So when you've got a group on a Friday night and can't get reservations anywhere, you try new things, like we did with here!
What we got: Pizza! They were thin crust, cooked in a wood-stove, and large. The Pizza D'Asti was tasty, but with prosciutto and sausage, how could it not be? I managed to finish the whole thing, but I was the only one that could (hooray for my big appetite).
The other end of the table all got the Bolognese, and they got a whole lot of it. The proportions were very generous, and they said they'd give it anywhere from 3-4 stars.
It was a good meal, not great. We were all satisfied but probably won't crave this place specifically in the future.
Had the french toast. Â The description did not fit the dish. Â It was supposed to be brioche french toast with carmalized pears and applies with creme friache. Â Sounds awesome? Â Unfortunately, it was tastelss. Â The apples and pears were clearly taken straight out of a can and not carmalized. Â The french toast seemed barely cooked! Â The service was subpar, slow coffee refills, and one of the servers acted as though he did not want to be there.
Review Source:We decided on Fornetto Mei for a last minute dinner on a Saturday evening after our previous plans were smashed to smithereens. Neither one of us was impressed, but we were already too low to be disappointed.
The decor was dark and dated (I'd say late 80s, early 90s) with the shining gem being the bar area and the fire stove. I would have liked to sit at the bar... The bar tenders seemed sharp, it was empty, and it looked nice. Unfortunately, we were ushered to the dining room where I sat on a chair that threatened to break if I leaned back. To say that it wobbled would be an understatement. It was definitely a hazard.
Our server was friendly (even touching me kindly on the back when taking my order), but too spread thin to be attentive. It wasn't his fault. I think he might have been the only server. We mused that he might have been selected as the server because his English was the best out of the other staff. We had an amusing situation when M asked a staff member for another glass of wine and he simply brought her another glass (sans wine). Eh - he tried.
The food was unimpressive. The beef carpaccio was tasteless (completely overwhelmed by the arugula and bread) and had a slimy texture. The margherita pizza was bland... Something just wasn't right about it and we couldn't quite place what. My gnocci with oxtail was the shining star of the evening, but it didn't have enough oxtail.
After two glasses of wine, one glass of port, a martini, and the food mentioned earlier, our total bill came to just under $100. We were surprised by the bill considering the quality of the food and experience. We decided that it was our alcohol that jacked the price.
Although there was nothing really offensive about Fornetto Mei, I'm certain that we will not return. There are just so many other (better) options in the area that provide a surperior experience for the price.
Yum-o. Stopped in last week with a friend, and the previous posts are so right about this place being kind of secretly amazing. I had the Mushroom Pappardelle entree and it was AMAZING......lots of shrooms, and it's served in a mushroom broth that made it absolutely outstanding. My friend had the pizza with the goat cheese and grapes that was previously mentioned...outstanding as well. Maybe that's what Sarah L's husband had and they just had never tasted goat cheese before, hence the "the cheese was just funky!" comment....?
One thing that is really great and different about this place that definitely makes it stand out is that the pizzas are handmade to order, and the pizza oven is situated in the restaurant so that you can actually watch your pizza cook over the flames. Definitely looking forward to returning to this hidden gem.
Woof! Â The only reason my husband and I went here to eat was the fact that I won a $100 gift certificate from a contest. Â From the decor to the food...I can not believe this place is still in business. Â Horrible, old, ripped seating in a dark, dingy dining room. Â Bad bread to start with, edible ceasar salad and the salmon would have been ok, if it didn't taste like i was eating some straight up salt! Â My husband ordered a thin crust pizza, and was just happy he didn't get sick. Â I had a bite, and the cheese was just funky! Â Anyways...just go somewhere else in the area. Â TONS of other better options.
