Coco Pazzo Cafe

Pretty solid Italian food. They have a nice dining room and a decent sized patio for those summer days.
We started with three different bruschettas which were all quite unique and tasty and only $ 2.50 each.
For the main courses we had lasagna and the wild boar pasta. Both were uniquely tasty and the wild boar pasta was quite a generous portion.
Overall, check it out if you are in the mood for solid Italian.

Have they changed chef recently? This used to be our go to place for good Italian in a relaxed atmosphere — we have been going for years. However, yesterday we were both disappointed with everything we ordered: asparagus and fava bean starter was tasteless, needed a much more intense dressing; the roast white fish special with kale and couscous was also low on flavor and overcooked, and the kale was cooked with the ribs in which were tough. Spaghetti with clams also uninspired.
I hope this was just a bad day, but as everything was very mediocre, I don’t think we will be back for a while.

One of my favorite places in the city. Their spaghetti is great and I always get it. It’s upscale, but not overly so. The neighborhood is kind of bland with all the hospital buildings, but it’s just off Michigan Ave.

Great Italian food! The service was excellent and the chef is creative with many of his dishes. A must if you visit Chicago.

I have only eaten here once and I ordered everything from the specials choices. Everything was great. I’m not sure how everything on the regular menu is (seems like mixed reviews), but I would recommend checking out the specials of the day. The seating area is nice too; there are outdoor covered spaces so the sun isn’t in your eyes. The server was very friendly too.

My girlfriend and I decided to stop in for dinner while we were downtown and we both enjoyed our evening. It felt like a unique place in the city. Our server was knowledgeable and made great recommendations. The manager was very welcoming, and I always appreciate it when you feel like you’re well taken care of, which he did. My girlfriend had the fish special, Branzino, which she loved and I had the pappardelle with wild boar. It was REALLY, I mean REALLY good. We decided to go light on dessert and got the homemade sorbet special flavors of the day, pear and blueberry. It was very fresh, light and delicious. They mentioned when the weather is nice they open the doors to the patio. We would definitely go back to try other dishes and dine outside.

I ordered through grubhub the duck breast with polenta, however, they ran out so a manger called me and informed me and I ordered the veel with mash potato instead! It was delicious! They even sent me some complimentary polenta and calamari and even though summer is around the corner I still ate it all because it was so delicious! I definitely recommend this place to anyone but if you want the duck make sure to order earlier because its literally flying out the kitchen! Gym time for me! lol

Just excellent. Made reservations for a party of ten for lunch. The staff handled everything pretty effortlessly… at least they made it look that way. Started with a great traditional antipasto and then the AOP spaghetti was terrific. Sauce was tangy and dish was presented with a very hot pepper placed in the center of properly cooked pasta. Would go back multiple times for same combo.

I prefer Coco Pazzo over Coco Pazzo Café. Coco Pazzo Café is cute but cramped and the chairs are uncomfortable.
The wines are good and affordable. Food was not so good. Calamari was soggy and breading was falling off very easily. I then tried to rapini which was very bitter — I’ve had much better other places.
The service was polite but spotty.

Delicious from start to finish. Everything was great — the mixed salad, the chicken livers with onion in marsala (OFF THE CHAIN!), the mussels with cherry tomatoes, and particularly the black squid ink pasta flavored with freshly cooked cherry tomatoes washing down its strands, with snappy shards of zucchini to give it texture.

Lovely spot, with the dining rooms surrounded with murals of actual Modigliani figures in conversation with whimsical Modigliani-​inspired figures. Perfect, casual spot to take a date or spend a long, leisurely time with friends and/​or family. The sound level is perfect — when the restaurant becomes crowded, you can hear everyone at your table perfectly.

Our group of six came at all different times roughly around 9pm Friday. It was nice that we didn’t have to wait to be seated regardless if our whole party arrived at the same time.
We got a couple orders of the caprese to start and I got the spaghetti AOP for my entrée. Everything came out at appropriate times. The caprese was fine. I’ve had fresher mozzarella though. The spaghetti was cooked perfectly. It tasted fine, but the clams were non-​existent. The portion was larger than expected. Overall, the dish was pretty good but really not memorable, indicated by this rather short review (I went here this past weekend btw). Everyone else at the table thought their meals were just decent as well.
Our server was friendly and accommodating and checked on us pretty regularly.
Overall, probably not coming back as there are definitely better Italian places to go to in Chi-​city.

Excellent and great service the appetizers where delicious. The fries were out of this world!!!

