Nonnina — Restaurant in Chicago

Although I would give the food a 5/5, the service we received was just was not pleasant or welcoming at all. First off, the man at the host desk did not even look up at us or welcome us in. He simply asked of we had a reservation, and then told one of the waitresses to take us to our table. I don't think he said more than 3 words to us. When we sat down, we were not attended to for several minutes, when finally a man comes and puts bread on the table and walks away without a word. Our waiter finally comes 5 minutes later and we were asked what we would like to have. Again, no warm welcome, no introduction, no birthday greeting (I said on the reservation that we were there for a birthday). I asked the waiter what is the polenta like and if he could describe the taste. He looked caught off guard and did not know how it tasted or how to answer the question. I asked him if he's ever had it, and he said no. When I asked about the broccolini, if there was cheese or anything special on it, he responded something like, "it's just broccoli... steamed." I tried to give the benefit of the doubt that he was new, or maybe nervous, but at this point my husband and I felt extremely uncomfortable being there because the culture of this restaurant came off very cold and we felt like we did not belong there. When the check came, I noticed that it could be paid using a QR code. We decided to pay that way, but the waiter or any of the staff never even came back to say a small, "thanks for coming in!" I was absolutely shocked and we decided to go to a different restaurant for dessert. I felt so bad because I wanted to take my husband out for his birthday, and our experience at Nonnina was extememly unpleasant and we will unfortunately not be returning. Nonnina's chef is clearly very talented and the food is memorable. Its unfortunate that the staff can make customers like me who really liked the food not want to come back. The staff really needs to change the culture of "standoffishnenss" and coldness to its...

We walked pass this joint probably a few hundred times but never really thought to try it. I think mainly because there are many Italian places, old school and new school, but Italian is just Italian, the menu is about the same anywhere you go. The difference is just about the quality of the ingredients and how much love you put into the recipe. Italian food is not complicated, the simpler the better. Tonight is the nite. This is definitely considered an old school joint. We stopped in later after a fashion event and thought to give it a try. It didn’t disappoint, the Frito Misto was light and crispy, it is not overly breaded and not heavy, mayo dip. The cured meat was standard. Now the pasta, my squid ink pasta was outstanding, I usually don’t say that very often about pasta but the texture and flavor of the squid ink pasta was one of the best I have ever had, even when we were in Italy. You know fresh pasta when you taste it. The seafood was fresh and the sauce was standard. The Carbonara was also quite good, with the yolk on top and it mixes pretty well with the light crème sauce. I think this is one of the best sellers there. We will definitely come back to try others dishes, like the pizzas, roast chicken and their marinara pastas. Two cautionary items to the service staff and the owner (since he response to everyone), first we didn’t get bread but since the appetizers came quickly it was not necessary. Second was the wait between the appetizer and the main, the main came more than 20 mins after we finished the appetizers and we eat slow. This slack in between reduced our appetite a bit we were only about to consume a small part of the pasta and took the rest to go. It was not busy since it was about an hour before close. Most of the tables were...

This is the first time I’ve ever felt the need to write a review for a restaurant and I’m going to try and be as detailed as possible. The staff was very nice and the service was good with the exception of having to wait a while to order and within the span of our 1 1/2 hour meal we had 5 staff members waiting on us which was extremely disorienting. I would like to start this out by saying that I will never ever send food back or say anything bad in person to the waitstaff out of respect and will always tip 20%. However if I could get my $130 back right now and vomit my food back up I would. It had no taste, no seasonings and at times felt and tasted artificial or chemically. If I closed my eyes and did a blind taste test my first thought would be caned pasta and sauce or Olive Garden. I’m not trying to be dramatic but this is how I genuinely feel. The olive oil that is served and left on the table does not feel authentic and the bread came out cold which I know was partially heated up in a microwave as well as extremely difficult to break because of its density. The noodles which are supposedly house made were mushy and both of my entrees lacked seasoning and salt. The atmosphere was okay but you can tell that the interior was designed to look modern for as cheap as possible to give the effect of a luxury space. Almost like when a best western that opened in 1997 gets a remodel and everything looks okay at a distance but you can see paint chips up close and smell a faint whiff of stale cigarettes. My closing statement is this… I’m just happy I at least got a buzz from the bottle ordered and I will never be...