I loved everything about this restaurant. The staff were so attentive and kind. It's a beautiful space and very large. The meatballs, garlic bread, beef carpaccio, bucatini carbonara and steak frites were delicious. Our server Justine was phenomenal and so kind. Kudos to the entire Formento's team! read more

This is a nice Italian restaurant. Good selection of fresh home made pastas, steaks and traditional Italian dishes. We got the calamari and it was good, kinda surprised us when there was fried vegetable's mixed in. I ordered the chicken parmigiana and bocatini pasta. Both were very tasty but the chicken parmigiana was not worth $40. It was good but I've tasted as good in other restaurants for a lot less. I'll get the other the other dishes next time instead. Service was really good. Lastly we got the peach crustata which was delicious. We were full by the time we left! Great Italian restaurant. read more

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Love coming to Formento's when I'm in the West Loop! Really great service, warm and classy ambiance, and fantastic food! The apps are perfect with a glass of wine to relax and enjoy! read more

The service was great, but the food did not deliver for the price. The Chicken Parmesan had some flavor, but the side of spaghetti, although comped, was bland and lacked seasoning. The carbonara tasted more like buttered noodles than a true carbonara. The ribeye was seasoned well, and the vodka pasta was decent, but overall the meal felt overpriced and very under-seasoned for what we received. read more

3.5 stars.. came here for brunch after seeing how busy dinner the night before was. Brunch is a different atmosphere for sure. The restaurant was not busy. There were only a couple of patrons in addition to my friend and I. I giving the restaurant 3.5 stars because the kitchen was super slow despite the restaurant being empty and our waiter wasn't really attentive. Brunch was simple for me. There is plenty to choose from pancakes to eggs and meatballs but I decided to opt for the prosciutto poached eggs with breakfast potatoes. The prosciutto saved this dish and paired very well with the hollandaise sauce. The potatoes were equally yummy as they had a bit of Parmesan cheese and garlic. I had an overall good experience. read more

Formento's - Italian Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Food and service were really great. Agnolotti was superb as well as the salmon! Patio is dog friendly. Staff is very friendly. Finishing touch: the chocolate cake was WONDERFUL! Great patrons, great spot, great location. read more

Formento's - dinner on the patio! - Italian Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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DELICIOUS!! Wow I enjoyed my time here. We got several appetizers. My favorites were the calamari and the meatballs! I also enjoyed the butternut squash pasta. It's a seasonal dish but it was delicious. Nice vibes. The restaurant is dimly lit and quite busy. It was a little noisy but not too much for me. Will return soon! read more

Formento's - Italian Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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Want to think it was a bad night but missed the mark on so many levels. The paper plane cocktail was just ok nothing to write about. On several occasions waiter asked us how was everything and we communicated that the dishes ordered were just ok and he said Great! Was he truly listening to the feedback or just asking as part of his routine. The squid ink dish with baby shrimp why? The broccolini was super thick I felt like I was eating raw asparagus. I would not recommend this place with so many great Italian places in Chicago. It was our anniversary dinner and we left so disappointed. read more

I went here for happy hour and I absolutely loved it. Oysters were $1, $5 beers, $8 apps and $10 cocktails. Our server Travis was so nice and amazing service. The meatballs are absolutely amazing and I loved the dry cider. Oysters are east coast and so flavorful. Would definitely come here again. read more

Formento's - Oysters, Meatball, Peroni Beer - Italian Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Mixed reviews for this place. We've always wanted to try it since it's such a close option to our home. The positives is that they are very gluten free friendly: gluten free bread service and homemade gluten free pasta. The gluten free pasta tasted lovely but the carbonara sauce was very interesting. We were informed after ordering that it is not a creamy pasta carbonara like most are used to. They also enjoyed that their cacio e Pepe is not cheesy or creamy as well. I think it would be nice to note that on the menu or tell customers ahead of time. read more

Formento's - Italian Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

The food was really good but the service was terrible. Took them 20 mins to sear us even though we had a reservation and the server took 20 minutes to give us water. The vibe was nice in the restaurant but the service makes me not want to go back. read more

Formento's - calamari - Italian Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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Absolutely amazing and fresh pasta with a stunning patio in the west loop! The portions are small but worth every penny! Loved the vibes at this spot and the service was great. read more

Formento's - Italian Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Ok, so food poisoning anyone? Ate here for dinner on 3/1/26. Ordered carpaccio to start along with the bread service (which took 45 minutes). Then had NY strip and shrimp cocktail to share. Daughter had a pasta dish. We all shared everything but the pasta. There are 4 in my family- 3 went out to dinner that night. The same three were violently ill the morning of 3/3/26. It was brutal. We were fine the next day. Only explanation is that we had food poisoning. Seriously - BRUTAL! read more

