Anteprima: User Reviews

Love Anteprima--my husband and I go there for special occasions, because the food is so good and the ambience so intimate, but we love that despite how special it feels, the bill and the atmosphere and the food aren't stuffy at all--delicious and wonderful for a celebration but not so formal or uptight that you can't feel like you can relax. Ignore the bad reviews--I've been to Anteprima four times now and never had a negative experience.

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This restaurant is WORST place I've ever been to. The food was just ok....and most of all, the owner was very very very rude and impolite. I asked for the home made noodles , they brought spiral noodles from the box....shame.

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Had a great time at Anteprima last Sunday. The service and food was superb. As usually they were really busy and it was like mission impossible to get in at around 7:30 without a reservation, by lucky the host a nice bald man offered to seat us at the bar. I had seen my parents all year long and really wanted to impress them, I was sure if sitting at the bar was the way to go. BUt, to my amazement it was! Even though our bartender Ron was busy he took the time to explain the menu in detail to my folks who aren't really restaurant people and really make them feel at home. He offered wine samples and even paired a great white (usually my parents hate white wine) wine with our meal. By the end of the experience he knew our names by heart and this added a great personal touch. My folks and I were impressed by the meal and the experience. I look forward to going back. Thank you again. Toby

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This place has some of the best food I've ever eaten at any restaurant in Chicago. Everything from the starter to the dessert was fantastic, and they have this amazing appetizer called mushroom sformato which I have never tasted or seen anything like. Try it. The new york strip was ridiculously good and one of the best steaks I've ever had the joy of eating. Also, the grilled octopus was tender and had amazing flavor.
As for service, I was pleasantly surprised. We did not have a reservation and the place was pretty packed so we sat at the bar to have a drink and as soon as we were finished with our drink our table was ready. The server was so attentive and when we asked for wine suggestions she actually brought out three different wines for us to try and they paired wonderfully with our food.
Service was great, but I go to restaurants for the food, and even if this place had the worst service ever I would go back for the amazing food.

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Is this food good! Try the grilled octopus! Simply amazing! I loved this restaurant!

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Bad choice for a group dinner. This restaurant was extremely overcrowded, there were but 5 inches between chair backs. Because of this, the din in the room was so loud we could not hear the waiter or each other. The service was awful, likely also due to the over crowding. We were not asked for drink orders, ever, and we had to ask three times for bread. The table was not cleared between courses and none of our requests regarding extra plates for sharing, olive oil, parm. cheese, etc., were granted. The waiter was also completely unavailable to answer questions re the menu, which contained many "rare" ingredients. Lastly, I personally did not care for the over drenching in oil of the vegetables and the excessively pan fried entrees.

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This is my 5th visit to Anteprima and as always the experience was great. The only negative is the ambiance---the restaurant is noisy. The management has attempted to correct the problem and it is less noisy. If you can get past the noise then you are in for a treat!! The staff is always helpful and attentive. The wine list is great and the menu has all of my favorites and the specials are innovative and there's always a new dish to experience. I love desserts and I crave the panna cotta and the lemon meringue cake which are outstanding. The poached pears are works of art and there are always several tarts to chose from. Put a dinner at Anteprima on your agenda ---you won't be disappointed.

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Anteprima is a neighborhood place for us. It's been great. The food is excellent, it's a nice room, and the back patio is lovely.....However...

The last time we were there (about a month ago) we had reservations for 7:00. We were seated in the back of the restaurant, where the staff was obviously preparing for a large party to come in later in the evening. There were several tables away from the commotion.

We ordered a bottle of wine with our meal and then commenced the worst service I've seen in a long time. The waiter had the appetizers on the table before the bread came. He then proceeded to slam our wine every time he walked past. When we told him that we could pour our own, he pretended not to hear us. He wanted that bottle empty as fast as he could manage. It was clear that he didn't want to be waiting on us.

Everything was so rushed that we were in, fed, wine finished in under an hour. The busboy tried to take our dishes away before we were finished, there was no water available after the wine came and the dessert menus were whisked away before we had a chance to look at them.

The Boy is going to be boycotting. I'll go again, but only on a week night.

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I read some of the reviews before writing this and just assumed that the people giving this place 5 stars obviously do not know what truly excellent food tastes like. The service was great - our waiter was very pleasant and attentive. We started out with the Salumi appetizer. It was okay - would have been great if paired with a cheese. The fig spread was a tad too sweet for all of the meats and made this dish a bit akward. I had the Orecchiette with spicy lamb sausage, while my fiance had the pork tenderloin with greens and polenta. My dish was inedible. The orecchette was dry and undercooked while drenched in red chili oil and barely enough lamb sausage to get a good taste of it. There were also turnip greens in this dish? Unsure, but the bitterness of this green threw the whole dish off...well, so did the saturation of red chili flakes and oil. I traded this dish for my fiances. The pork was dry and flavorless - all I tasted was salt, no other spice or herb. The polenta? Might has well been unseasoned grits. Soupy and buttery. The only side that had some flavor on this dish were the collard greens, with nice size chunks of bacon (or fatback) to which I barely got a taste because my fiance ate every bit of that up. I overheard our waiter tell the (assumed) owner that he was going to log onto metromix tonight which made me believe that they saw the dissapointed looks on our faces. Also, the chef and owner were sitting right next to us, so they might have overheard our complaints (to each other-we did not complain to the waiter because he never asked us how our food was). One last thing: Even though the food was mediocre at best, the worst thing about this place is that it is very, very overpriced. The couple next to us had the $24 lamb chops with eggplant. One piece of eggplant. Two of the tiniest chops I have ever seen. I was going to order it, but after seeing how tiny it was, opted for the pasta. Just a big mistake all around. Safe to say, we will save our cash and go to Broadway Ave for better, and cheaper, food.

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We have been here numerous times-food great every time. Won't go back though. We had a 7:30 Saturday night reservation which we changed to 6:15 late that afternoon. We arrived at 6:25 and our table was given away. Place was empty and the host said the best he could do was fit us in at 8:30. We were clearly frustrated and it was obvious the host did not really care. First, he should not have given away our reservation so quickly. Second, he could have attempted to squeeze us in sooner. This could have been handled better in a variety of ways. Restaurant owners need to have experienced managers working the front dealing with customers if they want to stick it out in the long run. Sent a complaint note to restaurant following day and no one even responded.

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