Natalino's on Chicago

I noticed a sign for a new bar/restaurant Natalino's (spelling could be wrong) on Chicago between Noble and Ashland. Anyone have any info on this place?

Natalino's Italian Ristorante
1523 W Chicago Ave
Chicago, IL 60622
312-997-3700

I just read about this place on (in?) Daily Candy, logged on to see what the good people here had to say about it, and found nought but this unanswered query. Anyway, all I know about Natalino's is what I read in the Daily Candy email. Martin Perdomo comes from Coco Pazzo. The menu items mentioned in the post included chicken vesuvio, angel hair with lobster and lemon terragon sauce, and whole wheat flax seed penne with cherry tomatos and ricotta. The pasta is homemade, and so to, allegedly are the sausages. Reportedly, they'll have an outdoor cafe come summertime catering to people with dogs (including a dog menu).

Anyway, anyone have any more personal input?

I read this in Time Out http://www.timeout.com/chicago/blog/out ... ut/?p=3713

I think both Mr. Perdomo and Mr. Genovise were recently with Piano Piano in Park Ridge. I've never been there, but here's a link to their web site

http://www.pianopianorestaurant.com/

I suspect that there may be a great deal of similarity in their menu's. I walked by last week and the place looked attractive. Not sure if they've opened yet.

I went in to apply for a job a couple of weeks ago and the application was from Entourage in Schaumburg.

They are currently open

I went to the restaurant and thought it was wonderful. Being from the suburbs I felt an immediate connection to a city Italian place to eat. I found the prices to be reasonable and the food wonderful. I had the eggplant for an appetizer and it was yummy. I ordered chicken for dinner and my husband had veal in wine sauce and they were both superb. The little garlic cheese breads on the table were wonderful. No need for butter or oil for them because they were great all by themselves. Ask for Lauren to seat you as she was very young and hostessy. Great time and even better atmosphere. They will make you an offer you can't refuse! on the food that is..........

Hi, first of all I am from Chicago and currently live near Bucktown. I went here a few days after it opened and it was terrible. My husband and I eat out all around the city. Let me tell you this place will not last much longer. The chef, Martin, was fired from his job at Piano Piano over a year ago by the new owners who have done wonderful over there (my cousin lives in Park Ridge and knows the gossip). Anyway, Martin was only an assistant to the chef over at Piano Piano and we were interested to see what he was making at this new place. The first impression given by the hostess made us want to leave. We walked in and she was yelling at an elder man (who seemed to be a customer) and literally swearing left and right. Then she sat us and was so ignorant on how to be cordial to guests. As we were eating calamari that were so chewy and bland we could hear people swearing from the wait station so the whole dining room could hear. It was terrible. They also do not serve alcohol. I'm not sure why all the ads for them say they serve it because they had no liquor when we were there. We got our dinner after what seemed like hours and it was nothing special at all and far too pricey for the qualitiy of the food. My husband and I were very disappointed but I hope I can save someone else from going through the terrible experience we had there. We will never return. STAY AWAY AND SAVE YOUR MONEY. If you want to know some real Chicago treasures feel free to message me. We eat all the time all over Chicago.

chigaoDiner33 wrote:If you want to know some real Chicago treasures feel free to message me. We eat all the time all over Chicago.

How about telling everybody about them instead? You are, of course, free to criticize one place and then retreat to private messaging, but the spirit of the board is to share information for everybody's benefit.

Meh. The two first-time-posters in this thread both reek of being interested parties.

See also: karencwork at yelp

I wonder if chigaoDiner33 is the same as Carmine S. on Yelp. Look at the similarities between the two posts:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/natalinos-itali ... VzszdyChAg

Think Carmine works at Rosebud?

lol sorry guys I had to laugh at those posts. I am not Carmine but that is hilarious. I do not work at Rosebud but I can understand how all this is coming about. I'm an accountant born and raised in Chicago - I have a son at DePaul and a daughter at U of I and my husband and I dine out all the time. Sorry I didn't leave my list of favs but let me know what you guys think about them. Here's some good places to try: (and I have no affiliation with Rosebud)

La Madia (amazing pizza and a very large and in depth wine menu)
North Pond (romantic!)
Gejas (fondu and also pretty romantic - they have a guitar player)
Ballo (Italian food and trendy atmosphere)
Hole in the Wall (it's not really a hole in the wall but pretty good classic menu - they only take cash though)
Hugo's (not going to lie on this a family friend manages there so we love the treatment - but we always get a great dinner)
La Veranda (Greek)
Rockit (for a WONDERFUL hamburger)
Uncle Sammy's (tried it while visiting my son at school one day - pretty good sandwich)


These are just some larger places we've been to recently. And as a side note that was an honest reply earlier.

