Campione's Taste of Chicago — Restaurant in Gallatin

Went here while visiting Nashville for a few days after seeing a positive review of the restaurant on TikTok, so I had to try it out for myself. The deep dish pizza caught my eye but we were limited on time to be able to try the deep dish, so we tried a few other dishes instead. We tried the pepperoni and the sausage pizza puffs, the Italian beef sandwich and the Chicago dog. The pizza puffs had a nice crisp crust but was more like a pastry puff than a pizza crust. With the name “puff”, that may be what is intended but I guess I was expecting more of a pizza style crust. Both the sausage and pepperoni puffs were similar in flavor, as the sauce filling to me hid the flavors of the sausage and pepperoni. The sauce had a slight kick to it and while the puffs were good, I was a bit underwhelmed after seeing a video review of the puffs and expecting something much better. The sausage puff was a little more like a bolognese sauce to me. The Italian beef had a good flavor but the Giardiniera on the top of the beef made the bread a bit soggy pretty quickly. In other Italian beef sandwiches I’ve had in Chicago, the bun was slightly toasted to help the bread stay more firm after the Giardiniera was added. Also, the beef sandwiches I’ve had in Chicago were also toasted with fresh mozzarella on top of the beef, enhancing the flavor. The Chicago dogs were the typical Chicago style all beef dogs with sports peppers and relish but the bun was not steamed, leaving a cold bun which was disappointing. The crinkle fries were your basic fries but nice and crisp. The cost was about average. For the Italian sandwich, two dogs, two fries, 3 drinks, 2 pizza puffs and tip, it was right at $52. The staff was friendly and personable and the food came out within about 15 minutes or so. The decor was pretty cool with it decked out in Chicago memorabilia as seen in the photos I took. While the food was good and I would try again if I was in the area, it unfortunately was not worth the 45 minute drive...

My family is in town for a wedding and some of them grew up in Gallatin way back when so we were traveling around looking at the sights and the guys piped up that they were hungry. Checking the restaurant list and I spied Campione's Taste of Chicago. I brought it up and they said sure (since they also grew up in the Chicagoland area, too.) We arrive and it was exactly as we'd hoped for. The menu was straightforward - Pizza; Italian Beef; Italian Sausages - but the husband had found what he had hoped for - an authentic Chicago style Hot Dog. Outside of Chicagoland, it's difficult to get one made exactly as hoped for - Vienna Sausage Co. links: poppy seed bun; sport peppers; electric green relish, etc. h They knocked it out of the park (gotta give'em grief for supporting the guys on the South Side from this North Side supporting family!) and the husband ordered a second one (and inhaled it too.) My Italian Beef/Italian Sausage was excellent (with sweet peppers and dipped Wet) and the fried were good too (crinkle cut fries and perfect texture) They also have chili cheese fries (SIL got that along with a salad); Matriarch had an Italian Beef sandwich (dry and ate all of it!) along with another son of hers. The guys were a hoot and the ambiance was excellent, with some good Italian guys coming in getting their orders for takeout and hearing Chicago Italian accents made it all a right smashing time.

But I have to give additional props for the cannoli. Those were fresh made with the marscapone cheese and chocolate chips. The niece never had one so she tried it and loved it (and Husband did too, taking mine so I had to get one of my own!)

Suffice to say, we might have to make the 4 hour trek back up to Gallatin just to get some authentic Chicago Style Hot Dogs and some...

My husband is from Illinois so when he found this place on TikTok, I knew a trip from Knoxville would be coming. 4/5 stars on food due to the garlic bread with cheese being actually horrendous. Do not recommend whatsoever. My husband loved the pizza, and I quote “this is what a pizza is”. Service was 3 stars. Pros was the owner (I believe) noticed we had waited a bit and checked in with us and checked on the order, which would absolutely make it 5 stars. However, originally we got here at 12 not realizing that pizza (our main reason for the trip) was not served until 3. Hours posted for pizza was 3-7. Came back a little before 6 pm after spending some time in Nashville. We were then told the pizza wouldn’t be done until 6:50 and at that point we “would have to take the order to go”, which is the reason for the deduction of points for service. Additionally, it seems the hours for pizza are not actually 3-7 but really 3-5, with the exception of until 6 if you didn’t want to sit and eat in the restaurant, which is not ideal considering we had a 3 hour trip home and wanted to actually eat dinner. Probably won’t stop us from coming back, but will just have to plan...