Ehh, hit or miss. I went during restaurant week and I had a great time. Went again on a Saturday and everything felt super rushed. I felt like the server was pushing extra food onto our order, very strange. It's a fun spot for an occasion, but not sure I would go again just because ‍ read more

Formento's - Bucatini Cacio E Pepe (delicious - the only thing I will order) - Italian Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Came in for happy hour with a friend and had a lovely experience. The bartender was so kind and made excellent drinks the whole night. He also recommended a wonderful Pinot noir with our pasta. All of the food we tried was yummy and you definitely shouldn't skip dessert! read more

Cute place in West Loop for a dinner! Went with coworkers and we enjoyed ourselves. Nice & simple Italian menu and we enjoyed our food. Honestly, not my favorite Italian restaurant but it's solid option! read more

Formento's - Italian Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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Came here as a group for a girlfriend's birthday! This was my second time eating here, the first on Valentine's Day last year. I got the canestri and was pretty satisfied, I'd say my serving was filling but I know some of my friends were still hungry after their meals. The drinks were delicious, a little pricy for what they were to be honest. I was more impressed about the food this time around than my first. It's a nice place but for the price I feel like you could get more for your money in the area. read more

Formento's - Canestri - Italian Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

We came to formento's on a Saturday for brunch and it was a very easy going place. We were celebrating a friend's birthday, party of 8. Most of the party ordered the carbonara- I ordered the kale salad with grilled chicken. Appetizer: meatballs- they were good! The kale sale was dressed with pecorino and a lemon dressing, some golden raisins included. Good portion for brunch. read more

Formento's - Kale Salad - Italian Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Service and ambiance were great. Food was amazing. Would definitely recommend. Desserts were good, got the tiramisu was very good.

The place itself is pretty nice, the waitress was enthusiastic but a little pushy about ordering more things. I got the calestri and it was mid - nothing really special but got the job done? I liked the appetizer Calamari a lot more read more

Great service, great ambience, and a really delicious meal. If you are someone that eats pork, the pork chops are a must!

I have positive and mixed feelings about Formento's. I come around once a year, and have introduced visiting friends to the restaurant, who have enjoyed the experience. The food isn't the best in Chicago, but the service is fantastic (above its competitors in this price range). It has an intangible attractive quality. The cacio e pepe and carbonara are fantastic and must haves. Al dente. The protein I typically pair my pastas with is the steaks, which are great. I tried the chicken this visit and it was honestly dry. The bread was unfortunately also stale, but I recall it was better in the past. The drinks are also fantastic, so is the wine list. Overall, this restaurant competes in the price range of restaurants such as Rosemary and Monteverde- I can't say Formento's is better, but it's still worth the visit. 3.5-4/5 food, 5/5 service, 5/5 ambiance. read more

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Dined for restaurant week and the meal was very sub par. About 10 hours after the meal, both my friend and I got very sick. We called the restaurant, and when our call was returned, they handled it by saying "please come give us another chance" and that "food poisoning only happens after 24-48 hours of consumption" (which is false). Compensation wasn't even discussed, and our concerns were disregarded. Highly recommend going elsewhere. Very disappointed with our experience. read more

I'm pretty surprised by how average this restaurant is. This is ultimately frustrating, and given its higher price point, that puts it at 2 stars. We liked the decor and aesthetic. It is low-lit (someone across the room needed to shine his phone light onto the menu!) with brickwork. The space feels very comfortable. Our waiter was nice as well. At the outset, we asked to switch seats. We felt bad about this, but one seat was directly under an air vent. We both like air conditioning, perhaps too much, but this was overkill. We asked our waiter if we could move seats and he needed to ask someone else. He came back and said it was OK, so we sat in a cozy booth. After that, I saw him talking to the hostess who originally seated us, and I hope he wasn't in trouble! We ordered our food and it came out relatively quickly. My husband thought his chicken parmesan was good, but he didn't take home leftovers. The paccheri didn't have anything special about it - no major depth of flavor in the sauce, which I thought I'd get. It was even a bit salty. I know that authentic Italian restaurants emphasize al dente pasta, so it's more chewy than some pasta might be at various Italian restaurants. That is reasonable! But it was a bit too al dente, almost hard to chew. It's cool that it's made in-house, but it was hard to eat. Also, the portion was a bit small, which is fine. I realize that we're not at some buffet, but even with high quality ingredients, $25 for a tiny dish of pasta was a bit silly. I got grilled chicken on it, and the filet of grilled chicken was as big as the pasta dish! The chicken was kind of sad looking but it tasted OK. This was a disappointing experience. For years, I wanted to try it. But it did not measure up to my expectations - or the high reviews I see on here. read more

