Pane Caldo

Waitstaff was very accommodating to move our table away from the cold door, make room for people to join us for a drink, share an entrée, etc. Food was out of site… oso buco and marrow (yum), olive tapenade and tomatoes with bread were delish. Rail alcohol was high end and drinks were made perfect. Can’t wait to go back.

Disastrous. Maybe because it was Christmas Eve the entire way staff got blasted or worse. They were all inebriated or under some influence. No one knew which end was up
It was like an SNL skit from start to finish. Orders were mixed up and no one seemed to know what was going on, bill was wrong. Would absolutely never go back –ever, ever, ever. ruined Christmas Eve. Creepy vibe and unprofessional waitstaff and management .with so many great restaurants in this town don’t bother with this mess.

Went her for dinner with my husband and in-​laws and it was amazing! Excellent service and extremely tasty pasta. We especially liked the short rib pasta (which was a huge serving (big for a fancy restaurant). It was easy to get a day-​of reservation. Hadn’t heard too much about this restaurant aside from walking by it many times– feel like this is one of Gold Coast’s best kept secrets, right off Magnificent Mile! Will definitely come back with guests that are visiting Chicago.

Excellent service and the food was absolutely delicious! A must go when you’re visiting the magnificent mile:

Great food, while service was a little slow, the kitchen was well timed and the food was excellent

This is the third time I come here. Their daily menu is always surprise. Quiet and romantic environment every time.

Stay away. Worst experience I have ever had dining out. The air conditioning is broken, the service is poor, the management are thieves and unethical.
We went Saturday 8/​15, and when we walked in we immediately noticed it was just as hot inside as it was outside, but the hostess confirmed that air conditioning was on. After getting sat and settling in our large party all were noticing the heat, and continued to ask our waiter who also insisted that the air was on high, but it wasn’t working well. The A/​C is for sure broken, and it would have been nice to be told that we would be dining indoors in 80 degree weather (it was 80 all the way to 7PM Saturday). All guests were appropriately dressed and men were in slacks.
Despite the heat, we all had to ask to have water refilled and the service overall was mediocre.
The food was average, but honestly it is hard to enjoy warm food when a place is so hot. We all discussed leaving, but had already placed our order (lesson learned, as you will read below).
After an EXTREMELY slow service, we were finally ready for the check. We had already spoken to the waiter about separate checks and agreed this would be possible when we ordered, yet when the check came, they were all together and he advised we could all figure it out ourselves. After about 30 minutes of the check being passed around so each person could sum the items they ordered, add tax and add gratuity, we were finally able to depart.
Those of us that paid with cards find out that we were charged HUNDREDS of dollars over what we should have been charged. My bill should have been $ 85, yet my credit card showed $ 287. HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE? It is in dispute. Another diner that paid with her credit card, was charged $ 200+ on what should have been a $ 40 bill.
All in all, the food is WAY overpriced, the service was below average (think worse than Chili’s), and the owners/​management are unethical. They let 10 unknowing people come in and sit down for dinner to be told that the AC was working, when it was a hot sticky day in the Summer, when clearly the air wasn’t working, and worst of all the unethical management proceeded to charge credit cards HUNDREDS of dollars beyond what should have been charged to the patrons.
STAY AWAY.
I wish I would have seen Jessica M’s post, I certainly would not have walked in the door.

Made a last minute reservation for 6 people at 830 on a Friday night on Open Table. No host was there to greet our group as we arrived. We were seated at our table and discovered it was really warm in the restaurant. The glasses were covered in lint and fingerprints which wouldn’t have been so noticeable if we didn’t wait 15 – 20 minutes for water and it wasn’t so uncomfortably warm. The restaurant was empty and more than one server and server assistant strolled past our table without acknowledging us. Finally a tall, smug man meandered up to our table to mumble something about adjusting the temperature and asking what type of water we wanted. He walked away and another man came to the table to take our water order.
We walked out of the restaurant at 950. The smug man smiled as we did. The prices are high and the service is lacking. Maybe it’s growing pains. Maybe they’re European.
We gave up and then the restaurant cancelled my reservation at 1040.

This was just the experience I needed after a full day of work that followed a «working weekend.»
All by myself in a dimly lit lovely space, I had a few glasses of rosé, scallops (so perfectly cooked) with fresh peas, tortelli full of some fantastic stuff, and pear and almond tarts.
Heaven.
Service was excellent, clearly well-​trained and friendly.
Definitely coming back.
Oh, did I mention, $ 65 before tip? So reasonable!!!

I went back for dinner yesterday with a friend and the food was even better this time. The grilled calamari was EXCELLENT. I regularly eat out at nice restaurants and this restaurant has the best grilled calamari I have ever had. My friend was very impressed. We also had the duck confit which was delicious. The flavor and texture of the duck was perfect. The two dishes were expertly prepared.
For our main entres, I had the paparadelle with rabbit ragu and my friend had the pheasant with polenta. Both dishes were good, but paparadelle was better. The Sangiovese they have on the wine list paired wonderfully with the paparadelle. They also has a Italian rose by the glass that was very good.
The service is very professional and friendly. The entire meal was a pleasure. I highly recommend this place and would come back.

I was hungry and in need of a quick snack. Had the carpaccio and a glass of pinot grigio sitting at the bar. Service was great, food was great. The place was empty when I arrived, but quickly filled up in no time. I could tell it was a favorite of the locals.

Stopped for lunch with friends at their new location. Service was great and so was the food. We had chicken risotto, seafood salad with a big variety of fresh shellfish and shrimp, and an inventive caprese salad.

