I have previously been to Bertucci's and it was amazing. Â I went there yesterday and it was HORRIBLE. Â After waiting about 20 minutes our waitress finally took our drink order. Â When asked what beers they have - she oddly responded they really didn't have any - "maybe 1 Bud Light and 1 Peroni". Â Strange. Â After ordering our entrees she brought our soup and salad. Â The salad was white iceberg lettuce - not a single green leaf. Â After waiting another 30-40 minutes I requested to speak with the manager and our waitress said "what about?". Â I mentioned the lack of service and she said if I wanted we could just leave. Â WOW! Â No sorry, no explanation, nothing. Â Never going back here again. Â It's a sad day because they used to have some of the best Italian in the city.
Review Source:If you are trying to get food poisoning then you've found your restaurant.
In the salad I received with my entree I found a sliced tomato that was more or less 50% mold. It was extremely obvious that the tomato had gone bad and given that it was sliced, whoever was working the kitchen clearly saw the mold and decided to toss it in my salad anyways. This only made me wonder what fresh produce was being thrown into my main dish and I nearly did not continue. I wish I had not.
Unfortunately, I did go ahead and tried the main meal and it was AWFUL. I did not know someone could make Italian food so terribly bland. I could not taste a single ounce of seasoning at any point. In addition, the chicken in my dish was overcooked and dry making it impossible to finish my dinner.
Bottom line: Spoiled produce, bland food, poorly cooked meats.
One pro though - the garlic dressing atop the rancid salad was tasty.
This place is so fantastic. The ravioli with alfredo sauce is all I eat there anymore because the alfredo sauce is THAT GOOD. They do have one waitress who is scrambling around to do everything but she handles it like a champ. While I'm there (since I live in the suburbs) I also have a tiramisu and a cappuccino..fantastic. This is an ideal place for a date..It's got its own little location in the middle of the neighborhood so it has that hidden gem feel.--But it's also great just for me by myself! lol. I said not good for groups because it is so small. If you have more than maybe 4 people I'd say go elsewhere. Also I know I have gotten wine there but I'm not sure on the status of their bar.
Review Source:I little dive that has some of the best Italian food I have had in a long time. It is tucked back in the neighborhood and left over from a time when the neighborhood was mostly Italian, now it is in the heart of Chinatown. There is only one word to describe the food here- FABULOUS!
We ate there and I ended up bringing home food for later. Anyone that knows  ms knows how I feel about leftovers- I hate them. This however was truly some of the best I have had in a long, long time.
I've been eating at Bertucci's since 1990, but don't get here much anymore since I no longer live In Chicago. Given the recent proliferation of negative reviews on this page, I was worried that my old favorite had taken a dive. But having eaten here again last night, in the company of several old friends who have also been coming here for many years, I am pleased to report that the quality of the pasta dishes, the mammoth portions, and friendliness of the staff haven't diminished an iota. You want fancy? You want to be treated like a visiting dignitary? You want (gack) walleye friggin pike? Go elsewhere. If you want excellent and hearty old-school pasta dishes in a low-key neighborhood atmosphere with a White Sox game on the bar tv, this is the place for you. You can't go wrong with the fried mostaccioli, the spaghetti and meatballs, the linguini a la Bush, the shrimp Caruso, the fried broccoli, or the fried calamari. Extra points for outstanding martinis and REAL old school cannolis - none o' that mocha chocolate chip orange peel idiocy here. Viva Bertucci's!
Review Source:Recently returned and unfortunately, gotta downgrade Bertucci's a star (and that's being generous). Â Not sure what's going on but the quality (and quantity) are suffering yet the prices seem to be the same. Â I'm rooting for them...maybe Chef Ramsey needs to pay them a visit? Â
On my most recent trip I got the pasta, like I normally do, and I purposely avoided eating bread because I remembered the ginormous portion I received last time...well not this time.. not that time. Â And the taste wasn't the same either - I just kept thinking "I could have made this at home...and better." Â
The BF got a pork chop dish, and being the kind person that he is, he said that the sauce took the salt off, that's why it was bland. Â oooooook. Â Even so he ate it all.