Review Source:One of the review stated this was a "dead gem". Â That description is spot on. Â We stopped by for lunch around 1 on a weekday, and the place was completely empty. Â But a very nice waiter greeted us and gave us a choice of seats- Â we opted to eat in the sun room area. Â The decor is nothing memorable, but the food was excellent. Â The salad was very fresh with just the right amount of dressing, and the pizza was fantastic. Â I've never had that combination of ingredients- sausage, goat cheese and grapes. Â They made it right in front of us in their big wood fired oven. Â The crust was one of the best parts- Â light tasting with seasoning but sturdy enough to hold the pizza. Â Still not sure why it was so empty...
Review Source:We just arrived in Chicago and were looking for good pizza--but not deep-dish--so searched yelp and found Fornetto Mei nearby our hotel. Â The yelpers called this place a "dead gem," which is totally spot on! Had a great experience here. We got their special, a pizza with sausage, grapes and goat cheese---"hmmm..." was my first reaction when I read it but boy was it good! And the thin crust was perfect. The pizza was made right in front of us using the neat oven--see one of the pics. At the time we dined here it was around 2pm on a Thursday and we were the only people there! Service was fantastic.
Highly recommend Fornetto Mei and next time I'm in Chicago, I'm going back!
I went to eat a light lunch with a group of family and friends before visiting the local cupcakeries. Service was slow considering there was no one else in the restaurant on a early Saturday afternoon, but the food was excellent. The ingredients were fresh and tasty. I recommend the (lamb?) sausage, goat cheese, and red grape pizza. I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the per glass wine list.
Review Source:I would call this place a "dead gem". My friend and I went in there a few months ago and we were basically the only ones in there. The space is cozy, dark, and kind of generic hotel decor. Ya know...dark wood walls and forest green carpeting.
The bartender made it clear he didn't want to be there. But our waiter was phenomenal. I wish I remembered his name. He was very friendly, funny and knowledgeable.
The foods was damn good.
Caesar Salad: one of the best I've had. very fresh Romaine tossed in a lighter Caesar dressing - low on the parmesan. I don't like parmesan cheese.
Pizza: wood fired pizza is a favorite iof mine as the curst is.thin and crispy. They have one of the best pizzas in the city
I just wish the place was more "alive".
I have eaten here perhaps 6 times over the past 5 years, and every time I ask myself, "Why don't I come here more often?" First of all, the room and the atrium are so warm and welcoming. Even though there was a cold wind wreaking havoc on our late-May dinner in the atrium, the pizza oven and the friendly staff kept us warm. Second, let's talk more about that staff! Rosalyn, our server, always remembers me--even when I have been away for 6+months! She is always attentive, kind, conscientious, and keen to not be obtrusive during private conversations. She is a gift and an example for servers everywhere! Then, there's the food. It's wonderful! From the flavorful soups to the crispy-thin Milanese pizzas to the artfully prepared pastas, this place knows flavor. I have never been disappointed, and neither have my guests.
In my estimation, Fornetto Mei is one of the most comfortable, relaxed, yet upscale places to dine in the Gold Coast. It's impossible to remember that they are housed within a hotel: Â I swear whenever I go in there it feels like a familiar neighborhood gem along the lines of Antica Pizzeria (see my pst about that Andersonville treasure). Even the bar is cozy and relaxed, but with just enough energy to keep it interesting. And when the dining and drinking are over, you can go hang in the dimly lit, cozy seating area in the back bar of the hotel. It's such a great way to spend an evening--a little getaway in our own bustling 'hood.
We went to Fornetto Mei for breakfast on one of those Spring mornings when you really don't want to get out of bed with a chill and rain in the air. But once we were seated next to the fireplace, all of that faded.
Surprisingly, while the Whitehall hotel that this sits in was packed with people checking out on a Sunday morning, this restaurant was quite empty. I walked through a couple of bar areas (they looked like nice places to cozy up with a loved one with the soft couches nestled in little nooks) and finally found my way to the dining area.
The menu is not large- more functional but with the favorites that everyone is looking for: omelettes, Eggs Benedict, crepes and more basics like eggs and bacon and oatmeal.
Our server was quick with the coffee and our food came up pretty fast and was pretty good as well. My omelet was well put together and they substituted fresh berries for the potatoes that usually come with it for no charge.
