Davanti Enoteca

A weeknight dinner for two. Great atmosphere, courteous service in a small plate/​sharing format.
After reading the reviews, I felt compelled to try the linguine with crab and urchin. I can’t say I saw any urchin, but it had a nice saltiness.
The wine list was are above average and reasonably priced (for the city).
I wish I could the place is «special» but just didn’t get that Taylor street, neighborhood vibe.
There’s better Italian food available at some other Taylor street venues. A bit of the chain/​franchise feel– still a good choice for rustic Italian fare.
Meh.

Great service and tasty food! I ordered the traditional breakfast and it was a huge portion. The bacon and potatoes are out of this world!!! I would definitely come back here!

Great Italian food good drinks and tasty desserts
My second time back was even better than the first we where a party of four and had chose to eat different things on the menus and share. What a taste to me tastebuds

Came here twice on Saturday morning for brunch. I loved their food and service. The waiter recommendation is awesome. My favorite dish was definitely the pork belly :) The onions were crunchy and tasty with the crispy pork. Loved every bite of it.
The blondie for dessert was also delectable and ended the meal well.
Also, don’t forget to try the bruschetta (unless you’re lactose intolerant). They also have something special here (forgot the name, but only remember bloody mary) and I will definitely try to come back to try that here when I get a chance: D
I ordered the truffle toast and it was delicious, but it felt incomplete. I guess it’s because I love truffle oil so much that I just wanted more?

We got here at 5:50 for a 5:45 reservation on Tuesday, January 19. We were told there was a bit of a wait; however, we had a tight timeline because we were in our way to see Springsteen for a 7:30 show at the United Center. The four of us sat at the bar. Time continued and the staff offered a free bottle of wine while we continued to wait. They were extremely apologetic, management and the hostess! As time continued they also bought us a pizza while we continued waiting at the bar. Their tables weren’t turning, even though several paid the bill. We finally got a table at 6:30, left there at 7:30, got to our seats at 8:00; just in time to see «The Boss» come on stage. Although I would have preferred our table at 5:45, the entire staff handled this with the utmost of professionalism. Kudos to all! Stuff happens and in the service biz, it’s about handling these situations accordingly.
PS: this isn’t about the «free wine and pizza». These folks truly cared. Like I said, my preference would have been to have ample time for dinner.
Great job and I will go back!

Food: Good! Service: Horrible!
We have been here before and liked the food, so we decided to host our family there for a post-​wedding get together. We had a party of 9 and ordered over $ 300 worth of food. We got the focaccia, pork belly, risotto, beet salad, black and pepper spaghetti, seafood linguini, the half chicken, mushroom truffle oil pizza etc, etc. Food, overall was pretty good. My favorite was the focaccia with local honey and mushroom truffle oil pizza. However, our service was so bad, it left a sour taste in our mouth. The waiter took a while to even get our initial order, probably about 15 – 20 minutes after sitting down. We never got our swordfish until we had to ask for it. We asked to see a dessert menu, and never got the menu. We literally went up to the waiter and had to ask for the check even after asking once previously. This was after 20 minutes of waiting. We paid our bill and I complained to the manager. Not sure if the food was worth this bad service.

I just had the most fabulous lunch with my family there. We ended an epic day of taking my dad out on the town and ended with a classic Italian meal. Being Italian now living in California I miss real Italian food and this hit the spot :) The service was also spot on all due to our server Ron. Couldn’t of asked for a better experience… Good food, good wine, and good service :)

I came here on a business trip to Chicago and liked it so much I came back the next day. The entire menu is fantastic and you really can’t order wrong. We tried a fair amount of the menu and loved it all. The flavors are vibrant and unique! Everything is handmade, and you can taste it. The noodles are perfectly al dente. Fantastic wine list. All good! Also, Christina is a FANTASTIC server — if you can request her, you should. So happy with her service and recommendations. Thank you for a good work trip!

What an amazing experience! Ron was our server and just blew our minds. The food was beyond our expectations and the ambiance was unparalleled. We just ate, drank, and enjoyed ourselves. I 100% recomend trying several dishes. We loved every single thing we had there. It is now our favorite spot. We live 40 min south but will return just for this wonderful restaurant. Thank you to Ron and the brilliant chef for what can only be described as perfection!

So delicious and such a nice ambiance to bring a family. We came with a pretty big group including three littles and had a fantastic meal and great service. Plenty of classic Italian to please half pints, including the standard cheese pizza. And plenty of more interesting dishes for the mature palates — the honey comb is a great starter. The salads were sizable and tasty and the broccoli side is so good. Nice wine and beer list too.

As much as I LOVE Spiaggia and Piccolo Sogno, my favorite pasta in Chicago is Davanti’s riccio di mare e granchio (linguini with sea urchin and crab). Well, usually…
My husband and I have been eating at Davanti for years. After a a little hiatus, we returned and… total disappointment. The pasta was barely al dente. Worse… it was completely bland. No unctuous uni butter coating the pasta and only a few measly flecks of crab. The polenta was a little underseasoned and the pork ragu was stringy and fatty. The prosciutto pizza was fine as was the seared octopus. The only highlight of the night was the brown butter blondie… dense, rich, not overly sweet with different layers of butterscotch-​caramel-​brown-​sugar flavors. Thank goodness our server talked us into it!
As for the sub-​par pasta and polenta… hopefully it was just an off night. Perhaps the b-​team works on Sunday evenings?

