Dimmi Dimmi Corner Italian — Restaurant in Chicago

My family and I had the pleasure of visiting Dimmi Dimmi last month on our first visit to Chicago. It was probably one of the best dining experience I have ever had. We wanted to explore the local food scene in Chicago away from the tourist area. Chicago has many neighborhoods and Dimmi Dimmi is located in the beautiful Lincoln Park area. Super family-friendly, clean, and safe.

As a foodie, the Executive Chef Matt Eckfield, trained in NYC kitchens like Carbone and he's back to open his first solo spot with CRG in Lincoln Park. We knew right away we wanted to jump on this opportunity and took the 4:30PM reservation on a Wednesday night. We got there a little early before the restaurant had opened and one of the staff came out and invited us in early so that we didn't have to be out in the windy weather. I had both my grade school children with me so as a parent, I really appreciated the kind gesture. Talking about first impression!

We then got seated in a booth and was immediately blown away with the decorations in the restaurant. It had a bit of a classic Italian modern feel to it and you just immediately felt right at home! We ordered the following:

Sesame Focaccia - you must order the ricotta and honey! It's only right if you have it with the ricotta and honey.

Italia Beef Carpaccio - it melts in your mouth like butter. The giardiniera adds so much flavor and balance everything out.

Pepperoni Pizza - deep dish style=NO, tavern style=YES! Imagine paper thin crust with top of the line cheese and pepperoni. What a treat!

Salmon Vesuvio - Heaven on earth. The salmon was cooked to perfection, not to well down just perfect. The sauce balance the flavor and was so buttery. Out of this world delicious.

Rigatoni Amatriciana with a side of meatball - STAR of the show. It looks so simple and plain pasta with red sauce. You're wrong! The guanciale adds so much flavor that it was hands down one of the best Italian bite/dish I have ever had in my life.

Dimmi Dimmi is why Chicago is on the map of good cuisine. I'm not exaggerating. If you want good food, not in the tourist area downtown riverwalk, then run (don't walk) to Dimmi Dimmi in Lincoln Park.

Cherry on top, Chef Bill Kim and Danny McGowan, both CRG leadership team came out and spoke to our family. As a family of 4, we were too full for dessert and decided to skip it. The team ended up giving us a shot of lemoncello and sorbet as a courtesy thank you for dining with us.

I felt like I knew the staff and the team personally. The service was outstanding. Thank you for a wonderful experience, Dimmi Dimmi. Sending love from The Stanford Family in Atlanta. We will definitely see you again and highly recommend Dimmi Dimmi to other...

Dimmi Dimmi, a thoughtful take on modern neighborhood Italian! With refreshing twists on the classics and a mastery of the staples, all while welcoming you like family; Dimmi Dimmi knocks it out of the park. We were privileged enough to be invited to a friends and family event, so while some things may change overtime, I believe the essentials will stay the same; a customer focused hip Neighbourhood spot with a fantastic menu, refreshing cocktails, and phenomenal staff.

We first enjoyed the Hazelnut Espresso Martini and the Ruby Manhattan for drinks. They were balanced nicely and the chocolate-hazelnut addition to the espresso martini was superb! For starters, we enjoyed the Caesar Salad and the Focaccia with ricotta and honey. We were particularly impressed with the Hamachi Crudo as it was very fresh with quality fish that you could taste and was quite spicy! For our next course we ordered the Stuffed Shells and the Meatballs. Both were knockouts! The Meatballs were so tender and perfectly cooked! I’ve never seen Stuffed Shells on a menu before, they are a family favorite! Loved this! We also got the Salmon Vesuvio and crispy potatoes. The Vesuvio sauce was velvety and smooth, the salmon cooked perfectly! The Crispy Potatoes were executed perfectly, crispy outside, soft inside, with a good kick of heat! We ended with the chocolate cake! This cake was incredible! Velvety soft, rich and decadent, the vanilla gelato really finishes this last bite quite nicely! Overall, the menu is fantastic and hats off to the entire culinary team!

Service was always quick and very friendly. Lots of table touches from all staff! Ronni, our main server, was phenomenal. She felt like an old friend even though we had just met. I was incredibly impressed by her knowledge, kindness and ability to stay composed on such a momentous first night of service!...

I cannot say enough positive things about this restaurant. The only thing I didn't like is that it's so tough to get a reservation, which made sense after our incredible experience. The restaurant itself is gorgeous. It is small enough to feel cozy and perfectly decorated. You can tell a lot of thought was put into the interior design. Our server, Olivia, was INCREDIBLE. She was attentive, gave great recommendations, and always wanted to make sure that we had everything we needed. Ronni & Aly also made sure to check in on us, particularly noting that everything we ordered was top notch. Now the food...the food was out of this world. Given it was so difficult to get a spot here, we decided to go all out. The chicken parmesan was definitely the showstopper. We loved the pesto pasta that complemented it. You MUST get the focaccia. We did the relish tray and I've really never had anything quite like the tomato njuda spread. The funghi Bianca pizza was delicious and not too heavy given the thin crust. We also loved the spicy vodka stuffed shells. Such a great new way to have spicy vodka! You also want to make sure to save room for dessert because the tiramisu & chocolate cake are to die for. All in all, best dining experience I've had in Chicago in a while. I'll be counting down the days until the next...