Gioco

I had been there many many times but during my last 2 visits, the food was horrible! I don’t taste any authentic Italian but buttery like an American cuisine. My pasta was not cooked to perfection and my fish was badly executed, tasteless and swimming in a buttery sauce. The head chef is no longer there. A few of my favorites no longer in the menu. Definitely not going back!

Seriously always have a consistent experience here. I highly recommend this place. Their food and service is above most.

This restaurant is the perfect blend of fantastic cuisine and on point service. The prices are comparable to fine dining but the atmosphere is comfortable. The food was definitely worth the price. I have to say that we like to have a fancy dinner out and this restaurant by far surpasses our $ 200 dinners at other places, but our meal only cost $ 100. Thank you to the staff and cook staff. Great job and keep it up.

Went there for Valentines Day dinner. The food was delicious. Our waiter, Jose, was extremely attentive and personable. The entire experience was fantastic. We will definitely return and advise others to do the same.

Had a great experience at this restaurant!
We had a large group for dinner on New Year’s Eve, including 4 children. Ambiance was great, lively, and the place was packed. The service was AMAZING! Servers were incredibly kind and attentive. Service was lightning fast. My glass of prosecco was never empty. Very, very impressed! Food was great, it came out very fast and the whole experience was phenomenal, and this on what was surely a very busy night for the restaurant team. Front staff was very attentive too. Overall, HIGHLY recommended, particularly for larger groups and special occasions such as this!

This restaurant is so big inside which you definitely would not be able to tell from the outside. The service is a little slow, but the ones who do help you, you can tell that they love working there, that they are friends and likely hang out together all the time, and really like the food they send out. The ambiance is great and even on a weeknight this place had a fair amount of people here too which speaks to the business they must keep getting.
All that said, I thought my food was just so so. I got their tortellini stuffed with spinach and a truffle fondue cream sauce which was good, but I think there could have been more of that truffle flavor that is the whole excitement when ordering a dish that has truffle in it, I say! Their caprese style starter also didn’t see quite as flavorful as it could have been either, and their wine poached pear also fell a little short for me. But that crème brûlée I actually very much enjoyed and their wine selections also were decently priced as well and we had a nice bottle of cabernet. So definitely glad I checked this place out for being a south looper myself, and I would definitely be interested in coming back, especially to see how happy all of the staff is who work here.

Love, love, love this place. Must have the barrata. Can be a bit pricey but worth it. Our place for special occasions. We love to take friends and family here as it is always a great experience

Staff was great, but the pasta dishes are really, really small in size. I ordered the Ravioli and my girlfriend ordered the Torteloni. $ 16 & $ 18 for each and we left hungry :(

I went back here and I had a much better time. Pizza awesome, calamari grilled great. Bartender Latino dude, super on top of it. turned my opinion around about this place. nice job!!!

Its a lovely restaurant. Good Italian cuisine. Service was good but not great. If you have time, this place is highly recommendable especially in off peak hours. I don’t see them coping with busy periods as i found the service slow. I had the gnocchi with salmon. It was heavenly and a reasonable portion. The portobello mushroom appetizer was small for the price. By the time i was done, dinner including one drink it was $ 50. Overall, i had a lovely time. I ate outside and the traffic is not so busy.
If you are seeking Italian with style, class and a top rated chef, this is a place to try.

I’ve been going to Gioco for over 10 years now… and was surprised at my last visit that things have really changed. There’s less of an «rustic italian» feel about the food in particular, menu items have changed a lot and I’m not sure it’s for the better. Still, it’s a great place to grab a drink and certainly may impress a guest!

Awesome food, great bar to sit at and eat, great service, but slightly pricey.

I met a girlfriend here because the location was convenient. I’ve always wanted to try it but I doubt I’ll be back. Nothing was bad. It was all very average though.
They don’t give you any cheese with the bread. Just olive oil that wasn’t the best. The bread was good though. The drink prices were standard and wine was good.
I have to say the service was outstanding! Very friendly. It was dead in there though. I have a feeling they are never packed.
I had a pasta so unmemorable I can’t even tell you what I ordered. My friend had the ahi tuna and said while not bad it’s probably the worst she’s ever had. It’s usually her favorite dish! The desserts all made in house didn’t knock my socks off either. I really wish I could find an Italian restaurant in the South Loop to love!

