Bar Siena

So I really have only had some appetizers and drinks here, a few times.
Love their Parmesan Truffle Potato Skins (could eat several of these myself and be happy) and the Duck Mac n’ Cheese.
Specialty Drinks are known by numbers, I like #3, but just ask your bartender or waiter/​waitress.

FLAVORS (5 Stars)
Here are some personal favorites, tips & tricks–
1) Sit at the bar if there are only 2 in your party otherwise sit downstairs
2) Order the sweet corn ravioli! You can’t go wrong.
3) Order a cocktail. The bar tenders are phenomenal at their jobs!
SERVICE (5 Stars)
The staff here has always been nothing but friendly. The bar tender was amazing! She waiting a good while for my friend and I to decide what we wanted and was super friendly. Her cocktails were killer too!
ATMOSPHERE (5 stars)
It was a magical night, sitting at the bar looking up at the lights. What can I say I’m a sucker for string lights :) The crowd there was in their mid 20s to 30s just relaxing and having a good time. For the first time in a while there wasn’t a creeper in sight so you can definitely let loose with some friendly faces.
ACCESSIBILITY (5 Stars)
Bar Siena is in the heart of West Loop on Randolph Street! ‘nough said!

Great restaurant with a great vibe! We sat upstairs and the waitress was great. She really knew the menu and made sure to go through it since we had never been before.
We started with the ricotta and break appetizer. It was sooooo good. They could have given more bread because there was so much cheese, but it was great left over as well.
For my meal I got the mushroom pizza and it was delicious! The crust was thin and the sauce — I believe it was a white butter sauce but would be wrong — was phenomenal.
The desserts looked incredible so I will definitely be going back for some of them!

To start we had the Burrata. Absolutely amazing, the sweet and salty combination was so perfect. The only complaint was with the polenta bread, I wish it wasn’t so hard to bite into, kind of took away from the deliciousness.
Second we had the chilled avocado chili soup. … Extremely salty. So salty my mom ended up sending it back. Shame.
Moving on to the meatball sandwich. OUTSTANDING. SO delicious the fries were amazing definitely the best thing we had.
We also ordered the sweet corn ravioli. It was extremely rich, but again so so so salty. Again, disappointed.
So overall ²⁄₄ on what we got for lunch. Seems like a hit or miss depending on what you order.
In terms of the atmosphere I like the decorating, the industrial feel is great but a little loud for my tastes, I couldn’t really hear my mom and she was across from me.
But it was reasonably priced for what we got and the portion size.
The BomboBar is amazing as well the gelato was incredible. Definitely check that out.

Great experience here. I made a reservation a few weeks in advance and the day of, I had to push it back a few times since we were running behind. They were great about it. Once we got there, we got seated right away.
I ordered a Wild mushroom and garlic with arugala and it was great! I would love to come back and try more dishes.

We had light lunch on sunny afternoon .
Didn’t have chance to check the inside, the weather was so gorgeous, the sitting outside was calm and comfortable. I’m not a fan of strew side sitting, but somehow cars didn’t disturb.
We ordered nice selection from Meets + Cheeses section, you cannot go wrong there. The plate came out with small add-​ons that contributed well to design and flavor.
Seared yellowtail sashimi style was done to perfection.
Vine list offers great choices by glass which is perfect for lunch and for people with different preferences.
And the highlight is the desert.
OMG, Italian bomboloni with mixed berry, they blown me away. It is a MUST!
And yes the service was flawless.

We live in Chicago and brought a friend from out of town, hoping to give him a great experience in a great neighborhood. Service was slow and unprofessional. Dishes were forgotten. Food was better than average. They were out of most of the desserts. For this price, we would not return. Plus, there’s too many other fantastic restaurants in the area.

Did not have a chance to done at Bar Siena, but heard it was great for drinks in the area. Great ambiance and crowd at the main bar and drinks, ask for Gabe! I give it 4 stars for the bar, crowd, service and good smells :)
The ribs smelled wonderful and plenty of locals recommended the pizza and ribs for my next visit.

