Il Vicinato Ristorante

Very good Italian food. It would be a 5 star if they made their own pastas. The ravioli is home made and delicious! It reminds me of my grandmother’s cooking, which is a good thing.
Nice staff, nice environment.

Loved everything about this place. The atmosphere, the best service, the most delicious italian food ever and the drinks were oh so good. I had the lamb chops and were so delicious. My husband ordered the a seafood dish and he devoured it. Our other friends ordered from their Specials menu and they loved it as well. Highly recommend. Great for a romantic night or a social night. Can’t wait to go back.

Very good. Have not been here in years. Food was awesome. Company even better and the evening was great. Can’t wait to come back. We were so hungry so sorry some of the pictures we already started to eat before we even thought of taking pictures…

I love the restaurants in that tiny Italian neighborhood at 24^th and Oakley. I grew up with homemade ravioli and the only restaurant in Chicago that makes it right is La Fontanella on Oakley, but the other night my wife and I could not find parking so we gave Il Vicinato a try. The waiter highly recommended their veal ravioli which I ordered and found to be overcooked and very mushy. Gross. For dessert I ordered a dish of Spumoni which clearly had been stored in the freezer too long. Couldn’t finish it because parts were gummy while others were icy. Service was good. Food disappointing. They have a long way to go to compete with their neighbors on Oakley.

Excellent restaurant and reasonably priced
Could anywhere in Chicago this week and ate here 3x this week. Best bang for the buck Italian food!

Authentic Italian food you feel like being transported to an old Italian restaurant in Italy. Great food service great pasta. It tasted like home cooked Italian meal Delicious!

Great restaurant and the food was great. We stopped in for appetizers and the staff were all very friendly.

IL Vicinato is classic, traditional Italian done very well. Real, authentic, traditional Italian is becoming harder to find as contemporary Italian and contemporized traditional Italian are currently on trend. The interior has a rustic, charming, welcoming bygone era charm.
Everything is home cooked, slow cooked, in generous portions, reasonably priced. The drinks are big, strong and half the price of downturn Chicago with probably twice the alcohol content. There is a family pride that noticeably goes into the food and service.
The Chicken Vesuvio and Veal Ravioli are signature dishes. My friend had the ravioli, which are packed with meat, in abundance on the plate, of course home made and very tasty. My Osso Buco special was also excellent. I tried another friend’s Red Snapper, which was also generosity portioned and tasty.
Lots of classic homemade desserts like Ricotta Cheese Cake, Chocolate Mousse Cake etc.
We weren’t rushed, did not have to shout over the house music mix and could enjoy our delicious meal and conversation with dear friends.
Easy free street parking or $ 5 valet. Outdoor seating.

In light of my 8^th graders graduating, and this being my last year as an eighth grade teacher, I am writing another review about this place. It’s a tradition where the teachers eat lunch here after the ceremony, and I don’t know if it’s because I came here with a different group of people, but I wasn’t as satisfied leaving as I was a year ago. I regret not getting the steak like I did before, but I tried out the spaghetti this time around and it wasn’t anything special. Then again, how amazing can you make spaghetti with meat sauce? It’s a pretty simple dish. I thought the overall meal was bland, but I did enjoy the bread and my coke! The service here though is always amazing.

One reason this place is successful — besides very good food, of course– is that it manages to feel true to its old school roots while not seeming like a hole in the wall that time completely forgot. The dining room is relatively small — about 16 tables — with lovely wood paneling, soft lighting, and stucco upper walls and ceiling. It’s slightly spiffier and more formal than the idiosyncratic orange walls and green linoleum floors of Bruna’s down the street (though I love that place too.) The place isn’t ancient — it opened in the 80s, apparently — but its bloodlines run back to a long-​gone place that opened in the ‘50s on the next block called Febo, where my parents used to go, and apparently the building and interior space date back to Prohibition.
Antipasto chopped salad and house made veal ravioli (an old specialty of theirs — very plump pillows of delicately seasoned ground meat, topped with meat sauce which thankfully wasn’t too thick or heavy) were both excellent, as was the glass of San Polo «Rubio» Tuscan red wine.
The house made ricotta cheesecake was very nice — that’s a very hard item to find — but needed a touch more sugar to be satisfying as dessert.
Service was courteous and accommodating. Unfortunately, between my main course and dessert, my initial waiter (very friendly, knowledgeable, claimed to be the owner’s son) apparently clocked out without a word to me, and I was handed off to his more senior colleague.
The guest checks are still written and tabulated by hand, and the new waiter made a $ 5 error on the total, but corrected it and seemed genuinely apologetic.
I love authentic, unique places like this, and am glad they’re still able to make a go of it.

