Al Dente

My date and I made reservations for Valentine’s Day, and had a really wonderful time. We got the shrimp appetizer, which was a perfect preface to the stake and veal we ordered, both of which were absolutely perfect. Order the steak rare, it melts in your mouth and is divinely seasoned!
Also, try the frites with Chef Javier’s sauce, it has an excellent kick to it, but isn’t overpowering. Overall a truly delightful night, we’ll go back often to this place :)

Been here 3 times now and they never disappoint. The food is delicious– a creative blend of Latin, Italian and American flavors, and served in perfectly sized portions-​not too big and not too small. My boyfriend and I particularly enjoyed the calamari steak appetizer and since their menu changes seasonally, I’ve had 3 completely different entrees that may or not be on the menu at any given time. The lamb two ways (lamb chops and lamb flautas) was awesome and I also really enjoyed a gnocci with wild boar ragu on another occasion. We love this place, and seeing as it’s just down the street, we don’t need to go far to get great cuisine.

We went to Al Dente for the first time earlier this week. Our experience got off to a bit of a shaky start. The server asked if we wanted ice water or sparkling water and we chose sparkling water. She disappeared and a few minutes later a young man filled our water glasses with ice water. We were worried this lack of communication amongst the staff would affect the rest of our experience. However, they recovered nicely.
The food was very good. The gaspacho was very fresh with a nice spicy backbone. My wife doesn’t typically like gaspacho but she liked this. I loved it.
The gnocchi appetizer was clearly handmade and done very well. It was served with root veggies (rutabaga and parsnip) and butternut squash in a sage brown butter sauce. I’d swear there was some cinnamon in there too. Very tasty.
My wife had the Mar y Tierra, whitefish and pork belly with brussel sprouts and rutabaga purée. It seemed like an odd version of surf and turf at first glance but it really worked. The pork belly had a lovely maple glaze and was very tender. The fish was cooked perfectly.
I had the hanger steak and couldn’t have been more pleased with the dish. The meat was cooked properly and seasoned perfectly. It melted in my mouth. The smashed potatoes were great. Crispy skins with soft insides made a nice combination of textures. When they bring the dish out it gets noticed as it is served on one of those metal plates that is smoking hot. The meat and oil are still sizzling and popping when they set the dish in front of you. Yes, I’ve seen this done many times with fajitas and similar dishes but it does catch your attention.
For dessert we had the flan and the brandy apple fritters. I’m a sucker for flan and this one was really good. The fritters were fresh and hot and delicious.
The only thing preventing me from giving five stars is the pricing. $ 100 for dinner for two without drinks (they are BYOB and charge no corkage fee, which I like) is a bit steep in Old Irving Park. I’d love to make this a place we’d go to with some frequency, but at that price point it’s going to be once or twice a year.

Let’s start with the good:
The waitress/​co-​owner, Maria, is the best!
The grilled octopus appetizer, although a bit small, was very flavorful.
The linguini arrabiata was amazing… perfectly cooked shrimp and full of spice and garlic.
The squash bread pudding was out of this world. BY FAR the best bread putting I have ever had. I could have licked the plate clean.
The flan special was also delicious.
BYOB with no corkage fee.
Now on to a couple glitches:
The seafood cataplana was way over-​salted. I think that really masked the amazing flavors of the dish. Pretty sure it was just the broth that was over-​salted and not the seafood or lemon couscous but the dish was swimming in the broth.
There were a few service errors. It seemed like things were not coordinated well. I understand that it was a semi-​busy night and hope that these issues will be worked out next time we go.

Let’s start with the good:
— The beet salad was enjoyable.
— The mushroom appetizer was enjoyable.
— I finished my entire mega-​plate of linguini arrabiata with rock shrimp.
— Service was friendly.
— BYOB.
— Easy metered street parking.
Then, we move on to the things that make me not eager to return:
— Service was friendly… when we had service. It was slow. No one checked on us. Waters sat empty. Plates weren’t bussed. It is almost unheard of at a restaurant that charged $ 20+ for an entrée to leave dirty plates at the table when you’ve returned with a swiped credit card.
— The prices: a little bit high for the neighborhood. $ 21 for my linguini dish. $ 23 for a vegetarian butternut squash gnocchi. (The shrimp diavolo linguini at La Gondola is $ 19 and comes with a soup/​salad and bread — I find the atmosphere of the two places comparable).
— The gnocchi wasn’t very good.
I think it’s great that a place like this exists in this neighborhood, but I definitely wouldn’t recommend people make this a destination. For a more upscale BYOB in the neighborhood, give it a shot.

nice little place off irving park road. we ordered
grilled octopus — very nice tender pieces
pork chop — ok, not tender enough or seasoned well
steak tagliata — ok, tender but not seasoned
just ok food for the price.

