Balena

Everything I had here was very good, especially the pork ragu, the pizza, and the bistecca.

Not super traditional, but tasty nonetheless.

To my great delight, Balena treated my girlfriend right on her birthday.  I let them know we were there for a special occasion, and they got us an appropriately romantic seat (at the window, overlooking the majestic Steppenwolf parking garage).  We also sat down to a birthday card, signed by all the Balena staff.  Classy.

As for the food, I was not a fan.  The menu seems too clever by half.

For my main dish, I got the rigatoni with pork ragu and mushrooms.  It was good, but not mind-blowing.  The portion was quite small.  It's pasta, man!  Why hold back?

My girlfriend ordered the orecchiette (with kale, lemon, bread crumbs and chili).  It was zesty.  If there's such a thing as dessert pasta, this is it.

We also ordered a pizza - Mushroom, Fontina, Taleggio, Scallion and Thyme.  There were roughly 4 trillion scallions to every mushroom.  Pizza wasn't that great, unless it was doused with the sauce they provided.  Then it was a bit more enjoyable.

The servers were polite and friendly, but they swarmed a bit.  Here's a hint: When you see a girl crying because she's emotional over the birthday letter she's reading, maybe take a pass on stopping at the table.

Water refills were frequent at the beginning the meal, but trailed off drastically midway through.

We also ordered a bottle of wine and our server put it on ice for us.  That was nice, but the ice wasn't tableside, so we were dependent on her to fill us up.  I'm still not entirely sure we got to drink the entire bottle.  I guess it's Wine Honor System at Balena.

Balena's shining moment came at dessert.  I ordered apple pie gelati (with salted caramel, pecans, and brown butter crumble).  Really flavorful.  I loved it.

My girl ordered the affogato (vanilla gelato, espresso, and cinnamon sugar donuts).  Hot donuts?  Hell, yes.  The best.

Should I feel weird we ran up a $200 tab and they didn't comp my girlfriend's birthday dessert?  I'm okay with it, but a comp would have been a nice gesture...

* Warning: Balena is very, very loud.  Not a great place for a date.

I recommend dining elsewhere, then hitting Balena for dessert.

Great atmosphere, outstanding decor and good service. The food was great too and the prices were reasonable for the package! Will certainly return.