Osteria Via Stato Reviews

My husband and I hosted 70ish guests for our rehearsal dinner at Osteria via Stato in May 2023. It was the smoothest experience. Highly recommend for big events. They did a fantastic job making sure everyone was taken care of and happy. They were also accommodating with requested menu changes.

We had a wonderful experience from start to finish with Osteria Via Stato. Allison was incredibly responsive and helpful throughout the planning process. It was an adorable venue, perfect for our smaller guest count. Food was spectacular! It’s ideally located in downtown Chicago, and easy for out of town guests to navigate. Highly recommend!!

After being a little disheartened by all of the Chicago restaurants having extremely high F&B minimums for an event like this, we found Osteria Via Stato to have a reasonable minimum for a package that was a great value. And nothing disappointed! The service was fantastic. The food was incredible, and there was a lot of it. Every one of our guests raved about how delicious everything was. I also really appreciated how accommodating they were of the fact that a few of my family members are gluten free. The private room we had was truly closed off from the restaurant, which was really great for noise-level, especially for speeches.

We got married at Osteria Via Stato on 8/29/20 in an intimate brunch wedding. Allison and the team at Osteria worked with us through rescheduling our May wedding to August, helped us understand all the COVID restrictions, and coordinated the day-of seamlessly! Allison was always so quick to respond to all of our questions, and met with us several time in person to work through details. We loved the decor of the space - you really need minimal decor here to make it beautiful. The food and drinks the day-of were great. All our quests were talking about the french toast and the bean salad on the brunch menu! The drinks were high quality and the service and wait-staff was terrific. We had several guests with food restrictions and Osteria worked with us to accommodate all our guests. I would definitely book Osteria again. Thank you Allison and team at Osteria!

We booked OVS for our wedding rehearsal dinner in May 2019. For a party of 25, we booked the chef’s private room and chose the Italian Dinner Party menu. Jeannie, Allison and Michelle did a great job helping us with arrangement and were very easy to work with. The dinner was a hit with our guests—the food was magnificent and we loved the family-style service. The head waiter, Dario, managed everything to perfection and took great care of us. We would highly recommend Osteria Via Stato for wedding rehearsals and other special events!

Absolutely love this place! We had our non-traditional rehearsal dinner here. Osteria helped us in planning and perfectly executed an 80+ person party. We had an open bar with 10+ beers/various wine/mixed cocktails, a selection of antipasti, passed hor d' oeuvres, and passed desert. They also accommodated our guests with food allergies without hesitation. It was a perfect way to kick-off our wedding weekend! We will be back for dinner soon!

We had our wedding and reception at Osteria Via Stato in the April of 2017. If we could give Osteria Via Stato 100 stars we would! Choosing them was the best decision we made when planning our wedding.

Here is why we would recommend Osteria Via Stato:

1.) Value: To secure the space, you just need to meet the food and beverage minimum. No other rental payment is required. The wedding packages they have are very competitively priced and include a wedding coordinator for your event, candles, printed menus, basic table linens, cookie box party favors for your guests, and dessert. Because everything was all inclusive, we saved a lot of money compared to the other locations we looked at. It also saved us a lot of time because we didn’t need to set up or tear down anything—they took care of it all.

2.) Food: Because the venue is a well-established restaurant, the food is amazing. The best part is, you and your guests get to select from one of four entrees the day of the wedding. They were very adept at meeting a variety of dietary restrictions without any problem.

3.) Service: The event coordinators, Allison and Michelle, are amazing. They respond to all emails promptly and are experts in their field. On the day of, Allison was our coordinator and the event went on without a hiccup. She ensured everything flowed smoothly and stayed on time and always had a smile on her face. The wait staff is amazing as well. I can’t say enough about their kindness and professionalism.

4.) Ambience: The venue has a rustic and romantic vibe to it. Because of this, we had to spend very little decorating it.

5.) Location: Osteria is right in the heart of River North so it is close to public transportation and within walking distance to many hotels.

6.) Bonus Perks: Because they are a Lettuce Entertain You restaurant, we earned a lot of points through their loyalty program and now have a huge LEYE credit we can use at any of their restaurants.