This is a nice place. The garden soup was a little bit hot and spice, but just a little bit. It was very tasty. The sea bass was with skin. Crisp. Very nice.

I recall dining at the previous incarnation of Pane Caldo a few years ago; though I don’t remember the details, I remember liking it. This new venue (back to life after a three-​year hiatus) has a lot to offer, as well. It’s a nice addition to the neighborhood: the décor is comfortably urbane, the menu very appealing, and the music well-​chosen and played at an appropriate volume to allow easy conversation. The staff was cordial and helpful.
We liked all our food. For starters, focaccia was rich & tender, and a tricolor salad was the best I’ve had of that ilk, fresh & delicious. My short rib entrée was appropriately tender & decadent, and my companion’s red snapper special was delicious and innovatively presented. For dessert, we enjoyed chocomisu (?), a mash-​up of tiramisu & chocolate mousse that was nicely plated, light and tasty. The wine list is compact, but offers a decent selection of Italian wines at price points to suit every budget from $ 30s to $ 100+
My sense is that this area is a very competitive market for a new white-​tablecloth restaurant to establish itself. I wish them well, though. I like the food and the ambiance, and I’ll certainly be back.

Incredible braised short ribs, gnocchi that melts in your mouth. Small intimate neighborhood gem. You have to try this place at least once.

The highest honor I can bestow upon a restaurant is being able to say «My mom loved it.» My mother is incredibly picky about food, so when she comes to visit it’s always a challenge to know where to take her. Having grown up and always lived in Europe, she has very selective taste about what constitutes good Italian/​French/​German/​etc cuisine. I took a gamble and brought her to Pane Caldo. I’m happy to say that gamble paid-​off: at the end of the meal she said that if she lived in Chicago, this would be her favorite restaurant.
It’s a very authentic Italian restaurant, right down to the pace of the meal; we were there for several hours enjoying each dish slowly with wine — as is the tradition in Italy. I often inhale my food at first sight, but the slow pace allowed me to savor each bite. Every part of the meal was delicious — from the fresh-​baked bread to the Chef’s treats at the end.
The standouts of the meal included the Roasted Root Vegetables, and the Veal. I’d definitely recommend trying these dishes out, though they might have been on the specials menu of that particular day.
The restaurant itself is quiet, with a romantic vibe to it, but it’s great for any kind of dinner where you want to be able to hear the people you’re with. It’s a bit hidden, just off of Michigan ave next to Starbucks. You could accidentally pass it by without noticing.
So if your picky mom comes to visit, don’t pass this place up!

It is evident this restaurant is going to become one of Chicago favorite places for dining. The location is very convenient and the décor is gorgeous. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner a Saturday night. Even though the restaurant was very crowded, our service was superb.
The appetizers were tantalizing and entrees were deeeelicious! Our dinner was topped off with deserts that created by their pastry chef.
I expect to come here often!

My boyfriend and I checked out the new Pane Caldo on Valentine’s Day with another couple. It was super busy which led service to be a bit backed up but the food was amazing! We will be back soon!

What an uninspired restaurant. It is, at best, a two-​star restaurant. Where to begin?
The service was very slow. Even though there was barely anyone there, it took us 15 minutes to get a food menu of any kind. When we finally received one, it was only a «Specials» menu with a copy of their wine/​cocktail list. It then took an additional 5 minutes to get a hold of their «Winter» food menu. Needless to say, I should not have to wait 20 minutes after entering a restaurant to to see the full food menu — particularly when it’s just printed on a piece of loose paper (get some proper menus, guys).
I have to note that there is something deeply wrong — almost unsettling — about the lighting here. Above the tables, there is a hanging lamp with an incredibly bright, LED-​style white light. It shines an intense white beam onto the table — it is uninviting, cold, alien, and utterly mood-​killing. Most of all, it is incongruous with the other décor and style in the dining room. Not sure what they were going for here, but it fails.
The food is… edible? We had an little gem lettuce salad that was edible but could not be described as fresh, the scallop (tasty, but scallops are hard to screw up), the rabbit ragu special (this was actually rich and I would order it again), and the chicken paillard (this was borderline gross — almost all skin, served with a scoop of out-​of-​the-​box mashed potatoes.
I won’t judge the place a total failure yet, as I am sure it is still getting its legs under it, figuring out the new kitchen, and so on. The rabbit ragu pasta showed me that the kitchen is certainly capable of putting out good food. But as it stands, there are too many problems to warrant a visit. There are certainly vastly better options for Italian food within a 3-​block radius.

Wow — I’m so happy to see Pane Caldo again! My heart is bursting with joy and excitement for the new space and new location.
Another highlight to the new PC is that you will see a new Italian chef (Giuseppe Catanzariti) visiting guests at their tables. Aside from the new, flavorful menu, Chef Giuseppe is also rather easy on the eyes. ;-)
The menu is new and pleasantly inventive — a menu that would be suitable to dine for a standard creative twist or a experimental adventure; appealing to just about anyone that walks in the door.
I loved the variety of textures that followed the Burrata crostini, the simplicity of the roasted root vegetables and the savory flavor of the crispy ciccioli. The bigoletti with Umbrian lentils and poached egg was beyond delicious (vegetarian).
So many other items I couldn’t try, but a must for those meat lovers include the roasted beef bone marrow, the pappardelle fresca with rabbit ragu and the meatballs… of which I heard are from the recipe of Chef Giuseppe’s grandmother.
The new Pane Caldo has many new dishes and is certainly worth a stop. I’m excited to go back for more, and you might be too!:)