Food was good but they are shady with their byob policy. We sat at the bar and the bartender Jonathan told us the corkage fee was $25 so we decided to open the bottle. However we were charged $40 for the corkage fee. He claimed he told us $40 but we never would have opened the wine if that was the case. He totally lied and tried to give us limoncello to make it right which we refused. read more

Absolutely delicious!! First of all the garlic and cheesy bread given out before dinner was perrrfect!! I believe they also had a couple pieces of pepperoni/salami! Don't eat all lol. We had the Rigatoni the sauce was amazing really rich and flavorful. We also had the penne carbonara very light flavor however very pleasurable as well! Can't wait to go back and try more!! The place is so cute for a first date! read more

This is my favorite restaurant in the city of Chicago. I dream of the pasta every night. The first time we went we got the rigatoni and chicken Parmesan. Everything was cooked perfectly. The second time going I fully intended to get that same meal. But omg they added carbonara and a juicy pork!! So hard to cook a pork as perfectly as this. The second time around the noodles were still cooked perfectly Al dente. When I go back I don't know how I will decide on what to get because it is all so freakin good. The atmosphere is so cute, I love the emerald green and gold color combo. Hard to even think about that when you're eating the best meal of your life though!!! read more

Elina's - Carbonara - Italian Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

This place is a joke. The food misses on every level. If you decide to offer your thoughts directly to the owner IAN. He gets butt hurt. Do Yourself a favor and stay away. The pastas are like baby food, you don't need teeth to eat it. The ribs are fried and so dry. The fried grilled cheese was like eating oil. Ewww. My guess is the so called chef came from Olive Garden. read more

I had read about Elina's for a while and was able to secure a reservation for our anniversary (I set an alarm for 12:01 AM 30 days before I wanted to go). To say I was excited was an understatement. We arrived and were promptly seated. My seat was directly next to a pole which would have upset me but I was too focused on trying the food that I didn't give it much thought. Elina's is on several lists (Thrillist, Infatuation, Eater) as both the best Italian and on Infatuation as best restaurants to BYO. So - we brought a Brunello we had been wanting to open for a special occasion only to be told that they changed their policy and the corkage fee would be $40. No apology - just the facts. We tried to be flexible and asked to taste some of their Italian reds but they didn't compare to what we brought. So we figured - what the hell - it's our anniversary so why not splurge on the corkage fee. These two events should have been a warning sign to leave. The restaurant was so hot, our food came out so quickly that we felt rushed, no one bothered to change our appetizer plates (we only noticed when the very close table next to us had their plates changed), and not ONE single person acknowledged our anniversary despite mentioning it at the start of the meal AND writing it on our reservation request. We didn't expect a free cannoli (like one reviewer wrote for her birthday) - just an acknowledgment that we chose THIS restaurant for the celebration. I understand that the restaurant industry is in crisis - that the prices of ingredients are rising and that it's difficult to secure servers/staff. That's why we specifically chose a smaller, neighborhood restaurant to celebrate our anniversary. But when the interactions are cold and dismissive, this makes us regret choosing a place like Elina's over a more established or recognized Italian restaurant like Alla Vita or Daisies or Monteverde. I cannot, in good faith, recommended Elina's (even though their chicken parm was one of the best in the city). read more

The fookd is great. The service is absolutely awful. The servers act like your doing them a favor eating there. We thought it was our server. But watched in disbelief as other patrons/customers were treated the same way. The food is great. The wine selection is good too but pricey. If you have to eat here........Get it to go read more

Excellent service by Alli. Great flavors way above average! Highly recommend this dark, narrow, hide away. read more

Every single item we ordered was absolute perfection. The service was so good. Everything made up for the fact that the tables are super close together. I'm from New York so I'm quite used to this. Get the chicken parm and the rigatoni. They are everything. I rarely write yelp reviews but had to run to write this after my birthday dinner last night. This place is incredible. read more

This was one of the best meals we have ever had on vacation. Perfect caesar salad and angel hair pasta dish was to die for. Tiramisu delicioso. Sat on patio. Friendly service. Definitely recommend! read more

If you're a foodie, it's worth the uncomfortably close tables. If you prefer intimacy & privacy, I do not recommend. Food was 10/10. Staff was friendly & service was efficient. They received their liquor license & now have a nice selection of wine & cocktails (was previously byob). Unfortunately it's a small venue & the tables for two were less than a foot apart on each side. It felt as though we were dining with strangers; elbows knocked & conversation was not private. We were in & out within one hour. read more

