Acanto

This awesome Italian restaurant and wine bar is located on Michigan Avenue across the street from Millennium Park. Which, let me add, it's rare to have such a great restaurant in this location. But the vibes are immaculate and the food is absolutely out of this world.

Here's everything I had:

1. Mussels: Out-of-the-Shell Mussels, Saffron Bianco, Oven Cured Tomatoes, Fennel Salad, Sourdough Croutons. Absolutely amazing. So delicious. Was a last second audible when I ordered this, and I'm so glad I did.

2. Negroni Classico: Engine Italian Gin, Cocchi Vermouth Di Torino, Campari Bitter, Orange Twist. A flawless classic Negroni. i.e., a perfect version of what's pretty much always my cocktail of choice.

3. Fusilli: Squid Ink Fusilli, Lobster, Scallops, Shrimp, San Marzano Tomatoes, Calabrian Chili, Garlic. A spectacular bowl of Pasta. So many ingredients and flavors I love in one bowl. This was truly my absolute Pasta and Seafood heaven right here.

4. Some absolutely ELITE Flourless Chocolate Cake to wrap up dinner at Acanto. SO GOOD.

Acanto is right across from Millennium Park so parking can be tough. It was pretty busy for an early Friday night dinner, and we had a 20 minute wait. If you can, highly recommend making a reservation.

The menu has a lot of options, including appetizers, salads, pasta and entrees. We ordered the arancini and pear salad to share, and I ordered the fusilli.

* Arancini - 5/5 well fried and the flavors of the tomato risotto with the basil pesto aioli was just amazing
* Pear salad - 5/5 huge portion size, a refreshing and light salad with watercress and endives
* Fusilli - 5/5 probably in my top two for squid ink pasta in Chicago! It had a decent amount of lobster, scallops and shrimp. Not spicy, but a slight kick from the calabrian chili. It was so flavorful, I ate with a spoon to get a good amount of pasta sauce with the fusilli and seafood in each bite!

Loved every single dish at Acanto and definitely will be back! Highly recommend checking out Acanto!

Food Summary: Arancini 5 of 5, pear salad 4 or 5, short rib rigatoni 5 of 5.

Service at this establishment was great, and the food didn't take too long to arrive at the table. Also, there was a good pacing between dishes.

Arancini was well cooked and the sauce flavorful. Each element blended together nicely.

The salad has an excellent contrast in flavors with cheese, pear, and dressing. It remains a light and refreshing dish, but personally doesn't compare to the hot dishes.

The short rib rigatoni doesn't disappoint as the main dish either. The sauce perfectly salted, flavorful, and plenty of short rib was excellent. Highly recommend.

We sat outside, so I didn't see too much of the inside of the building, but it was fitting for the food quality. I would say to get a reservation or go on a weekday l, as it seems to get really busy.

I wish I would've/could've taken a pic of our pastas - lighting is ambient (candle lit...)
Pappardelle pasta and rigatoni were delish.
Desserts were spot on.
My pasta was the Pappardelle (not spelling it correctly ), it was light and flavorful - loved the amount of mushrooms in was
Our dishes came out very quickly!
Service was good - not overbearing, checked in on us when necessary, water service was consistent.
Our desserts were:
Gelato (pistachio & chocolate)
Strawberry semifreddo
10/10 on both
The Strawberry semifreddo had citrus glass and citrus soaked strawberries with strawberry-sorbet-esque as the main.

I was thoroughly impressed by this restaurants vegan options. It is located right across from Millennium Park and is a nice location. The ambiance is very romantic with low lighting and tapered candles. They have a great assortment of wine and the service was fantastic. The only reason I give this 4 stars is because the vegan pasta dish I chose was quite lackluster. It was a penne with olive oil and something else but the flavors were not impressive. Even simple fresh ingredients can make an amazing meal. I tried some of my friend's other vegan and non vegan dishes, and they were fabulous! I think I just chose the wrong menu item.

Popped in on a Saturday night. Since I was dining solo, I sat at the bar. Great vibe, and a cool bar. On this occasion I ordered a gin martini, up, with blue cheese stuffed olives. I don't order them a lot, and when I do they tend to disappoint as they end up watered down. The bartender at Acanto makes a great martini! He also suggested the Bigoli. Took his advice, and it was great! The portions were on the smaller size which I was fine with, however if you were really hungry, you would need more

Came here for a solo lunch date but was really disappointed by the food and the price. I mean the location is great and right across from the Bean, but food gave me a stomachache after (an almost $40 stomachache)
Would not recommend

Nice service and really good food. Arugula salad with strawberries was amazing, so flavorful! I had a fish special that was very tasty and the filet was cooked just right. Spouse had the chicken piccata which could have been pounded a bit thinner but the pasta was fresh and homemade . We dined Al fresco which made for a nice meal

For this place to be arguably a tourist trap as it's across from the bean I was very surprised. My cocktail was well balanced & not a single food item was boring & some were mind boggling delicious. I'm among the people that contend that Monteverde is the best Italian in the city however there are dishes here that honestly can compete such as the lobster ravioli & the pistachio pasta dish. For your money & the area you could do a whole hell of a lot worse

Came here for Chicago Restaurant Week 2024 and the CRW lunch menu was delicious and definitely worth trying out for $25. The burrata was creamy and paired well with the accompanying roasted beets and bright notes of citrus. The toast was a bit too hard for me but otherwise, the burrata was a great first course. The fritto misto was fantastic as well and the fried olives were a nice surprise (the person who decided to fry a castelvetrano olive is a genius). The second course options were good as well but let me continue on and highlight the panna cotta. OH MY. This dessert was 10/10 - I highly recommend trying this over the other dessert option (zuppa inglese). The panna cotta was creamy with a nice balance of rich chocolate-y goodness and crunchy bits and pieces of sponge cake. Definitely one of those dishes that elicit sounds of contentment.

Overall, loved the cozy vibes of Acanto and the service was good as well. The spot is ideal as well if you're ever in the Loop area.