Vivo - Chicago

We were going to a play downtown Chicago on a Friday Night and were looking for somewhere interesting, good and pretty quick. Seems easy in Chicago. Except during Restaurant Week.

Restaurant Week is a contrived bit of city wide advertising to get people to go out on a (probably) cold and blustery week and sample some of Chicago best and better restaurants. It is wildly popular so our first choice was out, and our second and third choices. So my wife asked a friend to recommend something a little farther out of the Loop and he recommended Vivo at 838 West Randolph Street, Chicago. Randolph street used to be the market area and there are still some wholesale places in the area. But slowly they are being pushed out.

Restaurants who are participating in the week usually have a Prix Fixe menu that is usually a little less than the menu, (but actually more than we might pay ordinarily). I don't mind anything that keeps chefs and servers employed.

Vivo is a great Italian restaurant. Kind of a neat little room with one wall slowing being built of wine bottles and lots of open brick. The menu was very good high end Italian. The prix fixe menu was $33 for a three course meal. My wife selected a fish dish as well as a salad and dessert. I only got an entree (again fish for me too). The food was excellent as was the service. The room had a nice warmth to it and with good lighting (except to read the menu) and had a nice romantic feel to it.

So here is the big question, would I go again? Yes, it is a nice after work but a little more dressy kind of place. It would be a great place to take a date. And the other question, would I recommend it to others? Yes, it is a little more foodie than say Cafe Buonaro's in Naperville. The food is a higher caliber, but of course costs more. And my other question, would I take my in-laws? No, although a nice place, it would be lost on them to drive a hour and pay that much.

Valet parking $10 (and use it, there is no parking near and the neighborhood off a few blocks gets rougher). Dress appeared to be business casual on up.

In the end, the meal was about $140 for two with a prix fixe, an entree, three glasses of wine and a coffee. A little high, but it was a date night.

Their details can be found here.