Arranged a lovely business dinner here for four and we could not have had a better time. Light, amazing cocktail at the bar, a Cinque Terre with fresh mint and bubbles and ice, then we were seated and the serious stuff began!! We selected a Ca Viola Nebbiolo, which was deep, ruby red and delicious. Four of us shared the whipped ricotta with figs, and Nonna's meatballs as starters. Both excellent. I had the king salmon and cacio e pepe as my side; salmon was perfect and I loved the big, toothsome noodles!! We also had Brussels sprouts, asparagus and the incredibly delicious crispy potatoes. Like insanely good. Don't miss them!! We polished it off with single gelatos (salted caramel, please) and coffee. Mmmm!! Thank Formento 's read more

Formento's - Cinque Terre cocktail at the Formento's bar! Divine! - Italian Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Came here for dinner with a group, and the vibes were great, it's a pretty formal restaurant with a nice ambiance. Our waitress was super helpful and offered great wine pairings for each of our dishes. We got the whipped ricotta which was a little plain but overall decent, and the brussels sprouts which were super flavorful. I got the orecchiette pasta, which was delicious, had a little spicy flavor and definitely would recommend if you like seafood pastas - especially shrimp. read more

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Came here for brunch due to a promotion from Best Date Foodies. We chose the pastry trio for our free item and added the frittata, a side of bacon, burrata, and the bucatini carbonara. Pastry Trio - 7/10, I liked the concept and getting to try different items but I only really enjoyed the cinnamon roll, which I wouldn't pay $9 for individually. My husband liked the fig tart. Frittata - 6/10, it was a bit over cooked so not very soft and just had lacking flavor. Wouldn't order again and certainly not worth $18. Bacon - 7/10, bacon was good but it was $7 for TWO pieces... I could get a whole lb for that at the store. Burrata - 10/10, this was the winner for me. Good portion, great flavor. It was fresh and the lil green balsamic salad was great the perfect touch! Carbonara - 8/10, the pasta was thick and freshly made. Great texture and pretty good flavor. Not the best I've had but we enjoyed it. Again though, the portion was pretty small for the price. Overall, the brunch dishes didn't impress. The burrata is worth it and maybe trying some more pastas. read more

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Perfect place for post work happy hour or dinner. Service was amazing and our waitress was super knowledgeable about gluten sensitivities. Food was great. I went with the seafood tower as an entree and it was absolutely delicious. The seafood salad was the star of the show read more

Formento's - Italian Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Great spot for Italian food! It definitely was busy coming in during a Thursday evening dinner with my girls, so I highly recommend making reservations. We came and checked in but the front desk didn't have our table yet and we waited 20-25 minutes after our reservation time. Our server was awesome and did a wonderful job checking in on our meals and ensuring our water cups were filled. We ordered the Nonna's meatballs, cacio e Pepe, chicken Parmesan, and had the chocolate cake for dessert. Everything tasted amazing and I highly recommend the chocolate cake with the hazelnuts on top! We did order from the restaurant week menu so the portions were fairly smaller, but paid $80 or so for our entire dinner including tip and tax. read more

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Sat at the bar on a Tuesday night and service was incredible. Started with a glass of wine with octopus - so delicious. The carbonara and Brussels sprouts were also very, very good. All came as recommendations from the bartender. I really wanted space for dessert, but couldn't do it with how much I ate. So opted for an espresso martini instead, of course. This is a great place for date night, a celebration, or just cause! Lovely establishment. read more

Formento's - Italian Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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I'm giving this review 3 stars and I feel bad because normally, I love this place. We did the restaurant week menu. I'll just go in order. The chop salad was okay and the dressing was very tart. The meatball was perfect as always. I loved the Canestri pasta! The heaping scoop of ricotta added sooo much creaminess to the dish. The bucatini cacio e Pepe was also good. The second courses, not so much. The chicken Parmesan was a bit dry and nothing special. The striped bass was also pretty lackluster. I liked the eggplant and appreciated a sauce element because the fish was also dry and kind of flavorless. I also had the Pomerita and it reminded me of margarita mix. Of course I still drank it. Can't waste tequila!! Overall, whenever I come here, I will stick with the basics: meatballs, pasta and wine. read more

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To be honest we were aiming for a different Italian restaurant but im glad we ended up here. I loved everything about our experience here. The decor, the seating was beyond comfortable. The complementary bread and oil was a typically good. I had the carbonara. My husband had something with lamb. We both really enjoyed our meals. We were there early so it was very quiet. The chocolate hazelnut cake was delicious. Both the entrees and dessert were smallish size ... not too small. Just not big enough to share. I liked the smaller size. The service was very attentive. My only complaint is the water glasses are very small.. the poor guy ran himself to death keeping glasses full. He did excellent keeping the glasses full. But either get adult sized glasses or leaveca craft of water at the tables. Its a waste of manpower. read more

