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By boyfriend and I picked Osteria Via Stato after seeing huge lines elsewhere, which is right down the street. We only had to wait 5 minutes for outdoor seating on the first nice night in Chicago, so that definitely beat other places' hour wait for patio seating. I liked the fact that they had several menu options, which included the all inclusive Italian style meal for $38, the ala carte menu or their pizza menu. So basically there is something for every taste and price range. We went with the inclusive Italian dinner and enjoyed sampling the anitipasta's, the meatballs and the parmesean onion were both really great, the 2 pasta's were also both good, one was taglatele with a meat ragu and one was a white bean rigatoni with fresh rosemary. We both really loved our filet's, I had the modena balsamic vinegar filet and my boyfriend had the parmesean crusted filet. Both were cooked perfectly. All of the food was great, including the warm crusty bread, which could be a meal in itself. There is an additional cost of $12 for the filets, so a little on the pricey side, but we were in the mood for sampling a few dishes and also both opted for the steak over the other included seafood and chicken dishes. The busboys were very attentive, consistentely filling up our water and our waiter never let our wine glasses get more than a quarter empty. The outdoor seating was nice, we had a great table and the weather was perfect for outdoor dirning. I would recommend for a date night but would also recommend for families who like sampling several dishes. Overall, good expereince and we will return.

We sat outside, which was nice. The hostess and bus boys were very nice and competent, but our waiter was an idiot who seemed unable to process the idea that I can't eat milk products. I explained what that means (no butter, milk, cheese, cream, yogurt, etc.), and yet he offered me pastas with cheese sauces. When I pointed out again that I can't do cheese, he then offered me a risotto he claimed was vegan and made, he said, with chicken broth. (Since when are chickens vegetarian food?) I got the "vegan spinach risotto" (I don't mind eating chicken) which tasted like kosher salt with some greens thrown in. My friends' dinners looked to be equally tasteless and overpriced. Definitely not worth the money. What a waste of a good location and a nice space.