Spiaggia

Made mistake of taking relative to Spiaggia last night. The food was mostly mediocre, the portions were micro (felt like playing dollhouse as one person put it), the décor very unappealing (sterile airport lounge), the music unsettling (intermittently loud and abrasive), and the bill shockingly high for the tiny amount of food. Two teeny pastas (the risotto was particularly bad tasting), a skimpy asparagus appetizer (4 skinny spears barely visible in a pink mayonnaise type sauce), and 3 drinks cost $ 132 plus tip. If you’re looking for fabulous food in a chic environment at a reasonable price (that is, the price may be high but it is reasonable given the quality of the experience), then you need to look further.

Ok, I get the «trying to be fancy» team of people serving your table… but the service felt quite disorganized. Took 20+ minutes to order a drink… and even then it seemed the waiter was surprised we wanted a drink in addition to the bottles of wine we ordered for our dinner. And when explaining how to order, it was unclear whether we order the 6-​course meal or off the al a carte menu. We opted for the latter. but the serving sizes were so small we should have been instructed to order one item from each column for a more hungry guest. The prosciutto with cheese was very leafy and average. The gnocchi was delish as was the ribeye steak. The tiramisu seemed off-​kilter. The portions are small, but to give them the benefit of the doubt… perhaps it was the service that threw me off.

Hubby and I did the 6 course tasting menu last night as a celebration of our last week in Chicago. We made a last minute reservation, so it was great we could get a table. The menu was filling and I was stuffed after! It was 125 per person. The menu was good, but I didn’t really think any particular dish was super stand out. This is your classic, elegant, Italian tasting menu. The dishes were pretty, but in the «food as art» department, was missing some innovation and creativity, specially since last Michelin star I dined at was the Avery (omg mind blown there). The bread course was tasty. Would pass on the prosciutto ricotta, could barely taste the prosciutto. There was something that I remember being like a lamb stuffed wonton which was interesting but something I would order again. The gnocchi was prob the best, but almost too rich. I didn’t like the salmon dish much, although the red cabbage underneath was good. I really liked the deconstructed tiramisu and thought this was the most unique of the dishes. The waitstaff was EXCELLENT and the timing of the courses was well executed.

Went to Spiaggia to celebrate my birthday and it was fantastic.
We chose to do a la carte and started with the prosciutto and asparagi. The sauce on the asparagi dish was so yummy we both loved it.
We split 3 pasta dishes. Our favorites were the risotto and gnocchi. The gnocchi was one of the best truffle dishes I’ve had.
Service was impeccable. So polite, helpful, and incredibly attentive. Very pretty restaurant also. We will be back :)

Absolutely Fantastic! I was in last night and the food plus service were the best I have seen in many months. We were running a bit behind due to traffic, and the hostess called to inform me of alternate routes due to an unfortunate accident. After being seated we enjoyed a great meal of delicate flavors and stunning presentation. I also met their managers who greeted us warmly and was very sincere. This was the first time in since the winter, and it was a huge improvement.

For what you’re paying, Spiaggia unfortunately under delivers. While the food was generally pretty good (the gnocchi was delicious!), service was atrocious. It was so bad that my boyfriend had to chastise our waiter and ask him to speed things up which of course totally embarrassed me and destroyed what was supposed to be a grand celebratory dinner. However, once he commented on the terrible service, our waiter did speed things up and service while still not what I would expect of a Michelin restaurant, did improve.
Food, as I mentioned, was all around pretty great, but the ambiance of the restaurant was quite stale and stuffy. Weird elevator music and unstylish furnishings made for an all around weird vibe and not a place I really wanted to spend two hours in.
I definitely would not return and pay an arm and a leg for another mediocre experience at Spiaggia. Spend your money elsewhere.

Well, there is a lot of things to say about this place especially that a lot of celebrities come here from what the I’ve heard.
The food is extremely good but the quantity is very low. In order to be full here you will need to spend $ 200 per person and that might not be enough.
Great experience for an average joe but if you’re looking for cheap this is definitely not it.

