We added a new restaurant to our go-to neighborhood gems. I wanted to try the lasagna but it must be good because they were sold out. We started with grilled calamari which was served over a bed of spinach. Very tasty. Then I had the steak taverna served with gnocchi and vegetables delicious! My friend had the white fish special fresh and seasoned well. We both had the pomegranate martini fabulous! Our server did a good job, a little too much present and the decor very minimal. Food was great, will definitely return. read more

Amazing Bad Moms Night! Bad Moms Night at Tavern on Division in Melrose Park, Illinois was absolutely phenomenal! From start to finish, everything was done perfectly. The drinks were great, the food was amazing, and the atmosphere was just incredible. The music was on point--the DJ did such a fantastic job keeping the energy high and the dance floor full all night long. Everyone was extremely friendly, welcoming, and ready to have a good time, which made the night even more special. It was full of laughter, great vibes, and unforgettable fun. I honestly can't wait to go again next year! Huge thank you to everyone who organized this event--you truly knocked it out of the park. read more

Taverna on Division - "Bad Mom's Night" Unforgettable night. Full of laughter, good music, drinks and nonstop dancing - Italian Near Me - Melrose Park, Illinois

Our neighbor recommended this restaurant as he grew up in the area. It has a very large outside that I would have loved to enjoy but mother nature had other plans (humidity / hot temps). The table got a variety of apps - from peppers/sausage to the zucchini flowers. Everyone else loved them but nothing stood out to me in terms of "must haves." However - for entrees - I loved my whitefish special and would recommend that. My husband got the Spicy Pork chops and loved the spiciness of the dish. read more

Food and service was fine, the owner manager is another story. When we got our bill it was much higher than the printed menu. I asked for the menu and the manager, she gave me a lame excuse about the cost to print one regular piece of paper, non laminated. Our items were not 35 cents more but $2.00 per item. Be honest, be hospitable. Not a bunch of excuses. Truth in menu laws are real. Again food and service was good. Be honest! Thanks read more

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We went for dinner on a Thursday night, and sat outside in their lovely patio area. Unfortunately, there were some cigar smokers at another of the outdoor tables, clearly smoking with the knowledge/permission of ownership/management. The food seemed good, but the cigar smoke wrecked the overall experience. Won't be going back. [Update: it seems that our table was 55-60 ft. away from the smokers. Even at that, being outdoors with the wind in our direction, we still got the smoke at our table. Everyone was able to notice it, because that's how smoke - esp. cigar smoke - is.] read more

The best food in the suburbs, service-is outstanding and the ambience is like no other place.Beautiful open patio and music on 5he weekends. read more

Taverna on Division - Patio and Restaurant - Italian Near Me - Melrose Park, Illinois

We had one of the most disappointing dining experiences we have ever encountered at this restaurant. Our party spent over $600, yet the level of service and management response did not come close to matching what you would expect from a business charging those prices. We waited over THREE hours for our food. This was not a minor delay, it completely ruined the evening. One member of our group ended up not eating at all because after waiting that long, he was no longer hungry. No dining experience should ever reach that point. What was most frustrating was the complete lack of accountability from ownership. Greg, the owner, never offered a genuine apology or took responsibility for the situation. Delays can happen in any restaurant, but professionalism is shown through communication, accountability, and effort to make things right, none of which we experienced. Our waitress, Karina, appeared overwhelmed and tried at times to accommodate us, but overall the customer service fell short. There was little communication, no clear updates, and no sense of urgency despite the excessive wait time. Spending hundreds of dollars should come with attentive service, respect for customers' time, and basic hospitality. Instead, we left feeling ignored, frustrated, and extremely disappointed. This was unfortunately the worst restaurant experience we have ever had. We came expecting an enjoyable night out and instead spent hours waiting, uncomfortable, and unheard. We truly hope management takes this feedback seriously and reevaluates how customers are treated, because no guest should ever have to go through an experience like this. read more

My wife and I found this restaurant on Tik Tok and we said lets go, it was well worth the 45 minute drive. We had two appetizers, stuffed mushrooms and Arancini and both were very good. My wife had chicken marsala and I had filet medallions with gnocchi and it was delicious. Will be coming back. read more

You can enjoy winter patio dining at this restaurant, it's so warm and cozy by the fireplace. We tried the Grilled Octopus appetizer- delicious! It came served over a balsamic spinach salad- yum! (We liked it more than the one they serve at Capri) We had the Chicken Calabrese also very good! Large portion, but could serve more of the Risotto Cake! We also had the Burrata Ravioli, delicious but more of a lighter dinner choice. Drinks were excellent- we ordered an Old Fashioned and a Martini. Waitress was very nice and polite. The owner or manager was very attentive and greeted every guest personally. read more