The mis steps were more in the service areas. Coffee refills were slow to come (and I'm a girl who needs her coffee), butter came out with the toast instead of jam. And my biggest gripe? A larger group left and they started moving the furniture around adding a table to our two top to make it a four top (and also the corresponding chairs) which just felt like that should have not happened until we left our table. I felt like I was in the middle of "change over" in the restaurant while what I wanted was a leisurely experience.
Prices were reasonable for the area with breakfast running about $50 for the two of us. If you drive- try the parking garage across the street or you may wait a long time for the valet especially on a Sunday morning.
All in all, while I wouldn't go out of my way to have breakfast here, if you find yourself in the area, check it out. It's a solid choice.
Very simple menu. The place is supposed to be an asian/italian fusion. However, only the appetizers contain the asian. But, this is not to say that the Italian was not good. Their old menu had an item that was a crab and shrimp pesto pizza. When we went there, that had been replaced by a chicken pesto pizza. We asked if we could get the crab and shrimp pesto pizza but they did not have any crab but could make a shrimp pesto pizza which we got. The pizza is cooked in a nice brick oven and hand made in front of everyone.
Well. The shrimp pesto pizza was unbelievable and probably the best thing that we had gotten. They made a cream sauce that was put on top of the pizza which complemented it perfectly.
The pizza was an appetizer and was ordered along with bruschetta and grilled calamari. I really like it when a restaurant puts the calamari on top of a bed of spinach salad. However, the only problem here is that there was not enough calamari which was a real downer. The bruschetta wasn't bad either. The waiter had recommended it but I probably wouldn't get it again next time.
I ordered the Gnocchi for the main course which was very good. I think it may have been better if I hadn't stuffed myself with bread and all the appetizers that we gotten.
Without a doubt, Fornetto Mei is the worst restaurant in the Mag Mile/just south of Gold Coast area. The bulk of the Yelp reviewers seem to have eaten at a different restaurant entirely. The one even somewhat positive aspect of the experience was the passable service--i.e., no drinks were spilled and the waitstaff was attentive.
But, decent service does not make up for abysmal food. My dinner companion and I were seated immediately, near the windows looking out onto Delaware at about 5 PM in the nearly empty restaurant. Perhaps, it was our mistake dining in the daylight, but the shabbiness of the space that might have gone unnoticed after the sun went down, was undeniable and distracting frankly--carpet and furniture that hadn't been updated in years, noticeable filth (may have been wear and tear) in the corners, and a really ugly vent in the otherwise tolerable front windows. Also, the silverware was quite spotty, assumedly due to poor polishing or no polishing.
I'm more of a food guy, so I can see past shortcomings in ambiance. However, the most important component of any dining experience--the food--was the worst part. We did not order much, two salads, a pizza, and a pasta dish. The salads were very casually thrown together and the quality of the ingredients was bad enough that I thought to myself: "Hm, I can't remember the last time I ate produce this bad, and at home I frequently eat veggies well past their sell-by date..." It was like eating a salad prepared with bargain bin components by someone completely unconcerned with presentation or attention to detail--maybe it was a bad day for their food distributor. The pasta was the highlight of the terrible meal--exceptionally boring linguine with chicken, noodles only slightly overcooked. But really the reason I'm writing this review at all is to attempt to set the record straight on the 'amazing pizzas.' We ordered a seafood pizza that was to include shrimp and crab with pesto sauce and red bell pepper puree. Fine. I did not expect to be wowed, I guess, but I honestly thought someone was playing a joke on me. The shrimp were the tiny kind found in cheap Chinese take-out shrimp fried rice (i.e., low quality) and the crab was blah. The pesto sauce was fine. But the kicker was the fact that the pizza crust was suspiciously similar to that of cardboardy cheapest frozen pizza crust. All my dinner companion and I could do was laugh and think about ways to significantly improve this (frozen) pizza with a better frozen pizza and better ingredients for the same price at home. I was shocked.
