Rosebud Trattoria

Eggplant salad is the best thing ever. The pasta dishes are also good. It is a bit pricey for noodles, but I do enjoy going here.

Eggplant Parmesan. Yum. It was good. but nothing memorable.
Our waiter was really, REALLY, annoying. :/​He tried way too hard to make us buy something. He’d ask us 2 – 3 times around if we wanted wine despite saying no. Same with dessert. Finally, he was like «You guys could use some coffee.»
–_​–
So we ended up buying some espressos.
In all, it was just very uncomfortable. The food is good, though. Just nothing I would crave.

Hands down the best meal I have had in years. The scampi was amazing 4 xl prawns on spinach. I added angel hair as well to soak up sauce. Wife had the lobster shrimp pasta it was spicy and amazing. The service was 5 star!!! The GM even came over and asked how the meal was and gave me his card. I will go back every time we are in Town.

We started with a baked clams appetizer and I could have easily eaten a second round. The lemon, butter, and white wine all came together very well and the clams were a nice size, these weren’t cheap clams. The chopped salad (minus the beets) was tasted very light with the fresh veggies and vinaigrette. If anything, a little parmesan or feta cheese would have made this salad amazing.
For entrees, I ordered the Grandma’s gravy, which is farfalle with braised short ribs and pork with some San Marzano tomatoes and just a hint of whipped ricotta. I’m not even a fan of ricotta but it added just a little creaminess to the sauce, which I enjoyed. And the meat just fell apart, it tasted so tender. The pasta came out Al dente, I would definitely order this again. One issue. The waiter asked if I wanted grated cheese and he basically dropped on a half cup of cheese immediately. I didn’t need THAT much!
The gf ordered the spaghetti and meatballs and since I’m a veteran of the Monday all you can eat special, I knew what was coming. Two huge baseball-​sized meatballs with a ton of spaghetti. and she ate half of one. Glad I was able to take the leftovers home… they tasted amazing.
For dessert, she got a scoop of chocolate gelato while I ordered the special, cannoli cake. This thing must have been a foot high! It was a slice of three layer cake with almonds on the outside. The cannoli cream tasted very sweet, almost too much for my taste. My big disappointment was there was no hint of a cannoli shell which could have added a whole extra dimension of flavor.
The service was very friendly, but slow, especially when we were waiting for our check. And when I ordered my glass of wine, I had to remind the waiter, since he forgot it for ten minutes. All in all, it was a very good experience, I would consider returning, but I can’t say I’m dying to return.

This update is because of Dario M. Aside from being easy on the eyes, he was conscientious, professional, and one of the nicest wait persons I’ve encountered in a long time. The service from most of the staff we’ve encountered here, from the host (ess) to the busboys to the waiters, has been good to excellent.
The food is wonderful, with generous portions.
Classy, understated, and thankfully, not overrated.

8 FINGER CAVATELLI is simply the bomb. the portion was huge. flavors were light but packed some punch. the cavatelli tasted fresh and homemade. the dish was not dry but had a good stock still.
i am mad i couldnt take my leftovers since we were heading to a drag show.