Decent restaurant for upscale Italian fare. I wasn’t exactly blown away by my dinner here, but still enjoyed my experience overall.
The meal starts with bread service, which is fairly unique — the bread is served warm and comes in a small paper bag, along with two olive oils and salt to sample. I ordered the prosciutto primavera, which was a decent appetizer, although the creaminess of the ricotta was a bit overwhelming. I would have liked to see more emphasis on the prosciutto as a standout ingredient.
The risotto alla carbonara was decadent and creamy, and an interesting take on the regular spaghetti alla carbonara. However, I thought the dish was over-​salted, especially since the guanciale and Parmigiano are fairly salty by themselves.
The salmon I ordered for the secondi was my favorite dish — the salmon was cooked perfectly with a crispy skin, and the red cabbage paired wonderfully with the fish.
Finally, although the menu makes no mention of this, the tiramisu I got for dessert is a deconstructed version, which was a letdown. The cake portion was dry, and the dish lacked the signature coffee flavor of a traditional tiramisu due to the weaker espresso foam.
Service, while not inattentive, was not quite as polished as one might expect, and a bit impersonal. We would have liked our server to engage with us more throughout the evening, for example by being present at the table to explain the ingredients and preparations of each dish as they are placed in front of the diner. Slight quibbles, such as hurried placement of new utensils and inconsistent pacing of the meal, were non-​issues but vaguely disappointing given the Michelin star rating.
The restaurant is tucked away on the second floor of an office building, but upon entering you are greeted by a grand wine display that opens up into a sleek, airy dining space. Although there’s not too much in terms of views, the expansive windows and high ceilings make for an enjoyable dining experience overall. However, I did not care for the EDM that was playing, which coupled with a lack of tablecloths, detracted from the formality of the evening.

Be prepared to go all the way!
We enjoyed a 9 course dinner and were blown away! Staff, food, & wine were over the top! MUST VISIT! Thank you!

The place is slightly confusing to find to be honest since its on the second floor of this office looking building, but it is a great location. I walked in and was seated at the bar (where I like to be). Awesome — there were chargers at the bar seating — probably my favorite thing about this place. All restaurants should have that. I need to keep all my things charged at all times.
I started off with the feather ogre (Pimm’s No. 1, Mancino bianco vermouth, strawberry,
orange, lemon, mint, cucumber, ginger). It’s like a fancy pimm’s cup and I do loved it! I also ended up getting a prosecco with my dessert as well. Love my sparkling wine.
I ordered the frutti di mare (green-​lip mussel, Maine lobster, kusshi oyster, razor clam). It came in this beautiful iced plate. Each of them were beautiful and I almost didn’t want to eat them. Favorite — lobster of course. I got the gnocchi next (black truffle, ricotta, Parmigiano Reggiano). Delicious! I definitely knew that this dish was my favorite. I loved every bite of it. Even though I’m slightly lactose intolerant, this was amazing. I ended with the tiramisu. This wasn’t the best for me, but it wasn’t bad either.
Protip: sit at the bar and charge your cell phones. And oh yeah! Gnocchi!

Fails to live up to expectations. We had reservations for four in anticipation but we were sat at a table set for two. Diet Coke served to my daughter was flat and had to request a fresh can.
Entrees were not explained. Entrees and table settings were repeatedly swerved incorrectly and to wrong people such as bread to gluten free and fish knives to steak entrees, etc. Staff appeared to argue with each other.
Expensive food that is not served on time nor is it served warm as it should be. We were there for over forty minutes before bread or first entrée was placed on table. Staff seemed confused and disorganized. Oil and garlic pasta at $ 30 was a small portion with literally no taste. $ 44 for cold small portion of salmon. See pic (pretty but boring).
When many of these shortcomings were brought to the attention of the management, they did make an effort to acknowledge and correct the problems experienced and therefore I would give them four stars for the effort but only 2 stars on execution and food. I hope they can clean up their act. We love Café Spiaggia but we’re really let down by Spiaggia.