I think we got the wrong stuff, because it was good but nothing really jumped out at us. Ricotta cheese, arugula salad, and white mushroom pizza were all just ok. Rigatoni and octopus were good. I’m willing to give this another try, but we will order different items.

This is the original Davanti and the only 2 drawbacks I found on this visit is no outdoor seating, and both the weather and location was begging for that on a gorgeous summer day. The other was service. Although our server tried to be there in a timely manner, he could not simply because he was the only server on a Thursday afternoon lunch. He was knowledgable and had suggestions but certainly harried.
On to the food that we shared:
Fontina and egg toast with asparagus was delectable. Beet salad which I always go with was average, the burger was huge and flavorful, also split 3 ways with shoestring potatoes, the chop grilled with peaches was rather fatty, with no more than 3 thin slices of clean meat. A shared order of pasta with sausage that was also flavorful. Also a side of corn with mushrooms, which I thought the corn on its own would be better, and I like mushrooms. We shared the strawberry tart along with chocolate pistachio cake, which was more like a hard fudge. I wouldn’t recommend either and just go with gelato next time.
It was a mixed bag this time, and usually they’re better. Great place for sharing and not your typical Italian. I have been here before and had better luck with other items, and more prompt service. It wasn’t for lack of trying, more for lack of help in regards to the service. Even the hostess helped the one server.

Was told Davanti was the best Italian restaurant in Chicago so I had been waiting to try it for over a year before going last Friday.
My girlfriend and I had reservations for 7. We were seated right away and it looks like there were still empty tables available at that time. The restaurant itself is really cute, exactly what I would expect from a highly acclaimed Italian restaurant in Little Italy. We had a server in-​training, so service was a bit slow throughout the meal. We started with a glass of wine and a Peroni. The wine by the glass menu was a bit expensive for us (recent college grads) so we stuck with the cheapest options.
Davanti does small plates, so keep that in mind when you order. My gf and I did the gnocchi, the tagliatelle and the Pizza D.O.C. (a margarita pizza). The pizza came first and it was the perfect dish to start with. Warm and fresh with a crisp, thin crust. When we finished that the gnocchi came out. It was SO good but the dish was SO small. It might have been the best gnocchi dish I’ve ever had but we probably paid $ 2/​gnocchi. That’s a bit much in my mind. The tagliatelle was a slightly bigger dish and was also very good.
This is a great restaurant! I can’t give it 5 stars this time around because the service was a bit slow and the dishes are really expensive for being so small. If you get an experienced server and price isn’t an issue this will be one of the best Italian experiences you can get in Chicago!

They recommend that the table shares the dishes bc they are small… for 2 people, about 2 to 4 dishes. The recommendation was right on point. We got the bruschetta, polpo, linguini with crab and sea urchin, and polenta with ragu. Highly recommend the polenta with Ragu and the sea urchin and crab linguini. The polpo was unique as it had all types of ingredients on it but it was just a little salty for me.
This place would be great for date nights and birthdays!

For 4 stars with 900+ reviews, I expected a lot more.
Service was subpar. After I ordered, waiter asks «do you want this dish.» After I said no he again asks «do you want this other dish.» When I say no, please do not ask me if I want more! That’s my order and do not make me feel guilty for not ordering more. To go along with service, there is no bread served right off the bat. Further, water was not continually poured for us. For a $$ establishment, I expect water to be poured. Additionally, there were 3 tables of customers when we ate, and waiter did not stop by to see how our dishes were doing after they were served. No excuses.
Calamari — tasty, artichokes cooked well with only the soft parts in the dish
Linguine w crab — SUCH a small serving! With 3 bite size pieces of crab/​sea urchin or whatever they claim they put in there. Further, linguine was way too salty. Do not recommend.
Half chicken — actually decent serving size. Grilled well with tasty marinated sauce. Nice touch w Caesar salad on the side.
If I was in Italy town again, I would probably not return.

Possibly one of the best restaurants I have been to in Chicago ! I was blown away by the superb taste and the richness of all the little dishes.
First of all, the dishes are small. And they are quite expensive but the taste is divine and the dishes are surprisingly filling. My brother and I ordered two cheeses and the prosciutto. They came in a lovely display accompanied by crackers, apple slices, and two adorable tiny jars of jam and mustard.
I don’t remember which cheeses we ordered but the waiter was extremely helpful in our decision. The cheeses were amazing and extremely filling.
Next we ordered the linguine and spaghetti+ pecorino. They are very different from each other as the linguini was wrapped in a savory seafood fragrance and the spaghetti was creamy and smooth. Both were extraordinary.
I highly recommend coming to this place. It’s fancy and quaint and it will leave you full and satisfied. Definitely coming back!

