Pompei Italian Restaurant

You can never go wrong for quick eats at Pompei on Taylor Street. Though you won't see it on the take out menu, the rigatoni in vodka sauce is to die for and only available on Sundays. It's enough for two too.

Another favorite of mine is Mela Verde salad made with apples, dried cherries, gorgonzola and walnuts. I have never gotten stuffed on a salad like I do on this one. There are many other salads too like a Caprese Chicken Cesear and of course an Anitpasta.

Italian sandwiches include an eggplant parmigiana (Fridays only), sausage and pepper and egg.

Pompei imports pasta and also makes their own. Complete with sausage and meatballs. You can also choose from several kinds of ravioli, cavatelli or gnocchi.

And of course there's pizza! Stuffed or Pompei's famous hand-rolled with all the fixings. You can even create your own.

A unique menu choice is Pompei's Strudels. One can choose from a Poor Boy, Turkey Stuffing, Chicken Fajita and many more.

They offer beer on tap and even suggest wines to go with your meal.

It's deli style but with an ample eat-in dining area, take out or delivery. There's a small parking lot in the back too.

Pompei
1531 W. Taylor
Chicago, IL 60607
312-421-5179
312-421-8060 fax
M-Sat 10:30 am - 10:00 pm
Sun 11:00 am - 9:00 pm

cas wrote:Another favorite of mine is Mela Verde salad made with apples, dried cherries, gorgonzola and walnuts. I have never gotten stuffed on a salad like I do on this one.

Oh yes, our admissions dept. serves this with either pizza or lasagne to the interviewees. When there are leftovers, we get to graze My favorite! The lasagne I could do without (if it wasn't free and the pizza is fine, but OH that salad.

I also like their asparagus salad. It's just asparagus with parmesan, lemon juice and olive oil. I don't know what makes it so special, but no-one else's version of this is nearly as good. I love to eat the juice in the bottom of the dish soaked up in their bread (which I think they make in-house).

Welcome. The word choices and cadence seem familiar. Have we seen your work elsewhere?

The last time I visited the Pompei on Sheffield (about a week ago), they were, unfortunately, the very definition of confusion and incompetence. People's carry-out orders were falling through the cracks, and when rescued from the cracks, were coming out wrong in one way or the other. I have seen them crowded before (and this was no more crowded than on some of those occasions), but I have never seen them as overwhelmed before--so seemingly not up to the job of being the kind of restaurant they've set out to be. I'm hoping it was an anomaly.

I have mixed feelings about Pompei's food and service, but I dine there every once in a while. On my last two visits, I found myself looking longingly at the squares of chocolate cake. Should I fulfill my desire and "go for it" next time, or should I save the calories for a better piece of chocolate cake? My personal preference when it comes to chocolate cake is a rich, very chocolatey/fudgey flavor. No amount of decadence would be too much.

kithat -- i'll tell you what. There was a period in a previous job where every "order in" lunch/celebration we got was from Pompeii Bakery. And every time the word went out that we were bringing in lunch from there, at least a half dozen staffers would come up to me and beg, plead and insist that I get that chocolate cake. I always loved their lemon knots but my people were WILD for that chocolate cake. Now...please remember you're talking about a bunch of journalists, so keep that in mind in terms of "they'll devour anything".

NO offense to journalists -- i realize that's pretty much 50% of LTH.

Also dug that Mela Verde salad -- it was always a big draw.

People also really liked the breadcrumby/olive pizza -- they liked a cheeseless option.

Despite the fact that that the initial post in this thread sounded a bit self-serving...my experiences with Pompeii have always been quite positive.

shannon

We're close to the Taylor location, and I LOVE that mela verde salad (greens with blue cheese, dried fruit (cherries?), apple slices, walnuts. Their asparagus is a thing of beauty (spritzed with the perfect ratio of parmesan, lemon juice, olive oil) and I could drink the leftover puddle on the plate (instead I use the bread and sop it up). And their pizza isn't bad. It's what I think is called Sicilian style - very bready. If you don't expect it to be another style, it's pretty good.

Had our first chance to go to the new/reopened Pompei at Sheffield and Wellington for lunch today. (We were out of town last week.)

In most ways it is comfortably like the previous Pompei at this location, except spiffed up for the 21st century. In one way it was better. Among the things we had was a slice of ricotta pizza and, based on this admittedly small sample size of one, we agreed the pizza is better now than it was before. A more favorable ratio of toppings to bread, and said bread had a pleasing toastiness that we don't recall.

Beer and wine are listed on the menuboard as "coming soon."

We arrived around 12:15. By about 12:40 lunch business had built to the level we used to see in the previous Pompei, which was good to see.

Pompei
2955 N. Sheffield
Chicago IL

Are they delivering yet? I thought I saw ads for delivery drivers on their website but for some reason, I recall it looking like they wouldn't be starting right away...