Best seat in the house...
Or was it?

Bar Toma.

Well this is sort of awkward. I feel like I went on a really bad first date after dining at this restaurant. It's a newer spot in Chicago. Took over where Bistro 110 left off. Jen and I had high hopes for this recent adventure and I'm afraid they might have been dashed.

The menu is impressive, and I hear they've got a killer cocktail list. Though, coming into an Italian restaurant it's almost a given that I'm going to order a good glass of wine. Seated at the window overlooking the Pearson Street it was the perfect place to sip our wine and people watch. We perused the menu a bit and decided on a couple of appetizers, the hand rolled & stuffed mozzarella with tomato and basil (small slices...but definitely delicious) and the Manzo (two skewers of marinated skirt steak, always a fav, drizzled with balsamico. Totally tasty.). They apparently don't provide a bread basket at the table pre-dinner, so we asked our absent waiter (don't even get me started here) for some bread. He said he's see what he could do. A while later he came back and dropped a plate of crispy (don't break a tooth!) butter soaked crostini on the table muttering "that's all we've got" and walked away. Really?! In an Italian joint that's ALL you could rustle up? Must be said that the lovely waitress for the large group next to us brought out a plate of bread slices...maybe they got the last loaf???

We then decided on two of the Artisan Pizzas from their wood burning stove. We had the Uova e Funghi (mushrooms with a yummy runny egg on top!) and the Lorenzo (mozzarella, pancetta, basil and tomato). Again, high high hopes. Somewhat dashed when we tasted these two pies and discovered they needed a little zing, excitement, somethin'-somethin'. So we sat there flagging our waiter down (where was he!?) and asked for a dish of pizza sauce so we could at least dip our crusts. I know this is probably not the "cool kid" thing to do, but we like what we like! Eventually he brings us two bowls of red sauce, drops them off with the same utterance "it's all we've got" and walks away. Problem solved...until you try it. The sauce is so darn hot it felt like it might have been a prank! Were they trying to scald my taste buds? No plain pizza or marinara sauce? This might be amazing on a spicy dish, but it certainly killed it for us.

Ahhhh eggy pizza!

HOT sauce...coming through.

Jen tasted the sauce...

And finally we notice the case of gelato across the room. Yes! I can so wrap my arms around a dish of gelato. Maybe a couple of flavors. But wait. There is one size dish. And there is what amounts to a convenience fee associated with more than one flavor. One flavor was something like $4. It was $6 for two flavors in the same size dish and $8 for three...in the same size dish. Is it really worth $2 more to have the guy scoop one chocolate and one honey orange? Or should I just got with two scoops of chocolate for $4 and save myself the mathematical quandary? You be the judge.

At any rate, we had the good (wine and apps...and at least the gelato was yummy, though pricey) the questionable...and the experience enough for one night. I am sure there have been people who really enjoyed this place. It was not for me. I'll try my luck elsewhere.