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| - I haven't eaten here in a long time, but the wife (Jo) and I found ourselves driving north on LV BLVD and I thought I would drop in.
On a Saturday.
At 5PM.
Without a reservation.
It was cool, though, they keep a couple of tables open for walk-ins.
So, there are some small "challenges" with this place, before you even sit down.
For those who haven't been here, it is a converted house on 4th Street. The entrance is a narrow driveway that you can easily miss and pull into the parking lot of the apartments, next door. The narrow driveway leads to a small parking lot out back.
Once inside, you'll have to walk almost to the back of the restaurant to the cashier/host station. If you try to stay by the front door, you could be crushed by others walking in. It is a small place.
On to the food and service!
The service was very attentive without overbearing. Checked a couple of time if we were ready to order, followed up after food items were served, etc. I didn't need to flag someone down for anything.
The food, while not what I would label as authentic Italian, is definitely Great Chicago Italian. I had the chicken Marsala early dinner special and my wife ordered the lasagna early dinner special. The early dinner specials run from open until 6:30PM Mon-Sat and cost $15/dinner. The dinners include bread, salad, and the entree. We also order a half carafe of Burgundy and our dinner was just over $20/person.
The salad was a standard side salad using green leaf (vs. Iceberg) highlighted with a pepperocini. We both got the creamy garlic dressing which was very creamy and sweet, with subtle garlic.
The Chicken Marsala was very good, not overly sweet, roughly a half chicken breast, served with a small side of Penne in red, meat sauce. Lots of herbs and mushrooms; very tasty and it didn't seem like any sweetener (outside of Marsala wine) was added.
The lasagna portion was good sized, very cheesy, with several layers of pasta, cheese, and meat sauce. The red sauce was only mildly garlicky and we both ate until it was gone.
Overall, really good (we cleaned our plates).
The experience was true to the good memories I have of this place, and, if we are in the area, we will definitely be back.
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