PR Italian Bistro — Restaurant in Lake View Township

To start off, I am writing this review after my second visit to this restaurant. My first experience was about 4 months ago when they were pretty much only taking to go orders. I order the food, and am told it will be ready in X amount of time. I return 5 min earlier than said time and the aluminum to go trays are not even warm. The waitstaff was in the weeds - with to go orders and pretty much gave me a what do you want me to do about it response. Well, okay - my wife and I take home the $60 dinner and heat it up at home. Nonetheless, I liked the special that night - a braised beef ragu. It was a 2 star experience that night but I held out on a review.

So, tonight my wife was in the mood for Italian. We decide to give this place another chance. Maybe a dine in experience will charm us. Well it wasn’t much of an experience at all. We started off with the Calamari Bruschetta - this was the first miss. The calamari was cut into large chunks and mix with some sort of tomato sauce. This was then place on a soft flat bread. In my opinion, this was not good at all - a complete miss from flavor to texture. One good note, the calamari was very tender. Our entrees came after, long after - but I’m not judging this place on the lackluster service - It’s a busy place, I get it. So back to the entrees, to start my wife got the gnocchi. She said she liked it, I tried it and it was okay. We had it previously in a cream sauce and like it much better. My dish had chicken, linguine, with Asparagus - Padovani I believe is what it’s called. So, Chicken was supposed to be grilled, but not a hint of color on it. No flavor, tasted like it was boiled - probably wasn’t but that’s the look and texture it had. At least it wasn’t dry though. Asparagus was cooked right, chopped, and mixed throughout. Linguine was cooked right also. They were shiesty with the cherry tomato’s and ricotta. Just OK was my thought after finishing that dish.

Lastly, we ordered the small pizza portion to give it a try also. This was hands down the biggest disappointment. The pizza is a disgrace - absolutely no color on the undercarriage. Texture was soft - no crisp, flavor was just underwhelming, and no crust at all.

⭐️⭐️ -...

Where do I begin. I have never written a review before for anything. I Came on a Friday night for the first time after listening to a recommendation. It took the waiter 20 minutes to bring two beers. I had to ask what the status of it was after about 10 minutes and he said the bartender was really backed up today. It was 8:30 on a Friday night so i get it. He came several times saying the drinks will be on the way soon. After the 20 minutes he arrived with a can and a bottle then began to pour our drinks into our glasses. There is no reason that it takes 20 minutes to grab two beverages out of a cooler.

When my pizza arrived it had olives on it, which I asked for none. He offered to take it back and bring a new pizza out, but I wasn't going to wait another half hour for a fresh pizza. Mistakes happen, it wasn't a big deal I just picked them off. What really bothered me was, not once did he ever come by our table asking how our pizza was. The issues with the drinks and pizza already put a bad taste in my mouth, but the fact he didn't even check on us is what really put me over the edge. After he saw our tables were completely cleared off (thanks to the AMAZING bus boy) he asked if we needed anything else. Aint gonna happen. He brought the check apologized a few more times, but at this point there was nothing he could say or do to make things better.

The two stars go to the fact that the pizza tasted good, although the portion was rather small. Also, the bus boy was incredible!! He worked harder than anyone in this place. He was clearing tables and filling water. I wish my girlfriend and I had cash on us, because we wanted to give him the tip. I'll probably walk by the place next week to see if he is there.

This was both my gf and my first time at PR and will be our last. It's a shame because it's right down the street. Michael's on broadway is where to go for a quality pizza...

Pretty good but……… I was still hungry when I left ….. at an Italian restaurant one should never leave hungry. I ordered salmon medium rare and it came out perfect - with spinach but I actually said out loud “ ha! Is this a kids’ meal?” But since it was a runner who served us the runner ran away quick. It was very good - excellent quality salmon and spinach but the huge crystals of kosher salt needed to be removed by hand - order it without the salt chunks - it looked like they put rock candy on top ( I found out that kosher salt is rocky)…. It didn’t need it one bit! My adult son went with a pasta with meat sauce / it was tasty and plentiful. My wife ordered the ensalada Mista (9$ / large size - they have a small for 5$) Salad was good but I couldn’t really find the tomatoes - a good amount of lettuce but though the menu says there are other veggies in there - it wasn’t so.

The wife also had an individual pizza w ricotta cheese and lemon. It was very different and interesting / she liked it a lot.

They should give you bread when you sit down. They don’t.

They should have real Parmesan cheese - they don’t - it’s Kraft processed.

They should have the pepper mill to crush pepper on your salad and pasta - they don’t.

The waiters are nice . But they take your order , they ask if everything’s ok , and they get 22percent?! I think now that waiters in Chicago are making 15 an hour we don’t have to tip 22 percent anymore. I think Chicago diners who no longer have to supplement the typical 4$/ hour server wage should drop the tipping to 10 percent .., just saying..,

The restaurant is quite dark inside and there are no candles and no tablecloths.

Overall I will return bc thinking about it - the food is good - and it’s great to have them in the ...