With all of that being said, I enjoyed the time spent with my dinner date, despite the meal, and I believe Fornetto would be an OK choice for out-of-towners looking to have a sit-down dinner for a fairly reasonable price in an otherwise "culinarily" very expensive area of town. To any Chicagoan who appreciates decent food, go anywhere but here. It is NOT fine dining.
I discovered this place by accident, and felt I needed to share the gem with others. The pizza was amazing, and the wine selection as well.
The atmosphere was perfect for a romantic wintery date, complete with tealights and brick oven. The only thing I was confused by was the fact that everybody seemed to be age 60 and up... Not sure if they ran a senior special I was not informed of, but the food and atmosphere made up for it. Even though our waiter seemed scatterbrained, I will definitely go back!
when i got dragged in here while strolling around michigan avenue with the girl, i thought it was going to be an overpriced, poorly serviced meal...Much to my surprise, i was sort of wrong. The prices still seem steep for much of the menu but the service was excellent. I will definitely be back here, if not to eat then to booze.
Review Source:Food was tasty, although a little salty but the service was horrendous. Â Â We had the brushettea appetizer, the seafood risotto, the herb linguini with chicken, two pizzas, and some salads. Â No complaints about any of the food.
So if the food was good, why the two stars?? We should have known better when we walked in and it was quite warm, although we gave them the benefit of the doubt since it was a 90 degree humid day in chicago. Â As they prepared our table we all started sweating and inquired about their AC, and the manager sheepishly admitted that they had someone working on their AC at the moment, and offered to seat us on the screened in patio where there was a nice breeze. Â The waitress, although a seemingly sweet woman, had to be reminded for soda refills and forgot to enter our calamari appetizer order. Â The blame is hard to place on the waitress, the chef and the manager for the next set of complaints but the entrees were brought out all different times, so two had no choice but to eat before our food came out. Â My pizza apparently fell on its way out from the kitchen so they brought out my pizza after everyone had finished. And they didnt mention it until a few minutes until after it had happened, as though they were trying to cover the mistake before we noticed. When we recieved the bill we sort of expected to be compensated for the missing appetizer, the late food, or the practically missing pizza that - but that was not the case. Â The icing on the cake was when the manager mentioned that their credit card machine was broken and they would need to write down all our credit card info - which was frustrating for two reasons. Â If they knew it was broken, they should have disclosed that before we sat down for dinner (as well as the AC), and moreso because in the age where idenity theft is a very real issue, having someone copy down your entire credit card info on scrap paper is slightly unnerving, especially for out of town guests. Â When the manager started fussing over the bill, and I told him we were sort of in a rush, he snapped at me that he was going as fast as he could
So in summary decent food with some of the worst service I have had in a long long time.
We went to Fornetto Mei last Thursday as part of Restaurant Week.  Overall, our experience was good, but in the end, a little pricey with  a little left to be desired.
I really had no expectations for the restaurant when we decided to go here. Hadn't heard of anyone going here, and Asian-Italian fusion sounded a little odd, but we're willing to give anything a try. The atmosphere was warm, cozy and inviting. The fireplace was a nice feature of the area we were in.
My husband and I started off with grilled calamari and the crab cakes. The calamari was great with a balsamic sauce and a nice grilled flavor. The crab cakes were nothing out of the ordinary, but well presented.
The main dishes we tried were the 8 oz. tenderloin and the lobster/crab ravioli. We were a little surprised that my husband's tenderloin came out in chunks, but maybe I missed that on the menu? The ravioli came in a generous portion, was stuffed with filling and had a tasty sauce.
My only real bone to pick with this meal was the dessert. I ordered the molten chocolate cake and my husband had the tiramisu. The tiramisu was good-again nothing too special. kind of looked like it had been cut out of a sheet pan and put on a plate. The molten cake, which I normally expect to be warm and melty in the middle when it comes out, was not. I could tell they basically had the desserts lined up in back-cold. The powdered sugar was not really powdery any longer (it had sort of absorbed the moisture from the cake), and the inside of the cake was sort of cold and goopy. Not what you'd expect for a dessert they normally sell for $9 each on their non-Restaurant Week menu.
