Cocello (in what was briefly the Dillmans space)

Had a lackluster dinner here tonight. Foodwise, nothing was great and nothing was horrible but what was notably atrocious was the service, which just sucked 6 ways to Tuesday. With what seemed to be a full staff and a dining room that was no more than half-full, we waited a good 20 minutes for drinks and 30 minutes for any bread to hit our table -- and that was after 2 courses had already been served. On 2 separate occasions a manager type came to our table asking if we wanted drinks. In both instances we informed him that we'd already ordered them with our server, who never made eye contact with us, seemed to avoid us on purpose and seemed focused on being hip rather than professional. The complete indifference here was astonishing, especially given how great the service has consistently been on my visits to other Hogsalt/Sodikoff spots. This was so poor and detached, even if the food had been great, I'd probably never return. It wasn't, so the decision will be an easy one. There are just way too many great places in town to willingly put up with such amateurism.

=R=

Cocello
354 W Hubbard St
Chicago, IL 60654
(312) 888-9195

To add a counter-perspective: we went during the soft opening a month ago when it was pretty crowded (due in no small part to the discount offered). Soft opening or not, the service was terrific. We were quoted a 90 minute wait for a table, but found a small table/chairs in the bar-lounge area opening almost immediately. Our waitress was a little scattered as she was running between a number of regular tables as well as our bar table, but we had terrific service. Bread (really good, pretty warm, crusty outside soft inside bread) was brought quickly (as was a refill on the bread we requested), water, drinks, and food all arrived within normal times. I remember tipping extra because we liked our waitress so much.

We liked the red snapper crudo (small portion, but delicious anyway) and the citrus salad, but really enjoyed cacio e pepe (I'm definitely going back for that dish) and the fettucine (proscuitto and asparagus). The food was pretty good -- not sure it qualifies for great given lack of uniqueness (it's Italian after all), but at the end of the day we liked the atmosphere and service, and the food was good enough to go back at some point. Or at least get the cacio e pepe to go. I'm sorry to hear that the quality of service may have declined in the past month as they are settling in to "normal".

bluepig wrote:I'm sorry to hear that the quality of service may have declined in the past month as they are settling in to "normal".

It could have just been an off night but it was truly maddening. Very atypical for this outfit and hopefully not a trend.

=R=

I dined at the bar on Monday (5/19) and I echo ronnie_suburban's experience. The food was solid, but not outstanding. And speaking as a veteran bar diner I can attest the bar service was very underwhelming. My cocktail and water glasses sat empty, I had to ask for silverware and the bartender seemed completely bored by my presence. I was never served the bread I saw on the tables, but I'm not sure if I was suppose to. The whole experience was completely lame. I won't be back.

Sounds like they kept a lot of the Dillman's staff.

disagree wrote:Sounds like they kept a lot of the Dillman's staff.

yep

We had dinner at Cocello Saturday night. Really enjoyed the food (thanks to the tips here, we stuck with the salads and pastas and were not disappointed) I love the room & the vibe, and we had no issues of attitude from any of the staff. Our only issue involved attentiveness & pacing. Salads arrived within moments of ordering, the wine not till we almost done with them. Then a long gap till entrees arrived, and another one to attend to clearing those plates and asking about dessert. Server would disappear for long stretches; the manager finally stepped in to bring our check.

We'll probably go back as we both like the atmosphere and the food alot, but will do so knowing it'll be a long evening that requires a large measure of patience.

I had dinner last night at Cocello and came away very impressed. First, I've had some less than stellar front of house/management/service experiences in the past few weeks that have left me wondering whether that's perhaps a new norm. But I'm happy to report that service at Cocello was fantastic from the moment we walked in to the moment we left -- friendly and efficient front of house, a great waiter, timely service.

As for the food, it too was excellent. I've had the egg yolk raviolo at countless restaurants, but I can't recall one done as perfectly as at Cocello. Every single element was perfect, including the nutty browned butter and the oozing yolk. In an age where so many chefs move on from a dish before they've perfected it, it's nice to see an almost perfectly concepted dish also be executed flawlessly.

Though nothing rose to the heights of the egg yolk raviolo, everything else was at least very good if not excellent. The house made bread was delicious, with a terrific crust and I loved the combination of fennel and sourdough. Linguine with clams offered both perfectly al dente pasta and just the right mix of sea and garlic. Roast chicken was moist without feeling overworked and had a terrific crisped skin. I thought the cacio e pepe was delicious might have been a touch light on pepper for my taste, but I only had a bite so I'm not quite sure.

My lone complaint perhaps is that this is one of those menus where you can't necessarily separate appetizers from entrees, and our waiter had to help us through this a bit (basically, letting us know when we ordered something that seemed to be an entree that it was not). I guess I could also complain that it's no longer my beloved Dillman's, but the food helped me move on a lot faster. Overall though, a fantastic meal and I can't wait to return to try more.

There was an interesting Hungry Hound segment last week about the Somalian refugee currently at Cocello who has mastered the art of making handmade pasta:

http://abc7chicago.com/food/somali-refu ... lo/335573/

I returned to Cocello last night for a light dinner before the Straight No Chaser concert at the Chicago Theatre. I loved everything about the linguine and clams (though it's a smaller portion) and I was pretty close to licking every last drop of sauce out of the dish.

There were also positives to the lasagna, mainly the al dente noodles, but I've never been a big fan of ricotta-based lasagnas. This was more of the homestyle variety, which while fine, is not something I'd personally recommend. I'll note though that it was a huge portion.

Went a couple of nights ago. Quite disappointing. Burrata was served room temperature warm, around 82F, and was chalky. My partner's rigatoni with vodka sauce tasted like cardboard with a light almost tasteless sauce. The first version was way undercooked (not al dente yet), so the server took it back for them to re-do. The second was cooked but very tough, as if it had been extruded way too thick and it was the consistency of cardboard). The lasagna tasted like a thick tomato soup (the lasagna was tomato heavy and soup like) with a metallic taste as if it had come from a can (I'm sure it didn't but it had a strange metallic taste nevertheless). Service was good and solicitous but my God, what's going on in that kitchen?

Well that didn't take long.

http://chicago.eater.com/2015/5/29/8687 ... offee-shop