Prosecco, Giuliana, Extra Dry, NV

6/4/2020

I have been to RPM Italian for dinner in the past and always loved it.  I recently got delivery from there last week and it was delicious and a great value. We got Family Meal for Four: Truffled Garlic Bread, Giuliana's Italian Salad, Bucatini Pomodoro & Bill's Chocolate Budino. All of it was delicious but I wish there was more Bucatini because it was SO good. We split the meal between 2 adults and one hungry toddler and it was barely enough pasta but plenty of everything else!

30/9/2019

Very good meal, Giuliana salad and Meatballs for starter, both excellent. Cavatelli with pork & beef ragu and the short rib bolognese for dinner, both very tasty and wonderfully seasoned. The Bomboloni for dessert were fantastic! Why not 5 stars you may ask. No bread basket!!! They want you to buy bread for $8. Come on, never seen that in an italian restaurant in my entire life. Should rethink this RPM!

10/9/2019

Don't waste your time or money. My son treated me for a special occasion. It was so disappointing. I thought that since Giuliana Rancic is from Italy it would be safe to try a pasta dish but I was wrong. It was terrible. I tried the Bolognese - it was tasteless and greasy at the same time. My son asked the waiter for some bread to go with the meal. He promptly delivered 4 slices of toast with a spread that was inedible. I was shocked that  place in that price range wouldn't have nice fresh bread. I was even more shocked when the bill came and we were charged $7 for toast! My son said his veal was ok but not great. The service however was excellent but didn't make up for the food.

13/8/2019

I really enjoyed this restaurant. The service was outstanding and the food was fresh and delicious. Our server was Dre, and he made sure our dining experience was top notch. We started off with the garlic bread. This is a must! The garlic flavor was not overpowering and the bread was toasted to a crunch. Make sure you ask for some pomodoro sauce for dipping. We also had Giuliana's Italian Salad, which was perfect to compliment the garlic bread. We also tried to fritto misto which tasted better than expected! For my entree, I ordered the chicken Parmesan. The portion size was huge. The chicken was not too breaded and the sauce was not too overpowering. It was delicious. For dessert, we ordered the RPM cheesecake. It's a must! Overall, we had a wonderful dining experience and highly recommend this restaurant!

16/6/2019

This is by far my favorite restaurant not just in Chicago, but in any city. I am a huge Giuliana Rancic fan but that isn't why I love this spot. The food is amazing. It is so fresh and tasty. The menu features something for everyone. I would recommend the black truffle beef tartare and the spicy king crab dish. The bruschetta is also incredible. I never come to Chicago without making a stop at RPM!

18/3/2019

If you want delicious Italian food this is the place to go! FYI: Its owned by Bill & Giuliana Rancic. We tried the Cesar salad it wasn't your typical salad but it was good! If you want a pasta dish; order it from here they make their own pasta and their sauce it's to die for. Also, their desserts are very yummy! I hope you enjoy your dish like I did!

3/3/2019

RPM Italian...the restaurant that just keeps on giving.  Came here on 3/3/2019 for my birthday.  Wanted The Queen to try it as she is a big fan of Italian food.

It is always my intention to try different things on the menu, but sometime it is hard for me as the call to my favorite is strong.  But tonight I went in with a strategy to hit the best of both worlds:  satisfy my need for "the heart wants what the heart's want" and try something new.

We started out with something old (Rosemary Focaccia with Lardo, the 600-Day Prosciutto and the Provolone stuffed peppers).  The new was Roman Style Artichokes.  This was a surprising dish as it appeared to be flash fried.  There were three pieces presented in almost a floral arrangement; they looked like flowers. They were presented with a stem, which was tender when cut into.  They were served with a lemon ailoi sauce.  The entire dish had a lovely lemony flavor, even without the ailoi.  I mentioned to The Queen that I this dish almost made me go vegetarian, but not quite.  There's no getting over meat for me.

For entrees, The Doctor and I got specials and The Queen got the Spicy King Crab with squid ink spaghetti and Fresno Chili.  I had a little taste; the pasta was just right in terms of texture.  For me, this was a little too spicy, but it was not a bad dish.  The Queen cleaned her plate and loved it,  The Doctor got a pasta dish that had a very light tomato sauce, a butter glaze and some sort of amazing shrimp (red something, can't remember).  That was also good.  As spicy as The Queen's dish was, this one was on the opposite but nonetheless excellent.

My entree was this lovely braised beef on top of semolina pasta flour "polenta" cake, topped with pickled peppers, which were a nice touch.  If I had a complaint about this dish, it was there were not enough of those lovely peppers on top (I adore most things pickled).