We were glad we tried Fornetto Mei. The atmosphere was great. They could have stepped up their Restaurant Week performance a bit more if they wanted us to come back. Still wondering what part of the menu had anything Asian fused with it. We'll probably be heading somewhere else next time if we want to spend $100 on dinner for two.
I went here on the final meal of my restaurant week and it was pretty fabulous. Â Had the Grilled Calamari and the Tenderloin and both were awesome! Â The service was good, the food was good, the atmosphere was good. Â I would come back again, for sure. Â
The only reason it isn't 5 stars, is because there was nothing too different or out of the ordinary or soooo tasty that I MUST RAVE MADLY ABOUT. Â
4.5 stars for sure!
Because it's in a hotel in the Gold Coast, I admittedly had low expectations. Â But when we were picking out our restaurant week selections, the boyfriend was gung ho. Â I was very surprised, and in a good way! Â The atmosphere is not hotelish at all and each of our courses were impressive -- particularly the lobster & crab ravioli.
Review Source:I don't know why I disregard hotel restaurants, but I was glad we did Fornetto Mei for Valentine's. It definitely has that intimate, "Valentiney" feel to it so it's good for romantic dinners.
Customer service was nice enough, and I was glad we were immediately seated in a dim, cozy dining area with soft music and a fireplace. It was great to dodge the Valentine's weekend crowds. Hooray!
They had a prix fixed menu, but it ended up being way too much food so we ordered a la carte. The lobster and crab ravioli was a mentionable, as was the mussel soup and vanilla custard dessert.
I stopped in out of curiosity, for a cocktail and to kill time before meeting dinner companions. Nice place. I looked at the menu, and was shocked to see very reasonable prices across the board. The place was dead, which can be a not-so-good sign, but the other Yelp reviews mostly say the food is delicious.
NIce digs. Quiet. Fireplace.
Bookmark!
This place is a GOOD ITALIAN place BUT it might scare some people off because it claims to be "pan - Italian" - a mix of Asian and Italian cuisine...But it's not fusion at all! It has some Asian inspired apps-like dumplings & spring rolls but that's where the Asianess of it ends-the rest of the menu is pizzas & pastas!
In my group we ordered a grilled calamari app-very tender and tasty.
Pastas we tried were the Gnocchi with oxtail and the Papardelle with mushrooms...both obviously homemade and fresh. I really enjoyed my mushroom pasta and would order it again. My dining partners thought their gnocchi was good but the oxtail was a little too fatty and overcooked.
We ended the night with tiramisu-it fell a little short and was not as good as the rest of the meal. Seems it had been sitting in the fridge for a few too many days-had it been fresh it would have been very very good.....
All in all-this meal was enjoyable. The restaurant is nice looking, service was good and the prices aren't out of control. If you are in the area and want Italian without a huge price tag - it's a great choice.
Sausage, grape, and goat cheese pizza is a particular delicacy that requires coming back for more. The gourmet pizzas are quite an experience. Not too many options but makes well for a nice meal amongst friends. The service is a bit variable depending the time of the day, but it is outstanding for lunch and dinner. Only con is that it has a smoking room. So if this is an issue go earlier. Nice and reasonable and special place for dates!
Review Source:Inside the Whitehall Hotel, I came here on a date with my husband. Â It was a Saturday night and the restaurant was empty. Â Although that gave us a great table and very attentive service, we couldn't help but feel a little lonely. Â Instead of staying for dessert, we headed to L'Appetito for some people watching and called it an early night.
Review Source:Oh restaurant week, you give me the chance to sample some very interesting places. Andrea and I arrived here for the prix-fixe dinner with high hopes. Though I'm sad to say things were less than spectacular. Fornetto Mei bill itself as an Italian and Chinese restaurant, though not fusion. It's located at the White Hall Hotel and is walking distance from the Water Tower.