The smartest wedding-planning decision I made was booking Osteria Via Stato. The venue is gorgeous and needs very little decor. The in-house florist is top-notch and has the freshest and most gorgeous flowers I have ever seen. Alison and Michelle, the in house planners, are super organized and extremely responsive. They are a joy to work with and take care of smoothly running everything in the background. The food (I mean that's 95% of the reason we booked) is just delicious and bountiful! Everyone was so full and happy. My foodie friends even claimed it was the best meal in their whole trip to Chicago! My family was just stunned at how beautiful and seamless everything looked and felt - they praised me over and over - but I think it was really about picking the right team at the right venue and letting them do a spectacular job! Thanks Allison & Michelle and Osteria Via Stato for a reception my family and I will remember with smiles and warm hearts for a lifetime.

The staff knows their products and the chef takes great care preparing the food .It was a bonus in earning our Lettuce Entertain You points for our wedding. Allison, Michelle and Abby answered all my questions and accommodated our requests without any issues. It was wonderful to hear from the vendors I was working with that they had a long standing relationship with OVS. Not to worry your guests and vendors will all be fed well. The menu selections are amazing and the tasting was outstanding. The service is top notch as no glass was left empty for long.

It is no easy task to find a wide variety of gluten free food for the bride and groom. But Osteria checked all the boxes for us down to dessert by making a crust-less cheesecake. And the arugula salad is addicting as well as the Parmesan crusted onions. Please keep in mind all our guests had all the gluten they wanted with the fresh baked bread and other food throughout dinner.

The atmosphere was very inviting and the ceremony was beautiful in the intimate space. The staff set the mood with dozens of candles being lit for the night. Our guests couldn't rave enough about the food and how cozy and welcoming the space felt to them. This coming from Italians was confirmation for me that I selected the right place. It was outside the box and a long way from a traditional hall but it provided a truly unique experience for all. Without hesitation I would book any event at Osteria Via Stato.

This was by far the most important decision for us for the wedding (food, décor, ambiance, convenience), and I had my heart set on Osteria Via Stato after doing a lot of online research, and I am so happy we went with them. They were really accommodating and flexible; Allison was the coordinator and point-of-contact the whole time, which was really assuring especially as I was planning from another state. The restaurant itself is beautiful and we chose it knowing it wouldn't need a ton of extra décor, and we could have a more modern setting with king's tables and lots of candles. All of our guests raved about the food and we were told numerous times that it was the best wedding food anyone ever had. The whole staff was amazing and helped make it the most beautiful wedding ever.

Our wedding at Osteria Via Stato (April ’14) was…PERFECTION.
We had 114 guests and rented out the entire restaurant (ceremony, cocktail hour, reception)…it was the perfect combination of space, quality, and affordability. The dance floor easily accommodated our guests all dancing at once, along with a stand up bar, and also a photo booth. The venue itself reminded us of a rustic wine cellar. Required no additional decorations, no linens, no increased lighting, and exposed brick was perfect (really helped cut costs). They provide a wedding planner (Allison) included in the price. I can’t place into words how helpful Allison was during the whole process from start to finish. She helped guide our visions and turn them into a reality. For the wedding tasting, they treated us like royalty (shout out to Angelo our waiter for tasting, sweetheart table, and bartender). Food was AMAZING; honestly still to this day have friends and family members comment on the quality of the food. Waiters did amazing job of serving drinks; no one every waited! Hands down, Osteria was vital in making our wedding day one to remember. I honestly can’t believe how flawless and effective they were. Not a single misstep or mishap…along with perfect service for an affordable price considering other Chicago options. To think, we were initially going to do a loft with catering. That idea now seems ludicrous as I couldn’t envision our wedding at any place but Osteria!
Thank you again Allison, Angelo, and the whole Osteria Via Stato crew!

We were in need of a venue for our wedding that was intimate, had character, had really good food and fit within a certain budget. We also wanted something downtown that would allow our numerous out of town guests easy access to our venue and the sights and shopping. I spent some time searching and was lucky to find Osteria Via Stato which had all that in spades and more! With what was included in their packages and coordinating things with Allison and Michelle, planning and the event itself came together easily and ran smoothly. They were able to take care of every detail or special need we brought to them, not that there were many. Everyone there were consummate professionals with delightful personalities. And the food received so many raving compliments. Everything was cooked to perfection and we all loved the combination of family style appetizer courses with individual entrees. All in all it made for a fabulous and memorable wedding!

