For an amazing upscale Italian restaurant, Spiaggia is definitely the place to be! The restaurant is overlooking Lake Michigan which offers an amazing view and ambiance! Looking at the menu was quite overwhelming at first but the waiters are super friendly and will help you with any confusion! This is definitely one of the best fine dining Italian restaurants I've been to in Chicago!

Spiaggia is a beautiful restaurant located in a skyscraper in downtown Chicago. Perfect way to top off your day of shopping along Michigan Avenue. Pastas are excellent, wines a plenty, good service. A little pricey, but worth the splurge IMO

I took out of town friends intending the evening to be special.
The waiter was generous in his suggestions, helpful in choosing among the wines that caught my interest. We ate 3 course from the a la carte menu. You're free to mix: some can eat a la carte while others choose the fixed price menu and they'll match courses for you. The reviews here of the truffle gnocchi are uniformly raves. Our waiter's modest opinion: best pasta in the universe. It was fantastic. All pastas can be served as main courses, but this one is too rich for that. Be prepared for smaller portions than usual. The shrimp appetizer was outstanding. And yes, as others have pointed out, it is two shrimp for $15. They're perfect, though.

All three of us chose the herb crusted filet as our entree. We all agreed it was the best filet we'd ever eaten. I'm mostly a vegetarian yet I found myself restraining my knife so as not to leave my guests in the dust. Perfectly pink center, crusty outside, flavorful, moist, yum. The pastry with browned butter and herbs was fantastic.

The lemon vodka cream desert with a polenta cookie and chunks of Meyer lemon was divine. Just right to share. We enjoyed sharing three different desserts. Of the three, the gelato selection was my least favorite, the lemon cream above and the chocolate carmel concoction left us licking the plates. We left satisfied yet not stuffed.

The waiter didn't bring our coffees till after we'd finished dessert (like they do in Europe, he informed us when we wondered if he'd forgotten). So if you like yours with dessert, ask. The 2003 Brunello di Montalcino ($155) he recommended was perfect with our filets,and he decanted it. The only service glitch:some of that wine I had been looking forward to drinking was cleared away for desert! Service was great, atmosphere was special, food was outstanding. Bill before tip was $535 for three of us.

I brought my business partners here a couple of times. They all were very much impressed with the food and service. Table setting is very cafe-like (in a good way), but it is still private enough for any occasion. One of the business partners was a French couple who own a high-end cookware line from France, and they were also very impressed with the overall atmostphere and their dishes. Wonderful restaurant to bring whichever it's your family or people from your work.

So I ate at Spiaggia while at a conference last week. I really thought this meal was going to be the culinary highlight of my trip (as I had dined at 3 other restaurants as well during the conference). I was largely disappointed for several reasons. The food was good but not amazing. The portions were just too small. In fact, I had to eat a lot of bread in order to feel reasonably satiated. I just expected more. Perhaps, Spiaggia is a victim of its own hype. You hear about it, but, just by reading some of the other reviews, the post-dinner reaction seems to largely be the same. The dining experience doesn't match the hype. The ambiance is nice. The jacket requirement is okay. The drink menu is average. The wine list is good. The staff was very good. Nonetheless, all those things are secondary. It comes down to the food, and if you have to eat bread in order to make the dining experience even an average one, something is wrong.

Eating at Spiaggia won't be the worst thing you can do, but I feel confident it won't be the best either. For the price, it comes up short IMO.