We opted to sit near the pizza bar in the glass alcove facing the street. It's a nice area that, despite the heavy storm at the time, was still warm and pleasant. The servers had nice personalities but need to work on their tact a little more. There was some confusion at times and at one point we overheard them discussing our order without subtlety; it created an awkward moment.
I opted for the 'Mei's Handmade Postickers with Seafood', 'Pan Roasted, Dry Aged 8 Ounce Steak Tenderloin', and the Affogato for dessert.
The potstickers had a nice crispy and yet doughy texture; the filling was about on par with the usual pan-asian places around the city. The vinegar dipping sauce was subdued and had a decent kick. All around not too bad.
Then comes the salad... I mean steak. My entree's presentation was basically a shrub stuck on porcelain. There was a TON of arugula covering the meat and roasted potatoes, I had to eat my way through about a fistful until my protein and sides emerged. Now, I love my greens... and I love balsamic vinegar... but the whole thing was absolutely drenched in it. Not to mention my meat was also doused. I order the tenderloin cooked to 'medium', it arrived ranging from rare to medium-well at the tip. I love my meat cooked across all temperatures so it didn't bother me as much; though I know a lot of people would find that unacceptable. The potatoes were nice and had a slight crisp to the skins, the carrots also get a thumbs up. Andrea had the Berkshire Pork Bolognese, I sampled a couple bites and was left thinking "meh". The linguine was overcooked and the sauce a little under-spiced for my taste.
Dessert was the Affogato. From the menu "An 'Affogato' Coming from the Italian word for Drowned, Â Consists of Vanilla Ice Cream "Drowned" in our Lavazza Espresso; Served with a Homemade Biscotti". It's a neat idea but I found the ice cream to melt a little too fast. Not a bad flavor combination though.
For the price, even with the slight discount from Restaurant Week, I found this place to be a bit overpriced. The food standards need to be raised and the staff tightened up a bit before I can recommend dining here.
Secret indeed! Â Not sure if it was because it was a Monday, or specifically, the Monday before Thanksgiving, but it was completely empty when we sat down to eat last night. Â That made me a little nervous, but once our food arrived my nerves we assuaged.
We started with the ceasar salad, which included artichokes, olives, hearts of palm, and assorted other sundries. Â My dining companions had what looked like a chicken pesto pizza (delicious) and the salmon (which looked great, but I can't stand the stuff myself). Â I enjoyed the gnocchi with tomato sauce. Â I am very picky when it comes to gnocchi, and these did not disappoint. Â They were extremely light and melted in my mouth. Â Will definitely be back for more.
The service was wonderful. Â Our waiter was the perfect mix between attentive and stealth, which was highly impressive as most of the time we were his only table.
This restaurant is kind of like a best-kept-secret....
Fornetto Mei is an affordable and quiet restaurant in the middle of an expensive and bustling area. Â Right off Michigan Ave on the Gold Coast, Fornetto Mei serves great food (make sure to try the extremely thin pizza). Â If you are looking to dine on the Gold Coast for lunch I suggest sitting by the bar, which overlooks the Four Seasons on Delaware St. Â Sitting there for lunch one day I saw 2 celebrities, and really, isn't that why you go to the Gold Coast to begin with?
A delightful place. Â Not too crowded, really good eats, close to John Hancock, and not too pricey. Â Felt like splitting stuff with my wife. Â Got the octopus salad ($9) which was very tasty, follow by their 'famous' pizza; sausage, grapes, cheese and herbs ($13). Â Final act was a lettuce wrap, pine nuts, chicken and other goodies with lettuce to wrap it or a delightful thin wheat pita. Â With glass of wine, under $60. Â We would go here again.
Review Source:Yes. I loved this place. Good wine-by-the-glass list (I had the Albarino), great garlicky shrimp over white beans appetizer. Finished with the liguine with sweet/spicy sausage, garlic, and spinach in a white wine sauce. Service was impeccable. Place was charming. I am in Chicago for three weeks and I will definitely go back. Maybe today, it was so good.
