Gruppo Di Amici

Honestly one of the best restaurants in the neighborhood, service was great. Plus half price wine bottles on Thursdays!

Best Italian food I’ve had in a long time. Even the service was excellent! I cant believe a place this good is in Rogers Park!

Good but unremarkable food. Really good bread appetizer. Good service. Upscale atmosphere. A bit pricey for what it is.

Very cute neighborhood restaurant. They had great drink deals the night I went, $ 5 martinis and $ 3 draft beers.
Caprese salad was huge for an appetizer. It was really good but didn’t have any balsamic, it was all oil. Cream of asparagus soup was good flavor but didn’t have anything else, like actual pieces of asparagus in it! The roasted vegetable ravioli was good, but it had too much pesto sauce. The tortellini dish was good but it said it had a roasted red pepper and chipotle sauce, it was definitely more chipotle than roasted red pepper sauce.

Good food. Good service. Okay atmosphere. The cooks and kitchen staff kept hanging out and watching everyone eat. It was kind of awkward and I felt like they were standing around and talking shit. It’s like the feeling you get when you walk into a nail salon and all the Asian ladies are talking. You don’t know what they are saying, but you get an overwhelming feeling that they are making fun of you. That’s the feeling I got when the cooks and other staff were just standing there talking and laughing. Other then that, good place to eat. Not too fancy, but not a complete dump. :)

What a great find! Went here for a friends birthday and had a blast — drinks, food and service were all GREAT!

We love this place! The lasagne is probably the thing we order the most and its great. But we have had the pizza, the tortellini and many other options and have never been disappointed. Great interior and great atmosphere. Def the best Italian in Rog Pa.

Great place. Lasagna was wonderful. Pizza, thin crust, was great!
Bread w. olive oil was a bit well done. I prefer softer bread.
We were there a bit early for dinner, maybe 630 so not busy. But within 30 mins it got much busier.
Great music when we first got there, station changed once it got busier.
Def will go back!
Parking was easy too. Street w/​no restrictions.

On our date…
We set time but the place is unknown to you. I assure you that based on your likes and dislikes that this is the perfect place for you and I.
Judging on whether or not you’re a fan of public trans or driving, I would pick you up. Of course I arrive with a flower of some sort (tulip or giant sunflower), maybe a mix-​tape, or possibly an origami flower, whatever you’re in to. I’m nervous because you’re unbelievably stunning so I make small talk, trying not to fumble over my words. Lucky for me I know Gruppo will set the mood for me. It’s dark wood and candle light all the way.
We arrive and are greeted by a very nice hostess, followed by a super friendly waiter. We order some wine but then you decided you would rather have a beer instead, I (in relief) order a rum/​coke. We fill the air with getting to know you facts and laughter. We take our time with ordering, enjoying the atmosphere and conversation. Gruppo doesn’t rush you, even when they are full with a line out the door.
We start with the Sautee Di Cozze– mussels sautéed in garlic and white wine, served with toasted bread. Yum! We share the Insalata Mista– spring salad with cherry tomatoes, Parmesan shavings and red wine vinaigrette dressing. We both agree, it’s salad. When the waiter tells us about the specials, our mouths start salivating. You order the Tilapia special and I the Tortellini special. There is almost silence, as the food is so good that we don’t even have enough time to speak, we just keep eating. Desert? It doesn’t happen we’re too stuffed! We leave happy and full plus thanks to Gruppo’s I’m getting a goodnight kiss and well…

We were here for dinner on a week night and i thought the place looked warm and comfortable. We ordered
risotto cake — really yummy with great textural contrast.
margherita — really fresh ingredients and crispy crust.
I thought the food was good here and it’s a great and warm place to hang out and eat.

Staying with a friend right around the corner, so we tried this little spot right off the Jarvis stop. Sat outside because the night was so pleasant. Our service was fine, although some of the folks around us were frustrated by getting ignored.
Really enjoyed the warm spinach salad. Lasagna was pretty good too. We were not super impressed by the pizza, even though the waitress sold it pretty hard. We got funghi and prosciutto, which was tasty, but the crust could have been more crispy.
Seemed solid and reasonably priced, so I’d be happy to have it as a neighborhood standby.

I like this place a lot. I’ve been here more times than any other restaurant in the city, but that has a lot to do with it being around the corner from my condo. The food here is always great, and the pizza is killer. I’d recommend the Salsiccia pizza, and make sure to add some Bufala Mozzarella. The pizza is made in a stone, wood-​burning oven, and the crust is very thin, and very crispy. I’ve also had the Lasagna which is great, and the calzones.
As for beer, any place that serves a relatively decent selection of craft beers is immediately going to get some points from me.
The wine list, however limited, has a selection of bottles that, in my experience and limited wine knowledge, are all great for their value. Speaking of wine, they have ½ off bottles on Thursdays, which is great.
However, this place has one notable flaw. The service almost always leaves something to be desired. Every time we go in there, the same girl is always waiting tables, and working the bar. She is very nice, however, she has so much to do, I don’t feel as if we are given the service we deserve. This place would greatly benefit from hiring another server or two.
I’ll be back many times, and I would encourage you to try it as well, as long as you’re patient.

