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Stefani's Tuscany Café
Category: Restaurants Italian Italian [Edit]
O'Hare International Airport10000 Bessie Coleman Dr
Chicago, IL 60666
- Hours:
Mon-Sun 5:30 am - 9 pm
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Garage
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- No
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Good For:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Noise Level:
- Quiet
- Has TV:
- Yes
- Caters:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
27 reviews for Stefani's Tuscany Café
27 reviews in English
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Review from Chris C.
2/11/2012 1 Check-in Here
Tucked off in a strange corner of the airport is this place. I'm a bit torn about this place. I love the food, but have gotten bad service multiple times now. The service is quick, but they just are unfriendly and don't really make any effort to do anything other than take the order and drop off the food when its ready. No real descriptions of the menu items, no checking in to see how you are doing and no refilling glasses of water with you asking.
They also have a tendency to try to upsell you on whatever wine you order which I find annoying. If you have a reason why that one is a better selection than the one I made by all means let me know. If you always just offer up the same style I ordered, but just the next one up in the price list you are simply trying to upsell me for no reason.
So if you can overlook the service the food is some of the best available in O'Hare. I really enjoy the pastas here. They taste very fresh and the sauces are top notch. They also have very good bread and oil to eat while waiting for your meal. I have yet to try the pizzas as I have been enjoying the pastas so much.
I also like the atmosphere. Its very quiet (for an airport) and there is tons of space at the tables and the bar. You actually feel like you are eating at a real restaurant and not just some place that is tucked into the corner of an airport. That said it is not super fast so you need to have an extended amount of time to actually enjoy your food here between flights. -
Review from Andreas H.
New York, NY
2/10/2012 1 Check-in Here
It's amazing how your dining expectations are lowered as soon as you pass through the front doors of an airport. You KNOW that the food is going to be mediocre and the drinks overpriced. So that brings me to Stefani's Tuscany Cafe. Was it mediocre? Shockingly no! Was it overpriced? OF COURSE!
The Good:
+ My pizza was A-OK in spite of the $13 price. The chicken topping was a bit boring, but it was countered by bacon. Granted, it could have been bits of sponge and I would have said that the bacon made up for it. Bacon, how I love thee.
+ Decent selection of beers. Goose Island? Yep. Stella? Yep. Guinness? Yep.
+ Long bar allowed for a ton of travelers to sit and relax.
The Average:
o Typical airport pricing.
The Poor:
- The cranky bartender lady who said, "it will just be a minute." Then she forgot about me. I had to flag down the other bartender that showed up, because for some reason I was invisible to this lady. After the fact she was like, "oh yeah, I forgot about you." Thanks hooker.
- Painful bar stools. Maybe they're great if you're a hobbit, but my tall frame was NOT happy. Either I was sitting off the seat with my feet on the ground (legs falling asleep), or my knees were damn near in my chin. Lame.
In spite of being ignored, and the tortuous bar stool, I still enjoyed my beer and pizza. -
Review from Stella W.
Chicago, IL
2/3/2012
I am always at the terminal B, and deeply regretted never give this cafe a try., thinking it's similar to the other Tuscany in the city...so glad that our flight was delay and my friend wanted to watch the basketball game so that I found this delay heaven!
Well, not only they have lines of TV by the bar, their drinks are somewhat reasonably priced (given it's at the airport) for their offerings. I am not too sure about their other food since we already had dinner but we ordered a side of fries. To my surprise, it's a mountain of waffle fries, for merely $4!
The fries were freshly fried and so tasty (i was full even before i started eating it). The service was soo good! The bar tender kept refilling my water glass, and they even offered another customer at the bar who just ordered beer some bread for his beer! Who does that!
I am so coming back from now on. -
Review from Stacey T.
12/29/2011 1 Check-in Here
Don't miss this place, its a hidden hallway at the end of the B terminal. The food that I had was very good for airport food! I ordered the a la carte meatballs and side Caesar salad which were each $4, they're both not on the menu. I had to ask about them. They were both great and I would definitely return and order the same thing.
My bartender kept messing up my diet coke, she gave me regular and when I told her that she did that she brought back another regular. I had to ask another bartender to get me a diet coke!
They have an ok wine list for an airport bar, I wasn't in the drinking mood this trip but its a good place to have a drink while waiting for your flight. -
Review from Emmy L.
