Elina's

First time at Elina's, and I loved it!!!! The ambiance was cozy and intimate. I was initially worried about how close the two-tops were to each other, but it didn't seem to take away from the experience.The food portions are large - so plan to share!! Our server was exceptionally friendly and helped us navigate the menu to create the perfect dinner for 2! I highly recommend the rigatoni alla vodka and the meatballs! I luckily got to enjoy the leftovers the next day.Can't wait to come back!

Is this the Carbone of Chicago? No? Yes? Yes it is! Food was immaculate and the spicy rig was miles better in my opinion than Carbone.Dishes were very reasonably priced for the quality. Spacing was limited in the restaurant but you get a tight intimate dining experience.The Dover Sole Piccata was one of the best plates of fish I've had in Chicago, no joke I could eat it everyday. The cook on the fish was perfection and although it wasn't crusted the depth of flavor from the cook made it taste as if it were fried with breadcrumbs.The baked clams casino were great, an old school dish packed with lots of flavor. The Italian fries were a good side although the marinara dipping sauce was quite watery, would pass on them next.The tiramisu was just like my grandpa made it, heavy with rum. A great treat to end the night.Service was great our server was awesome. Drinks were well made. The frozen whiskey sour was refreshing and surprisingly addicting.

Loved everything about this dining experience and it is a MUST try. I'm not sure what to write, that anyone has not already wrote before. Elina's is a cozy Italian restaurant, great for any reason to go. It is super cute, cozy, and romantic! They have beautiful art, even beautiful plates. I love their melted candles decor. My friends and I came on a Sunday late evening. We were lucky enough to get a reservation. I was personally nervous about parking, and I am not familiar with this area, but parking was fairly easy.Once seated, you start off with complimentary garlic bread, focaccia bread, salami and pickled eggplant! These alone were all delicious and fresh. My nana is the only person I know who makes pickled eggplant soooo good, but Elina's is just as good!! I swear, I would go there just for this. The food portions is fit to your table. The menu options and drink selection is good and prices are fair. The waiter recommended to us to order 7-9 dishes for a party of 4, however, we only did 3. I won't lie, I still wanted more, but only because I love to always order a variety of dishes at any restaurants to try everything and it was delicious I wanted to continue to try their other dishes. (Just an excuse for me to come back).Anyways, as all reviews say, and all social media the Caesar salad is a MUST. The croutons similar to the complimentary bread is AMAZING and so fresh! We also ordered the chicken parmigiana and the famous vodka rigatoni. Chicken Parmesan was very good and I recommend this dish. For the vodka rigatoni, I thought this dish was good, but in my personal opinion, it is too "hyped" up on social media. The dish was good, but I would not say it's my favorite vodka pasta dish to try or I would not say it's a must. We also did get to end our meal with a cannoli, which again was very fresh and delicious. if you do like cannolis, this is also a must.Great customer service from the moment we walked in, until the moment we left.

Came here from a tiktok that said Elina's was created by someone who had worked at Carbone, and it was simply mouthwatering.. I would come back for the free garlic bread alone. The spicy vodka rigatoni could use some more sauce, but was still to die for. We were seated outside at first but it did get a bit cold despite the patio heating, but it was a very cozy and intimate environment. To top it off, it was extremely affordable and I was shocked when I got the check for only around $60-70 for a drink, 2 main courses and dessert.

We ordered:Rigatoni Alla Vodka - Calabrian Bread CrumbsDover Sole PiccataBroccoli CarbonizadoCaesar Salad I've never seen a garlic and pizza bread basket so that was a fun start. The flavor and portions of everything we ordered was top notch in my opinion. Dove sole was lean yet so tender. Rigatoni was made fresh. Broccoli was crispy and well spiced.Service was good. Not a fan of the dim lighting and loud music.

First time coming here and honestly the place is pretty overhyped. They have to move tables around to be able to fit people in between them to be seated. Not the best having people's butts on your table when they squeeze in between them. We also we came at night and it did get pretty dark in there and you cant even really fully see what you're eating. The complimentary bread and salami is good but the pickled eggplant was disgusting. We got the chopped salad which was a huge portion and delicious. For entrees we got the chicken parm and the vodka rigatoni. Both were good but nothing special. The vodka rigatoni did come out a little cold.

Holy cow. This place is worth it. Worth it all. I feel often times I walk away feeling underwhelmed. I literally cannot express how delicious this meal was. We started with the baked clams which I will say weren't the star but were great. You get all complimentary bread with your meal which is great. We were served a very shareable portion of the shrimp scampi and the rigatoni. And we almost couldn't finish. Oh I almost forgot we got the italian mojito and it was perfect. The ambiance is awesome so cute and cozy. The service was fine. Not show stopping by any means but definitely nothing to complain about. Parking was fairly easy as well. I will be trying to convince my fiancé to take me here weekly 10 out of 5 stars

I've heard great things about Elina's so we wanted to give it a try. The restaurant itself is super dark and compact. I understand there is a desire to fit more tables so more people can dine at a time however it was super annoying having to always scoot in or get up for people to walk in between tables. The tables are also so close to eachother it feels like you're eating with the people beside you. Anyways! On to the fun part..The complimentary pizza bread with salami and pickled eggplant was the top of the entire meal. The flavors of the pickled eggplant with the cheesy bread.. phenomenally paired. For appetizer, we shared the breaded bacon clams which was so tasty. The clams didn't give a fishy flavor and tasted fresh. Definitely could have eaten 2 orders of that myself! Between two, for entrees, we shared the chicken parm and rigatoni. I've actually never had chicken parm but chicken, cheese, basil.. what's there not to like. The chicken though was extremely dry and hard to chew. The texture of the chicken was not good at all. We ended up only eating the cheesy parts and the burnt ends. It was tough trying to chew it. The rigatoni was very rich and good in flavor but it came out not too hot so it didn't take long for it to get sickening and cold.Overall, glad to have tried Elina's but the food was underwhelming or the entrees were. The appetizers were top notch. We did also enjoy the whiskey sour! Totally wasn't expecting it to be a slushy. Was so fun!

My friend and I spontaneously checked out this place because not many restaurants were open at 9:30. The place is small, the ambiance is great, and it's a really cute spot for a date or for friends to get together for a celebrationOur waitress was super personable, and we really surprised us with their complimentary garlic bread and starter bitesWhat we ordered:Chopped salad: our favorite. It was perfectly citrusy, and the bell peppers and bacon really made it so delish Rigatoni alla vodka: creamy pasta. The lumache noodles cup the sauce in the noodle perfectlyChicken parm: yummy, but I thought it was a little dryTiramisu: generous portion. Great for sharing. Not too sweet and very creamyEverything tasted great, and I will be coming back for the chopped salad!

I really enjoyed my dinner at Elina's. It was pretty obvious as soon as we walked in why it's a little tougher to get a reservation, and that's because it is tiny on the inside! The tables are very close together so we almost felt like we were having dinner with the strangers next to us. The menu is small and concise but everything we had was very delicious! The angel hair scampi was my most surprising love of the night! The rigatoni vodka is a must have as well. The bread and amuse-bouche included were really lovely. The eggplant was probably my favorite. The only thing I didn't love so much was the broccoli and that's only because it was spicer than I typically prefer my veggies to be. Overall, a really great meal! I would definitely return.