Friends of mine have been complementing this restaurant for a long time. I was able to take a friend of mine to dinner for a special occasion. The food was outstanding the only place I think I have had better food was in the kitchen of an 85-year-old Italian woman who is a dear friend of mine. The service was wonderful. I had been to Jim and Pete's about a month prior to this and the service - as my friend and I discussed - how there is no comparison - it is apples and oranges. I would never go back to Jim and Pete and I have left a review for them. I would like to expound upon the fact that Taverna on Division's service and food was outstanding and the prices were very fair. I absolutely loved it and have told many friends about it and I'm looking forward to my next visit. Good Work taverna on division keep up the excellent protocol. read more

Absolutely awful. Let's start by saying if you love drowning yourself in second hand smoke and god damn awful Italian food then this is your spot. Came there last night with my boyfriend for dinner and omg. It was like a smokers meet up. Absolutely crazy. I left with a headache and extremely dissapointed with the food. The food was just so bad, like the chef wasn't even trying. Got a pasta vodka and the pasta was under cooked the sauce was tasteless. Will definitely never be coming back here read more

We visited Taverna on Division on Saturday, November 25th as a last minute decision and a chance cancellation of a reservation. When people say things happen for a reason they were correct. Walking into Taverna on Division was like walking into a scene of the "Good Fellas", Everyone knew everyone else, someone put a drink into hands and told us to toast the tree lighting ceremony. The live music by Tony Ocean was amazing. We were seated next to the stage and our waitress appeared right away for our drink Oder. I ordered a manhattan (perfectly made) my wife ordered a spritzer (also well made) and our friends ordered a bottle of wine. Our appetizers were fired calamari, baked clams. Both cooked perfectly and delicious. Our main entrées were, linguine with seafood in red sauce, and a linguine with seafood in white sauce, chicken Parmesan and chicken Vesuvio. All the dishes were delicious and perfectly prepared. We arrived at 6:30 PM and left at 12 midnight! We enjoyed ourselves so much we already made reservations for December 16th. read more

Terrific evening on the patio at Taverna. Our server, Kaci, was very helpful and made great recommendations. We started with the mussels in the white sauce and were tasty. Although not many gluten free options, Kaci guided my wife to the lamb which was cooked perfectly. I had the veal Francese which was fabulous. Not much of a wine selection but good enough. Reasonably priced bottle of Prisoner caught my eye. Bus boys worked hard and very pleasant. We'll be back. read more

What a hidden little gem. We had the caesar salad and it was very good. My husband had spaghetti and meatballs. I had the sacchetti. It was delicious. We will be going back. read more

This menu is just way too big and there is too much going on in each dish. Service is very attentive and friendly, but at the $200 mark there are better spots. read more

Absolutely incredible food and service. Highly recommend AAAAAaA+++++++++*. Wonderful live music. Great people

Taverna has very impressive, quality, delicious food. The service is consistently great while the place is beautiful and chic. I love that the owners have fun specialty events with tons of amazing musical entertainment. This gem has the best patio around town too! read more

The food was very good. We had a reservation and were seated right away. The server was slow getting our order, would not fill our coffees. The entertainment was so loud during dinner we couldn't talk. During the entertainment break they put on very loud 70s disco music. could not get out of there fast enough! we went down the street for coffee and desert , with quiet music, fantastic service. read more

Clam linguine was delicious! Service was great! Surprised to find this gem in a quiet neighborhood. Will come back to try the other dishes. read more

Always great food We definitely love that place for quick date like today Hope to come back soon because I do love mushroom ravioli etc read more

Taverna on Division - Italian Near Me - Melrose Park, Illinois

Cool place. Nice and warm on a cold night. Ordered stuffed mushrooms for an appetizer. Absolutely fantastic. 4 of them come with an order. For the main course, we ordered Shrimp Taverna and Pork Braciole. Both delicious. The shrimp were huge. The server was very attentive. She checked with us often. This was our first time here. We go out to eat every weekend and typically go with an Italian place. We have a regular that we love. I thought this place was a little pricey. No soup or salad with your meal. They did bring fresh warm bread with butter. One of my pet peaves is the ice cold butter. Set it out and let it warm up so you don't molest your bread trying to spread it. Portions were decent, but pasta is cheap. There could be more pasta on the plate. We normally have leftovers and we both ate everything. In summation, it was great and I will go back, but it won't be a regular place. It would be if soup or salad was included. read more

