Campagnola

Truly a wonderful experience!!
Generous portions when you order food for the table and share it. Incredibly delish duck and octopus for appetizer. Best service 🫰🏻

We found this place accidentally and we loved it, such a great food and nice service, the place is small but super cozy l, the food is amazing, the place where you want to go again, super friendly and nice

Delicious and elegant restaurant. You definitely want to make a reservation especially on the weekend because it is a small restaurant. The food is excellent and servers are very attentive--- I don't think I have ever had my water glass filled so many times. They have great appetizers, fresh pasta, fish and meat options. Portions are reasonable (not the pretentious tiny servings that some fine dining places offer).This restaurant is within a short walk of Main Purple line station or Main Street Evanston Metra stop. There is also plenty of street parking (although you have to pay for parking on Chicago Ave and Main Street).

We had one of the best Italian food we ever had. Everything what we ate was really amazing, full of textures and flavors. Our server was very knowledgeable and polite. Right away we ordered a dry martini with olives staffed with blue cheese.

All I will say is this. It’s what I said to the man running the bar. “It took a while to get a reservation here. Thank you for having us.” We will be returning to Campagnola again. Amazing everything. Definitely checks the big 3 with 5 stars each.

We wandered in weary. Heads hung low, weighed by future decisons, present turmoil, and past regret. We came at 5. Like the elderly we turned our noses up at in our youth; preplexed at why someone would sup so early in the evening. All we knew then was the sun had barely started its dip, the air was still warm, and many a field lay unexplored and unconquered. There would be time to eat later. Time to eat meatballs the sizes of our heads, and pasta garnished with the only ingredients anyone would ever need: butter and parmesean. I swung open the creaking old door and was greeted with a familiar scent of old lady grandma smell. It was inviting as it was heartbreaking. I was transported back to a time when summer was electric, when joy was unguarded, and when meatballs were mama mia the size of my head.

My husband and I took a chance on getting in without a reservation. We got so lucky and got right in! It was a Thursday evening take note.
Can't​ express enough how good our dinner was and the service! Our taste buds were dancing with joy! Hats off to the chef! We had the scallops, Octopus, Bolognese, and great wine. We are surely going back!

Ok.. I admit my pic game isn’t the best; however, I must say this was the best dinner I’ve had in a long long time!!
I had the beet salad as the starter and the roasted duck entreé with cherry sauce.
100% absolutely delicious!!

Now, I was really looking forward to the sticky toffee pudding for dessert but it wasn’t available so I skipped dessert..

Congratulations to the Chef!

The best Italian restaurant in Evanston if not more. Good food and pro service. It's a cozy place (no kids) great for adulting. It gets booked so make a reservation or go after 8pm. It's not cheap, but still a good value compared to other local restaurants of the same caliber. Would like to see some cheaper wine glasses - but I get it, they don't need to get more people in the door and the don't want the drunk mom party filling up the bar (that is what Union is for). Great place and good for the neighborhood. Note it's across the street from the Metra Main St stop (and purple CTA), so it's convenient for non-locals too.

Excellent cuisine; extensive, quality wine list. Family took my Mom for her 90th birthday today, staff was attentive to our large party, service was great. Veal Scallopini was excellent, Duck was perfect, Catch of The Day (halibut) was fresh & flavorful, Pasta dishes perfect, salads fresh & desserts decadent. Very pleasant ambience. Looking forward to our next dining experience at
Campagnola !!!

Wonderful little Italian restaurant, not much to look at outside but the food is delicious. The short ribs were tender and the polenta was soft and tasty. I would recommend this place and eat here again.

White linen tablecloths, good cutlery etc.

After living in Evanston for more than a decade we finally patronized Campagnola. The service and food is excellent! It has a small menu which tells us that everything is freshly prepped. As a party of 5 we ordered 3 starters: Caesar salad (with an anchovy), grilled octopus, and bruschetta. For entrees we had grilled duck with polenta and a cherry reduction, short ribs with broccoli and creamy potatoes, a mushroom linguini, roasted chicken in a white wine reduction, and cellantani with tomatoes and mozzarella. For dessert we had lemon tart, chocolate mousse, and bread pudding. All the dishes were great. Even with a small menu (which is preferred), there was quite a variety of flavors from which to choose. This is a great place in south Evanston to treat yourself. They know how to handle a full dining room. All the service staff were well organized. Everything was served in proper order, with proper utensils, and good attention to details - even the water was kept full for everyone. Highly recommended!

I can't say enough about Campagnola. The food is always great. In several years and many visits, I've never had anything I did not like. The atmosphere has an upscale feel but relaxed at the same time. Fresh pasta, a variety of fish and meat dishes, and seasonal changes that reflect what's good during the time. We will continue to have Campagnola in our regular rotation for the food and friendly faces.

Very delicious dinner, you can tell the ingredients they use are high quality. Would go again!

This restaurant has a dim light which gives it a romantic atmosphere. I went there for my birthday. The food is delicious and fresh the price is not cheap and they have bar! It’s an I would say an upscale or nice restaurant!

Excellent about the details. Roommate and I are industry workers in the City so take that as it is, we are very forgiving but harder to impress I think.

Portions are shockingly large and the food is top-notch. Simple and short menu, everything's executed perfectly. Pricing is super reasonable, we shared 3 first/app courses, a pasta, and a dessert, and got a very tasty and well-priced bottle of wine (very reasonable, about a 2x markup from retail) and two afterdinner pours (1 fernet, 1 port), tab $205 before tip. Bread was amazing, and I took solid pasta leftovers home to our other roomie. We left pretty stuffed.

Octopus with beans was absolutely delicious, smoky and earthy and tomato-y. Carpaccio was salty and rich and spicy from the arugula. Gnocchi was creamy and fresh with the peas + green beans, could have used a tad more salt + acid but not enough to make it unlovable. Pappardelle was perfectly executed and sticky toffee pudding was phenomenal.

Space is perfect. So many nice touches that are so subtle to help everything go smoothly. Comfortable, casual-fancy, not too loud, very ... easy. Service was attentive, friendly, and knowledgeable. We felt welcomed and cared for, and the food was just divine.

Qotn: "this pasta......it tastes like...home. like home feels. Like grandma, and comfort, and happiness." Yep...that's it.

My wife and I went for dinner at campagnola food was great the staff so friendly we had a great time I recommended this place we love it

Never really tried Italian food before and was totally blown away. The food was just outstanding! All four of us were sharing so I got to try different choices and all of them were masterpieces. Even bread was out of this world.

Staff and owner very accommodating. Even though we were running late we got seated right away. waiter very friendly . Didn't feel like we were rushed or anything. Great service and food exceptionally tasty and fresh. Bread out of this world.

The short ribs were amazing! No knife needed.