I’m going to preface this by saying much of my bad review is based on this one-​time circumstance, though I find my experience to be inexcusable.
Rosebud is attached to a Hampton hotel which on this particular weekend between the Cubs game and the NIU/​Iowa game at Soldier Field, had to be pretty much booked. You would think the restaurant would staff themselves accordingly, but in this case that was too much to ask.
I had family in town who was staying in said hotel. We had made a reservation earlier that day for a big group of us for 7pm, but the restaurant had plenty of notice. We stopped in to the restaurant before we went upstairs to freshen up to check on their reservation, and they told us that they were actually moving our reservation back a half hour. 7:30 it is.
We came downstairs just a few minutes early, and since the restaurant didn’t really have a waiting area, the hostess told us to wait in the hotel lobby and she would get us once our table was ready. At 8:00 (an hour after our original reservation), we were finally seated and promptly forgotten with a shortage of utensil placements, water glasses, and no menus. We waited for another 15 – 20 minutes before our waiter turned up and asked if we were ready to order. Seeing as we were not given menus, no we most certainly were not. At this point we were ravishing and it didn’t take long for the group of us to decide what we wanted to eat.
At 9:00 we were finally given the complimentary bread an hour after we were seated and after seeing other tables being seated and given their menus and bread before us. We were finally given our food just after 9:30, but it was delivered by one waiter who could clearly only bring out two plates at a time – the cardinal rule for serving: make sure everyone gets their food at relatively the same time, this means getting other waiters to help you if you can’t handle it all yourself. Since the restaurant was horrendously overstaffed, this was obviously not the case so we waited to eat until all of us had our food (as hungry as we were at this point, that was no easy feat).
The food itself? I mean, it’s pretty difficult to mess up Italian food. I got the fettuccine which was good, but unimpressive. I think the only reason our table enjoyed our food so much is because we had waited two and a half hours to get it. Additionally, it was overpriced.

Before I dive in to the details of my experience at Rosebud, I should probably detail the extenuating circumstances that may have contributed to this becoming a less than ideal dining experience. We had some family in town for a college football game at Soldier Field who were staying at the Hampton Inn & Suites connected to this restaurant. For the sake of convenience, a group of 18 of us ranging from ages 15 up into their 50s decided to eat here. Apparently a number of other out of town fans decided something similar. It was also apparent that the restaurant staff was not anticipating these types of crowds.
The morning of our reservation, a member of our group made a reservation for 18 at 7:30. It’s a huge group, no doubt, but they did have a fair warning. When we returned after the big game, we were informed that our table wouldn’t actually be ready until 8:00. We sat in the hotel lobby and were finally seated at 8:15. I can’t say I’ve ever heard of a group with a reservation being seated 45 minutes late.
Due to some sort of confusion, half of the people in our group were not given silverware and none of us were given menus. My assumption was that someone was on top of bringing those out, but when our server finally did get to our table he asked if we needed any more time to look at the menus. Whoops. Yes we did. Could we have some please?
Around 9:00 we received baskets of bread with olive oil and cheese. That’s great, unfortunately what should be the appetizer to the appetizer was arriving an hour and a half into our dinner reservation. During that entire time, someone came around only once to refill water, which again leads me to believe they were horrendously understaffed.
And then the food arrived, which was actually really great. Maybe it’s just that I hadn’t eaten a true meal in over ten hours (I probably would have eaten Chef Boyardee and loved it), but I swear it as the best Sausage Spaghetti I’ve had in a year. That fact alone brought this review up from one star.
Were there extenuating circumstances at play that contributed to this experience? Yes. Were they beyond the restaurant staff’s control? I don’t think so. Simply being adequately staffed in my view would have resolved just about every problem we experienced.

I had the burratta pizza and a mixed green salad. The bread served with the dinner was warm, and yeasty. Its a good thing. The salad looked like something id get at a college dorm salad bar, chopped iceberg lettuce with square chunks of salad rind. I dont like square salad.
The pizza was large and tasted good.
I felt queezy for a few hours afterwards, not sure if the cream filled white buffalo mozzarella on the pizza was turning. Well, i wont be re-​turning.

Couldn’t love it more.
We’ve been to Chicago twice. We’ve been to the Rosebud four times.
Love the drinks, love the bread, love the pizza, love the bartenders (we always eat at the bar), love the décor, love the location.
They always get my order right. Service is is perfectly timed — doesn’t take forever to get food, but you’re not rushed, either. Once we indicated that our group of four was on a schedule, which was no problem for them.
The menu is the right size — lots of choice, but not overwhelming.