I live in Rogers Park and I felt like having a dinner out with friends not too far away from home. It was definitely really convenient! Food came quickly and the pizza was pretty good. I was with a friend who had lived in Italy for a few years and he snuffed their wood-​oven pizza, but I thought it was delicious. I ordered the funghi e formaggio pizza (mushrooms and goat cheese yum!)
I give it three stars because I don’t think it’s anything special, but I would go back if I craved Italian close to home. The server was really mean though; I kid you not, she threw the bill on our table without even stopping. The place wasn’t even crowded, there was no reason for her to be so rude and standoffish. I drew a frowny face on the receipt – not sure she got the point, so I’m writing this review too.

In the two times we have been there, the service has been slow and very slow. Even when the place has been less the half full. That is the only draw back — is the Service.
BUT food both times has been to die for. Pizza’s are great, the seafood dishes are Yum-​O. Would go back and give them another try, just for the service.

My husband and I were driving around on a gorgeous early summer night, looking for a place with an open table outside. We’ve lived in Rogers Park for two years and have been meaning to try this place out. It was rather late for dinner, around 9, and as we were driving by we saw not only an open parking spot, but an open table — score!
We started with a glass of wine and some sort of martini — both delish. The wine list was not huge, but everything on there sounded good, so it was certainly adequate for me. The vegetable of the day was artichoke hearts cooked in olive oil, crispy garlic, chives and other spices. Even my non-​artichoke loving husband enjoyed it. I thought it was divine. I got the tortellini and chicken in a chipotle red pepper cream sauce, which was insanely good. My husband got a calzone with proscuitto, also delish. We didn’t have room for dessert, but we will have to come back again and try it out.
The ambiance in the patio is a little strange, just because of the location. It’s about 10 steps away from our mechanic and within earshot of the Jarvis Red Line. But that’s just the nature of sidewalk seating. Overall, we really liked this place and will definitely be back.

Ok, I’m a fan of italian eateries with giant wood burning stoves visible from the dining area. Especially if they make good pizza. And this place makes fantastic pizza. That being said, this isn’t a pizza joint. There’s much more on the menu, and from past experience, it’s usually good.
My last trip, there was an amazing seafood pasta special (calamari, shrimp, mussels, etc) and one fantastic pomodoro pizza. Everything came out tasty and perfect.
My only complaint about this place is that it’s too popular, and, it seems, to fit everyone, we have to sit at tiny tables practically elbow to elbow. So, try to go on a slow night, and you’ll be able to hear your people talk.

I got takeout here with a friend last Sunday night. I had the gnocci w/​mushrooms and he had the margherita pizza. Now, the gnocci was good, but I’m pretty sure it came from a package. It looked like the kind I buy at Trader Joe’s. I mean, how hard is it to hire someone to make gnocci for you? And the mushroom ragu wasn’t anything to write home about.
What was better than my dish though was the pizza! I would go back for that or order again. Very very thin, they are wood-​fired and crispy-​delicious! Those types of pizzas that don’t make you full b/​c they are so light! They have probably about 10 varieties of specialty pizzas too — and all sound great.
Overall though, I am looking forward to trying out more from this place, and definitely to dining-​in, in the restauarant.

I would like to prevent the inevitable influx of bad Groupon-​related Unilocal reviews. Gruppo is fantastic. It was before the Groupon; it was when we used our first Groupon there last Friday; and it will be when the Groupon rush is over.
I have never had a bad meal at Gruppo. The pizzas are great. The pastas are cooked perfectly with tasty sauces and veggies. The salads and appetizers are great — try the rice ball, it was fantastic. The service is always friendly and though it can be a little slow when it’s busy, it’s not fast food, so just relax. Have a drink. The menu offers suggested wine pairings and they have a good beer list, too.
And the specials! Who doesn’t like $ 5 martinis or half-​price wine?
The servers and owners are very friendly and very committed to the neighborhood. They sold 800 Groupons, they’re going to be busy for the next six months. When you use your Groupon, please come back again. Our neighborhood needs this tasty place.

We sat at the bar a recent Friday night. Have always loved the atmosphere. The bartender didn’t seem too excited to be there but didn’t do anything necessarily wrong.
We just got the italian margarita which is GREAT. And the four cheese pizza which was probably the best thin crust pizza I’ve ever had. Nice to have a great restaurant on Jarvis. I just wish the old Charmers bar had stuck around a little longer as it would fit perfectly into the hood now.

Ah, a purveyor of calzones so close to my home? A must-​add to my calzone search. Last night presented a good opportunity, as I was coming home from work late and not feeling like cooking or stopping at the store.
Well, a bad calzone is still worth eating, but this one was really pushing its luck. They don’t have pepperoni or green peppers as a topping choice, so I went with prosciutto, red peppers, and onions.
When I got the thing home and opened the box, I was dismayed to see the runty little calzone inside. The surface area was about average, but it was very thin, and the pressed-​crust edges were very wide, maybe about a third of the whole thing. Booo. $ 14.01 was my total on this thing, which is too high even if it’s an above-​average calzone. But…
…it just didn’t taste that great. The cheese was rubbery, which seemed wrong even considering the twelve-​minute lag from pickup to plate. The prosciutto was tough. Worst of all, the crust was dense but thin and cardboardy. They served it with the worst kind of food-​service «marinara» sauce – you know, the watery, bright-​red kind that tastes like nothing but pureed tomatoes? Yuck. How disappointing. Overall, I have to go really low on the grade here. D+.