Well, I hope they re-examine their menu, chef, something cause it's not working anymore. Â :-(
We were enticed here with a <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Frestaurant.com&s=c5fe485af4df376130bee54f875814d79c4d7913e1258123b1206d2bdbf4873b" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://restaurant.com</a> certificate, and overall I'd say it was about 2.5 stars. Â Being as it is right in Chinatown's residential district, I've known about this place just about my entire lifetime, but I've never previously step foot in here. Â The food was marginally ok, but it was really the kind of weird service we had that set the marginal rating. Â Wife's walleye pike ($15.95) was quite bland and needed more seasoning. Â I had the combo veal-eggplant parmesan with side of mostaccioli, and it was ok and average size for $15.75. Â The server lady started off sort of friendly, but she got my creamy garlic dressing request wrong, and brought out my salad with vinagarette. Â I confirmed she was an employee, and not part of the Bertucci owner family, as was the younger lady we saw at the bar and who seemed friendly and helpful. Â I might have said something on the salad if server hadn't disappeared for 10 minutes. Â At 5:30pm, there was a large communion party happening up in front dining room, but it was finishing up at this point, as we had seen the group come in earlier, and we were the only other customers there. Â So I ate the salad and gave up on the dressing. Â The dinner then took about 35 minutes to show up after that, and neery a water refill. Â I had to subsequently ask later. Â Then there was the brief but blaring Italian music in the small rear dining room we were at. Â Finally when the check came, there was neery a thank you from server, just a brusk dropoff. Â Anyway, it was a culmination of little things, but these things are what keep customers from returning. Â Anyway, let future diners beware, we won't be back as there are way too many other places to eat at.
.
We found ourselves at this restaurant (from a Yelp search) late the other night. It is kind of in a secluded-looking residential area. Upon walking in, there were only a few patrons at the bar and one family at the table. We were seated by the hostess, served our drinks by the bartender, and then tended to the rest of the night by whom I would suspect to be the manager or owner (older lady).
The restaurant was more of a divey feel than Italian, but the service was nice. We started off with the fried zucchini which was very tender and devoured tastefully. Also came with a side salad with their house dressing - would have enjoyed the salad more if it weren't loaded with the romaine stalks. Â For my meal, they had veal piccata on their menu, however I made the request for chicken piccata instead with no problem. It was decent, though I think adding capers and/or artichoke would have made a nice touch (was a simple chicken, spice and sauce dish). Came with a small side of penne pasta and the tomato/marinara sauce was actually pretty delicious.
Wow, this place really is not good. Thought we'd try something different, but even when we walked in we kinda felt like turning around, but we stuck it out. The place reeked of bleach, (well, I guess it's clean), and we were greeted from across the room with indifference. We were told to sit where we wanted (after I asked "Are you open?") Â which was easy to do since there was not a single other person in there.
Even though we were the only table in there we still waited a couple minutes to get menus and water, while the waitress fiddled with stuff behind the counter and talked on the phone. She didn't ask us if we wanted anything to drink when she came by with the menus, but went on to greet another table that came in.
We ordered pasta - spaghetti and gnocchi, both with meat sauce. We both got minestrone, which was actually pretty good. After we were done with soup we waited, and waited for at least 1/2 an hour, then waitress informs us that our pasta will be ready "in 7 minutes". Um, ok. More than 20 minutes later, our food arrived.
Apparently they don't use salt in their cooking. The pasta was tasteless. They did not put any salt in the cooking water. Even though we both ordered meat sauce, the sauce was marinara with a few, and by a few I mean 4 or 5 "crumbles" of ground meat thrown on top. The sauce was not cooked with the meat in it. The meat was not even mixed in. It was seriously like something out of a bag from Sam's Club, these meat crumbles. I pushed them to the side and ate some gnocchi, which was cooked surprisingly well (not mushy) though tasteless and clearly not homemade. There was something "off" about the taste of the entire dish though, like it was "fishy" or something. We both ate about half our dishes and didn't have them wrapped to go (you KNOW it's bad when that happens!).
We waited for the check and when it finally arrived we were like bats out of Hell.
10 plus years and counting...