Racist & awful service.
If i could give them negative stars i would.
My friends who have visited Chicago loved this place, so they told me to check it out. I even made reservations for dinner the day before. I called to see if they could fit me in earlier since i finished early for the day and they said they couldn’t so i just got there and waited. I waited for more than an hour after my reservations time.
Instead of writing my whole story here, bottom line was i had an awful experience and their food was not even good. They didnt bother apologizing either for the awful service.

Maybe if I lived in Chicago or NY I would give 3 stars — but I’d kill for a place like this in N. Virginia…
Good wine selection by the glass — Peachy Canyon Zin stands up well with hearty red sauce. Some very nicely priced Italian reds.
The baked clams and bruschetta were OK. Nothing notable.
The pasta hit a higher note. We shared rigatoni alla vodka, stuffed shells and ravioli with a side of lean and delectable sausage.
Net time I’m in Chicago I’ll be more ambitious (we stumbled on this place after being apprise d that a nearby place had a 2.5 hour wait) but I wish we had this type of food more accessible in the DC suburbs.

anstandiger italiener mit guter auswahl an frischen salaten, pasta und risotto. hab nur take-​away probiert, kann also zu ambiente und service wenig sagen.

I am so tempted to give this Rosebud the big 5, but they just barely fell short.
If I was rating just the food, this place would be a 5 without a doubt. The waiter really worked with us on food options and made some great suggestions. They are damn proud of their eggplant and I have to hand it to them. Mind blowing. So he actually convinced us to two different eggplant entrees. One was the Parmesan and the other was actually the Pork Chops Calebrese which they actually did with eggplant just for us. The 4 of us ordered a bunch of stuff and just shared.
The Calebrese was AMAZING. It’s like the Parmesan, but without the marinara and cheese. Which is awesome because the sauce and cheese usually make the breading soggy. The Milanese breading was just perfect and the lemon-​based sauce… outstanding. This has to be the best Italian entrée I’ve ever had.
The Parmesan which everyone from the host to the waiter seemed to be most proud of was really good too. As I mentioned before, the eggplants lost the crisp, but the eggplant was so juicy and almost creamy. The eggplant was melt-​in-​your mouth good.
My favorite is usually the penne vodka. They didn’t disappoint here. It was really good. Not the best ever, but good.
Last of all, I also tasted some pizza, the Rustichella. Even this was really flavorful. Most of us were so busy chowing down the eggplants and pastas that we didn’t really do justice on the pizza. I tried some just because and it wasn’t warm by that time. I’m sure it would’ve been better when it came out piping hot.
With all that raving about the food, now you can see why I feel bad not rating this place with 5 stars, but I have to stay true to my high standards. So this was a Saturday night and the place was understandably crowded. We waiting 30 minutes while sitting at the bar. When we were seated, we could barely get to our table. They definitely have the tables way too tightly packed for comfort. I got bumped by patrons and staff multiple times while seated.
The second problem was the service itself which was average at best. There were long delays between his stops at the table. A couple of times he forgot to bring us something we requested. They even forgot to bring out appetizer plates for our table. Numerous times he made excuses of other tables requiring too much attention or losing his mind. idk… just not up to snuff.
All in all, I’m definitely going back. I hope the service problem was just one-​time bad luck. The table layout is definitely a problem. Maybe I’ll stick to going on a weekday night. When it comes to Italian food, this Rosebud is definitely one of Chicago’s finest.

Came here on a Thursday night with a group of 8 (no reservations) and got seated immediately. And from there on, the service continued to be outstanding. Had a terrific waiter who «took care of us».
Apps were a plate of antipasta (who knew that bacon wrapped dates were so awesome) and sausage & peppers (one of those house favorites). Both plenty big. And the main dishes were equally generous. A bone-​in lamb chop parmesan special was excellent. Veal so tender with just the right amount of sauce and cheese. Others had a cioppino, lasagna and eggplant salad.
Everyone at the table came away very happy. Prices were very reasonable and dinner was served with excellent pacing.
In short, a terrific Italian place near all the conference hotels etc. A fine choice.

