Tutto Italiano

501 S. Wells

Chicago, IL 60607

312.939.4824

Type: Italian
Fancy Shmancy Factor: 3.5/5
Price: Entrees range from $15-$20 for the most part

Quality for price: 2.5/5

Ambiance: Casual/romantic depending on dining room
Other: Closed on Sundays, outdoor sidewalk se

ating

Kristen: Everyone likes free stuff. And we are no exception. On Monday, Dan informed me that the next day was one of his favorite days of the year and told me to guess why. Now, I happen to know that Dan's

favorite day of the year is St. Patty's day hands-down and since that was a few weeks ago, I was stumped. "It's not Paczki day..." I began. "No, but you're on the right track." He finally informed me that Starbucks was giving away free pastries with the purchase of a coffee. Okay, so kinda free. But it didn't stop there! My best friend, Claire, who works at Navy Pier emailed to tell me that Ben and Jerry's was having a free ice cream day. Now we're talking. I hastily texted Dan to let him know the good news and he wrote back to ask if any place was giving away free insulin. Funny guy. Now, turns out it was also National Hug Day (who knew?!) so Dan also got stopped by and old woman on his way to work and received a free hug!

So we couldn't let the free stop there of course. We used a buy-one, get one coupon from a book my parents had given us to dine at Tutto Italiano in the South Loop.

When we first entered the restaurant, the interior was dark wood and loud music that made the place seem like a typical venue for after work drinks or pub fare. However, we were led through this bar area, past a cozy lounge area with leather chairs, into a train car with intimate seating for 2 and authentic Italian music playing. It was as if we walked through one restaurant to get to a completely different restaurant but we were pleasantly surprised. When the couple next to us commented on the locamotive dining room, the server told them that it actually moved as well. Fascinated, they asked how. "It depends on how drunk is the conductor" replied the server, using a joke he'd clearly used about 800 times before.

The servers "charm" was endless. When Dan tried to order a salad without tomatoes and onions, he shook his head sadly and said, "You know what they would do to you if you tried to order like that in Italy? Too big guys would come and grab you and they throw you outside but keep the chair. And that's in the north where they are polite. South, near Sicily, they shoot you."

Dan decided to go with the Penne Bolognese instead.

By the end of the meal, I thought that if he "pulled my leg" one more time, it was going to come off. He moved from telling us several times that if we don't finish, we will be charged double to insisting that they don't accept credit cards as we tried to pay with one (turns out they do accept them; this was just another one of his silly "jokes"). He did all of this with a completely straight face and hint of a smirk to clue us in that he was joking and this made it especially difficult to politely laugh at his unwelcome (and unfuny) jesting.
Oh yeah, there was food, too. Before the meal we were provided with the requisite bread and olive oil. When it came to entrees, as I mentioned, Dan had the Penne Bolognese, which was decent. It was a heavy dish and didn't have a lot going on besides the noodles and meat sauce but the flavor was fine. The lasagne I ordered left something to be desired. The layer of ricotta was too thick and overpowered the rest of the dish. The sauce was strangely sweet and some bites had a distinct "fishy" taste. Needless to say, we weren't very impressed.

The verdict: since the best part of our dining experience was the ambiance of the place itself, we don't suggest spending a ton of dough having a multi-course meal here. This would be a great place to meet for after-work drinks, wine, or maybe share some appetizers. To be fair, we found out later that the restaurant is known for their risotto and veal, of which we had none, so perhaps those menu choices would have changed our experience entirely. But to be safe, stick to a nice Italian wine and see if you and your date can get the train car moving.