Segnatore — Restaurant in West Chicago Township

That BUCATINI 🤤- Restaurant week @segnatorechi 📍east humboldt, Chicago

Always love to go to new neighborhoods to try new places, even better when its Chicago Restaurant week!

Segnatore opened in Nov'21 by @orbitgroupchi , and boasts classic Italian dishes with a Midwestern twist. It's definitely a $$$ spot but good to share BIGGEST HIGHLIGHTS (will come back just for these) 🍝 Bucatini carbonara - nice and chewy thick noodles with a braised pork belly (crisped) on the side. Very flavorful and just how it should be made

🍠 Gnocchi - classic dish but with an amazing chewiness to the Gnocchi (freshly rolled/made) + a sweet rich red tomato sauce , ricotta and fresh parsley. Every bit was just heaven

🥃La Befana - try this if you like drinks with egg white & also spices but not too sweet . Made with amaro, vermouth, blood orange, falernum, egg white . Very light and tasty, decorated with star anise . $18

👔Service - Service was nice , didn't rush us despite us sitting down at 9:30 and closing the place down at 12am. They even gave us a cake surprise & a handwritten note for Ben's birthday 🎂

🥗 Caesar Salad - I didn't know Caesar salad could be this tasty 😂 crispy & fresh gem lettuce with a delicious lemony dressing , white anchovy & garlic pangrattato

WILL RETURN TO TRY AGAIN: 🍚 seasonal risotto - very creamy and light, topped with crisped garlic and drizzled with (maybe) garlic infused olive oil & tons of butter. 😮😮ALTHOUGH the rice was slightly underdone (graininess inside), the taste is so good and I blame the busy restaurant week. So I can give them another chance

OTHERS 🍲 Garlic soup - came with crispy herb crumble 🥩Stuffed Meatball - all beef meatball stuffed with cheese and oregano 🥗 fennel salad - shaved fennel (very light) + vinaigrette, olives, and pistachio 🐖 Pork ragu - nicely tender and flavorful, with creamy polenta and a rich root vegetable sauce? 🍸evil eye martini - needed more brine but quite tasty with the caper leaf

__ 📍 1001 N...

Unsure what the hype is about here. My wife and I were excited to try Segnatore after some positive local press and good word of mouth from friends. Wow, did this fall short.

To begin with, we had a prime time reservation at 7:45. Unfortunately, Segnatore did not manage their table inventory well and we waited for 30 minutes past our reservation for a table to open.

Once we sat down, service was more attentive but a little scatterbrained, perhaps a casualty of our Covid times. That’s understandable but by the third miscue it got frustrating.

The food itself was pretty underwhelming. We ordered four items (two apps, one pasta, and one entree) and two glasses of wine. The house bread app was fine and came with a nice artichoke spread. The meatballs were totally incomprehensible: why charge $8 for two small balls?? Additionally, they were dry and sad and tasted more like a meatloaf than a meatball.

We ordered the griasole ravioli which felt appropriate for winter, but was too simple to be satisfying (and with only a few raviolis, the $23 price tag was hefty).

Finally, we ordered the tri tip for our entree because how often do you see tri tip on menus in Chicago? Not often! For me, this was the best dish we had. The steak had a pleasant BBQ/charcoal flavor and came with a classic Italian salsa rossa and pickled onions. It was a little plate of summertime in the dead of winter. That said, the steak was probably about 4 ounces total and the plate cost $27(!). Maybe it’s the inflation talking, but that’s expensive. We did not order dessert.

At the end of the day, Segnatore was decent but not great, and given the glut of Italian restaurants in the city there are better options. Take...

Very cool spot and a nice addition to the dining scene. The room is beautiful and the ambiance is top notch. Really excellent cocktails and an interesting wine list drawn entirely from Italy. We started with oysters and the meatballs both of which were excellent. Great sourcing of ingredients for the oysters, and the meatballs were moist, flavorful, and had a nice subtle pop of heat from the red sauce. We had the Capellini and the Gramigne. Capellini was good (but could have used a pinch of salt), but the Gramigne was outstanding. A must-order with rich flavors and exceptionally made fresh pasta. We got the leek citrus salad, which was delicious but just a touch overdressed. Also ordered the braised escarole which was well made and subtly seasoned. Not a show stopper, but a solid veg course. Ended things with the budini which was a really pleasant surprise. Not too sweet, complex flavor profile, and lots of interesting layers in both taste and texture. Very excited to see how the place develops as it gets its legs under it and they are off to a great start. Nothing can ever replace Cafe Marie Jeanne, probably my favorite restaurant ever in Chicago, but it is a worth successor to the corner it used...