You can never go wrong if you like large family style portions. Nothing has changed in this place for a long time, just an old bar with great food. You can't ask for nothing more than that.
It may not be the best date spot, but if your date loves to eat, then you should stop in. They have removed a few items from the menu over time, but it still does not disappoint.
Parking may be a little difficult from time to time, but that may be the only negative thing to say about this establishment.
Look, I wasn't blown away, but it was a very nice experience. Actually took my wife here for wedding anniversary. The service was nice and friendly. Wine was great and the salad was enormous...I got the baked penne, and it was very good. once you got passed the cheese, it didn't taste nearly as good, but it was still better than average. I personally love the laid back atmosphere and the fact that it looks like you took a step back in time....I would go back again to try some more stuff, for sure.
Review Source:friendly service, delicious cocktails and yummy food.
great "old school" bar and restaurant combo! remember the days of family restaurants nestled right inside your local corner tavern... well folks...this is it.
try the 4 cheese pasta... so good!
plus, i had their catering... also delicious!
this place gets 5 stars just for being near me when I lived in chinatown. the mere italian-ness and cheesy and tomato ness of the food was very effin appreciated believe me. You know, something about everything else being CHINESE (or vietnamese, or thai, or japanese) except for one place that had cheeseburgers n stuff. SOMETHING like that, I dunno :P Yup in that context they get 5 stars from me JUST for being an italian restaurant--that said, they really ARE GOOD. It's not my fault the stars stop at five. ;P
Review Source:Hidden behind (?) Chinatown in the former Italian section sits this old bar where my grandpa used to drink himself into a stupor after a long day of work at the newspaper factory. Â I imagine the interior hasn't changed much, it still looks like an old man bar that covered their tables with kitschy plastic red & white checkered table cloths. Â The last time I was there the locals were sitting at the bar watching Wrong Turn on AMC and chatting with the bartender who I assume is the owner Maria's son. Â It's a cool place though; the traditional Italian-American fare you'd expect from a tiny family owned joint in Little Italy, but served in what amounts to a dimly lit dive bar. Â
Awesome.
Here is some advice I wish somebody shared with me...
Every pasta comes with soup & salad, meat entrees like chicken vesuvio come with soup, salad and a side of pasta to boot.  If you're like me & the wife and you couldn't  get rid of your eight year old, just order one of the meat-centric dishes and hand off your side of mostaccioli to the little one.  It's about two kid-sized servings, so your little one will have lunch for tomorrow, and you save about $10 on your bill.
This is my absolute favorite restaurant in the city. Full disclosure: It is not going to surprise you (except for the fact that a tiny mom'n'pop Italian restaurant  has survived in Chinatown for over 70 years). There are no 5-star chefs in the kitchen. Its menu is fairly typical. The staff is friendly, but in that coarse, South Side way that suggests a past full of cigarettes and Old Style.
And yet the place sings with charm and excellence. The marinara sauce is nothing short of perfection. The lasagna is the best I've ever had. The veal and eggplant parm is mind-blowingly tasty. And Maria, the owner, is one of the most delightful women I've ever had the pleasure of meeting.
Bertucci's is, in short, one of those rare establishments that actually makes me feel good just for going there. Not merely because of its transcendentally simple and delicious Italian fare, but also because of who it is: Maria and her family.
Let me start this off by saying two things. One, this review is sadly overdue. I have enjoyed dining at Bertucci's multiple times in the past two years and have had fantastic experiences EVERY TIME. Two, anyone that doesn't like Bertucci's is crazy, and probably thinks the Olive Garden is great Italian food.
Bertucci's is a classic old Chicago neighborhood joint that has history and character. The juke box has some great old tunes, and occasionally we start dancing next to the bar when we've had too much vino. I stumbled upon it during Chinatown festival and the food smelled so good, the group I was with ordered Lasagna to share even though we had just eaten. I'm a big fan of eggplant and love both the Eggplant Rollatini and Parmigiana. The marinara sauce is so good, we often order a bowl of it just to dip our bread in. Honestly, I have never had anything I didn't like at Bertucci's Corner, and the owner remembers me every time I come in!