I dined at Spiaggia recently with a friend. What follows lists my experience in terms of food, service and ambience, the three components of fine dining.
Food:
The bread was brought inside a paper bag accompanied by two small dishes of oil and one of salt. Nothing special about this, perhaps a little elaborated.
For starters we shared Frutti di Mare, an appetizer consisting of lobster, oysters and other seafood elements. Very good, however there is nothing Italian to this. It is something you may encounter in a nice seafood restaurant.
Next we had a pasta dish each — a Risotto Carbonara and a Gnocchi. Both were excellent. A chef’s variations of typical Italian dishes. We also shared Culiorgiones, a Sardinian dish not very well known in Chicago. It was fine, nothing special.
For the next course my friend had Manzo (beef) and me Anatra (duck). Both excellent, but not really Italian. You can find this in a good French restaurant.
I felt that the food was excellent but not representative of Italy, rather a mixture of seafood, Italian and French cuisines.
The wine list offers a large variety of Italian wines, but it is weak on Barberas. Odd, since this wine goes well with any food. Most of the Barberas in Spiaggia’s list are from Asti. The best Barberas are from Alba. It would be nice to see a superb Barbera D’Alba like Vietti’s Scarrone on their list.
Having visited Italy over nineteen times and Rome in particular fifteen times, I found it odd that no Roman dishes were on the menu. Spaghetti Carbonara and Bucattini all’Amatriciana, typical Roman pastas were recently removed from the Spiaggia café menu.
Spiaggia’s menu is foreign to most people and strange. It needs dishes that are more known to consumers. Simple well known Italian dishes can, in the hands of a good chef, be turned into magnificent masterpieces. For example, in what is probably the best restaurant in Milan, Boeucc, founded in 1696, I had a simple appetizer like Prosciuto e Melone that was out of this world, followed by a superb Baccala.
Without mentioning its name, there is another excellent Italian restaurant in Chicago that transforms ordinary dishes into masterpieces!
Service:
The service was impeccable.
Ambience:
The ambience simply sucks just because the tables lack white linen tablecloths. That is not elegant dining, it is arrogant stupidity. It is insulting for Spiaggia to believe that this should be the trend in elegant dining and such arrogance assumes that customers are mindless entities willing to accept the nonsense dictated by corporate morons sitting in an ivory tower.
I cannot conceive of anyone that would be offended by having a table with tablecloths, but I can conceive of many that are totally turned off by tables without tablecloths. From a marketing viewpoint it makes no sense since this idiotic trend could, and probably will, eliminate many potential customers.
I was told once that this was done to attract young people. Really? Young people do not appreciate tables with tablecloths? My companion at Spiaggia that evening was a stunning young woman in her twenties, extremely sophisticated and highly intelligent who finds this statement insulting to her.
Spiaggia’s tables without tablecloths remind me of the short tale by Hans Christian Andersen.
Two weavers promise and emperor new clothes that are invisible to those unfit for their positions, stupid, or incompetent. When the Emperor parades before his subjects in his new clothes, no one dares to say that they do not see any clothes on him, until a child cries out: «But he is not wearing anything at all!»
This applies perfectly to Spiaggia’s lack of tablecloths. Unlike the Emperor’s subjects in this story, most people are not that stupid to accept that dining on naked tables is fine dining. Many are like me. So I say to Spiaggia:
But Spiaggia., how can you parade your dining as fine if your tables have no tablecloths?!

Very big disappointment. Bad service, waitress was like a phony olive garden waitress. Everything was so rehearsed. Wanted to smack her by the end of the meal she was so incredibly irritating.
Beyond that, the food did not hit the mark. Got the tasting menu with extras. Several bland, uninspired dishes. The steak and lamb were quite good, but thats not enough when there are 9 courses and each one is very small. Been to several tasting menu, high end restaurants. Not on the same level as most the others I’ve been to.

Not sure how they received a Michelin star because we had a very mediocre experience. Service is brisk and attentive. Dining room is attractive and inviting.
Bread service: Was actually one of the more unique experiences as bread is served warm and in a brown paper bag, along with two types of olive oil and salt. Too bad the bread wasn’t great — hard exterior and dry interior.
Gnocchi with black truffles: Delicious but very rich white sauce with a couple truffle shavings. Gnocchi should be much more tender and light.
Lamb with favs beans: pretty good but not outstanding
Vegetarian Polenta: Creamy polenta base was rich and lacked texture. Vegetables were so, so bland
Salmon: Blah
Duck: Best dish we ordered. Flavorful
Bear in mind that protein dishes are tiny, tiny, tiny. You need to order two or three courses to feel like you have had a full meal.