San Francisco, CA
1/2/2012 1 photo
Stopped in during a long lay over - I was impressed with the staffs obvious hustle but not impressed with the very sad, very fatty steak. Even for a ribeye, a typically fattier steak, this was horrible. However since airport options are slim and the service is attentive I would consider coming back again and taking a chance with another dish.
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Review from Kris L.
10/9/2011
My friend and I were starving when we got to the airport this past Thursday and didn't want the run of the mill fast food or Chili's. I remembered last time my brother and I flew out of this terminal we sat at the bar here and had a good experience. (It was also 7am and we were the only two at the bar, but our bartender was nice and made small talk.) Well, this past experience was a completely different. The host seats us in the back of the restaurant at one of those long booths with about 6 or 7 tables on top of each other. Whoever sat on the booth side had to literally turn sideways to squeeze in (mind you we both weigh about 100 lbs.) We asked him if we could sit somewhere else as we didn't want to be on top of other people, so he just moved us to the other end of the booth that was still next to other diners. The restaurant was probably 60% full.
Then we meet our lovely waitress who was completely rude. When my friend kindly said "excuse me" because she wanted ketchup for her fries, the waitress put up her finger as to tell her to wait and walked away. Needless to say my friend got up to get her own ketchup and asked for our check. When that came our waitress just dropped it at our table. She didn't even utter a "thanks."
Food wasn't good. I ordered the margarita pizza that came out as a cheese pizza with one lonely little basil leaf on top, my friends burger was blah, fries were OK.
For a burger, small pizza, one beer and house wine our tab was $65. Ouch.
Super disappointed because I've been to the Tuscany in Oakbrook and it was great. I get that this one is in the airport, but still no excuse for poor service. If you decide to go here, sit at the bar. -
Review from Bobby Y.
Cleveland, OH
5/12/2011
This morning it was a choice between Rick Bayless, or Tuscany, sadly I chose poorly.
My server was pleasant, but the Ham & Cheddar fritatta I ordered was awful. No wonder, I could hear the kitchen staff arguing in the back. The only saving grace to this meal of lost causes were the Parmesan potatoes.
I understand they're not going to find the restaurant industry's brightest stars to work at the airport, but a little lesson in professionalism wouldn't hurt.
The restaurant is a welcome distraction from the busy O'Hare terminal, and it offers a welcome sanctuary away from the granola-hippie wannabes heading to Portland. I only wish the restaurant didn't have such harsh spot lights on the tables, and offered a darker atmosphere. -
Review from Andrew C.
4/17/2011 1 photo
Most airport food beyond security seems to be Applebees or some Chile's annex. If you're not into that, the wolfgang puck pre-packaged sandwiches stand is always nearby (no thank you).
As for sit down options in Terminal B, pickings are slim. Real slim. This is the last outpost of food before walking into the dead end cave of B's final gates. In there you'll hear things knocking around in the air conditioning system and CNN will be drowned out by the screams of little children going to Cleveland. This is not what the travel brochures advertise.
Stefani's Tuscan Cafe is quite large for the crowd it gets. I picked a table and was forgotten about for awhile. Ordered a pizza which came out larger than I expected for the somewhat low price of $12. They give you bread and oil ahead of time, so you may want to pick your entree with that knowledge in mind, or risk bread/pasta carb overload.
The pizza was super, super thin (can't hold by hand or it collapses like a penis ravaged by the effects of nicotine) and is best eaten by fork and knife. It may have been a touch salty but it was better than another BIG GUACAMOLE TRIPLE BACON 2LBS OF MAYO burger WITH FRIES AND A SIDE OF BLUE CHEESE from any of the Applebee's incarnations. -
Review from David K.
Maumelle, AR
10/23/2011
Mind you, this is in a restaurant, but the food is very good, solid vino selection & good service. Definitely, better than most chain Italian eateries, even outside of airports!
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Review from Proteus D.
Skillman, NJ
8/20/2011
Had the Salmon. It was OK. That's all I can recall. My colleague had the thin crust pizza and it looked tasty. Apart from this place it's mostly junk food in the immediate vicinity so probably a good choice. Close to the Red Carpet Club also which is handy.
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Review from Sean G.
San Francisco, CA
9/22/2011
I could understand that we're dealing with an airport restaurant here. But it's inexcusable that your food come back cold. Not only was my "chef's pasta" extraordinarily soft, it was stone cold. (Yes, you should channel Gordon Ramsay when you read "stone cold")
The chicken marsala as okay in taste but again it felt like it sat in the kitchen for 10 minutes or so before coming out. Which is odd because it felt like the food came out relatively promptly.