Walked in about 8:30 on a Friday night and immediately noticed this place was really empty. It was late I suppose but I did expect it to have more people. We were seated quick. The ambiance is nice and romantic. The restaurant had a nice set up with a long bar, seating was spread out nicely, and there were wine bottles that created a wall separating the first and second floor. We were seated next to them and they were quite dirty.
Our waiter was really nice and knowledgeable. After reviewing the menu I was surprised they did not have one chicken item on there, I was disappointed. I ordered a glass of Pinot Grigio that was quite tasty. Bread and oil was set on the table. I was surprised they didn’t offer parmsean cheese or fresh cracked pepper. We just used the table shakers and asked for the cheese we asked for looked like Kraft parm from a green can!
We decided to share two dishes. We ordered the Ravioloni Alla Doppia Crema and Branzino. The dishes came out within 10 minutes which was really nice since we were starving. Both dishes were amazing however the Branzino portion was the smallest I have ever seen! This dish was beyond overpriced. It was two very very small pieces of fish on top of a tomato olive sauce. The pasta on the other hand was a decent size and the cream sauce was pretty good considering I am not a cream sauce person. We passed on dessert being disappointed in the portion size of our overpriced dishes. We have decided not to return.

The place looks fancy but was surprisingly empty for a Saturday night! We ordered the Branzinee (fish) and a 4 cheese ravioli.
The food taste was mediocre but the portions were really tiny.

The chef, the ambiance, the staff all rate a 5, Have been their numerous occasions and love it.
The only regret is size of appetizers, usually will serve four in Italian restaurant, however not most of theirs.
That said it is still one of the best spots to talk and have a lovely evening, but maybe add so very soft background music, or am I too old fashion

5 stars all the way. I studied abroad in Italy and the food here tastes like authentic Italian. I ordered the Tagliata Di Manzo (steak with arugula and Parmesan) and my boyfriend ordered the pork chop special with sautéed mushrooms. Highly recommend both!
The vibe was great, cute date spot and super cozy inside. They have an open kitchen and you can watch the chefs make your meal. The service was also really good with multiple people checking on our table and refilling drinks or getting us what we needed. We had a reservation at 7pm on a Saturday and the restaurant seemed to get busy around ⁷³⁰⁄₈.

Just had dinner here (glass of prosecco, caprese salad, tortelloni, and tiramisu).
I’ll start by saying that the ambiance is very nice for a date night. A little old timey décor but in the best sense. There’s an open kitchen so you can watch the chef and there’s a full bar so there’s plenty of drink options.
Onto the food:
(1) We received bread (slightly charred for my liking) with extra virgin olive oil and grated Parmesan upon sitting down.
(2) The caprese salad was a fairly small portion and served on a ridiculously enormous plate. It was okay to taste, the mozzerella was a little dry and they served it only with olive oil, I prefer caprese with a touch of balsamic reduction.
(3) The tortelloni was also a small portion but very rich. Don’t be fooled, the menu says it has a touch of cream — it’s a ton of cream. All in all, I found it a bit bland but my date thought it was delicious.
(4) the tiramisu was by far the best dish of the night. It was served in a teacup with a sugar cookie and wow, it was fantastic!
Finally, I should mention, the service was fantastic. The waiter was observant without being annoying and was able to answer questions on the menu. Our water glasses were always full and our food came out quickly.
I gave 3 stars because overall I was a bit underwhelmed, but I would go back and try different dishes!

No plans on coming back here. We made a reservation for 4 for valentines day on Open Table 6 days before valentines day and we missed a call from them the day we made they reservation. The next morning our reservation was canceled because we didn’t put down a credit card to hold the reservation. The wanted a credit card to «Save us a Table» and charge us a $ 100 fee if we canceled within 24 hours or failed to make it. We agreed to put down the credit card thinking it would be slammed on Valentines day. Guess what… it was Dead! Not really sure why they would insist on a credit card if the restaurant is Dead an a Saturday night valentines day at 7pm
We started with appetizers. I saw a Burrata Dish on the menu for $ 15 and asked the Waited if there is an appetizer version. He said yes and brought out a hunk of Burrata with some heirloom tomatoes. There not even enough tomatoes to go with the cheese so were literally eating the cheese by itself half the time. The waiter failed to mention that this appetizer was $ 30! More than twice the cost of any appetizer on the menu and double the cost of the Burrata dish on the menu. after a round of complaint after the bill came he did finally agree to adjust the price. Still don’t see why they are not upfront about the price.
We also had to ask for bread 3 times because the bring out such small portions of bread for the table it was almost embarrassing. 6 small pieces for 4 people with a burrata appetizer does not make sense.
I then ordered the Chilean Sea Bass which was $ 35 market price which was ok. But my wife and her friend ordered the tortellini which was awful, the both hated it and my friend had the linguini Bolognese which was average.
For dessert we ordered the Crème Brule which was good as well as the Warm chocolate cake which I thought was too small but tasted good.