I live in Edgewater now, and still make the trip down to the southside because when I think Italian food in Chicago, I think of Bertucci's corner, and that's that.
Been here several times and always excellent. Â In my mind, one of the best Italian joints in the city. Kind of an old school place that you would typically find in Bridgeport that has a ton of history. Â Very kid friendly. Neighborhood is a little sketchy (literally right behind China town and close enough to Bridgeport) but worth the trip. This is one of the very few places that I outright give 5 starts too.
Underrated for sure. All of their food is exceptional. Â Have daily specials that are always compelling and you can tell they spend a lot of time developing. Â I esp love the Broccoli and Gorgonzola salad that is drenched in a beautiful garlic and lemon juice sauce. Â I also love the Pork Chop Vesuvio that comes with 2 fat pork chops in a extremely tasty vesuvio sauce and potatoes. But really, the rest of the menu is really good. Â Wonderful beer selection - my fav is the the La Russa/Merettis Amber. Â Love this place and can't wait to go back.
Last night our small birthday dinner party for my husband, (5 or 6 guests) exploded to a dozen people as the evening progressed!
The owner and her family took it all in stride and just kept adding more chairs and one more table for our growing party.
The food was SOOO delicious. (as always) Nice wine too.
I appreciated that they took time to explain the specials to some of our guests, who were from out of town and never eaten the food before. It really helped everyone pick out what they wanted to have.
Special favorites form last night's dinner:
Eggplant Parmigiana; Baccala, which comes in a puttanesca sauce over mostaccoli; eggplant rollatini, shrip and broccoli al forno, fried lake smelt and pasta with alio oglio. DELISH!
It was a great, relaxed evening. Bertucci's Corner made it extra warm, personal - just so nice. Thank you. We will be back again and again.
I love this place! I usually stick to basic pasta here. Prices are reasonable and parking is easy. I like the dark old school atmosphere. I think it's great for a first date. I'm always relaxed there. Service can get a little slow at times. Usually there is one server running the whole show. Overall it's never caused a problem! Absolutely worth a drive to check it out!
Review Source:This is honestly my kind of place. Â A restaurant that has been around since 1939, tucked away on a cozy side street right off the bustle of Chinatown. Â Excellent wine and drinks, and the food was simply delicious. Â This is totally the type of place you should bring someone you want to impress - Â not by the decor, but that you know of a secret little awesome Italian restaurant.
I can't wait to go back and brings lots of people - it was wonderful.
Food was eh, but 3 stars for the old school feel.
Can't believe they still have that chinatown poster from the 80s. Cool!
We went in the afternoon and there was a table of 2 and one guy at the bar. I'm guessing regulars.
I ordered a vodka lemonade. We had the stuffed artichoke. I had the fried smelt and my guy got the baked spaghetti with sausage.
Artichoke had a nice flavoring, but we never had it so we didn't really know how to eat it...........Doh!
Fried smelt was ok, but I prefer the chinese way. These were not really crisp. I usually don't squeeze lemon on my seafood, but I think it really helped on this.
Didn't try my guys dish, but he said it was ok.
I wouldn't go out of my way to come here, but nice little old school feel to it.
If I made a list of all the places I want to go to before I died, this restaurant would have been scratched off... finally!
I grew up in Chinatown and I attended grammar school 2 blocks away from this little corner restaurant. I always wondered what this place was and I had a suspicion that the mafia hung out there and hid all their money in the basement or something.
Boy was I wrong! So a friend brought up this restaurant during dinner the other day and I thought it is probably time to try it out. One of the Yelp reviews said that it was featured in a Save this Place article so I had to go before the restaurant disappeared.
It was a pleasant surprise. It was really old school looking... dark, vinyl table cloths, bar stools, and yeah...The only waitress there was very very nice and enthusiastic that new faces came in.
To the food... We ordered baked clams and the nice lady suggested asparagus bruschetta. They were just ok but the clams were dry. I am use to some sauce on them which I thought was weird since it was missing!
The bruschetta was good. I ordered the eggplant rollatini and the boyfriend had fried tilapia. Everything was good but nothing I would ooh and aah over. I might come back again if I craved Italian. Nice to help a neighborhood restaurant out.
