After abandoning a four-hour line at Au Cheval, my friends and I were left wandering the West Loop on a Friday night with empty stomachs, no dinner reservation and the clock ticking.
Thankfully, Formento’s was just around the corner, and they graciously seated our group of five with no wait. While their immediate availability made me skeptical of what was to come, their well-executed dishes and chic atmosphere proved me wrong.
After being seated in a cozy leather booth, we ordered the fritto misto (left) and kale salad (right) for our starters. While neither dish was particularly remarkable, both were well-executed — and, to be fair, it’s pretty hard to be blown away by a typical fried calamari or a kale salad dish! The addition of fried peppers and olives was a nice touch to the calamari, though.
Seeing as this is an Italian restaurant, I (of course) had to order pasta for my main. To venture out of my comfort zone, I opted for the orecchiette, a squid ink shell pasta topped with rock shrimp and a sprinkle of serrano chili. In all honesty, it definitely looked better than it tasted (I mean, it does look amazing, so it’s pretty hard to beat!), but it was definitely also yummy. The shrimp was well-cooked, but the pasta itself was a tad bland for my taste. Some extra seasoning or other sauce would have elevated the dish as a whole.
And as any diligent foodie would do, I also eagerly sampled each of my friends’ dishes.
The paccheri with vodka sauce (left) was delicious: perfectly al dente and not spicy, with a thick shape. The bucatini cacio e pepe (right) was no different! I especially enjoyed its thick and chewy texture (in a good way, I swear).
Nonetheless, the star of the show was no doubt their chicken parmesan entree. Doused in pomodoro sauce with a generous helping of mozzarella and basil, the chicken was absolutely delectable, with an ideal amount of breading.
While I often praise restaurants for not serving ginormous portions, my one complaint about Formento’s is their dish size to cost ratio. For such modest helpings of pasta, I wouldn’t expect them to be priced in the mid-twenty-dollar range. On the other hand, the chicken parmesan was absolutely huge — easily split as a main between two or three people — so while its $43 price tag could be justified, the proportion discrepancy is much more easily rectified by decreasing the portion (and, with it, the price).
So, although Formento’s is not where we intended to end up that night (Formento’s, forgive me for making you our second choice), I can successfully say it fulfilled its promise of delivering a space where “family recipes, heartfelt hospitality, and classic flavors come together.”
All in all, I wouldn’t tell you to “run, don’t walk” to Formento’s — Chicago has plenty of more highly sought-after Italian restaurants that inspire that sense of urgency, especially if you’re a college student trying to spend wisely. However, if you’re in need of a last-minute reservation in the city and you’re craving some good Italian food, I’d encourage you to give Formento’s a try!