Osteria Del Mercato – Eataly Chicago

The first time to eat here. we came to recommendation. overtroffene expectations! everything was fantastic!

The food was phenomenal! However, it took 15 minutes and me asking someone where our waiter was for us to see someone. They had what seemed like 2 bussers for every table and only 1 waiter for every 5. Definitely need to rethink their staffing. The waiter who ended up serving us wasn’t our designated waiter but he killed it! It’s just frustrating to see so many workers standing around and not getting served.

We had a reservation for noon on Sunday, and it was no problem to bump it forward to 11-ish, since we arrived early after checking out of our hotel. Appreciate that!! The menu options were all really tempting, and we went for a couple of appetizers and then waited to order our pasta dishes. Once again, the octopus was great, and the thinly sliced fennel was the perfect texture. Pasta was nicely cooked and great flavor. Jose, our server, was very amiable, knowledgable, and competent.

While the taste of the food was good, the size of the portions for the price was a bit absurd. My husband ordered a pasta dish for $24 and it was maybe a half cup serving. He had to eat something else when we got home an hour later.

Food and service was great. Would certainly recommend. I’d say appropriate dress would be smart causal.