My wife and I dined here for our 24^th wedding anniversary on ⁴⁄₂₂. Needless to say, we won’t be back.
The décor is appealing, the service is stellar, especially at the bar where the barmaid made us feel most welcome and went out of her way to locate a particular spirit I was after. Here is the meal we had…
We started with the Prosciutto Primavera which we were told consisted mainly of «European field greens». To see what it tasted like, go mow your lawn and when you’re finished, take the bag of freshly mowed grass and stick your head in it and inhale through your mouth. Then, take some whipped cream mixed with lemon juice, put some in your mouth, then stuff two thin slices of prusciuto in your mouth. Chew. Swallow. Boom, DONE! That was the salad.
Next up was the Gnocchi. Now, I’ve never had it until this past Friday but, the texture was far nicer than any pasta I’ve had before. Unfortunately the sauce that they poured over top looked like pureed dog pooh and smelled about the same, with some very strong garlic mixed in with it.
Finally, the Manzo, which was supposed to be 45 day dry-​aged ribeye. It was tasty, this part I can not deny… there just wasn’t enough of it! Literally, our serving size of meat was the size of a silver dollar, maybe even a 50 cent piece, but we were only served two each.
I didn’t come close to finishing my salad, only ate two «pieces» of gnocchi, and ate the two small pieces of beef. Nothing was deducted from my bill at all nor was it insinuated that this would happen, despite the staff seeing that they had taken a near full salad plate back as well as a full bowl of the pasta. Clearly they had to see that their food was not appealing to me.
The above «meal» combined with 4 drinks totaled $ 401 including $ 20 tip. Yes, I know I should tip more for good service but after being screwed out of $ 300+ for food that was FAR from worth it, I was furious BUT, it was my anniversary night and I was not about to ruin my evening further by embarrassing my wife by verbally shredding the management.
I will NEVER revisit this place and my only solace is that maybe someone wanting a nice Italian dinning experience will read my review and look elsewhere for that experience. I’ve never been to Italy but if the food is like the food served at Spiaggia, I’ll stick to America.

Our expectations were not met. FYI, we ate the tasting menu of nine items (we paid to have each of the extras added). Staff might have been less focused on self-​congratulatory pat-​on-​the-​back questions about «how wonderful was that course?» and «how did you love that one!?» They need to focus more on providing the personal high-​end dining experience customers are paying for. The food was all decent, but most of it wasn’t much more than that. There are too many different people serving the table, the only one we made a connection with was the man who poured all of the wine. With so many better places to dine in Chicago, we won’t be going back, and regret changing tonight’s reservation from Everest to Spiaggia. They’re too corporate, industrial, with way too many staff flitting about here and there in the dining room, and are clearly focused more on profit margins and business acumen than the human aspects of having a good meal. The wines are marked up even more than usual, yeah, paying triple or quadruple the retail price of a wine at a restaurant is typical, but at Spiaggia, you’ve got to go up higher. The woman who seated us, well, she just really got on our nerves, and knocked the enjoyment factor of the meal down a notch or two. Again, we won’t be going back. Nice view, and they had my coat for me when we left. The wines were quite nice, too, though surprisingly esoteric — you’re not likely to be familiar with half of them. Further, I’d note that we’ve also eaten at Café Spiaggia; it was better. We live in a small Midwestern city, and we’ve got several restaurants there that we’d rate a lot better than this. Wait staff need more training and people skills, and one of them couldn’t speak English well enough for us to understand his description of a cheese from Vermont. We wonder what the turnover rate is among wait staff. Quantity over quality is evident, and by 7:30, there were no empty tables in the place. That may SEEM to be a good thing, but if you think about business motive, it can be otherwise. We were rushed through our menu in two hours, while the night before a similar menu allowed FIVE hours. Think about it.
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UPDATE:
On Sunday, April 3^rd while we were eating at North Pond (see my review) indeed I got a call from Chris, the business manager at Spiaggia. If a restaurant manager was seeing to it that customers’ expectations for exceptional dining were being met while they’re dining, there would be no need for a business manager to follow up with people like this; when you examine the list of Unilocal reviews for Spiaggia, you’ll find Chris writing similar apologies too much to my thinking. At any rate, she apologized for our bad experience and said she hoped we’d give them another try, requesting I ask for her by name when we go, so she can take care of us. I thanked her for her call, and indicated that we had truly felt that the meal was not at all up to the standards of any place with a Michelin star. For the reader’s sake, our tab came to nearly $ 600, with only ONE of us drinking wine. I’ve spoken with my significant other, and been told plainly that there’s just no interest in giving them another chance. He told me I should have taken away their Michelin star as we left the place. He also felt that the hostess/​waitress who seated us and came around several times during our meal made our time there more about her and the restaurant, than about us and our expensive dinner. We only go to Chicago to dine on great food and be relaxed and at ease in a nice hotel. We expect to get very good value and quality for the big money spent, and Spiaggia did not deliver, not even close. My boyfriend has made better pasta in our own kitchen. Would our response have been any different if Chris had told us on the phone what she would (tangibly) do for us to make up for the bad experience? Quite possibly, but we’ll never know. Making a promise to do better is just a vague statement, and another unsatisfactory meal would have been quite a bit more than annoying; we didn’t care to think of taking that risk. We’re going back to Chicago again in just ten days, and we will see what Everest, Grace, Sixteen, and 42 Grams deliver. Also another dinner at Acadia. Maybe supper at North Pond, too, if we can manage to stay away from home long enough. My boyfriend isn’t «cheap» with his money, but he is frugal, and expects that when he spends $ 600 on a dinner, it ought to be something you’re talking to friends about for some time to come. We’ll be talking to people, but we won’t be saying what we love and prefer to be saying; that praise will be about elsewhere.