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Charming Italian restaurant located on restaurant row. I had the pleasure of sitting for brunch & enjoyed a blood orange mimosa, spicy Bloody Mary and steak & eggs! The decor and ambiance are absolutely lovely and I highly recommend. I cannot wait to return for dinner. read more

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The hostess saved our night with great listening, being able to empathize with our situation and going above and beyond to create a great experience for us. We had dinner reservations elsewhere and sat at the original restaurant for 30+ minutes without being acknowledged. It wasn't even busy so naturally we got up and left. Being Valentine's Day, my wife and I had low expectations of waking in somewhere else and eating quickly. But I wanted to try Formento's as I had been there once before and knew they had great service (and a bar we might be able to sit at). I told the hostess Carin (spelling?) our previous reservation issues, and she went into rescue mode. She listened and immediately understood this was a chance to turn someone's night around. We were able to be seated in the bar area about 5 minutes after walking in. We were shocked but incredibly thankful. The wait staff and food were fantastic, no notes. We shared the v-day special lobster stuff shelled & chicken Parmesan. Great ambiance too and highly recommend for a date night. read more

I don't go out to West Loop too often, but we came here with a big group of coworkers and I was blown away. We had to change the number in our party as well as the time a few times and the manager was extremely helpful and flexible with getting us seated when we needed. It was super easy to grab a yummy drink (excellent creamy espresso martini) at the bar before heading in to our table. I came with a big group so we got to try a bunch of the food and here is my review: Starters and Salads: The whipped ricotta was by far my favorite. The cauliflower, carpaccio, and Caesar salad were close behind though (the leaves on the Caesar were massive so be prepared to use a knife). I also liked the meatballs more than expected as I am typically not a huge meatball fan. The burrata was a little disappointing - it wasn't anything special. Pasta and Entrees: My favorites were the Chicken Parmesan, Bucatini Cacio e Pepe, and Strozzapretti. I don't typically order chicken parm since how much can you really do with it, but this one was SO GOOD. Cacio e Pepe is always a yummy classic and this was no exception. The lamb in the Strozzapretti was cooked so well and the mushrooms were a really nice touch. The Mezzaluna was close behind the above three. The Orecchiette and Carbonara were a little bit disappointing for me. I'm used to more crispy pancetta in carbonara and this meat was a little tough. read more

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Nice Italian restaurant with authentic food. The kale salad and cauliflower were the best part of the night, I personally think the kale salad is a must try. The main dishes were great as well, but not outstanding. The service was great. I am lactose intolerant and the servers were extremely mindful about it. The environment was cozy and great place to hangout/talk. Overall, a great Italian restaurant to visit if you are near the area. read more

Formento's - Bucatini Carbonara, Risotto, & Whole Branzino - Italian Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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i've been thinking about this carbonara ever since i had it!! both the carbonara and carpaccio were a little saltier than what i usually like, but in a weird way, it was actually a tasteful kinda salty ...? i've gone a few times, and i have yet to eat something i don't like. it's perfect for a date night or special occasion :) what i ate here: - bucatini carbonara - chicken vesuvio - beef and truffle carpaccio - orecchiette (squid ink + rock shrimp pasta) - canestri (pork neck gravy + fennel sausage meatball pasta - fritto misto (fried calamari) read more

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We had an amazing time at Formentos!! Joy was our server and she was a GEM. So sweet and knowledgeable about the menu. We recommend them all the time for rehearsal dinners and they always go above and beyond! MUST try and recommend! read more

Been a few times, but a recent dining was our best experience. We ordered a couple apps to share- Whipped Ricotta was so good (just wished there was more bread!) The Grilled Octopus was cooked perfectly, not rubbery. I loved the Brussels Sprouts and Broccolini, always my go-to veggies. I got the Sea Bass (special), and it was light but nicely seasoned. I never eat fish skin, but it was so crispy that I could enjoy it. Their pastas are delicious; Orecchiette was my favorite. I was also pleasantly surprised I liked the Chocolate Cake- moist, rich but not too sweet, and reminded me of Ferrero Rocher. Service was amazing, attentive, and friendly. My water glass never stayed empty. Management even stopped by the table to check-in. read more

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Friendly staff, fabulous food, nice seating on the closed in patio that's kept cozy with heaters even when chilly outside. Great menu for a group that likes to share. We tried a bunch of dishes- the grilled octopus, burrata, gem lettuce, pasta with vodka sauce, branzino, and roasted brussels- every single one was delish. Really fabulous! Highly recommend. read more