Elina's is divine! My husband, daughter and I keep coming back :) thus far we have tried FUSILLI ALLA NORCINA (incredible), BRANZINO "CIOPPINO" (yum-nation), CHERRY PEPPER RIBS (fantastique) & SILVIO'S MEATBALLS (fav soprano's character and fav meatballs!). They offer complimentary bread service with the BEST garlic bread and tomato foccacia w GABAGOOL - sighhhh :) would recommend. 10/10. read more

I really wanted to love this place after what I heard but it was so disappointing in so many ways. For some reason they only offer reservations at terrible times of days (5 PM and 1030 PM) but my Conceirge was able to get me a table at prime time on Friday night. We arrived at 7:30 for our 7:30 table and were told it would be a while and to take a walk. We came back and we're eventually seated at 7:50. Despite many open tables and seats at the bar. We sat down and we're given water and put in our appetizers right away. We were not offered drinks at all throughout the meal at any point. After 40 minutes our Salad came out followed by a bread basket 10 minutes and then our other appetizer later after that. Why is the bread served after appetizers...? We were told to put in our entrees before we even got our apps and that would be the last time we saw our water until we got the check....was when we ordered entrees. Service was Abysmal. I mean actually terrible with every table awkwardly waiting around for staff and looking to see why there was no food. For the actual food reviews: Cesaer Salad - decent salad, the croutons are the exact same bread as the bread basket. Not even baked differently. Mozzarella app -inedible. A piece of white bread with low quality mozzarella and pesto and jarred red sauce on it. A huge miss Rigatoni alavodka - this place claimed to be just like carbone and clearly tries to copy the menu. The rigatoni is decent but it's not any bit as good as carbone. Noodles didn't feel fresh at all. Felt boxed Chicken parm -average run of the mill chicken parm but extremely overpriced. Carbone offers a full chicken for their menu offering that blows you away. This leaves you wanting more Couldn't even think about dessert after crawling our way through a 2+ hour dinner with no refills on water. I can't reccomend this place unless they really fix the service. The prices are too high to justify it. They tried to be carbone but swung and missed and I'm not sure where it falls. Somewhere better than Olive Garden but not really competitive to solid Italian in the city like Monteverde. read more

Hands down the best rigatoni vodka sauce I've had in Chicago! The fried eggplant dish was also super good. Reservations aren't easy to come by but it's worth the wait! Can't wait to go back. read more

Recently dined at Elina with my downtown living foodie children. . Limited menu, but great vibe, good music, excellent service, killer food and affordable prices.. Love the BOYB flexibility as well. Indeed, the lack of fake creativity is obvious. Dinner included Baked Clams Casino: Plump, fresh, sizzling & perfectly prepared. Fried Calamari: Fresh and cooked with the right oil that was still clean, a rarity. Eggplant Argodolce: Delicate and beyond delicious. Meatballs: Good, but Davanti Enoteca in Western Springs has the best. Penne Prosciutto In Creamy Parmesan Sauce with Peas: Substituted with Angel Hair, but a world class Paglia e Fieno application. Shrimp Scampi: Fresh, perfectly prepared & huge quantity. To maintain consistent high quality, limited menus have the edge, but would love to see Stuffed Baked Calamari, Arancini Stuffed Rice Balls (Eataly has the best), ground veal Manicotti, Rabbit, Eggplant Involtini and a Veal Chop added on a rotational basis. Would also suggest Polpo Ala Griglia with fresh lemon juice & balsamic, but nobody makes Grilled Octopus like the Greek Islands. Before the food hit the skids, Tuscany in Oakbrook, now closed, also killed it when they first opened. Indeed, they brought the charred baby octopus to the table, cut it up, put it over a bed of chopped Radicchio, squezed half a lemon on it and finished it with a shot of good balsamic. Wow! When they get their liquor license, we can only hope they will include some of the great whites from Campania rather than the junk distributors push on restaurants. The low cost whites from the region are fabulous, the expensive ones are not. They may not have it now, but Piccolo Sogno offered the wonderful Villa Matilde Falanghina as their house white wine. While not from Campania, the $20 Etna Bianco by Montafore (available at Eataly) is also a perfect Italian white. Price has nothing to do with what's in the bottle. Loving the BYOB availability, foodies should team up the Southern French Montrose Rose ($9), the Northeastern Emile Beyer Pinot Blanc ($16) and the 90+Cellars CA Pinot Noir ($9) with Elina's menu. All cheap, fabulous, available at Binny's and a punch in the gut to wine snobs. In short, good baked clams are almost impossible to get in Chicagoland now. The numerous articles on Chicago's best baked clams are all sadly misinformed. Fear not clam lovers, we can still get them at the newly opened Elina & Bella Notte. We also won't need a microscope to find them. This is exactly why I am happy to see the opening of Alina. They have the potential to fill some big old school Italian shoes that need filling. As fifty year Italian Foodie, sad to say that old school Italian restaurants in Chicagoland are dead or dying. The downtown Doro's and Marchetti's Como Inn are long gone. The food at the once fabulous Rosebud and Tuscany on Taylor is now borderline edible at best. Other than the octopus salad, the people watching Carmine's is also mediocre. Alfredo Capitanini did a fabulous job with the downtown Italian Village for decades and the second generation continued the run. Sadly, the last generation has turned it into a sad memory of its glorious past. While there is no longer a reason to dine in Little Italy on Taylor St, Sapori Trattoria, Eataly, Piccolo Sogno, Gibson's Italia and Topo Gigio are still noteworthy on a good night. Indeed, Gibson's Italia may be Chicago's top must dine destination restaurant. read more

