Davanti Enoteca

My wife and I chose Davanti Enoteca from all of the other standard local restaurants which we had patronized for years. We were happily surprised with the food and wine. The price was not shocking. I had the white fish which was really fresh. It was served with roasted grapefruit and green olives. My wife had the pasta with the pepper. What to the eye looked small was satisfying. I had ordered the peach breadpudding with blueberries and vanilla gelato. Excellent. While waiting, the waitress brought us a serving of the choclate-hazelnut mousse. My wife does NOT eat desserts. She ate half of it. When my breadpudding arrived I had to inform her she could TRY it but not eat half of it. We left there satisfied by the qualtity and the preparations flavors and texture of each meal. This is not your spaghetti and meatball joint.

I'm sorry, everyone complaining about the "single ravioli" really should get it straight. It's a raviolo (meaning one, plural is ravioli). The menu calls it a raviolo. Brush up on your menu Italian and you would've known you were getting one large raviolo.

Granted we were 15 min late for our reservation, but we called to let them know we were on our way, traffic was very heavy! When I arrived the three young Ladies at the greeting table were consumed with the seating arrangements, once one of them looked up long enough to acknowledge me, I gave my name and one of the young Ladies graced me and walked me to a table. She called it a communal table. I told her I didn’t want to sit at a communal table…. Her response was you are 30 minutes late and we are booked, this is all we have. My husband was parking the car and had not come in yet. I was very taking back as I had never experienced a communal table before. It was like a punishment for being late. Once my husband arrived I let him know what was going on, he said let’s go with it since we wanted to try this restaurant we heard about. Granted the people at the table were friendly enough, one an older couple and the other a group of loud Ladies. I wasn’t feelin the group thing! Then our waiter came… I had questions about the menu… maybe its me, but since its not a usual menu of food options I had to ask questions. The response was basically… it’s this and that and you mix it all together and eat it! OK…. Got it! After he walked away and I got over his tone and had a couple sips of wine, I just ordered. The food was delicious, the grilled chicken was not fully cooked, had good flavor, I decided to take it home assuming when I warm it I’ll finish cookin it. The coffee sucks … I even ordered a shot of espresso and that did nothing for the taste… I left it. Over all the wait staff eventually got better, the food flavors were very good, the communal dining experience sucked big time, the young Ladies at the front desk need help with customer service, mind you several tables sat empty while we sat at the communal table. This restaurant is good for group dining but not good for romance or for a couples dining experience.

This restaurant became my favorite in Chicago after eating there just twice. The wait staff is amazing, giving recommendations like, "Don't get that wine, it's not good. This one is much better," even when the bottle we first chose was more expensive. The food is unbelievable, and the wine is cheap, as the restaurant doubles as a wine retailer and then charges a $7 corkage fee. When the bill comes, you'll be shocked at how cheap it is, especially if you have a good group with you.

Dear Davanti, I recently patroned your restaurant and am sad to report that the food quality does not match the price. The one ravioli for 9 bucks with a egg yolk inside was a cute idea but failed to fill our stomachs. The blackened swordfish was taken to a another level with its jet black exterior(accompanied by black brussel sprouts). We appreciate the good music and extensive wine selction, however the food did not tip the scale in your favor. Sadly, we will not return to this venue for seconds.

Was anyone else offended when the $9 ravioli - singular, one 3" spinach ravioli- arrived at the table? One ravioli? Are you kidding? Did I enter a weird vortex of Charley Trotter? An entire pizza cost as much as one spinach ravioli! This disparagement along with the crowded room and confused service made our first visit there our last!

Been to almost every Italian resturant around and I must say this is the tops, great taste ,ambiance,and value, my congadulations to Scott Harris you have a winner.