Caro Mio Italian Restaurant

Recommends

aron c

Joined 3 years ago

Best Italian food. That was my first visit to Chicago. I stayed near this restaurant. My co worker suggested me to their food. Their food is the best Italian food I've ever tasted. Friendly services with huge variety to select from. It is my regular hangout and I never felt bored or exhausted when I am there. Best for everyone. I will definitely go there when visit Chicago again.

Doesn't Recommend

AdamG

Joined 4 years ago

Stay Away!. This place used to be a fun, popular byob joint with large portions of mediocre food, nice servers. Now, they have an incredibly rude manager who likes to gloat and smirk and give away reserved tables if the entire party is not present at exactly, and I mean exactly, the time of the reservation. If you want to stuff your face with pasta and red sauce buy the stuff yourself; if you want the full Caro Mio experience hire some middle school kid to come to your home and be rude to you to make him feel better about himself.

Recommends

RavenswoodResident

Joined 5 years ago

great neighborhood Italian. Caro Mio is romantic, friendly and totally unpretentious. I love it! The guys who own Caro Mio are very friendly and welcoming. The've often come up with recommendations for me when I couldn't decide what to order, and the food has been awesome every time. The little storefront setting is cozy and fun. It's a special occasion dinner at an inexpensive price.

Doesn't Recommend

ireland33

Joined 6 years ago

terrible customer service. Some friends and I had reservations on a wed. evening at seven p.m.there and we were running a little bit late. We arrived about seven minutes after seven p.m gave the greeter our name in which the reservation was under and he told us since we were late our reservation had been cancelled. He was very rude and unprofessional. This was supposed to be a great evening out with old friends to celebrate a birthday, and he started our night out on a bad note.

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mrjustice

Joined 7 years ago

Romantic Italian Dining with diverse menu. BYOB (and NO corkage!). Can't believe I haven't been here sooner; since I moved into the Ravenswood neighborhood in May. Ambiance is small, quaint, romantically decorated and lit. Italian food served is wonderfully diverse and interesting; and, all seemed excellent. What more could ask for -- how about BYOB for an Italian Restaurant?? Believe it or not, it is (and, even harder to believe, with NO corkage fee). But, you doubters say, don't they just raise their prices to make up for it. Nope -- prices seemed average for fine Italian dining. ($15-17 for pasta dishes; and, 18-22 for chicken/meat/seafood dishes). How wonderful.

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robdina

Joined 6 years ago

Wonderful Service!. Whether we are there once a month, or once a year, the owner greets us like old friends. Beautiful and calming. Always fresh flowers, always new art on the walls. You couldn't ask for a better neighborhood retreat. Bring your appetite, you will never leave hungry, and usually will have something leftover for lunch tomorrow. The gnocci is the best around.

Doesn't Recommend

irishzazen

Joined 6 years ago

Bad experience - very disppointed as we used to love this place.. What a huge disappointment this place was! We have been going there, infrequently, but over a period of about 5 years and it has really gone down hill. Wow! Really terrible food and we were "hustled" by the staff to eat and get out fast as it was Saturday night and I guess they wanted our table.

FIrst of all - the bread was stale and un-appetizing looking - just large hunks of white bread. Then our appetizer was awful - bland, sauce was tasteless, mushroom seemed boiled rather than grilled and what is with the SALT??? Everything was sooooo salty it was almost inedible.

My risotto was so ugly to look at - just a huge plate overflowing with rice - it could have fed 1/2 of the Fifth Army and sooo salty - my companion had a pasta dish that was so salty he felt almost ill afterwards although he did say the pasta was cooked very well - it was just the salt that ruined it. Plus not even a garnish with the risotto - ugh!

We will never be back.

Recommends

brianbyrne

Joined 6 years ago

Great atmosphere, awesome food. Our food was fantastic, our waiter was funny, and the atmosphere was cozy and dim, yet colorful. There's a lot of seafood on the menu, and all of it looked good. Our portions were huge, easily enough for two. We couldn't stay for dessert, but overall it was fantastic; we'll definitely eat there again soon. BYOB = awesome (no corking fee, either); also there's a large parking lot half a block away. Technically it's for employees of the medical center across the streets, but as it's closed nights and weekends, nobody seemed to be policing the lot, so game on.

Recommends

anonimouse

Joined 6 years ago

The BEST kept secret BYOB Italian eating in town!. Go buy a lovely bottle of Red wine. Then make a reservation here- you will be ridiculously, gloriously happy that you did- You MUST have the green bean, tomato and homemade Mozzarella appetizer, the minestrone soup, then the Agnioletti Rossini Pasta and finally the tiramisu.

The service has always been superb, the servers are knoweldgeable and will reccommend what is freshest, most flavorfull and new for the season.

I think the surly reviewer below must've got lost on the way to the Olive Garden. If you are looking for true authentic Italian- this is where you go. The servers always remember what I've ordered before I open my mouth, and have been fantastic, asmart, kind and unobtrusive. I can't say enough good things- just go!

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25hastings

Joined 7 years ago

Stale Bread and Bad Olive Oil. Why don't restaurants ever check the olive oil they put on the table for dipping your bread? This is something I've expereinced at many other restaurants as well. But what distinguished Caro Mio was the fact that this was the rancidest "olive oil" I've ever tasted. - not that it matterd much- the bread they brought before dinner was really unappetizing. We should have taken this as a sign to get out before things could get worse - and they did. I ordered the Spaghetti Bolognese - what an insipid mess! My friend's entrees were also disappointing as well. The risotto looked good and the rice was certainly fluffy - but we were hard put to discover what the flavor was supposed to be. This was accompanied by some of the surliest service I've ever encountered.