Favorite Italian in the city by far, not sure how I haven't heard of this place when it opened! Been back the second time in one month. We got the Caesar salad calamari meatball and the rigatoni vodka which all were to die for. The first time I went they were sold out of the meatball which our server said happens regularly so you got to go early! Service , food, atmosphere 10/10. Only thing I'd complain about is the restaurants really small so all the tables are on top each other, other than that I love this place. read more

Elina's - Rigatoni alla vodka - Italian Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

What a gem! Quaint neighborhood place that emits such a warm feeling, starting with the gracious staff. We had the calamari/shrimp appetizer which was great and the Caesar salad which was exceptional as well. But the 4+ star part was the chicken parm, seriously the best I have ever had. Tender, flavorful chicken, just the right amount of cheese, and a wonderful crust. Ian and Eric are remarkably talented and if you love Bavette's like we do, another wonderful spot, Ian is largely responsible for their success. Don't miss Elina's read more

Amazing food, fantastic service but prepare for an intimate dinner with the tables next to you. Seriously the food was fantastic and would recommend every pasta dish on the menu, you cannot go wrong and also might as well have some leftovers for lunch tomorrow. Two notes... first, your table is about 6 inches from a table next to it (unless you're at a booth). I get it, it's a small space and the more tables, the more revenue but it's just too close. Two, they charge a 3% "processing fee" on your check, regardless of payment method. Now maybe they don't take cash, but seems interesting, also because they charge you tax on their fee (which makes me think it's a "service"). All in all, I'm all for supporting a living wage and am good with a service charge that goes to the staff but paying a non-descriptive "processing fee" seems unusual at best. Remove a table or two and clarify the 3% fee, then this is a 5 star restaurant. read more

A gem of a restaurant, with a classic and welcoming staff and atmosphere and aromas of Italian food cooking greet you at the door. We had a reservation and were seated right away. The appetizers and bread courses were delicious with the best focaccia bread I've ever had. I usually order calamari at most restaurants when it's on the menu and this was one of the best I've had. The caesar salad was fresh with a absolutely delicious dressing, spot on flavors! Our dinner group shared entrees of rigatoni a la vodka, shrimp scampi, meatballs, eggplant parmesan and penne with prosciutto and sweet peas. Every dish was delicious and as good as the next. The service was excellent! We did not feel rushed, and the restaurant was busy on a Saturday night. Elina's is a very special restaurant and I can't wait to go back with family. read more

Intimate spot on Grand. Cool old school speakers set the stage for a chill evening. Meatballs and Caesar salad with horseradish in the dressing were an A+. The bread and aperitif of pickled eggplant were also great. Had the fusilli which I have a 3.75/5 and the chicken parm which I'm a nutcase about. Also good. Overall a nice spot with a no corkage fee BYOB which is also appreciated. Bullish moderate prices Italian on grand Ave. check it out. read more

Great atmosphere & music. Keep working on the menu & it could get there. How do you mess up Chicken Parmesan?

Caesar 9/10 Rigatoni 10/10 Dover sole 12/10 Vesuvio potatoes 5/10 BYOB $10pp Complimentary bread service No complains on service Will return read more

Phenomenal. The Rigatoni is unreal. The vibe is cozy. The tunes are vibey. Adding to list of favorites.

Flavorful food & ambiance. Generous portions. We loved the rigatoni a la vodka. BYOB!

