Medi By Bice

I had the worst dining experience of my life on Sunday, July 4. My boyfriend and I decided to get a nice dinner and he wanted Italian so I suggested Bice. We arrived just before 7:00 pm and were seated immediately. At this point the restaurant was more than half empty but it filled up quickly. They seated a couple with a screaming toddler to the left of us and another couple to the right of us. We waited and waited, enduring the screams from the toddler seated next to us, for someone to take our order. And it was really warm, my boyfriend went upstairs to the men?s room and said that he found the air conditioning, and it was upstairs. Finally the waiter came but went to the table to our right and took their order first, then came to our table, this bothered me because we had been seated first and this couple had come in at least 5 minutes after we did. When the waiter finally came to take our order, I told the waiter that I was trying to decide between the lasagna and the linguine and asked what he suggested, he pointed to the 2 house specialties and I asked which was his favorite and he responded that he would choose the Pappardell al Teleforno Come Bice Milano, which is homemade large noodles with tomato, basil and melted mozzarella cheese, so I went with his recommendation. My boyfriend had a dish with homemade pasta quills, chicken, and mushrooms. Once again we waited. The couple to our right and the couple with the screaming child to our left were served their meals, and their bills, paid and left and we were still sitting there waiting. We asked our waiter, who seemed to be the only waiter for the entire room, twice about our order, he said it was coming. We were getting ready to walk out when they brought our food. And after tasting mine, I wish we had walked out. The large noodles were clumped together and lying in a tomato based cheese sauce, an unappetizing Italian version of mac and cheese. I couldn?t eat it, it was horrible. The waiter came over to ask how everything was and I pushed my plate away and told him it was disappointing. He did nothing but walk away, did not offer me another entr?e, just walked away. My boyfriend said his dish was mediocre and he only ate half. And I must say that he is thin but has a hearty appetite and I have never seen him leave food in his plate, ever. The waiter removed our dishes and he could clearly see that I had not eaten mine but he still charged us for it; he made no attempt to thank us for putting up with the screaming child and offer us a free dessert, he made no apology for the delayed food, nothing. While we were getting up to leave we heard a woman from another table complain that they had been waiting 20 minutes and no one had taken their order yet. I decided to complain to hostess about the poor service, the lack of air conditioning and the poor quality of the food and when I approached her there was already another customer with similar complaints. I waited until the other woman stopped talking and added my complaints assuring her that we would never eat there again nor recommend it to any of our friends or business associates. Again, a blank expression, not offers to try and make things better. As I said this is the worst dining experience I have ever had and I have had better pasta at California Pizza Kitchen and Pizza Capri. If you are in the neighborhood and considering going to Bice, don?t, go across the street to Viand, which is what we should have done. Bice should refund every person who was inside their restaurant on the night of July 4. Cons: Bad Food, Bad Service, No Apologies more

I live in the neighborhood and know the norm for restaurants around here. Cons: DISHONEST AND EXPENSIVE more

I was at Bice on Ontario last night an I had one of the most terrific experience as fare as italian fine dining. We celebrated my wife bday and we have a wonderfull time. By checking the other reviews I'm surprise by some of the negative feedback. I had great service and great food with atmosphere to match. We will be back . Pros: good selection of hamemade patas Cons: too loud more

We waited more than an hour despite having a reservation. The waiters were not informed and rather rude. We were there for a birthday dinner and they still couldn't bring themselves to deliver a normal standard of service. I ordered a drink when I asked about it 30 minutes later the waiter did not even apologize for failing to bring it. Further, because we were seated late we decided to order the pastas and entress we were sharing (one pasta and one entree per 2 people after a round of many many appetizers) and they flat out refused to split in the kitchen which made sharing very difficult. Finally, the grappa I ordered was on the menu but not available, when the waiter returned to inform me he told me that only 2 were available, but couldn't tell me which they were! To add insult to injury they added an 18% gratuity (I normally tip more, but not for service like this) and started to clean the patio making noise and disturbing us while we were still eating. The food was good, but you can get the same quality with better service at many places in the city. Pros: Food was fine Cons: Worst service I've had in Chicago in quite a long time more

