After experiencing the fresh and exciting Rose Mary restaurant in Chicago, I was thrilled to score a tough to get reservation at Il Carciofo, Joe Flamm’s newest spot in the West Loop. I ate here on a chilly Sunday in March, 2025, and unfortunately, I didn’t think that Flamm’s ode to Roman cooking lived up to the hype.

Il Carciofo is located in the exciting West Loop neighborhood of Chicago, surrounded by all sorts of incredible restaurants including Smyth, Elske, and Flamm’s own Rose Mary. The space is massive, bright, and open, and really gives a bistro-like feel. That said, everything is new and modern, so it doesn’t really evoke a feeling that says “Rome.” Having also recently been to Rome, enjoying incredible food at both Roscioli Salumeria, and Retrobottega, I had really high expectations.

Service here was fine – nothing outstanding, and nothing horrible either. There were a couple of lapses in service where we waited for a long time in between dishes, and one of our entrees was completely missed or forgotten, so don’t expect Michelin-level service here.

I thought the food also fell short of what I expect from Roman cooking. Many of the dishes were far too greasy, and some of the pasta was borderline terrible, with a gummy sauce. We started with the artichokes, the restaurant’s eponymous dish, and I was hoping for something really special. Instead, I thought the artichokes were anemic with very little meat, and far too over-fried and greasy.

We also tried the Filetti di Baccala, which was cutely presented, and had a nice aioli for dipping, but again, I thought it was overly fried and greasy. Maybe we shouldn’t have ordered two fried appetizers…

The highlight of the evening for me was the pizza. The focaccia-like dough was super fresh and fluffy, with a really nice crusty edge to it, and it was truly perfectly prepared. The toppings that we chose (zucchini and mozzarella) were really nice and fresh, and I kind of wish we just ordered several pizzas for the evening, which would’ve been much better than just about everything else we had. The pizza here is truly wonderful, and I would definitely come back and just order one of them!

For pasta, I ordered the carbonara, and after the world’s greatest carbonara at Roscioli in Rome, I had massively high expectations. Unfortunately, the carbonara here fell far short. The pasta was cooked properly and al dente, but the guanciale was overcooked, hard, and added almost nothing to the plate. The carbonara sauce was gummy after mere minutes, and I thought the whole dish overly salty.

We ordered gnocchi which were forgotten, but eventually served much later on. They were far too large, and almost doughy, rather than light and fluffy, and a total disappointment. The highlight of the pastas was the tagliatelle with a beef ragu. The pasta was obviously fresh and the ragu not to heavy. Easily the best of the three pasta dishes that we tried.

I’m finding out that good Italian must be really tough to do on a consistent basis. My last two experiences in Chicago, both here and at RPM Italian (which you can read about here) have been average, at best, absolutely terrible, at worst. I was surprised that Il Carciofo was so meh, considering how lovely all of the food we ate at sister restaurant, Rose Mary, was. I’ll need to go back there to put up a proper review on the blog. If you do come to Il Carciofo, I do highly recommend the pizzas. We didn’t try any meats from the “Forno” section of the menu, so it’s possible that we missed some other highlights. In the meantime, if you want great Italian cooking in Chicago, my best recommendation is still to go to Eataly for excellent hand made and dried pastas, with amazing sauces that have never been bad in the probably 25-plus times I’ve eaten there! Alternatively, in the West Loop, check out Pasta Veneta, which continues to crank out excellent Italian cooking.