My husband and I love to go out to dinner and what better way than with Restaurant.com gift certificates! I talk about it all the time and I used one again recently at Pavone Restaurant in Chicago (on Irving Park Road). This local Italian Restaurant is one that both of us have wanted to try for awhile, but never had the chance. We were looking for a new place to go and low and behold, they were on Restaurant.com!
Standing outside the location, I must say I wasn’t impressed. I’d heard good things, I know the menu and I know that it is a sister-restaurant to another in the area, but the sign kind of stands out as one that needs a little TLC. If nothing else, someone needs to fix or add letters to the bottom. As it stands, they “Deiver” and the phone number is missing a number. Granted, the phone number is just above it, but still! It’s about first impressions.
Upon walking into the restaurant, you’re taken to a completely different place. On one half of the restaurant it looks like a fine dining Italian eatery and the other looks like a sports bar, complete with televisions and beer. We were seated by a well-dressed hostess who also turned out to be our server. She appeared to be the only employee on our side of the restaurant, but all tables seemed well taken care of.
Pavone does not have a specific kids menu, but they do have pizza. Let me jump ahead by saying the pizza is REALLY good! I ate two pieces of my kids medium pizza (it was huge!) just trying to figure out what they made it with. It tasted like there was extra parmesan in the sauce perhaps, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. My husband ate the entire rest of the kids pizza as leftovers the next night. And just for the record, this is a man who does NOT eat leftovers.
My husband and I each ordered a pasta dish – him the Linguini with Broccoli and Shrimp and me the 8-Finger Cavateli – as well as an appetizer of the Capriccioso. I wasn’t familiar with Cavateli, but the server was very knowledgeable and filled me in on the spiraled pasta dish with three different pasta flavors.
The Capriccioso (with the prosciutto on the side) came first. I’m not a prosciutto fan, but my husband was in heaven with the incredibly large portion they served. This could have easily been someone’s meal! The bread was a buttery, toasted flatbread and came with generous portions of fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and lettuce. I would definitely order it again!
My 8-Finger Cavateli was fascinating. It was good and I would order it again, but the mix of flavors from the sauce, spinach, cheese and pasta changed almost with each bite. The fact that the pasta alternated in flavor (spinach as well as two others that I couldn’t quite pick out) kept me coming back for more. My husband’s pasta was wonderful – so much so that our daughter swapped dinners with him! He at the shrimp, broccoli and pizza and she ate the noodles with sauce. My 4-year old then told me that she would be ordering that next time we visited – and we all agreed that there will be a next time!
This is a significantly nicer restaurant than our usual eats, so the bill was a bit higher than we usually pay. That being said, having a $25 discount was a fantastic bonus! Our gratuity was already added to the bill (I’m assuming due to the discount, so that we would tip on the entire amount), so we paid a total of $52.14 for everything. That comes out to just over $13 per person – an excellent deal considering the meal we had – and the leftovers we had the next day!
I would happily return to Pavone Restaurant and I’m guessing sooner rather than later. My kids have already been asking about it!
Restaurant.com is the trusted and valued source connecting diners, restaurants, businesses and communities since 1999. The company offers savings at more than 18,000 restaurants nationwide with more than 45,000 gift certificate options. The Restaurant.com Independent Consultant program offers thousands of self-employment opportunities to individuals that want to earn money while helping Restaurant.com expand to more restaurants, businesses and communities nationwide. To date, Restaurant.com customers have saved more than $500 million through the gift certificate program filling more than 5.5 million tables annually. Restaurant.co is a pioneer in the restaurant deal space and is headquartered in Arlington Heights, Ill.
*This post was written on behalf of and in part with the Restaurant.com Ambassador Program.
Alli is a Chicago based wife and mother of two children. She has turned money-saving into a game and enjoys searching out the best deals to help you save money! Alli shares her insight, tips and up-to-the-minute deals for local and national retailers and brands. Her hope is that you will play the game and learn to save money at the same time!