The service was lackluster. While I got seated quickly, my server managed to forget simple things like bread (which was brought to other tables). Never did I get a simple "How is everything" question you'd expect from a sit-down restaurant. And and after I flagged down the server to get his attention, he engaged another table and ignored me.
I'm really not that bad a guy and I don't like giving poor reviews. But this was a really, really lousy experience (even in the context of what else is available in the airport).
Disappointing all around. Next time, I'll go to Chili's. -
Review from Ivan N.
Alexandria, VA
4/8/2011
One of the few "sit down" dining options in Terminal B one would expect the Cafe to be busier, however after dining there once you'll immediately know why - poor service. And yes, you're in an airport and the main competition is Chili's (which just happens to be located three gates away) but there's still a level of customer service that should be provided.
That said, the food is actually not bad (assuming you eventually get your meal). I ordered the Salmone el Forno - it was very moist and flavorful and the accompanying mashed potatoes were surprisingly fresh.
As long as you're not in a rush and don't mind having to chase down your waiter feel free to add the cafe to your list of options - at least the food shouldn't disappoint you. -
Review from Sarah S.
Middlesex, MA
6/3/2011
My star rating is for service. This visit, I didn't have food, but the ice tea I enjoyed while waiting for my flight was very nice. I also particularly appreciated that my companion and I were seated away from other diners, by a window, and that despite not buying food, we were allowed to hang out, and wait for our flight there.
But the real stand-out moments all occurred after I left the restaurant, indeed, after I had boarded my plane...
And discovered that I had left my purse in the restaurant.
Realizing what had happened, I rushed to a stewardess, who told me we didn't have time to me to return, but helped me get a written note to the restaurant. After I got home, I found Stefani's website, and used the "contact us" form to leave a note inquiring if they had found my purse. The next day, I got a call back that they had found it, asking if if was all right to get it to me via 2 day shipping, which it most definitely was. They wanted nothing for the cost of shipping
So my deep gratitude to the staff at Stefani's Tuscany Cafe at O'Hare. I encourage all Yelpers traveling through O'Hare's Terminal B to give them your business. And, heck, I seem to recall the last time I ate there (2010) the food was pretty good, too. -
Review from John D.
Ann Arbor, MI
4/21/2011
This place needs to be rated in comparison to other airport restaurants past security, not to an Italian restaurant in downtown Chicago. Considering this, it deserves 4 stars. Put the restaurant in the city and it would only get 3 stars. It's really one of the best sit down options past security. The wine selection is good. The food is decent. I ordered the eggplant to be healthy, only to find out that it had been deep-fried and was a sponge full of oil. I've eaten here before though, and some of the other items are decent. Prices are probably high, but I never pay for airport food with my own money. Expense account, baby. If you're looking for a place to sit down, swill some good wine and have a nice salad or a little pizza, this is your place. Get's quite busy at times.
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Review from Wanugee N.
Pleasant Hill, CA
8/13/2009
This is perhaps the best place to eat anywhere in United's Terminals B and C in Chicago O'Hare airport.
The bad news is that it is tucked away at the end of Terminal B, near gates B19 - B22.
For one, it is one of the few places in these terminals that you can sit down and eat! And it is large, with a large bar and counter seating facing the passing passengers, and inside there is a large dining room with tables service.
The food is good, too, with great Italian classics and wine that can readjst your layover meltdown.
I had Tomato Caprese, one of my favorites, and they served it well,.adding a little thick Balsamic vinegar and some pesto on the side. The tomatoes and basil were great and the Mozzarella heavenly. .
Their Margherita pizza wasn't as good, with no sundried tomatoes, but had a true to form thin crust, nearly sacreligious in this town known for its deep dish Chigago style Pizza a la Gino's,Uno and Due.
The glass of chardonnay was wonderfui with a good nose and buttery texture.
Tomato Carpese $9
Margherite Pizza $11
Chardonnay $7.50
FInding decent sit-down Italian in ORD? Priceless!Listed in: Wanugee! Airport Food, Wanugee! Italian, Wanugee! Chicagoland
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Review from Rick F.
6/10/2009
Food: Excellent
Service: Needs a lot of work
Price: Expensive
Atmosphere: Great
Your in an airport restaurant, why do people go to the airport....? I know this is difficult! They go because they are flying somewhere....Yes! So time is of the utmost importance......You would think!