And... I also had tiramisu which was good but I make a better one!
We have driven by here tons of times, but never thought to stop in - until we saw a recent "Save this Place" article in Time Out magazine. The place is very old world and it is like a set from any movie that is set in Chicago and involves an Italian Restaurant or Bar (Think "Remember Me" with David Duchovny and Minnie Driver). We were there on a weeknight and it was empty, except for us, the waitress/owner, and a couple of guys at the bar.
The setting was nice, dark and traditional with a full length bar all alongside one wall of the restaurant. The food was amazing. Different, delicious and well made.
I had the best gnocchi with rabe  (kind of like broccoli and spinach) and sausage - the gnocchi was perfectly made and not over cooked. Not easy for that kind of pasta.
My husband had an excellent eggplant dish that is hard to describe, but absolutely yummy - basically slices of eggplant rolled up with cheese and covered in a delicious marinara sauce and I think baked.
We really enjoyed our meal there and the ambiance. Everyone is very friendly and there was some lively conversations and debate at the bar. I would highly recommend this wonderful gem.
I love it for all the good reasons - and the food is good, too. It really is a step back in time. . .and the food is generally good - although sometimes great. It's the atmosphere I like...and the juke box - Andrea Bocelli and others. . .neat.
We were the only customers except for the three "regulars" at the bar. It's such a cool "Chicago" place.
A small little family style bar/ restraunt.
A very comfortable atmosphere.
The service  is friendly but food comes out slow.
This will be my 2nd time coming here. The first time I wasn't impressed by the food. I 've  had better italian food.  This 2nd time though (whether we were starving or not) the food was delish.
Bad at remebering names, but we had chicken pettucini ( spinich, noodle, basil, pine nut), calamari ( not all that great), tiramasu ( ok , have had better)
Street parking available, but can be difficult.
The price is cheap as well.
Like a scene out of "The Sopranos", Bertucci's is a small corner Italian place tucked down the street from the hustle and bustle of Chinatown where it has been since 1935. It is surely a slice of Chicago history.
As you push open the front door- your eyes are immediately drawn to the long wood bar- worn from years of patrons leaning on it as they enjoy their beer and talk about their day.This is a working man's bar. The wood paneled walls, the checked floor tile and pictures of old Chicagoans make you think about a bygone era as you ponder the menu for what to order.
Daily specials are posted on a smallish chalkboard but being sticklers for the "tried and true" we ordered off the main menu.
For appetizers, the baked artichoke can't be beat. Lots of bread crumbs and garlic- this giant artichoke is enough for a meal or two. We also ordered the salami and cheese plate. Be warned! This is a huge plate of chunks of cheese and salami, peppers and olives- surely enough for a party plate and way too much for two people!
Our entrees were great. I had the house lasagna with meat sauce (could barely make a dent in it as it was so huge) and my friend went with the tortellini Alfredo. Very good, home style taste.
And just when we told our server that nary another bite could pass our lips- she brings out a huge dish of homemade spumoni ice cream and two spoons. What's a girl to do? I just had to have a taste! Hard to believe that we could have all this food (and drinks) for about $50.
Service is a one (wo)man show. The bartender was also our server and she was quick with our drinks or in getting us anything we needed. Parking is pretty easy in this neighborhood but know that after 4pm you can also park in the elementary school lot down the street.
Check it out. But know when you push open that door- you will have stepped into another time- Â a simpler one- with good food, good service and a little peek into Chicago history.
I don't remember how I found this restaurant, but it quickly became a favorite. Â The staff is what really makes this place great. Â Maria and her family are really great service oriented people. Â All restaurant employees should be so attentive. Â They will even work with you for special events and special menus. Â I've introduced many people to this restaurant and many have returned often. Â
My favorite dish is eggplant rollatini. Â It is a periodic special and not on the menu, but if you ask nicely, they may whip it up for you. Â However, everything seems made with fresh ingredients. Â I've never been disapointed. Â
Parking is much easier now that you can use the school lot just Northeast of the restaurant. Â Other reviewers have already commented on the atomosphere. Â I will only add how much better it is since the whole restaurant is non-smoking.