I came here on Saturday night to celebrate my boyfriends job promotion and kick off my birthday week. We really enjoyed the food and drinks! We enjoyed the food in tapas style so we all had the opportunity to try a variety of items.
Our waiter was really nice and helpful. The service overall was on point. I am knocking one star off because the hosts were not the nicest and I didn’t appreciate their attitudes or lack of help when we told them that we did not have a reservation. We arrived at 5pm which I believe is way before hitting the Chicago dinner rush but despite what I think, they told us we had to finish our dinner by 6:30 or wait two hours… We were already dressed up and starving and decided to agree to their time limit. You all know this place is not the cheapest place on the strip so it was hard to thoroughly enjoy our dining experience with the time constraint on our mind. Not to mention that our waiter pointed our «time constraint» twice. Not cool.
As we wrapped up at 6:30, there were at least 5 – 6 tables all empty around us.
Make a reservation – lesson learned. All in all, the food was really good and our waiter was very kind and friendly.

Part 3 of our West Loop impromptu classy cocktail bar crawl landed us at Bar Siena. I would really like to come back for brunch or dinner sometime, because the one cocktail I had was incredible!
For one thing, I appreciate cocktails without fussy-​sounding names. The ingredients are fussy enough, and the more I drink, the less I can remember what I want. Bar Siena’s menu mimics that of Siena Tavern. Order the No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, and so on. I had the No. 1, a cocktail with gin, green tea, and mint. It was the perfect post-​brunch drink.
The inside of the restaurant reminded me of a sports bar in disguise. It didn’t scream «SPORTS!» and I loved the comfy, half-​moon shaped booth with a view of the bar.
Our waitress was great, and the host, Manny, is super energetic and welcoming; he’s the perfect personality at a hip spot like Bar Siena.

Love this spot. Its on Randolph St. where there is whole load of great restaurants and bars but I somehow always end up here. The atmosphere is laid back. Its owned by Chef Viviani who even came by our table and said hi. Hes been on the Food Network many times, big fan of his. The food is delicious. They basically got your standard Italian fare, you really can’t go wrong with anything on the menu. I think this spots best to day drink or chill on a nice summer day, like on the patio, which fills up quickly.

We tried Bar Siena with two other couples a few weeks back. It was our first time there — though I had been to Siena Tavern before. Like most of Randolph Street, Bar Siena is a «happening» place and definitely gets very crowded and very loud. Fortunately, for us, we were seated upstairs for dinner. I cannot imagine trying to eat and converse with anyone downstairs. Even upstairs got a bit loud, however.
Drinks-​wise, I had a strawberry cocktail that was really good and had a nice kick. It was very nicely done and I would definitely order that again.
As for food, we ordered lots of dishes for the table to share. We had the Octopus — which I really liked with the shishito peppers. We also had the oysters (which I did not partake in), two different pizzas (which were both good), Sweet Corn Ravioli (which the whole table loved), Short Rib Lasagna (which was good — but definitely is much too rich to not share with the group), Maine Lobster Agnolotti, and Skirt Steak with mashed potatoes (both good). It was a bit too much food for six people — given that we wanted dessert, too, but everyone wanted to try different things.
We then finished with several varieties of bomboloni (donuts), gelato, and the nutella calzone. The donuts are huge — full size donuts. I could have sworn that the donuts at Siena Tavern were the munchkin size and that’s what I was expecting here. Nope — huge. I personally didn’t like any of them that had filling — I actually liked the original the best. The donut itself was very sweet and deliciously good. To me, the cream/​inside filling ruined it, but I think I’m in the minority. The gelato was fine, but the Nutella Calzone was warm and very good.
Our server was very good and quite attentive in explaining items to us. But at the same time, when we were done eating and paying, they were hinting that it was time to go so they could seat other people.
IF the place wasn’t so loud and busy and if I lived in the area, I would go back b/​c I did like the food. Unfortunately, I’m rarely on Randolph and usually when I’m out to dinner, I like to talk to the people I’m with. I couldn’t quite do that at Bar Siena.

