It’s half Italian restaurant and half Italian grocery store. It’s amazing – I used to go here all the time. It’s probably about a five minute drive from the stadium on the South Side. I HAVE to go there when I go back to Chicago.

We love Gio’s

I am hesitant to write about Gio’s, for fear that others will discover the amazing food, reasonable prices, and fine service at this humble storefront restaurant. It is BYOB, so pick out a fine bottle of Chianti or maybe a Spanish red …?

We discovered the diamond

The best ravioli with the best meat sauce in the world. this restaurant defines the meaning of “the good old days” in every way. this is the way it realy was sixty years ago in the italian neighborhoods in chicago. priceless …

After an aborted attempt to eat at Han 202 last night, and discovering it was closed on Mondays ( I edited Yelp business info page), my friend and I ventured into Gio’s Cafe. She’s eaten here before and liked it so I was happy to go as we have similar taste in food and restaurants. Gio’s is one part deli, one part grocery store, and one part sit-down restaurant. Cans of San Marzano tomatoes and jars of giardinera line the shelves. The menu is huge for being a relatively small place. You half expect a little Italian grandma to come out of the kitchen. It just feels like someone’s house. I love little places like this as you just know the food will be good. We were both going to start with a house salad but the waitress talked us instead into splitting the Italian salad. She was spot-on in her recommendation. It was a great salad, chock full of crispy iceberg lettuce ( I like iceberg; don’t judge me), cucumbers, tomatoes, garbanzo beans and shredded fresh mozzarella, and topped with the just the right amount of vinaigrette dressing. It was the perfect start to the meal. I ordered the chicken vesuvio for my entree and my friend ordered the tortiglioni carbonara. The chicken vesuvio was really good; it had a light white wine sauce that was not overly garlicky and came with vesuvio potatoes and peas as any chicken vesuvio worth its salt should. I was really jealous of my friend’s pasta dish. It was what looked like fusili in a light cream sauce with mushrooms, proscuitto and peas. I was hoping she would offer me a taste, and bless her heart, she did. It was delicious and I actually liked her entree better than mine. I am definitely going back and getting that. We sat there sipping our red wine and I just absorbed all the activity in this little gem. Orders were flying out the door; the waitress was chatting with everyone, and all were enjoying their food. You won’t find this kind of camaraderie at Olive Garden, folks. I don’t venture into Bridgeport all that often, but I’d definitely make a special trip to come to Gio’s.

My friend at worked wanted to order out for lunch since she didn’t bring anything. I brought my usual peanut butter and jelly sandwich and thought I might want to eat something else. This place was recommended to us by another lunch buddy. He had just recently dined here and enjoyed the food. I looked at the reviews on Yelp, found their menu and ordered the hot pepper and egg sandwich. When that sandwich arrived, I took a bite and burned my tongue. It was still very hot! That immediately was a good sign to me. The sandwich was delicious! Great Italian bread too. The sandwich was huge and was around $5. Great addition to our lunch delivery rotation! I now need to just get over there so I can try other items on the menu!

I love Gio’s! Very much a neighborhood spot, Gio’s is tucked away on a side street in the middle of Bridgeport. The atmosphere is great, the food is amazing (get the vodka sauce!), and everything is very fresh. In a city with 1904723407 Italian restaurants, this is one of my favorites. It’s definitely not pretentious, and the food is just plain good!

If you’re looking for a no frills Italian dinner, then Gio’s is the place to go! I was very impressed the first time I went there for dinner. It’s just a charming little place that you can’t help but love it.

The food is great. I’m a big fan of the olive oil w/rosemary&basil that they serve with their bread. My personal recommendation for dinner is the cheese ravioli or the rigatoni vodka- delicious! Don’t forget it’s BYOB, a nice bottle of red goes well.