These people are the best at what they do! We initially chose this place for two reasons: amazing food, and a beautiful venue that needs little to no help to make for a beautiful wedding. What we found in OVS was so much more than that. Allison and Michelle had a solution for every problem that arose, and an answer to every question that was asked, and it was all within hours of my email or phone call. Even all the things I forgot to do for the wedding, they remembered! I also got so many compliments on the service at the restaurant on the day of my wedding, and how wine glasses were always full! The management is amazing, the service is amazing, everything is amazing. The price is incredibly reasonable too. Wins all across the board!

We had a great wedding at Osteria Via Stato. Allison was wonderful and the staff did so much work to cover every detail. The food and wine were superb and all the guests were raving about how much they enjoyed the evening. I highly recommend this venue.

Nacional 27 and Allison the event planner were incredible from start to finish. I didn't have to worry about a single thing on the day of my wedding - everything was done perfectly and beyond our expectation. We initially found this place because our first venue 160 Blue closed about 2 months after we booked it for our wedding, so we were in a bind. We were at that point dealing with rehearsal dinner venues, and one of them Scoozi (leye restaurant) suggested Nacional (another leye restaurant). From the moment we got there we knew it would be absolutely perfect. The food and drinks is absolutely incredible, and the service is above and beyond.

We did both ceremony and reception there - the room absolutely transforms for both.

If you want something a little different, and want incredible food/drink/service - this is a wonderful option!

Osteria Via Stato was the perfect venue for my wedding ceremony and reception! I was looking for a place that I could have an intimate and romantic setting for my wedding. Food was one of the most important things I was looking for when choosing a venue. Osteria Via Stato is an amazing Italian restaurant. The food is unbelievable and the location is prime. I am from the suburbs but my fiance's family was from Philly and would be traveling to Chicago. We wanted to be in a great location so our guests could enjoy Chicago as well as be close to the wedding location. We were beyond thrilled with this restaurant and the service. Allison, the event coordinator, helped us plan our event and helped make my wedding special. She gave us plenty of vendor recommendations and options to meet our needs.
The day of the wedding I was beyond thrilled with how the place looked and how lovely all of the staff was to my friends and family. More than half the guests made it a point to tell us that this was the best wedding food they had ever had and that they will be returning to Osteria Via Stato again for dinner.
This was a wonderful experience for me and my husband. We will be back many times again and will recommend Osteria to anyone who wants great food and an intimate and beautiful wedding!

loved this place before the rehearsal dinner and after. the staff was amazing, food was hot and delicious. room space was great. only hiccup was that my guests arrived there much before me (my uber never showed up and i was with last group) and the apps were nearly gone. luckily they were able to scrounge up a few more of each (think we got charged for it) but i was so happy i got to try them. gelato bar was a hit so highly recommend it. i would just ask them to not serve all of the food before the bride and groom arrive...other than that it was perfect

I chose this venue because I thought it fit my vision of a small, intimate, December wedding. And it absolutely did. Beautiful space, and I had multiple guests tell me that the food was the best they had ever had at a wedding, which was huge for us! I could go on and on about how great the food is there.
I worked primarily with Allison and Jeannie and they were both wonderful. I can't wait to go back to Osteria via Stato for my one-year anniversary. Thank you all for helping make my dream wedding come true.

We were booked over a year in advance. When some issues arose due to a mistake on their part, it became evident that they didn’t really care about us or our wedding. Set up two calls to discuss and ghosted both times, gave excuse that she was busy opening a new restaurant. Just completely disrespectful and unprofessional. Then, refused to honor minimum rates we were previously quoted despite admitting they had made the error and instead increased the minimums! Acted like they were doing us a favor instead of treating us like valuable clients/customers. A very disappointing experience to say the least. They gave us a full refund and we happily accepted. It is a beautiful restaurant and the food is good, but they don’t treat their couples how they should in our opinion.