After dining here, I was surprised by how high the reviews are for a few reasons:
1) The food is good but not 4 or 5 star worthy. I am certainly not itching to return anytime soon.
2) The place was barely packed on a Friday evening. My husband and I dined around 7:30 — 9pm on a Friday and the place was ½ to ¾ full the entire time.
My husband started off with the octopus and bone marrow… both of which I do not care for but he said they were okay. I started witht he arugula salad which was awesome but it’s hard to make a terrible arugula salad. For dinner, I had the duck w/​risotto and I had a couple issues with it… I would have liked the skin to be less fatty and more crispy. I also think the risotto was a bit under cooked for my liking.
As a BYOB this is a great place to have a nice meal, support a local business, and dine in a quiet, casual atmosphere… but I just don’t see how this place rates at a 4.5

This was a surprising little treat in our neck of the weeks. Quite, intimate dining at a lovely restaurant in the NW side! Practically a romantic dinner kind of restaurant.
The food was delish, the service exquisite, and we’ll definitely return soon so I can give a more specific review!
Thanks for bringing this restaurant into the neighborhood! We need it!

We had a reservation at 8pm, and the staff greeted us with a smile right when we walked in. I’m liking this place already, I thought. They seated us next to the window, but there’s not much to see outside. The neighborhood can look a little sketchy, I think. The atmosphere inside, however, was intimate and romantic. I like feeling as though I’ve stepped into a different world, and I’m not sure how I felt about being seated next to the window, but in the end, it was fine.
We had looked forward to ordering their mac and cheese based on Unilocal’s highlighted recommendation, but unfortunately they had discontinued it.
As we came in with a Groupon on a weeknight, we got a free bowl of gazpacho with tortilla chips and guacamole. The tomato-​based gazpacho was okay; I much prefer the avocado gazpacho I had a long time ago from a different restaurant. I thought Al Dente’s tasted too similarly to salsa (Is this what the tomato-​based ones are supposed to taste like?) and it was a little too weird for me.
In addition, we ordered the beet salad (with watercress, almond slices, and goat cheese), gnocchi, and fries for appetizers. I’m a fan of beets, so I like the beet salad a lot. I wish they had given us a bit more watercress to balance out the sweetness of the beets though. The gnocchi were also good, but the cured meat was a bit too salty for my date and me (and he has a much higher tolerance for salty food than I do). The fries came with a habanera aioli sauce. It was very good.
For our entrée, we ordered the lamb to share. I wasn’t that fond of the lamb taquitos because I thought they were a little too hard and bland. I couldn’t taste the lamb. I, however, loved the lamb chops. We ordered it medium, and it was so juicy and good. It was probably my favorite part of the meal.
Our server was also very nice and sweet, and I like the speed with which they cleared our plates on our little table. These portions are by no means small. The meal was very filling for the both of us. Definitely worth a try!

Great location for outstanding food. Off the beaten path. They could do a bit to work on their atmosphere, not that its bad, but it just is not on the same level as their food.
My wife and I shared a beet salad (excellent if you like beets). I had the white fish sautéed with bacon and clams. There may have been a touch too much bacon for my tastes, but otherwise it was great, and the fish was perfectly cooked. My wife had the lobster ravioli (Maine lobster, scallion, garlic, sweet corn, lobster reduction, broccoli, crispy shallots). My only complaint there was that it was their cheese ravioli (which are also on the menu as a separate entrée) with lobster chunks and the rest of the accouterments instead of lobster filled ravioli. Though this wasn’t really a bad thing (lobster was plentiful and cooked right), I was just expecting it inside the ravioli.
Like I said the atmosphere isn’t bad, it’s just that the food is at such a high level, that an improvement in atmosphere would just compliment the whole package. Things I would change:
The music — on the night we were there they were playing the Adele cd. Not bad music, but just didn’t fit the vibe of the place. A nice recording of a three piece jazz combo would work much better. Even better (though I know there’s a cost associated with it), have a live small jazz combo on the weekends. It would really take the place up a notch, and there isn’t anything like it in the area.
The service — again the service isn’t bad. Our waitress was very pleasant, but she wasn’t trained in fine dining. I’m not saying I want a stuffy or pretensions server, a good fine dining server should be neither of those. But small things like table side manners, how you uncork and pour wine, replacement of silverware in between courses (not saying mandatory silverware replacement, but if I leave my fork on my plate when you go to pick it up, and I have another course coming, just replace my fork with a clean one). Sweating some of these details matters at this price point.
Are some of these items picky? Yes, but I do so because the food is already at such a high level (and that is usually the hard part for restaurants). A few small changes could make a huge impact on Al Dente, and I want to see it flourish in this community.