I haven’t been a frequent customer of Rosebud since it’s now become a victim of over-​expansion (I think there’s two Rosebuds within a three block radius of my office), and sadly the quality has suffered.
I was enticed to this outpost of Rosebud by their $ 5 burger special, so this review is solely for that as I doubt I’d be back for any of their Italian menu items.
For $ 5, you get a big, juicy burger, on a pretzel bun, served with fries. Naturally toppings are extra and will run you $ 1 each. I added caramelized onions and cheddar cheese, so my $ 5 burger crept up to $ 7, but it’s still a deal in my book.
The burger was a smidgen overcooked (I ordered it medium rare and it was closer to medium) so I’ll adjust accordingly on my next visit. The fries looked better than they tasted. They were nice and skinny, but only some of them were crispy and they weren’t hot enough.
They certainly don’t skimp on the size; I’m pretty sure this beauty was a ½ lb., and it was flavorful and juicy, and also comes with lettuce, tomato, and pickle. I’d probably skip the caramelized onions next time though; they just didn’t add much excitement to the burger.
Service was quite friendly and I expected it to be the bare minimum as I imagine the servers would be annoyed serving throngs of people a $ 5 burger and thus making no money, but our guy was super pleasant. I guess my friend’s two glasses of wine made the tab more palatable than it would have been, but he showed no such annoyance at our paltry food bill.
Like I said, I don’t think I’d be back to Rosebud for any other reason than the $ 5 burger. You can beat your own meat, but at this price, you can’t beat theirs.

Food — ⁴⁄₅
Service — ³⁄₅
Atmosphere — ⁴⁄₅
Price — 3.5÷5
Here for Dinner & a glass of wine — Bill was $ 41.50 w/​tip
I was pretty excited to start this trip this week. Since we were overnighting in Chicago and because we would be staying at our long overnight hotel inside the loop. Probably the biggest problem being too many choices.
I asked my flight attendant what she was in the mood for, hoping she would say «whatever», and a successful wish at that. The hotel or our company had arranged for a selection of restaurant discounts for us and Rosebuds Trattoria was one of those selections. So before we went I looked it up on Unilocal…“not too bad” I thought and only 3 blocks from the hotel.
Now I sorta showed up in the wrong mindset and should have researched it more. I thought this was a one off restaurant but its a sudo upscale casual Chicago-​Land chain.
My flight attendant and I show up at about 8:30. Still busy but the dinner rush was on its last hurrah. We were quickly sat with no reservations and promptly ignored for the next 15 minutes. A runner brought by 5 small slices of still warm and overly crusted italian bread on a plate wrapped in a napkin. No butter or oil and seasoning or anything except our water.
I mean really — 15 mins in at the local county lounge (jail) they serve you dry bread and water! I look around and everyone else had a neatly placed bread BASKET and something accompanying their yeasty Italian finger food.
Before I get to slamming the server too much — I will say he seemed to be a nice and accommodating guy.
Finally our waiter comes by and asks what we’d like to drink. I asked about what wines they had and poof… just like that he’s off again. He came back in about 5 more minutes with the wine list and it only had whites on it. After dropping the list off, like a iron skillet from the broiler, he’s gone again for another 5 to 7 mins.
Now I know… Dinner rush… double sat… but when you’re hungry and your server only has a few tables… really?
When we got the wine all sorted — I ordered a glass of Ferrari-Carano’s Siena from Sonoma, CA. I’m not a big wine guy (craft beer is another story) but it was delicious and dry.mmmmm.
30 mins had passed before ordering. My dinner companion ordered a pasta special of the night, which was my plan B, and I asked the waitron «Is this the kind of place where I can tell you — to tell the chef — hit me with your best shot?»
Now I asked this because — with dinner rush still waining I didn’t want to f*%k up the flow of the kitchen to the point of — who ever’s preparing my dish would use the rubber floor mats as their mis en plas.
The waiter told me you can do that at any one in the chain and then disappeared to put our order in. «The chain?» I thought to myself.
THE FOOD —
35 minuets later — it shows up. At first glance it looked an smelled wonderful. In the low light of the restaurant I thought it was some kind of squab or hen but then the waitron came back by and told me his manager had suggested the…
Brick Chicken (see pic).
It was a beautifully center cut small whole chicken with a delicious oregano rosemary herbed white wine and butter reduction — roasted potatoes, long cut herbed and garlic broccoli florets and a grilled lemon half. The herbs were so aromatic I thought I was walking through the farmers market. It smelled great.
The chicken had a perfectly caramelized crispy skin and the flesh was hot, juicy and wonderfully cooked.
I was a little flummoxed — when opening the door to put «your best shot» in front of me they went with a chicken dish. But if you’re cocked, locked and ready to rock with chicken — that was the dish to fire!
It was a pleasure to eat and I’d recommend to anyone looking to be «safe» with their gastro exploration.

