Quartino: User Reviews
I know a lot of people like this restaurant, but my husband and I just don't get the appeal. We went in on Friday for the 2 for $20 lunch special. At first the waitress had no idea what we were talking about, but then she spoke to the manager and found out that it was in effect. For the first course, we had the salad with spinach, walnuts, and pears. It sounded good, but when we ate it it was incredibly unbalanced. For the second course we had the pork marsala which was definitely the best part of the whole meal. For the third course we had tortellini with prosuitto, peas, and alfredo. It was not great and was very salty. The bread was ok and the $4 quartino of the red house wine was surprisingly good. Won't be back unless for wine.
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Fabulous service, amazing food (the house-made salumi is incredible as are the veal meatballs, risotto and pizza, etc ...) and the restaurant is always jumping. Highly recommend this place..
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This is not a place to go if you have a large group. We had a reservation for 15 at 6:00 PM. We arrived and waited an hour past our reservation time to be seated. (It was a Wednesday night.) They told us everyone in our party had to be present, and would not seat us, despite having a large enough table open. It would have been easy to take a smaller table away if everyone did not show up (and they could have sold quite a bit of food and alcohol to the table in that time). The food at Quartino is good, stay away if you're more than 4 people.
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I was a little nervous about going here after all the negative reviews that I read about the noise on Saturday nights. It was loud, but I was there with a group and we were seated upstairs, which is not as crowded and noisy as the main dining room downstairs. So the atmosphere was actually pretty good. Our waiter did a great job - excellent service. We each ordered a small plate and shared all the food - calamari, a couple risottos, a couple pizzas, caprese salad, pasta - everything was great. We also ordered several desserts and shared them and they were all very good. Their wines can get really expensive, but we stuck to the house wines, which are very reasonable. All said and done we each only paid $26 with tax and tip. I would definitely go back with a group, but this probably isn't a good place to go if you want a quiet, relaxing dinner, just because it is a very bustling and kind of loud place.
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The service at Quartino is excellent! The wait staff is very friendly, accomodating, and quick. They have a great wine selection too - and for very reasonable prices. The food on the other hand is just allright. I've tried a couple of their pizzas and tapas style dishes, and nothing has been outstanding. The fun and lively atmosphere is definitely better than the food.
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Torture Chamber - not recommended
By Ladies Who Lunch from downtown, February 26, 2009
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On the recommendation of friends I tried Quartino on Restaurant Week. The highlight was the staff - very friendly - from bartender to wait to manager. But I cannot tell anyone larger than a matchstick to stop in here. It was a Wed night, packed. the tables are the size of a postage stamp and packed on top of each other. You must ask the person at each table you pass to squeeze in or get out of their chair. Too, too annoying!! We had the 4-course special menu. While the portions are good sized for the $, the food is not memorable enough to outweigh the uncomfortable and claustrophobic conditions. The plates come out willy-nilly and the server put our order in so that our entree came out before an earlier course - WHY?!?! The menu is rustic Italian with a number of small plates and salumi/cheese options. It all looked tempting and if you choose tapas style, where do you put the plates? On your lap? We joked we would have had more room dining on the bar.
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A really pleasant surprise - definitely going back
By greenwave from Wheaton, February 16, 2009
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We were a group of 8 looking for a way to salvage a beautiful Saturday after having to sit through Xanadu. We ordered in "flights" as recommended by our waiter, Johnny, and it was the way to go. The portions were reasonable, well-prepared, looked good and tasted fine. The food is served family-style, so we sampled a wide variety.
Johnny, our waiter was great, and the manager and other wait staff were great as well. Great recommendations, none of which were the typical "I always get this," with "this" always being something very expensive.
The whole experience was great; we got away for about $40 per head, with 3 or 4 appetizers, a few pastas and some chicken and veal. We also had a few carafes (just a bit more than a bottle) of Pinot Grigio and Chianti (about $16 - $20 for each carafe), which were very good. We left satisfied and not stuffed.
This is a great oasis in the land of over-priced, similar restaurants in the area.
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Too Noisy: Unorganized Service; Wait Too Long; Good Food
By My Thoughts from Bucktown, August 17, 2008
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My husband and I have been here twice - both times on Saturday nights. I don't mind some noise or a short wait with an explanation. But, the noise level here requires shouting and the wait to sit, order our drinks, get our drinks, order the food, get the food (my husband got his order first; mine came 10 minutes later), order dessert, and get dessert was way out of line. The bill was the only item that came quickly. Both times, the wait staff nicely apologized for being busy. Hire more people. The food is actually good, but I'm not going back.
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We dined as a large group in for a bachelorette party. We were seated in a timely manner, the wine was ready to be served, and we ordered around 15-18 dishes. The food came out quickly one after another....we had just enough time to pass it around, take a few bites, and the next plate was served. It was a great expereince all around. The food was yummy...the pizza was great....the cheese fondue awesome....overall excellance! Best of all, the service was great. We even had the server make a fun bachelorette dessert! We had a great time and will for sure be back. I would recommend this to any large group....the price, the service, and the food make for a great and affordable night on the town!
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Okay so maybe i'm not the most "cultured" person out there, and I'm certainly not Italian either(wouldn't know the "real thing", just know what I like!).But I was shocked to read the reviews that people posted for this restaurant, so much so that I HAD to say something. When I went to this restaurant this past Saturday I had a GREAT experience! The food was excellent, the service was great, and yeah it was noisy, but when you looked around, it was because everyone there was having a great time! I thought that it was especially kind of the manager on duty to go out of his way, when we told him that it was our first time there, to make sure that we enjoyed our dining experience. When our waiter brought my friend the wrong drink, they corrected the error promptly & on the house! Another thing that I noticed, which I think that other like minded individuals such as myself would appreciate,was that there was such a varity(young, old, & of various nationalities) of people who were there and were obviously loving the place as much as we were! Anyways to sum things up, my friends & I will for sure be back!
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Review Summary
The following scores represent the average rating submitted by 112 users:
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