Are you kidding?If daddy has given you a lot of cash but no training in taste or value assessment, this may be the place for you. Particularly if you're desperate to be in on the wave.
The scene is very in and there's a shallowness about the entire process that is ghastly. The staff moves about with no real customer identification beyond who's going to buy the next overpriced bottle of wine. And that's quite a scene. A twentyish trio next to me shifted in mid-entree from a Chianti Riserva to a rose champagne. Well, why not?
The ravioli, which sounded wonderful, was mealy and dense, albeit in a decent sauce. The price was $22. The Osso Boco main course was fibrous and inadequately cooked and served with a tomato sauce that might well have been made without any contact with veal or any other protein. That was priced in the high $20s.
The wine list has, I suspect, an average mark-up of between 400-600%. A serviceable Primitivo runs about $50. Chiantis and the like start just under triple digits. This is greed, plain and simple. Conversations with other chefs in the Chicago area produced winces when they heard about it.
There must be better Italian places in the area. While people write nasty things about Spiaggia, I can't imagine it being much worse than this.
A really disappointing evening!