Coco Pazzo Café was described by a family friend as their favorite restaurant in all of Chicago, which surprised me slightly because it’s a tiny place located right next to Northwestern Memorial Hospital. We chose the place based on that recommendation and the fact that it was close to our hotel. After a day of museums and walking through oppressive heat and stifling humidity, the added ability to dine al fresco while enjoying the summer evening seemed like a great idea.
Our experience overall was rather mixed. The restaurant was packed on a Wednesday night and it’s a very cute place with a great outdoor patio. We watched them efficiently turn over tables and it didn’t seem like people were waiting long.
The food was slightly disappointing. I’d say that the highlights of the evening were the octopus and the bruschetta that we had as appetizers. Bruschetta is quite reasonably priced, and I most enjoyed the tomato/​basil and the mushroom options. The pasta courses that we ordered were squid ink and the tagliatelle. While tasty, both were disappointing because the pasta was way overcooked. It was soft and slimy, a far cry from the al dente that most people would expect for a place that specializes in pasta. For entrees, the monkfish special and the pork tenderloin were good but nothing particularly memorable or innovative. Portions overall were large and we were too full for dessert. They had two barolos on their wine list and we selected one of them. It was good, and opened up nicely after a little time.
Service was attentive and efficient, and we enjoyed the recommendations from our server, particularly with wine selection. I didn’t love the tables themselves. They were really small, quite uncomfortable for a party of 4, and several times the server or assistants had to reach pretty much through the food or over wine/​water glasses to grab plates. Everything is perched precariously when there are more than two entrees on the table, necessitating the removal of candles, bread, salt/​pepper shakers, and other miscellaneous items over the course of the meal. Not a dealbreaker, but something to be aware of if your party is more than 3 people.
Overall, a decent place, well-​located with close proximity to the Mag Mile and Northwestern Memorial Hospital. I’d go back again, and hopefully on a future visit they’ll execute the pastas a little better.

The nhoque its PERFECT! great service! I came with my puppy and we stayed at the patio and it was really nice!!!
The service its amazing and also the pinot grigio! Hehe
Great italian place to have greeeeat food!!! Ask for the nhoque you wont regret!

The pasta looks really good but tastes very plain. It was tasteless to a point that we complained to the server but he was rude and just insisted that it was good. Don’t come here for the Lasagna. The Spaghetti AOP doesn’t taste good too. I know I’m picky but it’s just too plain. Don’t come here. It’s not worth it. Service is not on point too.

ready for the quickest review ever? great food, exceptional service, incredible atmosphere!
done! :-)

The staff were very friendly and helpful. They were very knowledgeable on the food and area. The patio area was lovely. The food was good, not amazing but it was enjoyable

Visited Coco Pazzo Café recently when on vacation with my best friend in Chicago. It got off to a rough start when we tried to order off the menus we were given and told that we had been given the wrong menus (lunch instead of dinner, it was around 3 and 4 p.m.) So we had to look over a new menu before making a selection.
We were served bread and olive oil while we waited for our meal. It was okay, but my friend said she didn’t like the oil. I ordered the polenta with roasted veggies and my friend got the gnocchi. We felt they were okay, but were our least favorite of our visit. And they were also the smallest portion wise.
Worst of all was that we finished our meals and waited what seemed like forever before the waiter came by to check on us. I would have been more understanding had they been busy, but we were the only ones there when we were seated and during our meal, only one other couple was there. Four people in the restaurant and the waiter never checks on you during your meal? Hands down the worst service I’ve ever received anywhere in the country, let alone Chicago.

I really liked the ambience here as well as the staff. Seems like a small Italian restaurant in a small street in another country with intimate seating. Wasn’t too busy on a Friday night either. The noise was a bit loud though.
Food-​wise it was good but nothing too special. The frites, lasagna, and salads were good. Not too huge of portions on some of the pasta dishes but the fried chicken was quite big. Prices for this area were actually very decent but it definitely wasn’t cheap.
I would normally give them 4 stars but I hold Chicago restaurants to a higher standard and they weren’t anything to write home about but a good option. Especially if visiting someone at the NW hospital next door like we were.

Really enjoyed my meal here! Would round it up to 3.5 stars. It is low key and quaint. The service was attentive, but did not interupt us. A nice intimate date spot – it was very quiet.
We got the three brushettas. I like the toppings but the bread tasted a bit burnt. We did the caramelized onions and gorgonzola, truffle and white bean (my fav) and honey and ricotta. Then we shared the gnocchi and mahi. The mahi was absolutely out of this world. We both woke up talking about it in the morning!

Perfecto!!!
White truffle bruchetta is the best!