Spiaggia

Fantastic wine list, fun environment, upscale but not overly stuff. Make a reservation.

I've had several memorable meals at Spiaggia.  First, the ambiance is great here. Might I suggest a snowy night during the holidays so you can look out toward the park and stare and into your significant other's eyes with love and lust!  Then sit back, have another glass of wine and get ready for an incredible meal.  We split the squid ink and lobster spaghetti and it was incredible.  The wife had the snapper and I the rib eye, both were very good.   Plan a few hours so you can enjoy every course of the meal.  I sit here on the West Coast and my stomach is rumbling writing this review.  Time for another trip to Chicago.

My wife and I have been to about 10 Michelin starred restaurants between Chicago and Paris...and have to say this is the only Michelin starred restaurant that we have been to where we left disappointed.  Spiaggia is on the upper end when it comes to price but on the lower end when it comes to quality of food.  We both got the truffle tasting menu with wine pairings and ended up paying about $700 with food + parking...and...we can't say any of the courses were that impressive.  The food wasn't memorable...and the wine wasn't that good either.  My wife and I are casual wine drinkers at best...but rather than picking up notes of apples, roses, etc during our 3rd wine pairing (etna rosso)...all we tasted was wet dog.  The only reason that I didn't give it 1 star was that the restaurant was nicely decorated inside and our waiter was kind.  However, when we go to a nice restaurant...we go for the food and Spiaggia was lacking.

We have relied on Michelin's rating system for many of our special moments in the past (engagement, anniversaries, birthdays, etc) and the restaurants always delivered.  I hope that this was just an off night at Spiaggia...and not a case of Michelin continuing to rate a restaurant highly based on previous reputation rather than current performance.

Overall...I'd say save your money and go to any of the other Chicago Michelin star restaurants and get a meal that is twice as good for half the price.