I had such a bad experience at this restaurant. I had ordered something that was heavily over salted. It was so bad that a salt dish must have fallen in the dish that was prepared for me. I informed the waiter and I told him I would like to send the food back. The waiter started arguing with me and telling me he was going to remake the dish. I informed him that I was going to a show after this and I just wanted too return it. He eventually did take the food back, but then it was on my bill. The waiter would not take it off (which is rather ridicules because I only had one bite). I ended up having to have the manager take it off. I am in the service industry myself, and I would never act that was to a customer! Cons: service more

Just Terrible! From the waiter to the food. Not one person said hello, welcome or how was your meal. The waiter was the worst ever. Miserable man. Never asked how anyone's meal was or if everything was OK. Actually didn't say more than 10 words to us, just shook his head and stared. With notebook in hand, his stare prompted each of us to place our order. Uncomfortable feeling. All 4 of us had to laugh after awhile. For the price you pay one would expect a few words back. Bar area was freezing, door was open and the cold was just blowing in. I have never written a review before but because of my experience I felt I just had to do it in this case! If the food was good, the service could be overlooked but in this case it was just awful in all areas. Cons: Service terrible, Food below average, Expensive more

I suspected I would be disappointed when we, a party of 9, were seated right next to the kitchen and a table with several loud and obnoxious children. Not conducive to conversation at all! For a restaurant that claims it handles large groups well, Bice was extremely disorganized. No one got their food at the same time. We seemed to have about 12 different scatter-brained people attending to our table. Requests took several reminders to be met. Finally, even after insisting 2 or 3 times that good old Chicago tap water was adequate, we were brought several bottles of water at $5 a bottle. The food - My husband ordered lobster risotto at $25 and had all of 4 bites of lobster in the entire dish. Overall - horrible service, terrible value, loud and annoying atmoshphere. more

We spent the weekend of the 4th in Chicago, and stayed near Bice. We found the food to be spectacular, and the service to be excellent. Get a window seat of you can! One of the people in our party is true Italian, and found the food to be impeccable! We will go here again! Pros: Food, Wine List, Service more

Italian cuisine is my favorite, and while staying in Chicago, decided on Bice for lunch. My husband and I have eaten at most recommended Italian restaurants in Chicago and frankly I'm surprised Bice hasn't rated higher. We liked the ambiance, the service was attentive and the food incredible. I had a lobster and avocado cobb salad that I'm still dreaming about. My husband also thought the beef carpachio was one of the best he had ever tasted. We'll definitely dine there again on our next trip to Chicago! Pros: Food, Service, Ambiance more

I was in town for the convention and was referred to Bice to dine. It was very busy, but I was seated promptly. The food was excellent. You get what you pay for, & it's worth every penny. Nothing can top off the service. It was made a memorable night, thanks to Mr. Orban, our server. He took great care of us. Pros: service, food, friendly atmosphere more

We went there for Thanksgiving. Seating was rather prompt, the service excellent! The set Thanksgiving Day menu was very good and had a few original touches (e.g. first course was squash-stuffed ravioli with a butter/almond sauce). The snag came with the wine. We had ordered a certain Chardonnay from the wine list and didn't realize that we were served the considerably more expensive one, until it came to receiving the check. Considering how much the waiter who brought the wine ""advertised"" it (we were wondering why we were ""sold"" something we had already ordered), this does not appear to have been an honest mistake. This episode left us with a somewhat bad taste in our mouths. Another problem was that valet parking doesn't start until after 4:00 p.m. We came at 2:30 and had a long walk from the parking garage. Pros: food, service, ambience Cons: honesty of servers, parking more

Great sea bass and octopus dishes aside, the charming Maitre D'/GM Antonio (last name I forgot!) stole the show with his humor and charm (this is not your checkered tablecloth type of place & he's not your ""bada-bing"" type of Italian!) Intelligent wine recommendations flow and food is poetry and philosophy with authentic-Roman Antonio at the helm! A real pleasure for those in the know! Pros: Charming Italians!, No "Bada-Bing"!, Delicate flavors Cons: crowded bar, wait for outdoor more