We finished off with Pistachio gelato and a serving of the Bomboloni (Italian donuts), which are cooked to order.  The  Queen had an interesting cocktail called Spritz & Giggles (Giuliana Prosecco, Basic, Vodka, Strawberry, Lavender, Brovo Pretty) served over ice with dried strawberries.  This was very tasty and the dried strawberries rehydrated once in the drink.

The service, as always, was excellent.  Our server tonight was Jaclyn and she was delightful. Upon us sitting down, she already knew that we were there to celebrate my birthday and that we were repeat customers.  Since it was my birthday, we were presented with three mini gelato cones and a candle...very cute and tasty.  

This has become one of my favorite restaurants after discovering it during Restaurant Week about a year ago.  Love the vibe and the food.

17/2/2019

We made reservations here initially because I'm a Giuliana Rancic fan. It was PACKED! They were running a little behind in reservations and the bar was too crowded to get a drink. Our waiter was fantastic but the food... AMAZING. We were all blown away. Even my kids loved it and they are picky. The meatballs and spaghetti were a huge hit. Seafood risotto and swordfish were so good and I don't know what deliciousness they put on the Brussel sprouts but they were crunchy and a little sweet.  This is an amazing restaurant that we will come back to every trip to Chicago!!!

13/2/2019

What an incredible meal and experience we had here.

We were visiting Chicago for a few days, and I wanted to have an early birthday dinner here. We chose RPM Italian randomly, because I wanted Italian food, and I've heard of the RPM brand because of Bill and Giuliana lol.

Well, I was NOT expecting such a fabulous experience!

We ordered 3 appetizers, 2 pasta courses, and some dessert (I will get to that in a bit). The appetizers were the truffle beef tartare, the meatballs and the burrata salad. Ummmm YUM! All three of them were flavourtown! I was super happy with all three.

We had ordered the spicy crab and squid ink pasta. It came looking beautiful. A tad too spicy for me. (I love spicy food, but something about pasta being spicy seems wrong to me), and the squid ink flavour was not too prevalent. Still a very good dish! Lots of crab and lots of flavour overall.

We decided we wanted more food (even though we were getting full lol), so we got the lamb and potato gnocchi. Jackpot! LOVED this dish. Hearty, lamby, so tasty.

Our waitress deserves special mention here (I forget her name...), but she was incredible. She recommended things on the menu, and was very attentive to the fact that we ordered a second pasta dish, thinking we did not like the first.

We ordered some wine, and for some reason my wine was taking so long for the bar to pour that I finished my first pasta dish. Our waitress apologized and said she would comp the wine. We did not ask her to, but she was so gracious. She clearly just wanted us to have the best experience.

On to the dessert! We could not decide between the pistachio ice cream, and the italian doughnuts, they both looked so good.. We opted for the italian doughnuts, which came with nutella and mascarpone cheese. Our ever-amazing waitress saw my indecision and decided to bring me the pistachio ice cream too, as a birthday treat!

What amazing, attentive, impeccable service. The last time I had such incredible service was in Teatro in Calgary (Canada).

Just when I thought I had enjoyed my (utterly delicious) birthday treat of pistachio ice cream, she brought out a teeny tiny minty ice cream come and a candle!

Good gosh I was spoiled.

I capped the night off with a glass of amari from the digestif menu, so satisfied with everything. I was happier than a peach.

THANK YOU to RPM Italian, and to our awesome waitress for making this Canadian girl's birthday dinner in Chicago so memorable!

9/9/2018

Even though I read all the reviews, I was skeptical about trying RPM on my trip to Chicago. I worried that the reviews were solely based on liking Giuliana and Bill Rancic (as I do myself). We sat for our 9:30 reservation (the only one we could get on a Saturday night) around 10, which was fine because we had been elsewhere for pre-dinner drinks. When we were seated, our waiter, Bobby, sincerely apologized and offered to bring us apps on the house. He also helped us navigate through the menu, since everything looked so good. With the complimentary apps and the food we ordered, we enjoyed peppers stuffed with provolone, a mushroom pizza, mama depandi's bucatini, sweet corn pasta, the rpm wedge, broccolini, and the ribeye steak. Everything was absolutely FANTASTIC and necessary to try. After dinner we were stuffed, but Bobby insisted on bringing us some desserts on the house. With our coffee, we enjoyed these delicious mini ice creams- the raspberry was unreal! We were literally ROLLING out of RPM last night- we were so full. Thank you Bobby and RPM - we will be back!