Tony Mantuano is too busy writing books and making media appearances to see that his restaurant is just plain arrogant.
Staff are just rude. Front door staff look like they are on the typical Gold Coast rejected model curve. Disinterested, dull, not much firing upstairs.
Sommelier who came by, a young, slim male, was about as arrogant as I’ve seen in awhile. I Wanted to go something away from the Barolo, Barbaresco, Brunello trail I enjoy, and go somewhere different. He just wanted to upsell. He wasn’t even trying to recommend. He just wanted me to spend. List is missing that extra special variety it used to have in the old incarnation and even the new version that first opened again more recently.
Too many other great places to go close by, and around the city. Food isn’t very good anymore and it’s obviously just relying on past reputation to hope it keeps afloat.
Don’t go here. Go somewhere else they aren’t ripping you off for mediocre food, rude staff, and poor effort.

We were here over the weekend to celebrate my fiancé’s birthday.
Things I appreciated:
— We had to be out by a certain time and they were so considerate, well planned and self aware of the course to make sure we had enough time to enjoy each without waiting too long to hurry at the end
— Service was good though we wish our server had requested the help of a sommelier sooner, he finally did and we got our wine right
— The ambiance is quite relaxing by how quiet and beautiful the space is
Things we wished more of:
— The food was extremely creative, almost seems to be a requirement for a Michelin star now. But the vegetarian courses were just mushrooms or root veggies all the way. Even my fiancé, who had the regular courses, enjoyed some (duck pâté and foie gras) but skipped others. We wish the food was a little more authentic Italian and tasty!

Ordered a glass of some Spanish wine, and I was ‘pleasantly’ surprised by what’s hidden at the bottom of the glass — a huge pile — yes, it’s a pile — of sediment. I asked the waitress and she told me it’s normal. It’s like the wine is yelling at me – ‘Look! I’m such a high quality wine since I have accumulated so much sediment in my bottled life!’ Should I be flattered by what is presented in such a blunt way?
By the way, the wine was $ 60 per bottle on the menu. On the waitress’ recommendation. And no, it doesn’t taste good.

