I was a little skeptical about trying this place. BUT,,,, I wasn't disappointed. This place was amazing. The food, The service, The ambiance, Everything about this place was amazing. I can't wait to go back. read more

Been there umpteen times! A super hit every time! Love the entire menu.... seafood paella is to die for! Many hot and cold tapas are high quality. Drinks also have their own creative twist! Some drinks are surprisingly very delicious and totally hit the spot! Decor is simple and natural, bricks and wood paneling. Outdoor seating during the summers and fall is prime property! Always upbeat vibes! read more

My gram and I decided to have a nice day out in oak park so I snagged us a table at Rustico. This spot has been so many different restaurants I didn't have very high hopes but alas I was wrong, the food was really good, and perfect for sharing or each person for themselves. The only criticism I have is it's really noisy.. like more noisy than your average restaurant so I wouldn't recommend for a romantic evening but for a group or casual dinner, perfect. It's a small spot, about 20 tables or so and a nice big bar, seem to get pretty busy as we were leaving (we did senior dinner) so I would recommend a res. Look forward to some outside seating in the summer months. read more

Congratulations! What a wonderful addition to Oak Park! Went for a sunny Saturday afternoon walk and ended up having a an amazing lunch! Started off with a cold beer and house meatball tapas made the right way! Zesty tomato sauce, tender, mouth-watering! The real test was to the grilled octopus with peppers and grilled vegetables. Amazing! Tender, meaty, smoky, vegetables were cooked perfectly. Finale was PEI mussels in marinara! Again, cooked perfectly and lapped up the marinara with crispy bread. Gabriel and his staff treated us like old friends! Music was lovely! Just a great experience! Can't wait to try the rest of the tapas and the wood fired pizza! The wine selection is diverse and very well priced. We wish them great success! Would love to see this location do well! One year later and they are better than ever! The entire family here just knows how to treat guests. We had a marguerita pizza, chicken Bianca, the mushroom tapas, and a cannoli that will change your life! They really just know how to keep bringing us back. Great atmosphere, amazing people and the food is exceptional! Make sure you try Malario's special after dinner drinks! Delicious! read more

Rustico - Italian Near Me - Oak Park, Illinois

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Chef Gabriel and the entire staff are magnificent. The food is out of this world. I especially love Love the grilled calamari Yummy Do not pass by Rustico ... it's a must for you foodies read more

Rustico - Grilled Calamari - Italian Near Me - Oak Park, Illinois

I absolutely loved this restaurant. The ambiance was awesome, the service was great, and the food was amazing. I had the Chilean Sea Bass, which was made perfectly! Our server even helped me learn some Spanish . Very nice crew! I will definitely return for seconds! read more

Delicious fun environment, clean, friendly and great drinks. Highly recommend! Very god!

Great good. Creative menu. Enjoy the small plates as they're great for sharing. Professional service.

What a lovely dining experience! Where to begin... We started with some complimentary bread and olive oil which were both very good and perfect for a little snack if you're starving for dinner. Our server recommended the Montepunciano Rosato, which was drier than your average rose but still pretty good. It was just four of us and we ended up getting Patatas Bravas and the Seafood Paella. Both very delicious and filling! Definitely enough to feed the four of us just enough before dessert. For dessert we tried the creme brûlée, a lady finger one and then one more that is hard to remember and they don't have the menu online so I'm not sure buuuuut I should just warn you the "creme brûlée" is flourless and it must somehow affect the consistency because it came out looking more like soup than your typical creme brûlée. Good flavor, just weird consistency. The other two desserts were good too. I would come back to try more of their menu, for sure. read more

Had a great time and enjoyed a great meal. The food was great, the drinks were strong.

Amazing food! It surpassed all my expectations. All 4 of us enjoyed it immensely. The service is great too.

