Meet us where the food of Naples comes to life
Il Vicolo — it’s meaning in Italian is "the walkway" in Italian, a nod to the restaurant's al fresco section between Oak Park Avenue and the Avenue parking garage – is all about simple, southern Italian food. It’s Neapolitan cuisine at its finest.
The full sit-down experience starts with warm bread and olive oil, followed by house-made pasta and traditional pizzas, fresh seafood dishes and mouthwatering steaks and meat choices. The menu also includes several salads and a roster of antipasti selections, including prosciutto and melon and traditional bruschetta. The pizzas are worthy of a Neapolitan pizzeria — thin, crackery crust topped with traditional Italian ingredients like arugula and prosciutto, basil and fresh mozzarella, or quattro formaggio.
Il Vicolo's wine list gets right to the point: Tuscan reds, Sicilian Nero D'Avolas, Umbrian whites and a handful of domestic selections. The bar also serves up cocktails, Esse imported Italian coffee, as well as traditional aperitifs and digestifs like limoncello.
On weekends there is often live entertainment to enhance the overall experience. All in all, you will feel like you are dining with family.
Il Vicolo is open from 11 am to 10 pm Monday through Saturday and from 4 pm to 10 pm on Sunday.
Soups like the vegetable-packed minestrone start at $7. Entrées like short rib risotto or the stuffed pork chop tange between $25-$32. Neapolitan pizzas run between $12-$20.
When owner Vito Tufano opened his restaurant in 2011, he put his entire heart into the entreprise. The Naples native is focused on making everyone feel at home. So don’t be surprised when he comes out to your table to introduce himself.
Tufano has owned Italian restaurants in Canada and Mexico, and enjoys the hard work of running a full-service restaurant in foodie-centric Oak Park. "Everything here," he says, "is done from the heart."
Il Vicolo is located at 116 N. Oak Park Avenue.
