In my travels around the northwest suburbs of Chicago over the years, I've frequently passed an ornate Italian restaurant at the corner of Milwaukee and Howard Avenues in Niles. One recent evening after a long day of calling on accounts in the Chicago area, I happened to be driving past the restaurant on my way to my hotel. I thought I'd give it a try that night and I double-backed and found myself in the parking lot in front of Amici Ristorante. (see map)
Mike and Sarah Zimmerman are the owners of Amici (Italian for "friends") Ristorante which opened in 1989. The exterior of the restaurant resembles an Italian countryside villa, while the two main dining rooms are also rustic in their decor.
In front of the restaurant is a nice patio area for al fresco dining. It featured a number of wrought iron tables and chairs, some tables with small umbrellas. Vines grew on the exterior wall and on an arbor over the outside dining area. It was a beautiful evening, but no one was seated on the patio.
I ended up sitting in a booth in the lounge area. The lounge was located in the middle of the two dining areas and looked more like an old time Italian eatery's bar. The music playing in the background reflected the old time atmosphere to the place - there was music from Frank Sinatra, Kay Starr, Perry Como and Keely Smith that was played in the lounge. I also heard a great Nat King Cole/Dean Martin duet - Long, Long Ago - that I added to one of my Tidal song lists when I got back to the hotel.
I was greeted by my server for the evening, Monica. Monica told me that she has been a waitress at various places in the area for 45 years. She fit into her lounge surroundings as she had that endearing old-time quality to her that 50 years ago she would have been referred to as a "broad". But I say that in the most complementary and affectionate way. She was a fun and brassy lady.
Many of the items on the dinner menu at Amici Ristorante were Italian specialties including pasta dishes, chicken entrees, as well as veal and seafood dishes. They also have ribs, steaks, pork chops and pizza on the menu. A couple seated near me in the lounge got the pizza that evening and it was a thin crust with plenty of toppings on it. It looked very good.
After I ordered my entree, Monica brought out a dinner salad and a basket of warm, fresh-baked bread. The salad had their housemade Italian dressing on it and featured fresh lettuce greens, chopped red onions and carrots, and a slices of pickled beets and cucumbers. Everything was fresh and cool in the salad and the Italian dressing had a great zesty taste.
I've been on a meat-filled ravioli kick as of late and that's exactly what I ordered for my dinner at Amici Ristorante. For good measure, I had Monica have the chef throw in a couple meatballs with the ravioli and bolognese sauce that I had on top of the ravioli. I thought a glass of wine would be a nice thing to have along with the ravioli and meat sauce that evening and they had the Liberty School cabernet available by the glass from their wine list.
The ravioli were good sized and had to be cut in half to eat. There was plenty of the beef/veal/pork mixture in the ravioli, themselves. The bolognese sauce was a bit too sweet for my tastes, but it was still very good. The meatballs were also pretty large and had pretty much the same mixture as what were in the pillows of ravioli. It was a great, old-home Italian dinner - one that made me pretty full by the time I was finished.
For driving by Amici Ristorante many times over the years, I'm almost kicking myself for not trying it sooner than this visit. From the Italian rustic decor, to the wonderful old time lounge, to the 50's and 60's pop classics playing in the background, to my server's wonderful service - complete with a bit of sass and old school attitude - my visit to Amici Ristorante was more than I expected. The meat-filled ravioli in the slightly sweet bolognese sauce, along with two large meatballs, was a spot-hitter. And after seeing the pizza at Amici Ristorante, I'd like to head back at some point and try one of those. Let's just say I won't be ignoring Amici Ristorante when I drive by in the future.
Looks like a great place!
Posted by: Jeni F. | January 06, 2018 at 09:40 AM