Went here for our anniversary on feb 12. Great authentic Italian food. Only down side is the place is too small. Service was just okay. We order a couple side and dishes one was never brought out. Most tables are right next to each other and you can hear everyone's conversation. Overall a solid experience but would not try it again. read more

Very tiny place. You have to make reservations in advance. Went for a belated birthday dinner with my daughter who lives in the city. Tables are so close together you have to ask the people next to you to move their table over so you can get in to or out of your chair. Menu is very small. We ordered a variety of items because my daughter couldn't settle on just one entree. The caesar salad was pretty much like any other caesar salad with the exception of the garlic bread croutons which were huge and very good. They look hard, but are actually soft inside and they came warm. The complimentary bread (two different kinds with tomato and cheese), eggplant, and salami were a nice touch - although neither of us ate the eggplant. For entrees we ordered the chicken parmesan (very big portion, not bad but tasted dry), the rigatoni alla vodka (which my daughter loved and I thought was pretty standard), and the angel hair scampi with crab, lemon, and parsley (which we both agreed was very different and delicious). We both took home boxes with leftovers. Only available dessert was tiramisu, which they ended up being out of, so they gave us two complimentary shots of limoncello with a birthday candle. Nice touch. read more

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Ate here on Thursday night. Food was great - the basket of a bread with grandma's bread is must have! We had the eggplant parm, which came out looking like a lasagna...it was fuckin bomb! Go enjoy read more

Food was spectacular. Service was great and accommodating. Ambiance was intimate and small. Highly recommend for any occasion.

Don't walk, run for your next date night. We have eaten inside and now on the patio - both great and cozy vibes . Well spaced out service. Drinks are beautiful and tasty. And the food is incredible. Highly recommend the Caesar salad and eggplant parm read more

Food was fantastic, restaurant is small and cozy, and the staff is attentive. One of the best restaurants I've been to in Chicago. Get the rigatoni! read more

Great environment and ambiance! It is BYOB so don't forget your drinks! Great for a date night. Would recommend the rigatoni alla vodka.

Had chicken parm and rigatoni vodka. Both were good, not great and nothing special. Won't be back given the quality and cost.

Outstanding! Best spicy rigatonni and chicken Parmesan. Chicagos Carbone. 10/10 experience

Food was excellent but the tables are so close to one another that it was awkward sitting at the tables when you were 3 inches away from the next person. Would go again but they need to redo seating arrangements. read more

Elina's - Chicken parm and rigatoni - Italian Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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I wanted to love this place. Cute, Italian -American food and near where I live. Instead, it was meh at best. I give it 2 stars for the total of 2 dishes (of the 6 we were served) that were good: the rigatoni pasta and the tiramisu. There were three of us and we were sat at a small round table at the front of the restaurant. It was small but that was Ok - we intended to order shareable dishes in courses. The server took our drink orders and explained to us that the restaurant required that everything be ordered at once and he would course it out. We told him that we were going to start with cocktails, then order a bottle of white wine which would pair with our first courses and we would follow with a bottle of Amarone we had brought with us (we had earlier ascertained that they permitted BYOB with a $40 corkage per bottle - expensive but the bottle was special and not on their wine list) to pair with our later courses. We asked the server to start us with salads, followed by the Dover sole and an order of charred broccoli, then we asked to be served the eggplant parmigiana with the rigatoni alla vodka together as a third course. The server told us that he might not be allowed to serve the rigatoni with the eggplant parm because they "always serve the pasta following the salad course." We expressed surprise but asked him to try. We explained that we were trying to pair wines for each course and the coursing was important to us. Our server assured us things would be coursed out but couldn't promise what would come out in each course. Not a good front of the house interaction but we were keeping our fingers crossed. Our cocktails were served and they were fine. While we were drinking our cocktails, we were approached by servers with lots of food. They serve pickled vegetables, sliced salumi and bread as a start and that was placed on our table. Along with the salumi course, we were served our salads. They were placed on the table - and, a minute later, the servers brought out the Dover sole and the charred brocolli. It was unbelievable: on this tiny table they had stacked dish after dish after dish - at the same time. Then, the white wine came with 3 glasses. And..we were still trying to finish our cocktails. Our plates couldn't fit completely so they were hanging off the edge by about an inch. Crazy! We told the server that we had wanted separate courses and this was not acceptable. He said he couldn't help how the food came out of the kitchen and walked away. Say what? We tried to eat but I skipped the bread and salumi because the fish and broccoli were getting cold. The salad was over-dressed and soggy, the Dover sole was a tiny portion (it was supposed to feed 2 people) that was just ok. The broccoli was lukewarm before I could get to it so it was not at its best. A woman server came by and asked how everything was (clearly our male server had not told her that we were not happy with most of our meal being served at the same time). We explained that the simultaneous arrival of the bread/salumi starter, salads, and the fish course had been a disaster. She said "sorry about that' and walked away. Then, after they cleared away the half-eaten cold first courses, we were brought the eggplant parmigiana and pasta. The eggplant parmigiana is a rectangular piece cut from a pan of layered eggplant. It would probably be very good if it had been warm and freshly plated. Instead, it had apparently been left to sit while we were trying to eat all of 3 first courses at the same time. It was lukewarm and hard. So disappointing. The pasta, on the other hand, was perfectly cooked and delicious - yay! We ate all of it. Since we were celebrating the start of the holidays (and since we had not finished the eggplant and had red wine to finish), we shared dessert. The tiramisu was the best part of the meal. Creamy, sweet, bitter goodness. I tis hard to say what happened here. Maybe the server didn't communicate with the kitchen about coursing and everything was fired at once (except the pasta?). Maybe the server did communicate and the kitchen messed up. Regardless, the. alck of any management presence making this right means we won't be back. All of the front of the house staff could see what was happening as all of the first 3 courses were served at once. They should have re-fired the fish and broccoli instead of forcing it onto the table with the salads and starters. The food was meh - and the service was awful. I live a few blocks from Monteverde. La Scarola and Piccolo Sogno are a stone's throw from Elina's. All of those restaurants are much better. There is no reason to patronize Elina's. read more