A nice sunny and warm Friday afternoon and patio seating. A bit off the beaten path and I have dined here several times. The food is excellent as is the wine list. Extremely reasonable too! Hugo was a friendly waiter who know his stuff. Now — try the snails with a a glass or 2 of white and wash down with a couple Pieroni’s. MMM good, a tasty treat to wrap the week up!!!

A women behind the bar took notice to us upon entry with a cheerful greeting. We were more than excited because we read the specials while waiting for a table. Juan was our server, he explained the specials in great detail. We had the Jumbo Shrimp appetizer and were Blown away! We also ordered the pork chops stuffed with prosciutto. I also had the veal fillet with a side of pasta. And for dessert we had chocolate mouse. Juan was attentive and Charming and we’ll definitely be back with a crowd.

If you like Italian food — you should go here!
Seriously, sometimes the fewer words you use to describe a dining experience the better, and that certainly was the case with Il Vicinato. First, our waiter was outstanding… made great recommendations, was attentive, but as I’ve said many times before did not try to be our best new friend. One of the absolutely best suggestions he made was to have our dishes family style, that way no one person had to make a decision of what they would order — we all got to try some of what was ordered!
We had appetizers, fried calamari (tender and fried to a perfect golden brown), shrimp alanari (I think that’s how it’s spelled), and prosciutto wrapped melon. Great choices and enough for all to try.
Then an Italian salad, largest enough for the table, and served family style. The dressing could have used a little more vinegar, but that’s being really picky.
The main entrees consisted of the chicken vesuvio, homemade ravioli with veal stuffing, and black linguine with lobster. All excellent, three dishes more than enough for the four of us, and my favorite was the ravioli.
Lastly, we had a dessert sampler — make room for dessert, you won’t be sorry. I think my favorite (besides tiramisu, which I love) was the cannoli — rich filling and crispy exterior.
This is the place for good neighborhood Italian food — if you’re looking for ambiance or fancy decorating, don’t go, but if you want good food, outstanding service, and good value, this is the place.

If you have not been here, you need to go. It is a one hour drive for me, and it is well worth it. I have been here twice, once for the ravioli with meat sauce, and today for the chicken vesuvio. Everything is great. Good fresh, chewy bread with olive oil. Great cocktails, appetizers, and desserts. My 3 guests were vegan, vegetarian, a pescatarian, and me a meat eater, and we all found a delicious option. Homemade pasta and a kitchen willing to modify anything for their customers. Reservations are needed on evenings and weekends, and the valet parking is helpful most times of the day.

Excellent food, went here after visiting my grandmother at Mt. Sinai. Fresh, nice servers and staff. Quiet, dimly lit. Fast and breezy service. Went on a Saturday night. Had veal parmigiana, with spaghetti and marinara sauce. The garden salad with thousand island sauce is ridiculous good

Consistency… again…service was great and Walters recommendation was spot on… not a lot of people here tonight…2^nd plate was Vesuvio. …

This place is a diamond in the rough! Atmosphere sucks but you won’t notice because this will probably be one of the best meals you’ll ever eat. We got the seafood gumbo (amazing,) crab cakes, garlic shrimp, salad, and sea bass, all of which were incredibly good. The meal started with a basket of soft, fresh bread. The sea bass was a huge, perfectly cooked piece of fish that is probably the best I have had anywhere ever. It was melt in your mouth perfect. Drinks were strong and service was attentive. On-​point from start to finish, a really great meal. Oh and super cheap taking into consideration the high quality of the food.

The best. Chicken vesuvio, shrimp scampi, baked clams, and the swordfish special are all excellent. Great service and atmosphere.

Called at 6pm on NYE and they were gracious enough to give us 8:30 reservations. The food and the service were outstanding! This place is already a favorite of mine… now they went up a few notches.
You definitely need to try this place if you haven’t yet!

Waiter Ben have great recommendations. Everything is worth tasting. The gumbo soup, pork chop, and cheesecake. You will be happy with this choice for Italian food. Just treat yourself and you will be happy.