Visited this place after seeing all the positive reviews, and was totally disappointed. Had their pasta, the pasta, the noodle, itself was not bad. However, the sauce on it tastes just like the Stouffer's frozen pasta that you can get at any Walmart. I know because I am actually a big fan of the Stouffer's, but they only cost two dollars a pack, instead of twenty. I expect better food from a restaurant than what I could make myself at home with a microwave. read more

First time, and had an overall very good experience. We were seated promptly, the room was busy, festive, and the crowd mostly 40's and 50's. We waited a few minutes to order, but not too long, because it's a big menu and takes a while to go through. I wanted to order a paella, but asked if it could be prepared without green pepper-- it could not, because the sofrito is prepared ahead, which makes sense to speed up the cooking, but disappointing if you can't eat an ingredient. The bread basket, the scallops and the brussels sprouts were nicely presented and excellent. The octopus with potatoes and arugula was spicy (good). but the octopus pieces were hard to find and dry. Dessert was non-descript. The waiter was efficient, and only checked back after we had nearly finished the meal but that meant we weren't interrupted, so fine. Food came out quickly. We had to flag someone down for water refills, maybe because we were in a corner. Decor was nice especially the beautiful wooden tables and lighting. I would come back. read more

This restaurant is beyond a doubt, the best place in Oakpark, Illinois! I have been here twice before tonight, and the service, food and accommodations are totally five stars! I cannot say enough about how great this place is. If you are new to Oakpark, you need to check it out! I find this restaurant so "above and beyond" the majority of eating establishments in Oak Park or anywhere else, for that matter. I hesitate to recommend a place that's great, because I always think that I will never be able to get a reservation! It is certainly worth the effort to get here. You will not be disappointed! read more

Went there for lunch for a lovely Italian meal. The service was impeccable the food was outstanding the wine was excellent. Refined restaurant Tucktaway on Lake Street outdoor dining indoor dining. So appreciative for this Sunday afternoon dinner lunch. Definitely five star read more

Just had a delicious meal kit delivered tonight. The main course was Chicken Marsala which was so juicy with fried calamari, pasta, fresh salad and two desserts to boost! Can't wait to try their other meal kits. read more

I remember when I went in here the first time which I had a nice experience and I recently went in here for the second time and it was way better. The restaurant has a nice ambiance and the server was friendly. I had their caesar salad and chicken marsala and it was beyond. The salad has a perfect dressing and the chicken marsala is so tender and full of flavor. I am very satisfied on the dinner I had in there and I finished it with a glass of nice cocktail. Will surely be back some other time. Highly recommended! read more

Our first foray to Oak Park and we could not have been more pleased to have chosen Rustico for our dinner. Cozy ambience, professional servers and delicious entrees. We started with house salads then both opted for pasta dishes: rigatoni a la vodka and penne al brivido- both delicious. With no room for dessert we finished our meal with a couple of coffees. All in all a very relaxing pace to our meal and an enjoyable experience- we will be back on one of our next trips to this interesting town! read more

Our first time in Rústico and it was incredible awesome. Nice service. The food is five stars. My wife ordered crab cakes and Caesar salad. She said it was very good. I ordered Linguine Diavolo pasta. Uf!!! Best pasta I've ever eaten. The sauce is spicy, the shrimp were big and plenty of them. The portion size is huge. The appetizers were bread with cheese and tomato and were very good. Can't wait to go back and try something else. read more

Great place to eat had the grill ribeye. Wonderful atmosphere really loud. The Paella is a lot of food! Waiter said it was for one person, no way. The lamb was excellent. Four stars because I prefer my food hot and my ribeye was warm not hot at all. read more

Rustico - Grilled ribeye - Italian Near Me - Oak Park, Illinois

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Nice seafood place . Love the food and taste , people are super friendly . Will recommend for my OP friends for dinner !

Our new go-to for anything seafood or Spanish in Oak Park. The seafood tapas are better than any other seafood options in the area and the drink selection is quite good. The service has always been prompt and very professional. The owner/chef is also extremely friendly and likes to mingle and get feedback from his clientele. If you are in the area I highly recommend this restaurant. read more

My coworkers and I came here for our holiday dinner last week. It was AWESOME! I can't believe we found this cute little gem so close to work. Service was excellent, food was excellent. I'm not really sure what else to say besides we were super impressed and happy we chose to go there for the holiday party. What is cool is that there are a combination of different items that are traditional Italian or Spanish -so the best of two delicious food worlds! We ordered calamari, goat cheese and seasoned potatoes for the table and then each got an entree. I tried the risotto special and it was amazing. The several glasses of sangria helped too! Overall, a great experience so I even plan to get some friends to take me there for my birthday this weekend! (Insert evil laugh here). Really, it was THAT good! read more

Food was terrific, service was outstanding and the atmosphere was lovely! We will definitely continue visiting with friends and family!