Since everyone seems to be pretty active on this blog, any good suggestions for French food?? We've been to that place atop the Board of Trade (can't think of the name at the time - but maybe something a little less pricey). Sorry again I didn't mean to make you all mad! I'm new at this thing but decided to try it out because my good friend reviews restaurants all the time!

Hey, chigaoDiner33...

Here are some existing threads on those restaurants. We try to keep things in one place to a certain extent. Definitely jump in:

La Madia
North Pond
Ballo
Hole in the Wall
Hugo's

Geja's and Rockit don't seem to have dedicated threads, but have gotten a lot of talk in fondue and burger threads, respectively.

There doesn't seem to be much (if anything) on La Veranda or Uncle Sammy's, so you might want to start threads on those.

There's a link to the search function at the top of every page.

I meant to email about that duplicate post from Yelp too! Anyway, I live fairly close to Natalino's and have been pretty excited to try the new place in the 'hood. My sister in law went on Thursday and enjoyed it and my friend who I trust to give me restaurant recs went last night and thought it was great.....she said "generous pours of wine" which always works for me!

I would have gone last night but we are going to Sabatino's tonight and didn't want to OD on Italian (well my husband didn't). I hope some Ukie Village LTHers get there soon and post. We probably won't get there until next weekend but I will let you know.

I haven't gone to Natalino's yet (though my mom is visiting next week so I'll try to go then). However two of my roommates went with several of their friends and it was universally liked.

There seems to be a lot of shadiness going around with the restaurant. The worst being, of course, the driveby pellet gun shooting of the windows.

Hmmm ...so is the Carmine S. review gone from Yelp or am I looking in the wrong place?

It's gone, but the other shill comment is still there.

This thread is pretty interesting and I'm really looking forward to see how this soap opera plays out. I agree with the previous post about some shady dealings in regards to the place. I read in TOC that the windows were shot out (paraphrased from the owner) because the chef left Piano Piano to come to Natalino's.

We went there last night and if someone took this chef away from me I would shoot out their windows too.

We started off with sauteed squid and peppers. The squid was cut pretty
thick which I am usually not a fan of, but this was perfectly cooked and
tender. It was swimming in a great garlic jus. Second app was a simple
eggplant rolled with ricotta on a perfect and I mean perfectly light tomato
sauce. There were a few more apps I wanted to try like the polenta and
sausage but didn't get a chance. J had mushroom veal risotto with
white truffle. This was good but I'm not a fan of meat chunks in
risotto. I had the 8 finger cavatelli. Perfectly cooked with a vodka
sauce. J had a volkswagon sized chunk of tiramisu to herself to wrap
up the tour. I had the house barolo she had a pomegranate martini. There
were like 10 other things on the menu I wanted to try. I will be going
back many times. This is one of my new favorites. 85 bucks plus tip

I met my GF there the other day for a cocktail at 5pm since it's close to home...I can personally attest to the generous bar pour: my Knob Creek rocks was a two-hander, and her dirty martini was no slouch either! Beth (our bartender) was sweet-as-can-be and the ambiance is very warm. We didn't stay for dinner, but the menu does look appetizing. I want to point out two things that will bring me back: 1) calamari prepared 3 different ways - sauteed, grilled or fried. 2) a butt-load of veal options...I think there must have been 8-10 different veal dishes, as well as many pastas, chicken dishes, etc.

Oh, and my favorite part of that cocktail hour was the 5 "older gentlemen" who came in about 5:30 and sat at the end of the bar - they confirmed that there is a West Town outpost for the "Viagra triangle" whether you are wearing a Cosby sweater or not (1/2 were). "Ketel rocks, twist and olive. Thanks, doll."

Love it!

p.s. the wine list is weak...all the usual Santa Margherita PG and Ruffino chianti...bleh.

wino66 wrote:Oh, and my favorite part of that cocktail hour was the 5 "older gentlemen" who came in about 5:30 and sat at the end of the bar - they confirmed that there is a West Town outpost for the "Viagra triangle" whether you are wearing a Cosby sweater or not (1/2 were). "Ketel rocks, twist and olive. Thanks, doll."

I can substantiate your statements about the "Viagra Triangle" nature of certain bar patrons at Natalino's during a recent excursion there. However, the ones near me were drunk, loud, talking about women they recently "banged" and discussing loudly, amongst themselves, which one of them was eventually going to do the (female) bartender. All the while, they were fielding calls from their wives.

I thought the food was actually quite good - the restaurant itself must have some very rich investors as it is swankily (although not terribly tastefully IMHO) appointed. To put so much money into a restaurant on this ramshackle stretch of Chicago Avenue, that is nestled next to stores such as Chicago Discount and Mecca Fashions, puzzles me exceedingly.

However, if you're apt to be sensitive to certain colorful patrons at the bar, it might behoove you to make sure that the bar isn't too crowded before you commit to an evening meal there.

