Enoteca Roma Wine Bar

07/24/11

Used to be good - Now starring really bad service

by mgrisdale at Citysearch

We gave Enoteca Roma one last chance last night. After 3 bad service related experiences in a row, we’re done. I loved this place when it first opened but lately, the service has been so bad, that I can’t really justify going here again. There are too many fabulous places in Chicago to eat at a place that so clearly does not care about the customer. One of my friends was to pick up her boyfriend from Midway and she had to leave by 9:30 PM. We thought we had plenty of time since we sat down at 7:30 PM. Nobody came to order even drinks for a bit. At 8:15 we finally had drinks and had ordered our dinner. At 9:10 PM (yes, we were watching the clock at this point), we finally got part of our order. The waitress then informed us that she forgot to order one of our pasta dishes. At this point, since my friend had to leave, we decided not to wait. Then, there was the check. This process took another 25 minutes. During which time, I went to the ladies room, which was trashed. I’m not sure what happened to Enoteca Roma but clearly there has been a major failure of management. Too bad. Our food, what little we got of it, was good. Don’t bother going to Enoteca Roma, try Folklore (amazing staff), or Mana Food Bar, or my favorite – Taxim.

05/29/10

Fave restaurant now has awful service!

by lynbhatt1 at Citysearch

Enoteca's my fave rest'rant. We're there once every 2 months and I love introducing people to t/ place. Had it been our first evening there, tho, we wouldn't have come back. 1.) Arrived. No hostess. Told by busboy that he'd get someone. She never came. We seated ourselves at the bar. 2. No bartender behind the bar. Surreal. For ten min's. 3. When he finally did show up, he gave us our menus w/out Enoteca's normal "Have you been here b/4? Let me explain t/ menu. These are our specials." Disappeared for another 10mins. My boyfriend wanted to leave, but y should i get punished b/c of a bad bartender? Finally came back, slowly washed some dishes, hangin'out... (Notice after 20 mins, we still have no drink in our hands nor any means of getting one.) Whole staff was sluggish (except busboys). Ordered drinks/app's. He's gone again. We watched. He does tons of chatting w/t/ female waitstaff. There were many moments where there was no waitstaff in sight for over 5 mins, sometimes ten. (I totally could have robbed t/ place and they wouldn't have noticed.) No bread offered. It's always just "appeared" b/4. Bartender chatted up t/ladies during our dinner; never checked on us, and we needed a couple things but couldn't get his attention b/c back turned to us.T/ place had one large party and maybe 6 other tables, but was by no means "busy". Esp for Fri nite in W.P. One guy wanted to pay & it took 10 mins for him to even see t/ 'tender. A couple given t/ dessert menu & 20 min's later, t/ 'tender came back to take the order. @ end of meal, I asked y we got didn't get bread; he grudgingly brought bread. Then I ordered the dessert (hadn't touched t/ bread) and he said "So now you don't want the bread?" & was going to take it away! (Yes. I wanted t/ bread @ beginning of meal!) At 1 pt during his "disappearance", my b-friend walked to t/ bakery to see if it was busy there & that was why he was gone. It was empty. Finally, we paid up and I tried to tell him y we'd had a bad nite (gives him a chance to get a better tip/not get a bad review) and he argued every pt w/ me! "took 10 mins" "well, it was 2 mins"; "no bread", "we only give bread if it's offered, don't we?" (asking t/ waitresses) We've ALWAYS gotten bread right away); i didn't get halfway thru my list b/4 he cut me off and walked away! Seriously!? Won't go on wknds again. Then, saw low yelp reviews lately. Guess I'm not t/ only one.

• Pros: food (amazing!!!!)
• Cons: SERVICE IS SURREAL! AWFUL!

08/03/09

Simply Great!!

by DiabeticSinglesDotCom at Citysearch

The best way to desribe it...This place is Great!!

01/23/08

Hard to locate but Great Italian Restaurant

by RobertSinai at Citysearch

The only tricky thing here is that there is no sign outside. its next to Letizias bakery. We are bi weekly Italian food eaters, and we find ourselves coming here twice a week. Great Pastas, great fish, great appettizers. Simple, yet incredible italian food. Also quite laid-back service while still knowlesdgeable about the wine.

We had a bithday dinner party for 15 friends and we did their family style dinner which was incredible reasonable (Maybe $35 bucks per person) and we left the place happily full!

Highly reccomended, if you can find it!!!!

• Pros: Great for large group Dining
• Cons: Hard to Find your first time - there is no sign

02/27/07

Best pasta in Wicker Park!

by mresco at Citysearch

So I hadn't been in this place in a long time, probably 2 years and I could not belive my taste buds! Not that that last time was bad, but the food was just the same old "wine-bar" food. I am pleasantly surprised to report that their menu is now awesome! great Bruchetta Flights (combination of 4), and their polenta too. It was served soft (creamy style) on a piece of granite and had a venison sauce served on top. It was delicious and like nothing else I've ever had. What really amazed me was the pastas. yes, plain old pasta whose flavors and textures were reenergized by the use of very simple yet well put together ingredients. We had spaghetti con le vongole which was a thick hollow noodel with little neck clams ina spicy carlic and olive oil sauce. It was burstig with flavor! My boyfriend had gnocchi (i thjink it was whole wheat gnocchi) in a cherrytomato, mozzarella sauce and he loved it. Ona second visit I had Bucatini Cecilia(SP?) it was a hollow lomg pasta noodle tossed inbutter parmesan sauce with Prosciutto. That dish unexpectedly blew us away and will guarantee our return!

Another plus was the server which reccomended the wine pairing. I appreciated not only the pairing, but the fact that he did not try to pair with the most expensive wines. All in all, a great experience!

• Pros: pastas, Wine selection, service
• Cons: Limited seating in winter months and tends to get packed