21/6/2018

Loved RPM Italian. Fantastic service. Delicious food. As a vegetarian, I appreciate all the options. I had the pasta special which was a mushroom cream linguini and it was the best I've ever had. Loved Giuliana's prosecco, too! Appreciative of the gesture of stuffed squash blossoms when our ordered app took awhile to come out. Not necessary but so generous.

And best of all, what an awesome Father's Day gift of a jar of steak seasoning and gift card. Fantastic! Loved everything about this place. THANK YOU from a visitor from San Diego.

3/6/2018

Oh my goodness. This place is the real deal...I am a snob when it comes to Italian food and RPM is better than any Italian restaurant I've been to in NYC or Boston's north end.

The bucatini pomodoro is unreal...sauce is more like an arrabbiata and has a bit of a kick...one of the best sauces I've had...so g that rivals RAOs.

Bolognese was also phenomenal. Service was top notch. This should be a stop on your list if you're craving delicious Italian.

UPDATING MY REVIEW; I last came here when I was apartment hunting while still living in Boston. I moved in to my place in Chicago today and after a really long day of unpacking and building furniture we stopped in for dinner...and ran into Giuliana Rancic as she popped in to check on her restaurant. She was so incredibly nice, despite the fact that I looked  super disheveled after hours of moving furniture. I also just came back from a trip to Rome and the bucatini at RPM rivals anything I had in Italy!!

22/4/2018

I'm always a little skeptical of restaurants owned by celebrities but this place was actually really good!
Truffle garlic bread: hands down the best garlic bread I've ever had!
Giuliana's Italian salad: was okay--it's sorta a italian sub without the bread
Tuscan kale & spinach salad: this was good
Crispy Brussels sprouts: decent
Caramelized cauliflower: my least favorite
RPM steak: best choice ever! I was debating on the steak of gnocchi and I'm glad I went with the steak.

For dessert the three of us shared: Bill's chocolate budino, brioche donuts and pistachio gelato.

12/4/2018

Wasn't able to see giuliana. But the food here is amazing! Best Bellini I've ever had. Our bartender was Carolyn. She was great! We had the guiliana salad, kale and spinach salad, followed by the crab pasta and ravioli pasta. All really great options. Carolyn even went far enough to write us a list of recommendations of places to visit while in Chicago. Definitely coming back here when I come back to Chicago

15/3/2018

During my last trip to Chicago, I had the chance to grab a bite at RPM Italian.

RPM ITALIAN CHICAGO

Located in Chicago's River North neighborhood, RPM Italian is modern in approach and Italian in spirit and features a contemporary, chef-driven menu with dishes meant to be shared. The sister restaurant to RPM Steak, RPM Italian marks the first collaboration between partners RJ, Jerrod and Molly Melman, celebrity couple Bill & Giuliana Rancic and acclaimed chef Doug Psaltis. Menu highlights include more than a dozen fresh pastas made in-house daily, slow-roasted meats, wild fish and seafood, and celebrated Italian classics with an elevated twist. Signature RPM cocktails or any wine from the extensive list, top off the dining experience. RPM Italian's chic space is set in tones of black, whites and grays and boasts rich woods and leathers, making it the perfect spot to enjoy a great meal, night out or simply a late night bite.

THE STORY

The 4 of us were deciding where to meet in Downtown Chicago, and we picked RPM ITALIAN. Luckily we knew "a guy," otherwise there would be NO WAY to get a table; the place is THAT busy and hard to get in.

Once we were all there, the hostess sat us at a nice table in the corner, overlooking Downtown Chicago. We all ordered cocktails and got them tout suite.

We decided to get a bunch of appetizers and shared them family style. We tried the brussel sprouts and the octopus. Both were EXCELLENT! My friend, Roxanna, ordered a few more, including the Alaskan halibut and filet steak, but I was full by then, plus I wanted to try the bomboloni, Italian brioche donuts, which we DELICIOUS!

This RPM has a bunch of flat screens, so we were able to watch the game and stay awhile, whilst people watching and sipping on cocktails. I'm a champagne fan, and loved their by-the-glass Michel Arnould Brut.

SERVICE EXPERIENCE

The service was impeccable. All of our needs were met and even anticipated. Even the manager stopped by to say hello.

CONCLUSION

I absolutely love RPM ITALIAN CHICAGO! I can't wait to go back!