High rating and high vibe at Bar Siena. Nothing disappointed. This is one of the hottest spots in the West Loop. If you wanna be trendy, please check this out.
A modern Italian & American restaurant with a very nice ambiance. Nice seating options, starting at the center with their attractive bar that’s surrounding by the lower chair and the bar is surrounding by the bistro tables and high chairs. There are a few good looking booths by the end of the restaurant, against the wall and they always fully booked. The Main dinning is on the second floor with a separate bar up there so you don’t have to wait forever for your drinks, smart! As it is a big space. The patio is opening up in the summer, very soon and I can’t wait!
There is a very cool and crazy tree at the middle of the bar with the lights on it. The darker the better so you can see how gorgeous it is at night time. The tree is high up, all the way to the ceiling on the second floor, very creative idea and it looks so cool. There is a giant TV screen with no audio hanging on the tree for some distractions (???)
Never heard any complaints about food & drinks here but a long waiting line to get in or sometimes up to 2 hours wait on weekends (no kidding)
I love Bar Siena, great time there, always. I miss the Crudo: Salmon-​Spicy cucumber relish, pine nut and sea salt, it’s so delicious. One thing that I must do every time when I go there is giving myself an extra treat with their well known bombolini with chocolate & salted caramel cream, yummy! I also love the fact that they have so many light beers that I love like, Blance De Bruxelles and more. The service here is spectacular.
Wanna be trendy? go to Bar Siena ;)

Had the pleasure to dine here last night and I really enjoyed it. First of all we went without reservations and were fortunate to be seated within an hour. While the bar area was crowded it wasn’t hard to get a drink at all. Additionally this was our first nice weather weekend so everyone was out and about and it made for a nice crowd. Our waiter was really nice and knowledgeable. The food was the
(I will retire this phrase at some point in my life don’t worry). We started out with the Taleggio Focaccia and the Grilled Octopus and
Shishito Peppers. Both were great but I will say the focaccia is the stuff dreams are made of. It was that good! For a main dish I got the Sweet Corn Ravioli which I really enjoyed. All in all a very good meal. I cannot wait to return.

Trendy restaurant with great desserts and food!
Ambiance: I love that it’s very trendy and modern. They have booths, high tops, a bar or regular tables that you can sit at which is nice to have all those options.
Food:
HIGHLIGHTS:
Price point: appetizers and food average $ 20, dessert averages about $ 5, wine $ 9 (not as many options for single glasses though), cocktails $ 13
Appetizer: Grilled octopus & shishitto peppers
Main course: Fireball pepperoni
Dessert: Nutella calzone, smores gelato and vanilla bean custard bomboloni (all good for sharing)
Wine: Pertinace Barbera
For an appetizer, one pizza, a beer, a glass of wine and two desserts our bill came to about $ 65.
DETAIL:
We came in on a Thursday night since High Five Ramen was a two hour wait. Like everything in the West Loop it had a wait, but for a Thursday at 7:30pm 45 minutes didn’t seem too bad. They can take your name and text you when your table is ready, which is nice since the bar was packed so we were able to go elsewhere and grab a drink. Everything we had was phenomenal, no complaints what so ever. The grilled octopus and shishitto peppers does have a bit of a kick to it. I don’t have a high tolerance for spicy and it definitely lingered, but nothing that water couldn’t tame. The pizza was great, although seemed to be on the pricey side, $ 18 for a 12 inch thin crust, but I guess it’s Chicago and West Loop right? In terms of wine, I wanted to try something new, I love malbecs and pinot noirs so the server recommended a Barbera. It was pretty good, but only got one glass so I could save room for the most important part, dessert. The dessert, SO GOOD. I’m a huge sweets person so I’m critical of them. The smores gelato came recommended by the server, but I also love smores in general so was already eyeing it. Good for 1 – 2 people. The chocolate portion of the gelato was really good, not too rich. I wished there was more marshmallow to it though. There was pieces of graham crackers in it as well that added to the unique texture. We also had the vanilla bean custard bomboloni. It was difficult to choose only one, I love donuts and wanted everything. There was the right amount of custard in the donut, enough to get a taste. The donut itself came warm and had a sugar coating to it. Good for 1 – 2 people. On another occasion separate from all that was described previously, I’ve also had the nutella calzone, delicious, you can never go wrong with anything nutella. The crust of the calzone was nice and flakey and you get two decently sized ones, great for sharing between 2 – 4 people (depending on how greedy each person is with dessert). I had an order to myself.
Service: It was good, for a pizza and an appetizer it came out within half an hour of ordering (probably even less than that). Super quick considering how busy they were.
I highly recommend and would definitely go back (especially to try all the donuts and gelato)!