We certainly challenged the process by ordering for delivery on Christmas Eve and while the delivery was definitely delayed by quite a bit, we were not disappointed. The Tomato Pappardelle Cipriani may be my new favorite pasta. The short ribs were amazing as other reviewers have noted. The Roasted Beet Salad was delicious and large enough to be shared. Our decision to try the Bread Pudding added a perfect end to the meal. It was definitely different than others I have had and not something you will want to share. read more

Rustico - Tomato Pappardelle Cipriani - Italian Near Me - Oak Park, Illinois

This restaurant was amazing! I never leave yelp reviews, and we ordered this on a whim. The food was delectable.

We came for the lunch experience. Rustico has a pleasant atmosphere and good service. Food was good and very flavorful. We had goat cheese and 1 pasta dish and one ravioli salmon dish. read more

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Wonderful food and superb ambience. Each and every dish is piece of art and we truly enjoyed our dinner. Service is prompt and attentive. I wish I lived closer to dine here more often. 5 stars! read more

So I came here on my besties birthday and this place let me book a reservation at 9:30p. When we got there we were immediately rushed. Our waiter would not let us take time to look at the menu every time he came back and we did not have answer as to what we wanted he was visibly irritated. I am not exaggerating when I say he came back 3 times within 1 minute and 30 seconds. I ordered the filet, my best friend had questions and he was irritated with the questions, he couldn't tell us what he recommended, he kept saying "I don't know what you like" I have never been to restaurant like this with a waiter so ill equipped to serve us. Finally my friend ordered the chicken Marsala and our food did come very quick and it was really delicious so compliments to chef. Then we kept telling the waiter it was her birthday and he never said happy birthday. He never brought the little cheap ice cream scoop with a candle. My other friend had to go inside (we were seated outside) and pay for a brownie and ice cream scoop with the candle. So here comes the bill. Now I want to make this very clear. I am a union representative and I understand the importance of tipping. I ALWAYS tip 20% or more. I know waiters and waitresses are not paid what they deserve and their wages are unfairly shifted onto consumers . I am not the person that will not leave a tip at all. The service was so entirely terrible, the waiter was so nasty and rude I did not want to give him 20% of my hard earned money. He did not deserve it. However, he does deserve a living wage. We were there for less than an hour so I left $10. Do you know after I signed he came outside abruptly and asked was anything wrong with the service, before we got a chance to respond he said because you left me less than 10% and he stormed back in he left us there with our mouths wide open. I was so shocked. I came all the way from the south loop to patron this restaurant in oak park to get treated like this? For my best friends birthday? I'll never go back. And so mgmt is aware: I came in Wednesday July 24, 2019 and I was there from 9:30p to close. All the other waiters did nothing either as they witnessed this inappropriate and unprofessional behavior unfold. UPDATE: so apparently the wait staff has voted on my review and they thought it was funny. Unbelievable that this type of behavior is condoned. So unprofessional read more

One of our faves in non quarantine times, always a great atmosphere and love trying new tapas! The patatas bra as are as good as in Spain, must try! Tonight we ordered takeout and the owner threw in an amaziiiing dessert that I didn't catch the name of, nice touch and all of our food was great!! Will definitely be back :) read more

I came here to celebrate my birthday with my family. I had never been here before but had heard great things from my family who live in the area. They exceeded every expectation. We started with a few small plates, the calamari, queso de cabra, and their special of brussels sprouts. All three were delicious and did not last very long at our table. Everyone was also very happy with their entrees. I ordered the gnocchi which was cooked well, and very rich. We finished the evening off with a few desserts, the goat cheese gelato, and a few others which I unfortunately cannot remember the names of, but do remember enjoying each one. Not only was the food wonderful, but so was the service. We had a chance to speak with the chef who was very friendly. Our waiter was very attentive, helpful, and nice. The atmosphere is also very lovely, we went on a cold night and it felt very cozy. I definitely plan to return the next time I am in the area! read more

