Restaurant listings are culled from the Reader Restaurant Finder, an online database of more than 4,200 Chicago-area restaurants. Restaurants are reviewed by staff, contributors, and (where noted) individual Reader Restaurant Raters. Though reviewers try to reflect the Raters’ input, reviews should be considered one person’s opinion; the Raters’ collective opinions are best expressed in the numbers. Complete searchable listings, Raters’ comments, and information on how to become a Rater are at chicagoreader.com/restaurantfinder.
$$Lunch: Monday-Friday; Dinner: seven days | Open late: Friday & Saturday till 11 | Cash only
Bella Notte1374 W. Grand | 312-733-5136
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Bella Notte serves classically prepared southern Italian food in equally classic old-world style. Raters rave about the huge, shareable bowls of pasta—a half-order is enough to feed two ravenous eaters; a whole order is best reserved for family-style dining. The menu offers primarily pasta, veal, and chicken in any number of preparations. More than a dozen pasta offerings range from simple rigatoni with vodka cream sauce to zuppa di pesce—a monstrous bowl of pasta that overflows with squid, clams, mussels, fish, and octopus in a tangy marinara sauce. Appetizers include crispy bruschetta and steamed mussels served in either a red or white sauce. Side dishes of greens (rapini, broccoli, spinach) sauteed with olive oil and garlic are also large enough to share. Rich, creamy tiramisu is a popular dessert with Raters. The only sour note in the place is struck by the ubiquitous Sinatra tunes. —Martha Bayne
On a weekend night the garden courtyard at Corosh was a great place to be: large, nicely decorated, and hidden away from the Milwaukee Avenue noise. We quickly settled on the garlic cream sauce mussels and prosciutto with melon as starters and the seafood risotto and lobster ravioli as entrees; secondi include several grilled meats and a couple Vesuvio preparations. The quality of the ingredients was very good overall (hammy prosciutto, a flavorful pesto sauce with the ravioli), though the bread was average at best. —Torbjörn Törnqvist, Rater
F 8.4 | S 8.3 | A 8.7 | $$ (6 reports)Lunch: Monday-Friday, Dinner: seven days | Open late: Friday & Saturday till 11
La Scarola721 W. Grand | 312-243-1740
