I'd say this review trends a bit higher towards the 4 than the 3, but I just couldn't give it the 4.
We made reservations for a party of 4 on a Saturday night. Good thing too because the place was packed! I've actually tried to get in to this restaurant without reservations and been turned away because it's so busy.
The restaurant itself is nicely appointed. We were seated in the back at a cute little booth, allowing us to look out at the whole of the restaurant.
The service was friendly but a bit slow at times. It seemed that any time we wanted to order (drinks, entrees, and dessert), we had to wait for a fairly long time for our server to notice us. However cleaning up plates was very efficient.
We also had problems with the restaurant running out of items we wanted. One person in the party ordered their ravioli and was told upon ordering that they were out of it. It really bothers me when restaurants don't tell you up front what they don't have in stock anymore. Otherwise you are happy with your choice and then need to make a split decision because the restaurant doesn't have it. Two of us were also drinking Coke Zero and they ran out of that half way through the meal too.
In terms of the food, I've been to this restaurant a few years ago and remember the food being better than this visit. I had the wild cheese tortellini and found it to be a bit bland. My husband had the bolognese which I also found to be a bit bland. The bruschetta was delicious and the tartufo was good as well so it was just the pasta sauces that could have used a bit more salt, or extra oomph.
Comparing this restaurant to Michael's Back Door on Lakeshore, I'd prefer Michael's Back Door.