Taverna on Division - Shrimp Taverna and Pork Braciole - Italian Near Me - Melrose Park, Illinois

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First off the reason for the 1 star has nothing to do with the Food. The Food itself is good for the most part. The reason for the 1 star is the fact of the Attitude from the People that own the restaurant. I have been coming to this Restaurant for yrs now but have to say I am DONE with it. A few weeks back as my G/F and I went in to dine were greeted by a worker who had to get permission to seat us because of a Big party they had coming in that night. The most IGNORANT thing to me to say to a customer is, you have to eat and be out by a certain time. Giving us a certain amount of time to eat is VERY Ignorant and really shows the class of the owners to say such a thing to a customer. In this case it would have been more appropriate to say sorry but we are closed tonight because we have a Party that reserved the whole restaurant and I would have accepted that. I gave them the benefit of the Doubt and accepted their stipulation. Now I have tried to make a reservation on the Phone and was greeted by a gentleman first who said that he doesn't know because they do get packed at the time (6:00 PM) we wanted and then proceeds to put us on hold to then have Jennifer get on the Phone and here again, telling my G/F the same Ignorant remark that we have to come in at 5:30 but have to eat and be out by 7:00. I want to know, who in the Hell do they think they are? First off you are in Melrose Park , 2nd your Food is not 5 star to have an attitude like you do and make us feel like you are doing us a favor or we are 2nd class citizens, and 3rd, here is a Piece of advice, start treating your customers with respect because the old saying is, Restaurants with Great customer Service last Forever but Restaurants that are so-so end up closing their doors and let me tell you Jeniffer that, with your attitude you are the type that will eventually be closing your doors..Not that it matters to them but I will never step a another foot in their Establishment again read more

I went for to this restaurant my colleagues of work. We were seated just in time but the server took a long time to get our orders and kept coming back to say they were out of the dishes we were trying to order. The ambiance is really nice for drinks though but at the end I ordered a pasta that was not planning on having and it didn't had a lot of flavor. read more

10/10 love this place Atmosphere is on point and staff always goes out their way to make it a great time read more

Beware when making reservations at this place. The female owner over books people tells you one thing on the phone you get there no table sits you outside in 60 degree weather and high winds expect you to eat in these conditions. plus she did not like to be told she was wrong about what she did her husband and some fat guy came behind us after we were at the end of the walk way. How rude and unprofessional of owners. Like thugs back in the days. will never go back. it's horrible that owners threatening my brother in law and ruined my sister's birthday . was not willing to help us at all. they have good food that's why they treat people like shit. read more

My friends and I stumbled upon this place when another restaurant we were going to ended up being unexpectedly closed. This restaurant is located within a quiet residential neighborhood, and has a few spots in front of it. You can also park on the nearby residential streets if those front spots are full. My friends and I came on a Wednesday night around 7, and the restaurant was pretty full with other customers. The place had a very "fresh" appearance on the inside and also had a cute patio area for the warmer months. I started with their Manhattan martini ($10), and that was pretty good. This martini was priced appropriately for the quality and is a drink I would likely get again if I were here. For dinner, I ordered the eggplant parmesan and enjoyed it. The portion was hearty, and I definitely had enough for leftovers. I tried a little of my friends pasta that had vodka sauce on it, and the vodka sauce had a nice rich flavor. read more

Taverna on Division - Eggplant Parmesan - Italian Near Me - Melrose Park, Illinois

Stopped here unexpectedly with a few friends. I like the overall clean look and decor. The hostess, waitress, and busser were all very friendly. She came by our table the perfect amount of times and made good recommendations. I had the pasta fagioli soup which was very hearty and filling. For dinner I had the ricotta gnocchi with vodka sauce. The sauce was fantastic! The portion size was huge, I had enough for a second meal the next day! My only complaint was that everyone else had bread on their table but we did not. Not sure if you have to order it or if they just forgot about us. read more

Taverna on Division - Ricotta gnocchi $17 - Italian Near Me - Melrose Park, Illinois

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great place , bartender mike absolutely awesome dirty martini are fabulous and expresso martini are so yum...best place in the area read more

Taverna on Division - Best drinks on the area BARTENDER MIKE HE IS AWESOME ABSOLUTELY GREAT PLACE - Italian Near Me - Melrose Park, Illinois

Great food and the staff treats you like family. My favorite Italian place in Chicagoland.