But not at Tuscany, no one at the hostess stand, 4 employees are watching me wait from the bar area and no acknowledgment..... Hostess finally came by and resembled the night of the living dead zombie's.
The waitress was great I special ordered everything and she was very accommodating, so was the kitchen and the food was excellent.
Service was slow overall but food quality was awesome! -
Review from Hank C.
12/30/2009
To Thomas B.: They ask for ID from everyone, be they 90 or 21, because that is the policy there. As much as it is annoying, it does serve to protect the business, and we should respect that as patrons - much like how they ID everyone going into a club in NY, or bars.
I had the tomato caprese ($9) and the margherite pizza ($11).
Service was slow, though it was 4:30p on a weekday... so perhaps I should be more forgiving of that. The bread came out hot with a pile of parmesan cheese and there was olive oil (but no vinegar) on the table.
Still, the caprese came out, and while tasty, their one piece of fresh basil was to the side, and some of the slices of mozzarella were very small. Fresh sweet beef tomato slices, though, and a healthy drizzle of balsamic vinegar there.
The margherite pizza was disappointing. While decent in size - a thin-crust, 9.5" pizza, a single piece of fresh basil, and crushed tomato sauce with what looked like regular grated dry mozzarella cheese melted on top.... the sauce was not particularly flavorful, and the mozzarella wasn't fresh. I sigh.
Still, the waitstaff was fairly attentive with the water, and it makes for a solid meal (pastas definitely looked better) while on-the-go. I'll give it a try again if I'm in the B15/18 section of the O'Hare airport again. -
Review from Thomas B.
Urbana, IL
11/9/2009
I had to average a five star on the food with a negative two on the service. I ordered the sweet Italian sausage by its Italian name, "Salsiccia con Peperoni" as it was listed on the menu. He asked me to point it out for him because he "doesn't speak Italian". I wasn't making it up, I was using the only term for the entree shown on their menu.
Then I ordered the lobster bisque, which of course, never came.
After 20 minutes he brought our entrees. When I pointed out that I preferred my soup before my entree, he said that he was serving it in the order the kitchen gave it to him . So I told him that now that my entree was served he could cancel my soup. Later he came beaming back proudly that I wouldn't be charged for it. Duh.
Next he asked my 54 year old wife for an ID because she ordered a Stella Artois beer. That's so stupid it becomes rude. No reasonable person could question that she was over 21 and this idiot insisted she root through her purse for an ID.
That's just bad policy or he is a moron. In this case it seemed like both.
He claimed he was being watched on a camera and he had to ask for ID. That's reassuring as a restaurant patron that someone is watching us on a camera, but too bad they don't correct the help on how to wait on tables.
The side dish of farfalle was over-cooked. But in an airline terminal it was as good as I could expect.
My sausage dish tasted great, the hostess was pleasant, this waiter, on duty on Monday, November 9, 2009, at noon needs a new career. Maybe management will care enough to figure who he was, maybe they won't care enough.
He was so bad that I would recommend avoiding the Tuscany restaurant on Taylor Street just to teach the owners that you cannot lower your standards simply because you hope you will never see the same customer twice.
Great food spoiled by horrible service. -
Review from Greg D.
6/23/2010
Basically stuck with the place if u need a decent dinner at the Chicago airport.
Rib eye steak true to it's label in size (16oz) but it's by no means done very well not is it a nice ribeye. Was able to sub zucchini for mashed potatoes. -
Review from John D.
4/1/2009 4 photos
For an airport eatery (this is in O'Hare), this place is fabulous. It's actually a bit difficult to locate as it is near gate B20 which is way down at the end and, no doubt, this place is easily & often overlooked. If you have the time and the inclination, however, give this place a try. It has a bar and also a nice "sit-down" restaurant with actual waitpersons! I kid you not. When you are dining, you don't realize you are in an airport. Isn't that bonus enough?
We had an antipasta salad and a Regina pizze [sic] with a glass of chianti. All excellent! -
Review from scott h.
San Francisco, CA
12/3/2010
My experience seems to have been better than most others'.
Ordered the Chicken Marcella with a side of bow tie pasta. It came out fast, and it tasted great. Bread might have co me from the microwave, but it wasn't bad-a little chewy.
Only complaint: During the one-hour period when I was eating, the fire alarm went of 6 times. Each time it alarmed for about 2 minutes. That might not sound like a long time, but the noise was deafening. I'm not complaining about the alarm itself, but about the fact that the staff gave no explanation, nor did they apologize to the customers. There was no attempt to evacuate, or to tell the customers that it was a false alarm. The staff pretended like they didn't notice it.