I originally had reservations at the Davanti Enoteca in River North, but my friend who I was meeting up for dinner insisted that the Taylor street location had better consistency when it came to the food. When we got there, parking seemed to be way easier and generally the area wasn’t as busy, which was good.
Atmosphere: This place had a real rustic feel to it. It seemed cozier than some of the trendier Italian spots in the city and had kind of a wooden décor theme going on. I liked it.
Food: I’ve never been to any of their locations before, so I just let her take the lead on the ordering.
Polenta /​ragu of the day — This dish was pretty cool because they assemble it in front of you at the table. Our server brought out a wooden board and then spread the polenta on it. Then he layered the ragu on top of it. The ragu of the day when we went was veal meatball. I thought it was pretty good. The polenta added a nice creamy texture and served as good base for each bite. The ragu had plenty of meat but I couldn’t really taste a huge difference with veal meatballs over regular beef ones. I heard the pork shoulder ragu was even better.
Crispy pork belly — Basically massive strips of gourmet bacon. These were thick cut and had an awesome crispy outside. Every bite started with a nice crunch and then you just hit a layer of melt in your mouth fattiness. I just wished it was a bigger serving. I could’ve eaten plates and plates of that stuff.
Uni pasta — Apparently this is main reason she even chose this place for dinner… it’s pretty much her go to dish. I was a little skeptical since I’m honestly not even a huge fan of seafood to begin with but damn it was pretty delicious. It’s actually a really simple dish. It just looked like a plate of noodles at first, but once I took a bite I was surprised at the flavors that jumped out at me. The noodles were very al dente and from a texture standpoint it wasn’t very saucy at all. But that sea urchin sauce that cooked into the noodles was both rich and bold, without having an overwhelming fishy taste. I’d definitely order this again.
Overall, I enjoyed the dinner at Davanti. The food was really good and the atmosphere is the perfect setting for a date. The menu is pretty big so there’s a lot more stuff I still wanna try.

I was walking around Taylor streets and stumbled upon this gem. Our waitress Mary was so nice and helpful in or indecisiveness. We ordered the peach Bellini, salumi plate (salami, prosciutto and mortadella and it came with mustard, candied nuts and thinly sliced apples), we had the roasted tomato buratta salad and we finished with the truffled egg toast. Absolutely amazing!!!

Man it has been a great week, a 5 Star on Friday at Orland Mall at Seasons 52, and now a 5 Star on Tuesday night at Davanti Enoteca!
I was in the city on Tuesday with my business partner and our wives for a seminar (barf) that ended at four. Now as much as I looooooooooove rush hour coming out of Chi-​Town, we decided to find a local place to have some «thank god the seminar is over» beverages and tender vittles. Well, trusty Unilocal! led us to Davanti on Taylor street in little Italy. Killer reviews so we gave it a go, GOOD CALL!
This place is so perfect, the ambiance, the smells, the brickwork, the open kitchen concept are an absolute home run! Service was spot on and we all really had a very good time.
We were the first to sit and it was a bit hot. The hostess/​manager allowed us to open a door right next to our table to cool things off, it worked!
We ordered from the very adequate wine and beer menu. I had a nice Cabernet and my associates partook in a Peroni.
Davanti is a «tapas» style Italian restaurant, meaning everyone shares smaller portions. So we started with the meat and cheese plate. They have a great ala carte charcuterie (sp) portion of their menu. We ordered two dairy cheeses, the prosciutto, and the chorizo. A+ Fresh and beautifully plated. Great way to start the meal!
From there we ordered a few hot «tapas». We ordered:
Riccio di Mare e Granchio aka; linguine + sea urchin + crab A+++++ The sea urchin created such a briny and savory flavor to the pasta. Really perfect.

Maiale e Ricotta Gnudi… pork cheek + ricotta gnudi + green garlic A Whis was deceptively spicy, but the flavor was a knock out as far as I was concerned. Some of my fellow diners were a little off about the texture, but I enjoyed.

Polpo con Rafano… seared octopus + warm fingerling potato salad + marcona almonds + finnochiona + fresh horseradish aioli A+++++ Really my second favorite of the evening. This is a foot or so long single octopus arm grilled in a really flavorful sauce. This plate was licked clean FYI!
Capesante e Fregola… seared day boat scallops + hen of the woods + fregola sarda + guanciale A++++++++ This was the winner in my book. The scallops were perfectly seared. That’s not terribly difficult to do. However, the fresh Hen of the Woods mushroom «risotto» they were served on was legendary. I love places that incorporate seasonal shrooms into their dishes.

We ordered a few desserts but I can only remember one… because I still dream about it. The biondo torta del burro bruno aka: brown butter blondie + maple gelato +caramel sauce + almonds A+++++++ Makes all other desserts forgetable.
Thanks again Unilocal for directing me to this phenomenal restaurant. I would recommend this place to anyone, even the fussiest of diners. Thank you Davonti for a perfect outing! We’ll be back ASAP!