohli

Complete disappointment!! Cant believe this known restaurant can actually have employees with 0 customer service training. We went there on a Sunday evening drove 45 minutes top get there and as soon as we got there there was some negativity around... servers and bus boys assembling talking in Spanish... We were given a comfortable booth as we were 3 couples... The server who came to take our order whose name was Alberto had a bad attitude we just let it go and went ahead and ordered our food.. but then we realized we ordered main course how come the server did not ask us if we would like soup or salad? We still waited patiently thinking it was a honest mistake from the server part and will come around but after waiting for 5 minutes I saw the sever chuckling and talking in Spanish with some other servers or bus boys... I called him over and asked him if he forgot ask us if we would like soup or salad...To my shock instead of apologizing he told me " Dont worry I have ordered salad for all of you!" that was just unacceptable how can he order something we did not want we wanted to try their soup! When I confronted him that he should ask us first and not assume what amazed me is that he told me oh I cannot help you and let me get the manager for you!! Then I heard him talking to the manager in Spanish. The manger on duty Roberto did try to help but was not good enough... soup was cold... and we did not care much about the other stuff also.. My suggestion to all who have read this review to please do your homework before you visit this place! Have been in service business all my life have NEVER experienced such bad service. I hope the owners read this.

RA

Rachel White

My fiance and I ate dinner here before a showing of "Hamilton" thanks to the recommendation of some work colleagues. We could not have gone to a better restaurant! At the suggestion of the owner, we ate at "The Village," which is the upstairs part of the restaurant. Ive never been to Italy, but I can only imagine that the restaurants ambiance was what a quaint Italian town would be like. Our server was very attentive and offered good suggestions. We began the night with a bottle of Malbec. This place has a very nice wine list! The bread service was delicious and warm, and the house salad was generous and fresh. My fiance got the chicken parmigiana and I got spaghetti and meatballs with arrabiatta sauce. Both meals were generous and my only disappointment was in my own inability to eat even half of it. (If you are staying downtown, be sure to get a hotel room with a refrigerator so you can keep leftovers!) The chicken wasnt overly fried, and the meatballs were the best I can remember eating. The arrabiatta sauce was just spicy enough, but it had a little more kick heat than many similar sauces Ive had. While our service was not rushed, our server was mindful of the fact that we had to be to the theater. A 5:45 reservation was plenty for the 7:30 show. We will definitely come back here the next time we are in Chicago, and we will purposely be VERY hungry.