The food and service here has gone downhill. Threw a bday party for my hubby here. The waiter was too lazy to put a candle in his dessert or wish him a happy birthday. Upon leaving the restaurant I told the manager. He gave me no response. We spent 400 on dinner! Bad service!

I had lunch here with a friend yesterday. We like places with burger specials, so we figured we would try Rosebud. I am really surprised that they have a $ 5 burger special! This is much cheaper than their other lunch options, but I’m not complaining.
The burger was big! (I was in a major food coma after eating it). It came on a delicious pretzel bun, and came with fries. The burger itself was nothing special, but again for $ 5 with fries downtown, this is still impressive.
FYI Cheese is $ 1 extra, but since I don’t like cheese much anyway, this didn’t effect me.
The restaurant looks nicer inside than I was expecting from having walked past it. I may have been under dressed if it was dinner. But for lunch I think anything is fine.
The servers were all very nice, and our food came out quick.
All in all I’d say this is a great lunch spot. It would be fine to bring clients to, or fine to have a quick cheap burger lunch at.

Walked in without reservations on a Friday night, December, 2009, and we were seated instantly. Great service from a waiter with a sense of humor, something this Unilocaler appreciates.
The Chopped Salad, available at $ 9 and $ 13; was nice with garbanzos on board, and the large $ 13 version was plenty for our party of 4.
Then we ordered one order of Priest Stranglers and one other pasta dish, and one side order of two giant meatballs, and that was plenty of food for four hungry people.
So my advice is to go easy on the ordering, the portions are huge. This place is accessible from the lobby of the Hampton Inn, but it does not have the feel of a hotel restaurant.

Formerly known as Ballo, this location is the latest addition to the Rosebud group. A friend and I had been to other Rosebud places, and we decided to try this out for lunch. Unsure of how busy it might be, I was made last minute reservations through
. Little did I know, that I didn’t have to go through all that because the place was, um, kind of empty that day. I’m only guessing because Taste of Chicago just started and it was a lovely day… who wants to stay inside for lunch? We did actually.
Inside, there are booths set up along the windows, tables in the middle, and a bar area, which seems like a nice little spot «to get a drink, while waiting for my table.» Our waiter, Joe, is going to be my new buddy. He’s friendly and made us feel welcomed right away. He chatted with us a bit about the specials and also suggested his favorites. My Chicken Parmesan was good and saucy but a bit garlic-​y. Unlike the other Rosebud places I’ve been, it didn’t come with a small side of pasta. I was too full from that to even care, but if you cared, you could probably order something on the side. They were able to accommodate my friend’s request to alter her order a bit to suit dietary needs, which she enjoyed a lot.
If you’ve been to one Rosebud, you’ve been to them all. Menu and prices were more/​less the same. Having only been at this location once (so far), I’m thinking this might be one of my lunch options for dining in or, if I’m busy at work, for take-​out. Speaking of – thanks, guys, for giving me the lunch and dinner menus to keep at work. I’m sure it’ll come in handy.