Best Italian food since staying in Milan! Staff extremely attentive, quality amazing!

A nightmare of Italian overstatement in the American, not Italian tradition. Anyone who has gone to Milano, and eaten there, knows themselves the essence of Italian cooking is subtle respect to in gredients. Anyone who has eaten at Elina's has seen the opposite: destruction of ingredients by overblown sauces. The Dover Sole was the worst one can imagine. The salty vinegary sauce would go well on a slice of Parmesian or even Regianno. On the delicate flavor of sole ..... Even the shrimp cocktail was served with the most inappropriate sauce one could imagine, almost straight Dijon. The rigatoni was spicy enough to be a mild curry and the flavor as incongruous. Only the meatball was delicious and that of course in the tradition of New York, Philadelphia, Boston, or Chicago Italian food, created with the exuberant flavors of Sicily. read more

Save your money and go to any of the other family Italian restaurants in Chicago. Highlights (rather lowlights) from a non-memorable dining experience from 03/11/23: - Reservations at 5:30 pm. Arrived at 5:20 pm and staff did not open doors until a few minutes after 5:30 pm while we waited outside in the cold. Other parties were waiting outside as well. - A "new" cake cutting fee of $4 per person that was implemented between 11/26/22 and 03/11/23. We celebrated my sister's birthday on 11/26/22 at Elina's and was not charged any fees. - Food took an extremely long time to be delivered, which is understandable because it's a small restaurant that was packed on a Saturday evening. What isn't understandable is the staff cleaning the table (removing our water glasses, tablecloths, and silverware) before we even got up to leave. - Dishes ordered were meh at best and small for the price. In November it was such a memorable experience and the food was amazing hence why we booked again for another birthday dinner. - Missing food. We had our leftovers boxed and when we got home we noticed some of our food was missing. - Unresponsive management. I tried to get a hold of management via email to tell them about my experience and have not heard back from them. Wanted to support a small local restaurant, but I will not be returning and suggest others look elsewhere for great Italian cuisine. read more

My friends and I went to Elinas after waiting forever to get a reservation and it was decent. The clams were not very good. I had bites of shell in mine, so obviously they weren't cleaned well. The pastas were great. We ordered the sole for a GF member of our party and it was MP--turned out to be more than twice the cost of an entree (over $60). Was not worth it at all, and a little surprising they would charge so much more than an average cost for their other entrees. The host was incredibly rude. I fully expected the have a poor experience following our interaction with her (she told us our reservation time was wrong so we had to show it to another hostess and she was nice enough to seat us but the fact we had to provide proof was pretty inexcusable especially given the restaurant was empty when we arrived) but our waiter was nice. I probably won't go back but overall it was ok. read more

Absolutely awful experience! Owners/Chefs Ian Rusnak and Eric Safin serve overcook PASTA RIBS that taste like bad beef jerky, DOVER SOLE chard and beyond Salty! SALADS drenched in salad dressing! Not worth the wait or the food!!! Deplorable! A MUST SKIP! read more

Overpriced and undercooked chicken park and shrimp scampi and $10 per person cork fee - it's ítalian tapas gentlemen - skip it and find a better spot to impress your date (if that's your plan) - and for a real Italian meal with full plates of meat and pasta way too many other options to go with read more