Wow! What a let down. I was willing to give this place 2 stars until I went to the rest room to wash my hands.... I'm starting this review while still sitting inside the restaurant. The service started out fine and after all our food came out, our server never came back to check on us nor refill our water glasses. My water glass was empty for a good 15 minutes. The food is lackluster. Very underwhelming and in my opinion not fresh. We were given a bread basket with 2 types of bread. I don't know if it was house made because if they were, they were probably from last night's left overs. They were dry and stale. This should have been our warning sign. Our bad. We ordered the Vermillones ala marinera which was PEI mussels with marinara sauce, a side of broccolini, a side of olives, pincho de solomillo which was beef tenderloin skewers with onions, peppers and Parmesan potatoes and jamon iberico pizza. The pizza was the only thing that was good even though it came out with a piece of pulpo (octopus) atop one of the slices. The olives taste old and the texture was weird. Apparently you can screw up Spanish olives. The broccolini came out like chopped broccoli. Whyyyyyy???? It's flavor was great but there isn't any crunch to it. The pincho de solomillo according to my husband looks like it came from a kids menu. It was meh. It came with 1 skewer with 5-6 beef cubes on it with white onions and peppers between it. It came with potatoes that were ok and a huge pile of caramelized onions on the side. Lastly the PEI mussels.... suck. I love mussels, I really do but their mussels we're so fishy which means they aren't fresh. I had to stop after having 2. You can't mask the fishiness off with the marinara sauce. I lost my appetite shortly after trying bits and pieces of our food. We had leftovers that we refused to take home. That's a sad story for us. The ambiance alone gives Rustico 2 stars. But when I went to the restroom, that 1 star died and exploded in outer space. There weren't any toilet paper in the women's restroom. Really!??!?!? Who's the manager of this restaurant? Who opens at 430 in the afternoon on a Monday and runs out of toilet paper by 547 pm? Mind you that the toilet paper dispenser is a commercial one where gigantic rolls fit in them and not the regular ones you have at home. My husband pointed out that they were out of paper towels at the men's restroom as well. The management of this place needs to step up it's game if they want Rustico to be successful. It's so unfortunate that our experience wasn't good nor ok given that there aren't a lot of tapas restaurants here in the suburbs. I wanted to like you, Rustico but I'm sorry I can't. Also, how is it possible that you got 4.5 stars? read more

one of my favorite places. great wine selection and incredible octopus and fish. incredible service

Such a lovely lovely lovely place. I sat outside bcuz I have the pooch the food was delicious savory yummy. Staff could not be more friendly & courteous. Peaceful comfortable relaxing place. Good food good staff just come & enjoy. I'll be back for sure. read more

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Our meal was superb. We started with the fried calamari & shrimp from the tapas menu - tender and delicious. Next we had the Costilla (braised short ribs) and the Bacalao (codfish and clams). Both were perfect. Amazing flavors - generous portions. We finished with the creme brulee and cannoli. Again, generous portions and amazing flavors. Excellent red sangria too. The service was on point! At one point, I accidentally dropped my napkin. Our server was nearby and saw what happened. I had a fresh napkin in less than a minute. The entire staff was welcoming. The restaurant itself is warm and inviting. We can't wait to return and try some more enticing items from their varied menu. read more

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I love tapas! We took the family. Many of us shared a variety of plates. They generously split the meals without us asking. The food was delicious! read more

Loved the food and ambiance. Nice cosy place with nice meal and amazing wait staff.. A cool find in Oak Park

Have eaten here a dozen times, dine in and carry out. I don't recall ever having a dish that wasn't excellent. The staff are excellent. Informed and attentive. I love this place. read more

My wife and I just had our second visit to Rustico and we came away even more please than after the first visit. I usually like to try a place more than once before I write a review. I always feel you are giving a more valid POV that way. The service was very prompt and friendly, without being annoying. Menu items were well described with pushing any specials. I was the only one ordering drinks this time but I was very happy with my cocktail. On our previous visit we both ordered a couple drinks each and all were winners. My wife ordered tapas, while I chose the salmon, and both were excellent. Can't speak for the desert menu this time. The choices looked intriguing-we were just too full. We're looking forward to our next trip. read more

Rustico is #1 in book. The chef really knows what he's doing here. I'm going to make sure to try everything on the menu. So far the Chicken Marsala, Salmon, Lamb Chops and the Parpadelle Bolognese all delicious. If you are confused about making a choice of Italian restaurants in Oak Park don't hesitate to stop here. read more