The Reader: "Eataly is Hardly the Last Word in Italian Food in Chicago"

The Reader's Mike Sula undertakes a review of Eataly as a whole (except for Baffo) and came away unimpressed with the restaurants and says the environment "inspire(s) annoyance or anxiety." He likes La Piazza the most, saying it's there where "you'll be eating some of the best food Eataly has to offer," and says the vegetable-centric "Le Verdure also has some appealing dishes."

It's mostly downhill from there. He says Birreria serves "flaccid and loose-skinned" bratwurst alongside a house-brewed ale that "tastes like flat, liquid catnip." La Pizza & La Pasta "produced one of the most disappointing Neapolitan pies I've ever encountered," he says, as well as "near-perfect pasta." He calls the meats at La Carne "the most disappointing."

Sula is a fan of the wine bar, the Nutella bar, and the gelato station, saying the latter served "one of the creamiest, most richly flavored dairy products I've put in my mouth in a long time."
· Eataly: The restaurant review [Reader]
· All Eataly Coverage [-ECHI-]