Undeserving of yelp-related hype but not without its charms. Location and atmosphere are Bertucci's most impressive features: where else in Chinatown can you find a '60s era family restaurant? The menu features typical Italian-American dishes for about $11/plate. Service is friendly and slow-paced.
Bertucci's Corner is worth a visit if you're already in Chinatown, but don't make this your primary destination. There are too many restaurants nearby that feature superior dining at comparable prices.
If you want to see real chicago, go here. A remnant from when Chinatown was Italian, this little corner restaurant is one of those little hidden gems that only the locals know about. It's more like a bar with seats than a restaurant, with poker machines (I'm sure not for money though), a jukebox, TV's and lots of bar stools. It probably hasn't been remodeled since the day it opened (there are still cigarette burns on the tablecloths!) but that's part of the charm I think. You don't come here for ambience, but instead you come for huge portions of good homemade italian food. Last night was my first time here, and I had to try the red sauce of course, so I ordered rigatoni marinara with Italian sausage. Great sausage, perfectly cooked pasta, huge portion (could only eat half of it) and they put TONS of sauce on it. Some people don't like that but I LOVE it. My mom used to joke around when I was little that I wanted "ketchup with a side of fries". That rule still applies today when I get extra sauce on pizza, pasta, extra salsa for mexican food and extra dressing on salad. Noodles have no taste. Pizza crust has no taste. You need sauce!!
Plus you know the food here is good because the squads eat here...and if you're looking for the post-game show head 2 blocks south of here to the coolest bar ever ever ever, Ethyl's Party. It used to be a funeral home/morgue and I swear to god it is haunted.
I have been going to this place with my family for years. Its wonderful home cooked Italian food. I was never dissapointed. The portions are huge and the price is just right. The servers are friendly and attentive. Its a small place hidden on a corner of a residential area in Chinatown. They also have a bar in there. This place is packed with regulars and usually city workers or policemen. Definitely give it a try if your in the area and have a feeling for Italian.
Review Source:If you are from the Northeast, you have probably heard of Bertucci's, the chain restaurant. Â When I found out I was heading to "Bertucci's", Â I immediately thought another chain had slinked west, but my dining companion assured me that this Bertucci's is NOT a chain.
So off I went to Bertucci's Corner for a real ol' Italian lunch in, uh, China Town. Â Italian is hard to screw up so it is always a safe lunch option. Â When we arrived, I felt really comfortable - this is a divey dining spot without being gross. Â The crusty bread and olive oil were just what I needed to start. Â The waitress came over right away and told us the specials - Eggplant, fried smelts, lasagna, spinach ravioli - there were quite a few. Â I really wanted a salad but did not think this was the time so I went with the spinach ravioli in marinara sauce. Â I must say, it needed a lot of cheese and pepper but the sauce was really fresh. Â I liked the overall dish well enough but kind of wish I had chosen something with more flavor. . .
I will definitely come back here for a work time lunch and order something  else- Bertucci's has just the right amount of no-nonsense lunch vibe I need.
talk about a hole in the wall!!!
my mom came home from a dinner out with her friends and brought her leftover baked mostaccoli. i ate it right away because i was starving and didn't want to spend money on food. and it was GOOD. and i didn't heat it up though it was still a weeeee bit warm.
so a few weeks later we went and got it for carry out and man it was so much better fresh and warm and yummy.
i haven't had anything else here but i took my brother and his fiance and they got other dishes [i don't remember which ones] and they loved them.
the servings are big big big and the prices are quite affordable!!!
You wanna talk about a hidden gem??!! Â Ok, so this joint is scruffy, both on the inside and out. Â And it's practically hidden in an obscure neighborhood near China Town. Â But, if you are looking for a true Chicago family Italian experience, this is it! Â A no frills, bar/restaurant with waitress from the 40's, decor from the 50's, and plenty of "dese" and "dose" thrown around to make you feel as if you'd just woke up in Bridgeport. Â You almost expect a mob boss to come walking out the back door at any minute. Â Oh, and the food is tasty too! Â I've only been for lunch, so I don't know what happens at night...take your chances!
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