Good food, bad atmosphere. It reminded me of a hospital basement that was painted green, and the smell of the place brought back memories of the slightly musty smell of my old church. The server was kind of awkward and very quiet, and the busser didn’t seem to know when to take our plates away.
That said, the food was quite good. I ordered the steak, which was perfectly cooked to the medium rare that I requested. It was tender and juicy, and the portion was huge. My mom had the lamb, and she really enjoyed it. We also had the grilled octopus special for an appetizer, and it was very tender and flavorful.

Great. loved the service the food and price. It isn’t expensive compared to the places on the northside or downtown, need to change out the fake flowers for real ones but outside of that it was great. $ 5 corkage is nothing and if that is your beef go to Olive Garden and drink franzia… get the fries they are great and the habenaro mayo is outstanding… The pork chop with an egg cooked mid rare is great

I love Al Dente. I went here in a large group on a Friday night, and the place was empty. I wasn’t expecting much, but boy was I wrong. This is a great place to take a group of friends, out of town guests, or family.
We started with the calamari steak and mussels. The «steak» version of calamari is actually really tasty and the mussels had a really flavorful sauce.
For entrees, I have sampled the following (yep, they are ranked):
1) Steak (cooked perfectly medium, tons of flavor)
2) Pork Chop (best pork chop EVER)
3) Lobster Ravioli (delicious sauce, fully stuffed)
4) Salmon (salmon was cooked well, adobo crust was a little odd – not a fan of the house made chorizo, raw lima beans, and blah negro sauce)
5) Gnocchi (I hate gnocchi – always have, always will)
For dessert, I sampled the bread pudding, but it was nothing to write home about.
Minus the salmon, I am a fan of Al Dente. Great appetizers (I still need to try the mac and cheese and the salads!) and good steak and pork. Eat more meat!

I was excited to go here based on the reviews that I have seen but I have to say I wasn’t impressed. Te ambiance was just okay and the server was kind of deadpan which you wouldn’t expect from a place that has been getting such good reviews. When we got there at 7:30 in the evening we were the only people in the joint until another couple showed up. I had the stuffed calamari appetizer which was extremely chewy with a seafood stuffing that really didn’t have a lot of taste. My wife had a cream of cauliflower soup which was pretty good. For our main course she had the salmon which was just okay and I had the lamb chops which I order medium «pink» and came out blood red so I had to send them back to finish cooking. They were okay but I have had much better. So all of this with no drinks for a whopping total of $ 90.
Bottom line is I likely won’t go back again as there is another restaurant right across the street called Bread and Wine which has excellent ambiance, very friendly service and great food. It as well is very pricey but at least worth it not to mention a pretty robust wine list.

What a find. The most exceptional part of this place is the creativity of the menu, and the wonderful skill of execution. My entrée was salmon, paired with chorizo, black mole sauce, and veggies. Lots of food. Salmon was cooked perfectly, pink on the inside and a slight crisp on the exterior. But who thought of pairing with homemade chorizo, which was terrific and very unique. And the pork chop entrée was equally inventive and delicious — a perfectly cooked, huge bone-​in chop with mushroom, peppers, and sauce melted in. The calamari on the menu was the best calamari I have ever had — tender, flavorful, and joined with some potatoes and greens. It is a pleasure to dine in a restaurant where the chef has such obvious passion and talent.
The special calamari app, the dessert (bread pudding), and the coffee did not reach the level of amazing, like the other dishes, but were solid.
Our waiter was extremely helpful in describing the menu and making recommendations.
I would skip the tasting menu, as it seemed less interesting than ordering off the menu.
If this place was located on Randolph Street, it would be packed every night and twice the price. For God’s sake, GO TONIGHT!

