alveriodeboras | Nov. 29, 2012

Dissapointing. I saw all three restaurants on "Check Please" with good reviews so I made a reservation for myself and my husband at Vivere. We arrived a little early so we went to La Cantina & The Village to see the atmosphere and become acquainted for next time and returned to Vivere where we were greeted by a welcoming gentleman & hostess and were seated promptly at a very nice spot in the main dining area, the place was empty, just a few others seated. It was downhill from there, our waiter approached and did not even introduce himself, explained a few entrees said "and that's it" and left, 10 minutes later returned to ask us what we would like to order as an entree. Whoa, what happened to "Can I offer you something to drink" or "would you like to start with an appetizer?", he never offered anything to drink, no interest in serving us, I saw this rude, disinteresting, horrible beginning and immediately knew we were not in for a fine dining experience, I told my husband I wanted to leave, we told the waiter we were leaving, he stated we could order off the other menus for the other two restaurants and remain at Vivere. The menu was perfectly fine at Vivere, it was the rudeness that was intolerable. We then decided to try The Village, just upstairs. We were seated promply and our waiter's first words were "My name is Abraham and I'll be serving you this evening" gave us a moment to look at the menu and asked if we would like something to drink, what a difference! He was very friendly, professional and made us feel welcome. Dinner was saved ! We really wanted to give the Italian Village Restaurants our business, it is a shame that we could not have the same service at Vivere. The oldest Italian Restaurant in Chicago lacked good old fashioned manners at Vivere. As we we left The Village we informed the general manager for all 3 restaurants of our original reservation at Vivere and rude, disinterested service. We also informed the manager of Vivere of the same. We might return to The Village, would like to try Vivere again but not sure if we want to play Russian roulette and get stuck with an unprofessional waiter again, that first impression is what counts and with the multitude of fine dining establishments that my husband and I frequent and always return to, well I'd rather go with the sure thing. Vivere needs to get rid of that waiter as he is not representing the Capitanini Family well.