Overall, the service was good.
Note: Ohare Airport B and C concourses have terrible dining and shopping alternatives. This restaurant is on of the best at Ohare.
I did overhear the waiter checking the ID of an elderly woman in a wheelchair before he'd serve her wine. That was a bit ridiculous. -
Review from Joshua M.
8/18/2010
Like they took a salt lick and carved it into the shape of a panini. The Coke tasted pretty good. Took forever to get the check.
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Review from mictlantecuhtli X.
Verona, WI
7/1/2010
This seemed to be the only sit down spot in Terminal 1B at O'Hare. The hostess seemed to be functioning in slo-mo so getting seated within 10 minutes was a miracle. They had about five waitresses on duty but only one was working. The Italian/Latin waitresses were all sitting around, chatting, and every now and then visiting their one table. (I'm Italian and speak Italian so I thought I recognized it. With all the noise it may have been Spanish since I mangle enough of that to get by. NOT the main point of this review. Just a way to differentiate between servers.) The Eastern European (she had a heavy accent) waitress was prepping, bussing, helping at the bar, and had all the other tables. No one told her we'd been assigned to her as well. When we mentioned to one of the passing waitresses that we hadn't seen a menu or waitress in fifteen minutes, she yelled at us that it was our fault for not alerting the hostess. WTF?!?! Once they sent the over-worked waitress over to our table, the poor thing was so sweet and apologetic and did everything she could to make it up to us. Wow. She deserves to be working in a better place and I'm sorry I didn't get her name. She was the only bright star in this place.
Overall... Food 3: Not the best Italian food ever but decent and fresh.
Service 0/5: Our one waitress gets a five. The rest of the place...bleh.
Speed 0/5: Same problem as with service.
EDIT: Got an email from Heather, a manager type. She's the one that said the other servers were Latin and not Italian. She also took a swipe at my comprehension of Italian. Thanks Heatherboo, that was really immature and, since you missed it, ethnicity really isn't the point of this review nor is my ability to speak Italian. (The blond waitress is from Bulgaria in case anyone was holding their breath for that tidbit.)
On to Heather's points... she's aware of the server issues. Nothing mentioned of doing something about it. This one is a no-brainer. With the economy being so bad, hire someone else or pay for better help. No points there. Then H said I should cut them some slack for being an airport restaurant. (Please read review.) I did not dock the food for being in an airport. I did not rate the establishment based on noise and ungodly crowded seating. Food is a three. I've given non-airport places worse. Stop making excuses and make your place one worth eating at.
One last note: Air travel is hell. Airport sit-down restaurants have a golden opportunity to give a harried traveler a bright spot in what is probably a miserable day. Customers never forget that. (See my review of Einstein Bagels in Washington airport.) -
Review from Karl B.
Cedar Rapids, IA
6/2/2010
Good food, and the service was good for me. However, one unlucky traveler walked in for food at 845 pm, and after being seated was told the kitchen was closed. 4 stars for food, 2 stars for not having hours more clearly posted and for closing strangely early.
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Review from Lawrence S.
Boston, MA
3/18/2010
The farfalle pomodoro was decent but over-priced ($14.50 w tax), but that goes for all airport restaurants. It was good enough to satisfy your hunger (and not spit it up) but that's about it. The bow-tie pasta was cooked well and the tomato sauce was OK. It's one of those dishes you don't feel bad drowning in parmesan cheese. They also give you a sliced roll that I used for dipping in the extra sauce. I was seated at a table outside but when I realized I needed to charge my laptop, the hostess found a table near an outlet for me. Unfortunately, directly above where I sat is an air/temp control console that beeped once every 2-3 minutes, so if you don't need an outlet, I'd recommend sitting away from the middle dining room (until they fix that).
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Review from Brian B.
Chicago, IL
7/7/2009
I love Tuscany in the city, and this is just as good (from a food standpoint). Service? Bad. I mean really bad. And please tell your untraveled, uncultured, uneducated staff to not get loud / shout when speaking to foreign patrons that are having a tough time with the menu... It's as simple as pointing to something... and speaking slowly + clearly. That being said, I will make this a regular stop on my way out of town.
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Review from Michael K.
Oak Park, IL
1/4/2009
This is hands down the best breakfast with the friendliest staff you will find at O'Hare International Airport. Worth the trek even if your flight is leaving from some other concourse. They're open surprisingly early, too.