All the positive reviews of Al Dente are true!
I’ve eaten there twice for dinner and just booked a third dinner for tomorrow night. I’ve told friends about this place and they have come back telling me how great it was.
I’ve tried the salmon, fillet, mac and cheese (app) and the chicken. All delish!
The front of the house staff is professional and very willing to make your dining experience a great one!
I highly recommend Al Dente!

Wow, I saw all the amazing reviews, and Al Dente definitely lived up to my expectations.
I went here with my boyfriend with a
coupon. I got 3 appetizers for my meal: The mac&cheese, butternut squash soup, and sauteed spinach with chickpeas.
The soup was ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC!!! Definitely my favorite of the three. All the appetizers come in very small servings, so I thought three would fill me up just fine. The soup filled me up completely. It was so rich, with just the right texture and taste. It makes me want to go out and buy a food processor and attempt to re-​create it myself. Though I highly doubt it would be anywhere near as fantastic. I’m a girl that can eat quite a bit, and the soup alone was enough to fill me up.
The mac & cheese was rich and delicious as well. One of the best I’ve ever had. (I had a couple bites before bagging the rest to take home).
The spinach was also very tasty, not too oily and not too salty. Just right. (Again, took only a few bites after the filling soup and took the rest home as well).
My boyfriend had the Pork Chop with the portabello mushroom and fried egg. He absolutely loved it. He’s always very picky with his food. He said it was the best pork he’s ever had. I tried a bite as well and I agree with him.
The waitstaff was very friendly and informative. When I asked him if the food would stay good enough to eat as leftovers, he gave me a few tips on ingredients to add before I heat it up to make it taste almost as good as fresh.
This place is definitely a 5-​star restaurant. My boyfriend and I will definitely be returning here next year, maybe even for out anniversary.
Even without the
coupon, this place is worth it! Fine dining for a fraction of the price of what you’d pay down town. And better tasting too.
If you haven’t been here, you are surely missing out!!!

Wow, this is too good to be true! The lack of guests makes me confused, sad and worried.
If we had this meal in the loop, we would have spent an hour on the L and another hundred dollars. Please go here our neighborhood need places like this here!
The grilled calamari was total surprise, a squid steak! I thought I was in San Diego! Our steak with hedgehog mushrooms awesome and the pork chop while perfectly cooked was overshadowed by the portobello loco moco.
Maybe it“s too beyond the hood, Smoque was running a line when we walked home. We love Smoque too, but Al Dente also deserves a line out the door!
P. S. Service Awesome, Thanks!

Check out the Irving Park neighborhood getting some more fine dining options. Like this place, Al Dente. A mix of mexican and italian (yes, the mix sounds odd but it works) cusine that will satisfy most palets i think. Started of with a fine Amuse-​bouche deviled egg. I went with a big group so i was able to sample a wide variety of their entrees. Tried the chicken, salmon, escolar (flat fish very much like a halibut) and pork. Chicken was probably the best followed by the fish. Also tried Mac & cheese with truffle oil (this is so good), summer salad with jicama and avocado.
Very accommodating for kids (chef made a grilled chicken and fries dish just for my son. Not on the menu). Plus, Byob for now.
Help support a new local gem and head to Irvin Park for Al Dente.

If I did not know better I would have never found this bastion of culinary delights if I did not know the Chef from a previous restaurants. Chef Javier Perez has struck a wonderful balance of good food, good service and clean plating that reflects his time with Chef Michael Kornick.
The food is simple American Italian with a bit of Latin blended into the dishes. I really love the Truffle Mac & Cheese that Chef Javier has brought from his last Gig State & Lake. He has a wonderful sense of play with his food. I can only see bright things to come from this restaurant.
When all the Knicks are ironed out I expect to see the caliber of food only improve and service get even better. Like all new restaurants that open they need a few more weeks to get it just right. You can see the potential of the food and the service.
Also a good point in the area with practically not a one good sit down restaurant, this is an oasis in the culinary dessert of the West side of Irving Park.
If you are in the Area a want a nice quite sit down dinner Check this place out.