Cool ambiance. It a fun hangout place no matter what time you come. The décor is edgy, modern, feminine, yet masculine. Kudos to the designer!
The service is decent… Minus the fact that, for some reason… I went to the bathroom two times while dining there in a Saturday afternoon… THEY RAN OUT OF TOILET PAPER! The first time I went to the bathroom, all 3 stalls did not have any toilet paper. Weird.
The food was decent. It was nothing spectacular. There was nothing that stood out to me. The only one that stood out, was their pistachio gelato. It was, most definitely, the worst gelato I’ve ever had. I couldn’t eat half of it.
But I shall be back to try other stuff. Not sure how soon, but one day! Especially for drinks!

Around 6:30 on a Friday we were told it would be an hour and a half wait for 2 people. We left to go get a drink at another bar, but surprisingly got a text to come back before we even ordered a drink! That was a pleasant turn of events.
We got the Parmesan truffle potato skins to start– yum! Love the garlic aoli it comes with. From there we got the fig pizza, which also very good, but not as mind blowing as other Unilocalers would lead you to believe. We also ordered a side of baked shishito peppers because that is my absolute favorite dish at Girl And The Goat… Sadly they did not live up to those. Drinks were solid, a bit pricey. I think I’d like to come back here with a group where you would be able to try a few dishes/​pizzas.

BRUNCH REVIEW!
After trying to get a spot for 7 at Grange Hall and not wanting to wait at Little Goat on a sunny and chilly Saturday morning we were happy to get into Bar Siena with out reservations at 10:15 (I do recommend making reservations though!) We were seated upstairs on a long rectangular table and it was perfect. The brunch menu consists of 4 sweet options and 9 savory options! Many of my friends got the breakfast sandwich and a few of us ordered the Short Rib Hash.
The short rib hash was unbelievable-​my favorite from every single brunch spot in Chicago. The portion size was generous– and the fork split the meat so tenderly and the juice flavors were so inviting. Put on top of perfectly cooked seasoned tomatoes and fresh vegetables that were steamed so perfectly– I was in brunch heaven. The presentation is great too. For the egg sandwiches, the potatoes came in a funnel. You’ll make a mistake if you don’t get the Caramelized Waffle for the table– the nutella is warm and melts right in the mouth.
Coffee is strong and hot– and it was nice, quiet chatter, bright open windows environment– making it a family friendly and great restaurant choice for brunch.

Amazing décor for date night as the light decorations are breath taking, the staff are very friendly, and the food was filling.
The food was filling although not all that satisfying. My boyfriend and I started with some meat and cheeses, the Prosciutto and Salami for the meats, and the Grana and Tremor for our cheeses. We ordered those based on our servers recommendations and we were right to follow them. The Tremor is a softer more creamy cheese as opposed to the dryer more dense Grana. The Prosciutto and Salami were both amazing and the salty and savoriness paired well with the raisin bread slices and the little peppers, figs, and candied walnuts. Amazing starter for sure!
For our entrees, we ordered the Langoustine Risotto and the Lobster Agnolotti. The Risotto was underwhelming, presentation wise and flavor wise. For a $ 21 dish, there should have been whole shrimp pieces and not just bits cut up from one shrimp. The rice was cooked to be fluffy and had a great texture and seasoning was balanced. The Lobster Agnolotti was much better and lived up to the hype in the other reviews. There was a good amount of lobster pieces, the béchamel sauce was lovely, and the agnolotti was cooked to perfection.
For dessert, we decided to try their homemade gelato, the toasted coconut and fudge flavor. The Coconut flavor was definitely lacking, only the shreds really proved the existence of coconut in this gelato. The fudge was abundant and took over in flavor.

I’m still a fan!
Had another great brunch at Bar Siena last Sunday — it has such a cool vibe and the food is delicious. We shared the short rib hash and the bombo breakfast sandwich. Both were very good: the short rib hash is a much more filling meal, but the bombo sandwich (pancetta cured bacon, pork sausage, eggs, cheese) is simply awesome. Bar Siena will continue to be in the brunch rotation.

Cadre stylé typique west loop, parfait pour le dej, bonne nourriture italienne revisitee a l américaine, bons cocktails, mieux de réserver même pour le midi