Coda di Volpe — Restaurant in Lake View Township

really more of a 3.5 overall.

this used to be a 5-star for me — i remember clearly the first time i went, not long after it had opened, perhaps that same week, it was busy and buzzy, but you could still walk up and maybe grab a seat at the bar or at the counter in the back by the pizza oven, which is where we sat that first time. i recall one of the owners walking around and chatting it up with the diners.

for a number of years, i recommended this as my favourite pizza in the city (specifically, the mortadella and pistacchio, which was incredible, especially with a drizzle of the chili oil). i would evangelise it pretty hard, even bringing work dinners with clients here. but mostly it was one of our go-to spots for lovely weekend dinners.

then slowly, especially over the past few years, the quality of service (mostly at the front), the quality of the atmosphere, and sadly, the quality of the food has definitely degraded.

it’s impossible to just drop by without a reservation and not wait for hours or no option to wait at all. which is fair, but then grabbing a seat at the bar is this first come first serve free for all in a cramped space with no assistance or guidance from anyone at all. and it’s also difficult to nab reservations in general.

even the decor has suffered, from little details like the bathroom soap (i recall taking a photo of it on my first visit because it smelled so good), to the swapping of the dining room chairs to less aestheticaly pleasing (likely cheaper) versions, to the switching of their cool pizza cutter scissors to what look like scissors bought at Home Depot with big ugly rubber handles.

but the worst bit is probably the decline in food quality. when you DO manage to grab a seat, it’s a fairly pricey affair. some of their great menu items have shifted over the years, and even my favourite pizza now has been supbar the last three times at least.

we recently tried to go a little before 5p the other day, there were about 11-13 open tables when we walked in — after much deliberation by the front desk lady, they offered us a seat at the counter in the back. throughout our meal, there were at least 3-4 open two-person tables up to when we walked out. my pizza was fairly cold minutes after coming out, and my cocktail was poorly balanced. the waitress was very nice, at least.

one of my top 5 restaurants in chicago has definitely lost its lustre over the years. and not really sure i’ll be dropping by...

Beautiful restaurant and bar. I’ve eaten here twice and can tell most of the ingredients are fresh.

Meatballs are marinated but not seared off before or, cooked in the oven and added to the sauce after. Result is they’re not firm and it adds an unpleasant oil to the tomato sauce, which is also slightly acidic. A pinch of baking soda would help. The meatballs are ok but, it could be so much better with more attention to detail. Oh and no bread served with it in hopes you’ll buy what they call focaccia.

If you usually eat frozen or fast food you’ll probably find these good. Anyone who seriously cooks or lives in a household that eats mainly home cooked meals with be disappointed.

I also had the Vino Lauria salad. It’s served with a vinaigrette mixed with lemon juice. It’s overwhelmingly one note, sour. Horribly bitter. Add to this canned artichoke hearts, canned olives, bell peppers and you can’t even taste the small portion of mozzarella balls. Nothing against the canned products they used. It’s just that each one of those ingredients adds tartness. 30 minutes later, even after rinsing my mouth I still have that horrible flavor. Plus, again you’re not even provided with any bread to help cut through the overwhelming vinegar flavor. A small portion of this might work if it were balanced with some protein to cut through it. By the way, Vinaigrette should be 80/20 maybe 70/30 mostly olive oil. I could not find any flavor of olive oil. This salad should be scrapped. What’s wrong with a simple tomato mozzarella salad? And it’s 1,000% more authentic than this dreadful salad.

This place has a nice, warm, welcoming ambience. The staff are friendly and it feels very clean. It has all the elements to be a great address. Unfortunately, they’re missing someone with a pallet and any knowledge of Italian wine to make it worth paying what would otherwise be reasonable pricing.

It’s local to me and would enjoy coming here again but unfortunately I think I will have to keep looking for something a touch better. Food doesn’t have to be better than I cook myself at home but, it has to be at least prepared correctly and edible.

My suggestion would be to fly in either an Italian or French chef with actually culinary experience to train your staff. Chicago has too many great restaurants to position yourselves as having a chef via your price point when it’s obvious there are only poorly trained cooks. Either way I wish everyone there...

We were truly wow-ed. My husband and I go on date night every week and since we moved back to Chicago, we have been looking for our go-to place. We may have found it!

The location is wonderful (although parking can be challenging here) and the ambiance of the restaurant is casually elegant with romantic lighting. It was spacious so, despite being quite full, it felt comfortable yet active.

The food was just wonderful. We had a pizza and two pastas. The pizza we chose was as an appetizer. It was delicious and came out quickly. Maybe too quickly as it was a bit drippy in the middle. But that may have been the fresh mozzarella. Again, delicious but could be a bit structurally improved.

The pastas were very creative and the sauces wonderful. The Caccio e pepe was delicious. I must admit to not loving pepper and they serve whole peppercorns in this. I think that should be an option people are asked to choose over cracked pepper. But nevertheless, yummy! I chose this dish because they were out of my number one choice. That was disappointing, but I also appreciate that fresh ingredients do not last all week. The gelato was unbelievably delicious. The pumpkin spice was creative and tasty, and the chocolate was pure heaven! I should mention, they make all of their pastas and gelatos on site.

If I were to make suggestions, I would have more vegetarian options in which meat is not a central component to the appetizer or pasta dish. But again, there were some choices. I would also offer everyone bread at the table. Maybe this is not their style, but it is appreciated and common to most Italian restaurants.

The service was casual, prompt, friendly, but not intrusive. We definitely want to know our server, but mostly spend time talking to each other, not them. This was perfect. Warm and friendly, but not overly familiar.

The prices were typical of an Italian restaurant of this style. The appetizers were a little high priced, but not unusually so. The cocktails were well priced and truly delicious!

All in all: go here! You will need to make your dinner reservations at least one day ahead if you want a good dinner time slot. I’m pretty sure we will be going...