Gene & Georgetti — Restaurant in Chicago

Service (3/5): We started off with a waitress who seemed very tired or possibly hungover. Soft spoken but almost sounded like she was bored when giving the intro about their specials. Then she disappeared, basically ghosted us. We were ready to order and I kept looking over at the bunch of waiters or management who looked like they were trying to figure out where our waitress was. It took about 10 min of me constantly looking back at them that we finally had another waiter come up to us to take our order. He was much better. At this point of time we were eating in a rather small room with their Gene & Georgette mural, and it wasn’t busy. I’m glad we had a new waiter though. He was quick with providing good service and shared the history behind the mural. A much better experience with him.

Appetizer (4/5): I love burrata, so I like to order it when trying new Italian restaurants. Overall they provided a good amount of prosciutto and the burrata tasted good. I would say a bit standard in taste but delicious nonetheless. We also had bread and butter provided. The bread was just cut bread, not warm or toasted; the butter was cold as well. This made it difficult to smear the butter as I would end up poking a hole in my bread. The bread was a must for the burrata though.

Entrees (3/5): I enjoyed my carbonara, but the the pepper wasn’t very fine so I kept getting chewing down on pepper where it would explode with pepper flavor in my mouth when I didn’t have any of the pasta. So that wasn’t ideal but not the end of the world. We also ordered a side of bolognese. My partner and I both enjoyed the taste. He didn’t like his pasta order though, he ordered the Casoncelli. He thought it tasted more like meat than noodle. Also there weren’t many pieces to eat. Overall the entrees were tasty but seemed a bit overpriced, considering the quality and portions (small-medium). To put it in perspective, my partner felt like my carbonara dish was the same amount of pasta as the side bolognese but in a bigger bowl.

Dessert (3/5): I love flourless chocolate cake. They give you a small piece of cake, a vanilla gelato scoop and some blueberries and strawberries. I like that they separated the three. I wish they provided more cake. The gelato was delicious with the cake though. It was almost like custard in thickness, very yummy.

Ambiance (4/5): It was pleasant, quiet upstairs, only when it became more crowded that the noise level increased.

Overall: I enjoyed my experience. I would come back once in a while. As mentioned before, I think the portions were a bit small for the price and quality of food. A great place to try if you...

My wife surprised me by taking me here for my 60th birthday because I always talked about wanting to try it as I've read and seen so much about the storied history. Well I can say I was disappointed as I guess I was picturing a more ornate and classy inside with nice booths where all the celebrities hung out, but it was many rooms with no nice booths and your grandparents basement paneling from the 70's everywhere. The service was impeccable but I felt rushed for this nice of a place, like our entrees were served 10 minutes after we ordered so it's not going to be your long relaxing date night dinner. My wife looked at the dress code and informed us on what was recommended so on a 96° day we wore long pants and collard shirts and nice shoes, what we saw was many guys with shorts, tennis shoes and baseball hats worn backwards which I guess those morons think their dressed up but then why didn't management enforce their own dress code, we would have worn shorts then seeing it was so hot out. The drinks were good and most of the sides were good except the pasta which wasn't very warm and plain tasting. So I love prime rib but for 72.00 it wasn't very good, I found myself sawing it with the steak knife and chewing it forever, a good prime rib should be able to be cut with a fork or butter knife and the ajus was reduced to a thick gravy which isn't right either, I ended up only eating half of it and I told the waiter about how tough it was when asked and he snickered and said he would tell the kitchen...ya right, no one addressed it but he did say they only had 4 prime ribs left at 6:30 on a Saturday so maybe it was cooked earlier in the week. Also none of the dishes came out hot, just warm and in a few minutes everything was pretty much room temperature which I expected a place like this and for the prices they charge that everything come out on a hot plate sizzling, makes me wonder if things are plated ahead of time and kept under a warming light. There were five of us with one person drinking only water and with the tip the bill was just shy of 900.00, for that much money which I think is over priced the prime rib should be the best I ever had but it was far from it. The other steaks ordered where pretty good but a ribeye or a porterhouse were 98.00 which is crazy in my opinion and the reason we didn't ordered them. So that's my opinion and I guess I just had higher expectations so it's a live and learn experience but somewhat disappointing and we won't...

All of the great reviews here are well deserved, but what puts this place over the top is service. I made a reservation for one via Open Table for 8PM on a Tuesday. I got there on time and made my way into the odd little doors at the corner of Franklin and Illinois Streets. There's a door on both walls at the corner that both open into the bar. It's a little weird and disorienting. There is no immediately obvious hostess stand, but a greeter immediately saw me and I told her my name and reservation. Without even looking at book or computer, she says "yes, right this way" and leads me through a maze of rooms, hallways and stairs until I find my little table. It almost felt like that scene from "Goodfellas". My server, Carlos, greeted me within a minute, presented the wine and cocktail list and I ordered a Negroni which I swear arrived in less than two minutes and it was prepared perfectly. I asked Carlos some questions about portion sizes and he proved to be very accurate. I started with the shrimp cocktail. Four jumbos with lemon and cocktail sauce. Pretty standard stuff, but the house-made sauce did have a bright, refreshing flavor. The shrimp may have been a little tough and overdone, but fresh and flavorful. Next course was the Panzanella Salad. The portion size was just right as a prelude course to the entrée, and the combination of flavors was perfectly balanced and not over-dressed. The notes of celery, onion, fresh cherry tomatoes and basil permeating the chunks of bread made this a salad that I wanted to savor, and I did as I ate every last bit. I probably lingered a little too long on the salad because my entrée arrived before I finished, which is something that usually irks me to no end, but wit only a couple bites left I finished and swapped plates. La Tagliata is a 14 ounce New York Strip cooked to rare/medium-rare perfection in a 1,400 degree F broiler and served with arugula and cherry tomatoes. The menu says EVOO, but there was also a little balsamic vinegar which added a nice tang to the plate and I enjoyed mopping up this dressing with each piece of meat that had a delicate exterior crust. An outstanding plate of food! With no room left in me for dessert, I ordered a cappuccino which made for a nice finish. The whole time I felt very well cared for, never rushed (except maybe a little with the early entrée arrival) and never crowded or smothered. It was an...