Review Source:You're going to go here and here's what you're going to get:
Nice glass of Rioja. Â Complimented everything I had.
Pork potstickers. Â Scalding hot on the inside, so be careful. Â Loved the spicy red chile sauce.
Sausage, grape, and goat cheese pizza. Â Yup, it works. Â And works really well. Â Trust me, take the leap.
Chocolate filled cake. Â Who doesn't like chocolate goo inside their cake?
There's a spicy (but by no means overpowering) oil on the table and I drizzled it on the pizza. Â Heaven.
Breadsticks are served with a side tub of warm garlic juice. Â Now gimme a kiss!
Best meal I had in my seven days in the city, hands down.
This place is random. It is where I go when all else fails and I can't think of anything else. I live in this hood. Let's face it, life is expensive, but fornetto mei is not! It is good and affordable. Yummy pizza, yummy salads and a very strange menu with Asian food? Hummm don't know what to say about that one. But the wine is great, by the glass, by the bottle! Still very cheap for the area. So you can go do cru, which in my opinion has gone down in quality, or walk one block east and check this place out. Try the calamari appetizer, the sauce is to die for!
Review Source:This place is one of the worst places I've visited in Chicago. Originally, my friends and I wanted to eat pancakes at the Bongo Room. Unfortunately there was a large wait time, so we decided to try this place. BIG MISTAKE!!
The service was awful. Had to ask for lemon for my water 3 times before I received them. My friend ordered a caesar salad which took 35 minutes to arrive. The waitress was indifferent to our table of 7, even though there were only 2 or 3 other tables in the restaurant!
The worst part was the food. My salad was incredibly disappointing for $8. I would have preferred a salad from Panera anyday over the Fornetto's salads. Despite the "salad" name, the only vegetable was shredded lettuce. No tomatoes, no onions, no cucumbers, nothing else! My friend ordered a turkey sandwich for $7 which came with no sides, and looked like it could have been made at home. The sandwich was supposed to have garlic aiojli on it, instead they slathered on lots of mayo. We ended with splitting one of their enormous cookies for dessert, which turned out to be stale and hard as a rock.
do not go here. do not be fooled by the american flag umbrellas outside.
One of my favorite places to go in Chicago for a quiet, relatively inexpensive meal (unless you go crazy on the $12 cocktails). They have a full bar, and a great wine. I always sit at the back bar right by the pizza oven, where you can watch the pizza chef go to work. Their pizzas are excellent - all thin crust and in the $10-14 range, and the potsticker appetizers are great as well.
I love to try out new restaurants, but this is the one place I come back to consistently.
Fine dining is possible for under $25 even on Michigan Ave. Â
You really don't have to bust out the big bucks to dine in style on the Mag Mile. Â I'd say that one of the best kept secrets of the touristy, shop-aholic's paradise is Fornetto Mei, nestled discretely on a tree-lined street adjacent to the Whitehall Hotel. Â
A mere student, such as I, can get excellent service at a fab-o restaurant that has the right amount of pizzazz, delicious cuisine, attentive service, and money left over for some Mich Ave shopping. Â The ambience is very warm and welcoming. Â As soon as I step in, I face the bar and the star of the show, the wood-fire pizza oven. Â The pizza chef always welcomes guests with a smile.
As soon as I sit down, a busboy will come out on cue with warm rolls and present me with the choice of chili-infused olive oil or the olive oil originale and freshly grated parmesan cheese. Â I go through the motions of reading through the one page menu, but I'm usually set on the same old deal. Â The spinach salad ($8-9) and a sausage and grape pizza or the porcini mushroom pizza ($10-$14). Â The crust is the right amount of chewy and fluffy and the cheese is fantastic. Â I could rave for hours on end about the fontina (porcini pizza) and goat cheese (sausage pizza) they use. Â Just divine.
Their special chocolate dessert is fantastic - a molten flourless chocolate cake with ganache in the center. Â It is the cheaper alternate to Roy's chocolate dessert and tastes just as scrumptious.
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