The food is good. The service is excellent. Outside seating nice. Friday and Saturday feature outside music to attract patrons. "We spend $1000s for this music!" the apparent owner said. If you want conversation, the music is ear-splitting. We asked the hostess if it might be turned down a few decibels. Her reply: "Do us a favor. Don't come back." Good choice for diners who want to talk to each other....just not Friday or Saturday. The hostess won't care one way or the other. read more

Food was good. Atmosphere lively w live entertainment and nice outdoor seating. Service was good except for limited number of servers on a busy Saturday night. Live entertainment was good but too loud, making dinner conversation difficult. read more

Another beautiful, ducked off establishment nestled in Melrose Park. We have passed it many times when in the area leaving Tom's or Abruzzo's and decided to check it out. And we liked it enough to double back for a second visit 2 weeks later. DECOR AND AMBIANCE 4/5 The place is absolutely gorgeous. Lots of clear lights, beautiful light fixtures, fitted table coverings and long windows. The fire pit is unlike anything I have ever seen and the picture on the wall of the bar area, is a nice touch. We learned from our waiter it was a picture of the tobacco fields in Cuba taken during the owner's visit. The playlist is reason enough to visit. We were told it was chosen by the owner's wife. FOOD 4/5 We ordered featured specials with a plan to circle back to try other items during our first visit and regular menu items on visit number two. Caprese Salad - 5 stars The olives were a nice touch and the tomatoes are devine. Chicken Valasco - 4 stars Bone in chicken served with potatoes Cooked with jalapeños but not as spicy as you would think. It was very good. Chicken Vesuvio - 5 stars Bone in chicken with potatoes and peas. Allow 25 minutes. Steak Taverna - 4 stars 4 filet medallions served a ricotta risotto and green beans and mushroom medley Very good. Chicken Calabrese - 5 stars Spicy. Served with a yummy risotto cake. Ricotta Cheesecake - 3 stars Very good but lacked the sweetness I craved. PRICING/VALUE FOR THE MONEY 4/5 Prices were on par with what you would pay at a similar type establishment. 2 entrees, 2 glasses of wine and a dessert was $96 before gratuity. On visit number 2, an appetizer, 2 glasses of wine, 2 entrees and a soda was $76 before gratuity. WINE LIST The wine selection is impressive for an establishment of its size and reasonably priced. SERVICE 5/5 Our server, Chris was great. He was knowledgeable and exhibited a warm demeanor you just do not see anymore. The female server the next time was awesome too. Very attentive. The owner was there and very engaged. He took the time to stop by our table several times during our second visit. A nice touch. read more

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Love this local hidden gem! The food is delicious and made with fresh ingredients at a very reasonable price. Everything from the pasta dishes to the seafood dishes (including oysters) are outstanding! The bar is very city club-ish and old fashions are perfectly made. This is one of our go-to spots when we want a city-like experience without going into the city. As long as they keep a keen eye on quality of food & service, I expect this place to flourish for a lonnnnnngggg time. read more

Our server can use some proper etiquette in how to speak to customers. I wasn't going to post a review and should have brought it up to management. I guess maybe the millennials just don't care what comes out of their mouths? read more

Great patio! The food here is always fresh and delicious! Good for a girl's night out or date night.

The restaurant is outstanding. From the owner, family and staff.... The food is really good. They go above and beyond for the customers. Highly recommend...!!!! read more

This place is a hidden gem and I'm so happy I found it - on Mother's Day no less! My sister and I were searching for a place to eat and running errands together and Taverna definitely delivered. I was so surprised that they were able to fit us in on short notice. I made a reservation over the phone and showed up less than 15 minutes later and the place was packed. We ordered the Capreses salad, steak with Chimichurri sauce, and the Colossal Shrimp (trust me, four is plenty). We'll definitely be back to take advantage of their patio this summer! read more

Taverna on Division - Italian Near Me - Melrose Park, Illinois

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I came here after my cousin recommended me. My boyfriend and I thought it was absolutely delicious! Everything had so much flavor! I had a martini and it was so strong! Just how I like I can't wait to come back with friends again so they can enjoy it as much as my boyfriend and I! read more

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Try the pork tenderloin! Delicious. Pounded thin and roasted potatoes on top. In a tasty lemony brown sauce underneath. Perfect seasoning and a huge portion always great for leftovers. read more

Nasty server. She has been there for years and just a *^%ch. takes over and hour for entrees, then shoves a ticket in your face saying that your order's only been in the kitchen for 15 minutes ...well yeah ya dingdong it's because our server forgot to put the order in we know exactly when we ordered.... Refuse to do separate checks for easier payment between guests... And the owner thinks we are stupid enough to buy his story on why he can't do separate checks. This place is a dump since the new owners took over.. reading the reviews and responses this place won't change. Owner and staff need to learn basic customer service skills. read more