I have already emailed Gioco personally, and messaged them to OpenTable to give them the benefit of the doubt — but have not heard anything back sadly. So… here I go again in hopes of SOME response.
I loved Gioco for the past four years since living in the South Loop. It was literally my favorite restaurant near home. Sadly, not anymore.
1.) We wanted a simple caprese salad, but were upsold on a Burrata. Sounded yummy, goey cheese in a hard shell. It was good, but nothing fabulous. Plus we were not told it was over $ 30 dollars until we got our check– definitely not worth the price at all.
2.) My husband ordered a RACK of lamb. This ‘rack’ turned out to be two of the tiniest, measly chops — also $ 35. They did not look like one of the pictures featured here.
What’s going on Gioco? You need to get a hold of what made you great, and get back to it. These other recent review have me worried.
I may give them one more try, but not until this burn wears off. Please respond.

Wow… I have witnessed quite a show here this restaurant, which should be on Kitchen Nightmares.
The chef is extremely overbearing, rude, crude and obnoxious. .Why is he allowed to treat customers and wait staff in such a degrading fashion…
The food here is mediocre at best. Where are the owners and why don’t they read these reviews. If they did, they would fire him on the spot before the business they have left is gone.
The chef is over cooked, crispy.

This was our 2^nd visit to Gioco and while the food was good, I was just bored & annoyed. Maybe it’s because the menu is fairly standard Italian dishes. Or maybe I just got tired of being treated like a 2^nd class customer with all the «friends» of the chef/​owner/​whatever coming in. It seems like they’ve gone out of the way to hire the greasiest, Jersey Shore-​like waiters in the city. They also make them wear black T-​shirts that they bought on the girls side of ZARA. The whole place reminds me of the slimy greek waiter sketch from SNL («You like the juice?»)
As I mentioned, the food was okay but nothing special. The worst part is I felt rushed the entire meal. Dinner for 3 and we were in & out in 40 minutes. I get it. You want to turn the table over but this isn’t Carrabba’s. The chef/​owner/​whatever kept walking around talking to all of his «friends». He stopped by our table and asked how our meal was and when we started to respond, he quickly cut me off because one of his more important customers yelled for him to come fix her wobbly chair. Yeah. Bye, assmunch.
As we were leaving, I thought to myself «I already miss the Chicago Firehouse». We visited it more often than Gioco and have always been welcomed and enjoyed excellent food there. It bothers me with the Firehouse down for a while, Gioco is one of the few «nicer» restaurants in the South Loop. Mediocre food and sleazy staff does not make a good restaurant.

This place is a Gioco. The chef came out and talked to us briefly. The conversation went like this «you guys are just going to have water»? We had just arrived about 5 minutes before this. «How about I bring out some mozzarella for you guys to try». Try mozzarella? Why not? BECAUSE IT TURNED OUT TO BE $ 30…which is more expensive than all of their entrees. I thought this was pretty sleazy. He said «try», I thought he was going to bring out a few bocconcini. I didn’t want to bring up the bill after dinner because it would have been an inappropriate conversation with the company present. I called after and they said sorry but there’s nothing we can do.
Anyway, with the shady upselling aside, we had some pretty spotty service and poor food preparation. 2 of our parties dishes varied greatly in size (same entrée, one was about 35% smaller) and the whether or not your dinner was going to be enough was like roulette. That never happens with Italian food! I usually get to much.
We also had some bad experience– not having silverware for extended periods of time and things being generally forgotten after multiple reminders.
It seems like a place that would charge you for **cheese plate** if you asked for parmesan on your pasta (which they do not openly offer)
I’m not going back and I would against it.

Warm staff, warm (literally) interior, and hot damn, that pizza is da bomb! The funghi pizza seriously makes me reconsider my answer to the question «if you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?» (a cheeseburger and fries). Goat cheese complemented the mozzarella and mushrooms well, and who can turn down truffle oil??!
In addition to the funghi, we also ordered the prosciutto pizza, but it wasn’t nearly as good. Not as much cheese, and the arugula that was much too plentiful on top was too bitter in contrast to the rest of the flavors. The pizzas comprised round 1 of our carb loading meal and were served up within 5 minutes of placing the order. Those wood fire ovens don’t waste any time!
Round 2 included the fettucine bolognese, which tasted hearty, meaty, and was clearly made with love, and the oxtail orecchiette, which is a fancy term for ear-​shaped pasta. I loved the savory flavors, and this time, arugula worked in this dish.
What’s keeping this review from being 5 stars is the steep pricing on the pizza. I didn’t bat my eyelashes at the $ 18 price tag for the pasta dishes, but each pizza was $ 18 as well. Regardless, I will definitely be back to try the tiramisu!