My boyfriend and I ate at Natalino's last week - we'd both been looking forward to it, as we live nearby and would like another option when craving neighborhood Italian food. (Bella Notte is a favorite, but we dislike La Scarola, and as a vegetarian, Oggi doesn't have a lot of options for me.)

As aschie30 alludes to, the decor is somewhat bizarre. The main room is decorated in a fairly traditional manner (not unlike Bella Notte, but brighter), while the walls are covered with movie posters. Odd movie posters. Madonna's Truth Or Dare? About Last Night? Big Night? I know a bit about movies, but for the life of me I can't figure out what links these films. Italian-Americans?

Additionally, they play their music really loud. It's contemporary light pop, and the diners sitting behind us had to ask their waiter to turn the volume down, as it was disrupting conversation at several tables, including ours.

The wine list is indeed pretty dull, but the food was generally good. For starters, my boyfriend requested a half order of the sauteed calamari, and they were happy to oblige. He devoured it. I had the arugula and fennel salad - where the server made his first mistake. As I've mentioned, I'm a veggie, so I asked if the salad could be made without pancetta. He said it wouldn't be a problem, but when my salad finally arrived (way after the boy's calamari) . . . it had pig in it. Once I got my pig-free replacement, it was quite tasty.

We both ordered pasta for dinner. I was toying with the gnocchi with gorgonzola, but the server recommended the 8-finger cavatelli in vodka sauce. So delicious. My boyfriend, who ordered the orecchiette with spicy sausage, was jealous of my pick.

For dessert, we tried the broken cannoli, the only item on the dessert menu that wasn't on the tray. It was ENORMOUS (and also another mistake on the server's part, as we ordered plain, but were brought chocolate. This was a less serious gaffe than the salad pig). It would seriously have served four or more people. It was only okay after my yummy cavatelli - I prefer Bari's cannoli.

I think we'll go back to Natalino's after they've had a chance to get their legs under them. Everyone was quite pleasant, including the owner, who came around when we were finishing up, but our waiter seemed awfully inexperienced, and I wasn't impressed by the decor or the fact that one of my dishes had meat in it. But the cavatelli were very good, and there are a number of other things on the menu I'd like to try.

Oh, and the crowd is indeed older. Lots of couples and small groups in their 50s and 60s.

bollygrl wrote:Additionally, they play their music really loud. It's contemporary light pop, and the diners sitting behind us had to ask their waiter to turn the volume down, as it was disrupting conversation at several tables, including ours.

In true LTH fashion, which is to analyze every detail of every restaurant, I'll go ahead and agree with you that the music is kind of strange. When I was there, they played random tracks from 3 CDs, Amy Winehouse, Frank Sinatra and old Stevie Wonder (which I'll admit I like). The combination of the three was really not very pleasant to the ears.

aschie30 wrote:In true LTH fashion, which is to analyze every detail of every restaurant, I'll go ahead and agree with you that the music is kind of strange. When I was there, they played random tracks from 3 CDs, Amy Winehouse, Frank Sinatra and old Stevie Wonder (which I'll admit I like). The combination of the three was really not very pleasant to the ears.

Wow... I'm a fan of certain Amy Winehouse songs ("Tears Dry on Their Own") but none of her music is really the right set of lyrics for dinner conversation. That's like playing Barry White songs at dinner instead of after dinner.... decent idea, lousy execution.

I made it to Natalino's about a week ago. I echo the comments regarding the decor, the music and the crowd.

With respect to the food, I thought my appetizer and pasta were actually pretty good. To start, I had the polenta with sausage. The dish was tasty, but could have been seasoned better (more salt?). It was also a bit difficult to eat because it was covered in a mound of melted cheese (which is by no means a bad thing!). For my main dish, I had rigatoni in a garlic and oil sauce with tomatoes, mushrooms and ricotta cheese. The pasta was cooked al dente and I enjoyed the dish.

I agree that the wine list was nothing to write home about. Nevertheless, I will be back for nice plate of pasta and maybe a glass of wine and a martini.

They really must have a thing for Winehouse, as I was treated to her as well - nothing like "Rehab" to make you hungry for pasta.

threadkiller wrote:Wow... I'm a fan of certain Amy Winehouse songs ("Tears Dry on Their Own") but none of her music is really the right set of lyrics for dinner conversation. That's like playing Barry White songs at dinner instead of after dinner.... decent idea, lousy execution.

Yeah, there's something kind of staccato about her songs that doesn't aid in digestion . . .

Another trip to Natalino's tonight, which is in my neighborhood.

Quite crowded for a Tuesday night, and again, lots of local "color." The food is quite good, not worth going terribly out of your way for (although I sense that several of the patrons do), but thoughtfully and well-prepared enough not to feel like run-of-the-mill Italian.