Great dining experience! We were there for a good 2 ½ hours. Leisurely pace as our 12 course meal was presented. Each course was exquisite and unique. You have to know when you were in for when you go here, fine dining, beautiful presentation. Small portions across the courses that add up to a very fine meal. Very pricey, especially with the very nice wine list, and the price of the preset menu. Well worth an experience

Entering this glossy but visually cold building, I felt some mild trepidation. Was I here for dinner or meeting my financial adviser? –Because surely this was not where my restaurant was located? After making my way up the escalator, I did find Spiaggia and as I entered the room, I took in the modern and very sexy space. It was every bit as sleek as you’d expect from a Chicago restaurant with so many dollar signs attached to its name. Gorgeous fabrics, rich dark woods, and chandeliers that force you to take notice. This is a place to impress. Or at the very least, sit in a dim booth, slip your shoe off and run your toes up your dinner companion’s leg while he peruses the menu. Don’t blame me; the lighting and views just beckon it.
The menu changes every season so I will not give a listing of all of our tastings. It was all very good. My mouth still waters at just thinking about the chestnut and foie gras soup. That might have been the most spectacular soup I have ever eaten. While everyone demands you order the truffle gnocchi, I will say that it was truly rich and decadent. So much so that I loved the first few bites, but was ready for something else well before I finished. A little on the salty side, but quite delicious.
Although the desserts are quite tiny, the Mezzo (10 piece sampling) was way too much after the many courses. A beautiful display and most samplings were definite standouts, but I would have been happier with far fewer tastings. Next time, I will order the Piccolo (6 piece).
Perhaps not your every day restaurant, but most definitely a great choice if you’re in the mood for something a couple of notches higher than a typical Friday night.

Pure class and one of the best tasting menus we’ve had in chicago (14+ dishes). This has to be a top 5 restaurant in chicago. They do a take on a traditional Italian coursed dinner and Italian dishes. The service is so gracious and respectful, but a bit more down to earth than other elite places. Unforgettable experience!
Anti-​pasta courses:
Artichoke truffle soup — A+
Focaccia — A+
Burrata and Caviar — A+
Sea bass crudo A+
Squash blossom A+
Carpaccio and truffle A+
Pasta courses:
Tortellini A+
Carbonara A+
Sweet corn Risotto B+
Meat courses:
Octopus B–
Polenta A
Bison A+
45 day aged prime rib (unbelievable flavor and not on menu) A+
Desert:
Blue cheese A+
Gelato w/​espresso A+
Olive oil cake A+
I tagged a few pics!

My friend was visiting and wanted to dine at Spiaggia for dinner so off we went! It’s a very nice, classy restaurant although not as dressy as I thought it would be. We split the grilled octopus which beautifully cooked although the portion was very small. My friend ordered the rombo (white fish with asparagus) while I got the gnocchi. The gnocchi was excellent. Lovely creamy sauce with truffle and the gnocchi was perfectly cooked– soft and chewy.
For dessert we split the mini 6 pastries and all were delicious, except for the tiramisu which had a lot of rum in all layers of the cake. Very strong flavor. My favorite was the nougat. Definitely recommend ordering this dessert dish.

My husband made reservations here to celebrate our 2 year wedding anniversary on a Saturday evening at 8:15. He requested window seating a couple of times by calling every other day to date of our reservation. If you’re going to celebrate something special and spend good, then you might as well try hard for the view! So we did get it!
We arrived 15 minutes early from our reservation time and were greeted by the hosts, offered to take our jackets, and seated. You are given two crisps pieces of parmesan baked bread and offered tap or still water upon your request. We absolutely loved our view, and our bus boy as well as one of our waiters kindly took a picture of us.
If you love wine, then this your place for quality wine. They have a wine director and two sommeliers listed on the wine list. If you know your wines, you will be pleased to pick a selection from many regions listed around Italy and some other countries. My husband and I shared a rye pasta dish and the lamb.
BEST LAMB i have ever had. All though I have never ordered lamb from an Italian Restaurant, the way it was braised was so beautiful. It was the most tender, most delicious lamb I have ever had. It was so enjoyable to know that it wasn’t seasoned too much or too little, but just the way it should be. The pesto sauce had outstanding flavors and you can taste the pine nuts.
Please don’t leave without trying dessert. At a price of 6 dollars, you can try every little thing. Take a look at my pictures to know what I’m talking about.
Spiaggia is in a great location! My husband and I had a drink at Del Frisco’s before our dinner at Spiaggia, and a drink at Fig and Olive after leaving Spiaggia. It was a nice romantic way to celebrate our 2^nd Anniversary and I would do it all over again!