Riccardo Trattoria — Restaurant in Chicago

We dined at Ricardo Trattoria in Chicago, hoping for an authentic Italian meal, but unfortunately, the experience fell short on several fronts.

We started with the vitello tonnato, which was dry and chewy—lacking the tenderness and flavor you’d expect from this classic dish. The spaghetti allo scoglio was overly buttery, which overpowered the seafood and left the dish unbalanced. The carbonara was served with bucatini rather than the traditional pasta, and it turned out very dry and heavy. As for the lamb with risotto, it was the most disappointing part of the meal. The risotto was mushy and flavorless, and the lamb was dry and bland.

The one standout dish was the arancini—crispy on the outside and moist and delicious on the inside. But while the arancini were excellent, it’s not what you’d expect to be the highlight at a fine Italian restaurant.

Service-wise, while we liked our waiter very much and appreciated his attitude, he was clearly overwhelmed. The restaurant seemed understaffed, and that impacted the overall service experience.

The place was packed, which surprised us given the quality of the food and service that night. Perhaps we caught them on an off day, but for the price point, it was a letdown.

I am genuinely disappointed to have spent my hard-earned money on food so bland...

I would love to put 5 stars for them but me taking out points from the first step in the lady told us that we have to leave before a specific time !!! And I found that supper weird ! I know you are booked and I understand the business aspect but for a person like me coming for the first time to this place and in my all reviews journey I was never asked to finish at certain time ! So that was one point ! The appetizer was good but average for any Italian restaurant , the wine is 5 stars ( I love it ) There were some comments from our waiter ( he did a comment that we have money and we are giving it to him for his excellent service) and he was good ( but next time don’t tell a customer that he will pay you ) I found that a little rude ! And of course we won’t level until we give you what you deserve! Let put here half point But the majority of the point deduction was the food ! I was promised to find an amazing and famous Italian experience but we didn’t ! Half of our group liked the food but the other half were really disappointed! I am adding some pictures to the food and the place check it out ! I am not going to give up hope on them I will try another day with a promise to change my review if my next...

I always judge an Italian restaurant by their Carbonara pasta and this place was unfortunately really bad. The pasta was undercooked to the point that it was hard. I let them know, and they happily agreed to fix the problem. However, instead of making me a fresh portion, they must have tried to cook the same portion more. This caused the raw egg in the sauce to start cooking to the point it looked like there were pieces of scrambled eggs in my pasta. Also, because the sauce separated, there was a pool of grease on under the noodles and it was too salty. To be fair, the noodles were al dente after they "fixed" it though. :)

I told them I could not eat it and they immediately cleared my plate. The server said "Oh ok." and did not apologize or offer me a menu to order another entree. When we received our check, we saw we were still charged for the Carbonara. We didn't make a further issue and paid for a meal I had two bites of.

On the positive note, the lasagna gave them an extra star. I highly recommend it. The risotto has good flavor and delicious scallops and pancetta, but the rice they use is not the same size and texture of...