5/5 RECOMMEND

OF NOTE

*Valet Parking

*For more information: rpmrestaurants.com

20/2/2018

We ordered the Cremini mushrooms for starter. It was amazing, originally we thought it was stuffed mushrooms but was so surprised to see a personal size mushroom pizza topped with Truffle. We both loved it. The Giulianas salad was amazing as well and perfect to share. We always tend to overdo it on the apps before entree' because we want to try a little bit of everything. I had the special which I think was short rib ravioli topped with truffle it was a bit small for the price but Well worth it with the taste. Throughout our visit the waitresses would accidentally approach our table with others orders. Never a bother for me. I only wanted to try everything they thought was ours. I will be back, and will definitely have to try the RPM Steak.

9/12/2017

When we booked our trip to Chicago, RPM Italian was one of the next reservations we made. I have been DYING to come here ever since I heard the Rancic's opened here!

Giuliana and Bill are friends in my head, and I obviously needed to try mama DePandi's bucatini. But I'll start from the beginning.

Made an easy open table reservation at 5pm. A little early for my taste,  but happy to sit down for dinner, regardless of time. Hostess was pleasant and we were seated within 5 minutes. The vibe is SO GOOD here, the ambiance is casual and fancy at the same time. The style is SO GOOD. I love the interior!

The restaurant is huge,  I can only imagine how insane the kitchen is.  Our waiter Kyle, was incredible. Made excellent reccomendations and was an absolute pleasure. We had the buratta, the pepperoni pizzette, truffled garlic bread, and meatballs to start. I could have had 5 of the buratta. Holy shhhh. The onions with the buratta was PERFECTION. My mouths watering writing about it. The appetizers are small enough to share, (all this was split between 4 people.)

For our entrees, I got mama DePandi's bucatini. YUM. Husband got the cavatelli with Sunday gravy. Also very delicious. Our friends got the carbonara, which she said was the best carbonara she's ever had, and her husband got short rib Bolognese. All pastas are home made and are obviously incredible.

Because were greedy, one of the specials was a parmesan risotto with fresh shaved black truffles. So naturally,  we split it 4 ways. And holy moly YES. get this.  Amaaazing.  The portions are smaller than usual entree size, so even after all those appetizers and a pasta and a 1/4th, I still didn't really hate myself.

Dessert was a toss up between the toasted almond panna cotta, or the rice pudding with vanilla gelato. Kyle recommended the rice pudding.  Which he said is bruleed!  So duh, we got that. Well done, Kyle. Thank you so much! What an amazing meal.

I was also able to try Giulianas prosecco, which was delicious. Went down waaay too easy. So I'll be buying some bottles of that in the future.

Thank you RPM for being everything that I hoped our dinner experience would be! Bravo.  I wish you many years of sucess, I can't wait to come back.

24/10/2017

My husband and I ate here for a special date night recently. We had 7 pm reservations, but they were running behind so we ended up not sitting down until about 7:25. Not the greatest first impression, but they did let us know when we arrived they were running behind. The restaurant is very modern and has an upscale feel, but you will see people in casual clothes.

The food was pretty good, although some of it was pretty salty. We split an order of the truffled garlic bread and Giuliana's Italian salad for appetizers. I loved the garlic bread and the salad was pretty good too. I ordered the risotto and my husband had the potato gnocchi. Both dishes were good, but they definitely are on the smaller side so we were glad we had ordered appetizers and a side dish.

Our service was good once we sat down. Our waitresses was attentive without being overbearing. The price was pretty good for what we got as well. Came to $100 for two cocktails, two appetizers, two pasta dishes, and a side. We would come back again!

16/10/2017

What a nice looking restaurant! Came by here to sit at the bar because apparently they were booked with reservations and don't take walk ins at that time - I was here on a Friday night. My party of 3 was able to get seats at the bar! The scene is so lively and fun. Before we sat down, we got some waters and the menu from Glen - he was so friendly and nice. Then we were moved to a different bartender who I never got the name of since he didn't introduce himself. He was also not very available throughout the night.

I had the Bucatini which was amazing. The sauce was bright and slightly tangy but had a kick of spiciness which I was surprised to taste. The noodles were al dente and perfect. I also had a side of the brussel sprouts which I enjoyed because it was crispy, but it was a bit too salty with the cheese on top of it.

I had the Giuliana bubbly to drink and it was awesome. It's also awesome that proceeds from it go towards her foundation.

14/10/2017

OMG!!!! Please...go visit this restaurant!! Bill & Giuliana have knocked it out if the park!! The fried olives; the meatballs; the lobster ravioli ; the wine!!! Must go!!!