Banana peppers stuffed with sausage to start were quite hot and sweet at the same time, although the presentation suffered but not really due to any fault of the part of the kitchen -- these are banana peppers and when charred, will look like . . . you know. A pasta dish, with perfectly al dente pasta and sundried tomatoes and mushrooms with a balsamic cream sauce (not too sweet and nicely balanced), hit the spot. A standard "spaghetti and meatballs" had a lightly acidic pomodoro sauce, but the meatballs were too coarse for my taste.

As mentioned above, the wine list is so-so.

Okay, enough about the food. On to the playlist. The highlights during my visit were:

Various Sinatra Songs
Frankie Valli ("Working My Way Back To You") Three times. (I'll admit - I like this song.)
Amy Winehouse ("Rehab")
Barry Manilow ("Copacabana" - a remix)
Prince ("U Got The Look")

and the piece de resistance:
The Candyman("The candy man can . . . ") Twice.

Natalino's is in my neighborhood so I was really excited to try it. I went tonight with my fiance for a light bar dinner and got exactly what I was looking for. Actually, it beat my expectations.

We sat at the bar around 7:30 and were given a couple menus and a wine list. The bartender let us try our wine before we decided which was very nice and especially appreciated since the pours are very generous. We started with a cup of soup, which was good but not great, and the burrata appetizer. The burrata was delicious. It was simply served on a bed of arugala with cherry tomatoes and cracked pepper with 2 toast points. I've never had burrata before but enjoyed the contrast between the peppery and crispy arugula and the creamy and mild burata.

We took our time and later ordered the sauteed calamari. The calamari was flash fried and sauteed in a white wine and hot pepper sauce. The calamari was very tender and the sauce had enough spice to add interest but not take away from the calamari.

All and all it was a great bar meal. Our appetizers were carefully prepared and the bar service was warm and friendly. I am looking forward to returning and trying some items from the entree section of the menu. Before we left, the bar tender was nice enough to offer us an after dinner drink on the house. We left happy.

Had an experience at Natalino’s that was…disappointing. While few on LTH have raved about the place, I had received the vague impression that it is like an old-school Italian restaurant transplanted from the suburbs. Since the choice for our group of four was to go to an actual old-school place in the suburbs (Giannotti’s) or Natalino’s, and since we all live in the city, we picked the latter for convenience. But I don’t think Natalino’s is like an old-school Italian place transplanted from the suburbs. To me it feels more like a faux old-school Italian place transplanted from Fauxville, the slightly upmarket TGI Friday’s of old-school Italian places. I make no assertion about the authenticity of the ownership of the place, only that this is the impression the place creates.

The food? Not terrible. My Veal Marsala had a decent piece of veal under the sweet brown sauce that overwhelmed it. But that sweet, brown, un-Marsala sauce that overwhelmed it was unfortunate.

Also unfortunate was an incident with a waiter (not ours). As he walked past our table he knocked into one of the large, hardbound menus sitting on it, right into the dish of olives-in-oil on the table, which landed on my friend’s sport jacket. OK, accidents happen. But the waiter's response to the accident was all wrong. Instead of taking rapid steps to clean up the mess, he issued a perfunctory apology and then immediately went into “blaming us” mode, saying that since one of our menus was hanging a bit over the edge of the table, it was not his fault that he bumped into it. That’s highly arguable, but what wasn’t highly arguable was his insolence. (I’m not one who demands any unusual degree of deference in a restaurant, but I do know insolence when I see it, which fortunately is practically never—that’s what made this so shocking.) I insisted he get the manager, to which his response was, “I said I was sorry!” Anyway, upon a repetition of my demand the manager showed up and was apologetic, and of course said the restaurant would pay for the dry cleaning, but the feeling of “amateur night” created by that opening incident wasn’t dispelled by anything that came after.

Perhaps others have had more satisfactory experiences at Natalino’s?

Edited to remove address and phone number info, which I see is in the OP.

riddlemay wrote:While no one on LTH has raved about the place, I had received the vague impression that it is like an old-school Italian restaurant transplanted from the suburbs.

Is that supposed to be a good thing? It would seem that an old school Italian place transplanted from the city (ala Giannotti’s) would be something to look for, not the other way around (ala Olive Garden).

stevez wrote:

riddlemay wrote:While no one on LTH has raved about the place, I had received the vague impression that it is like an old-school Italian restaurant transplanted from the suburbs.

Is that supposed to be a good thing? It would seem that an old school Italian place transplanted from the city (ala Giannotti’s) would be something to look for, not the other way around (ala Olive Garden).

I was thinking of the good old-school Italian places I've been to in near suburbs like Elmwood Park. A place like that, in the city, would be a good thing. (Sabatino's is one. Others would be nice, too.)