Nando Milano Trattoria

Outstanding pasta! Our entire party of four had the fresh house-​made pasta — three gnocchis and one rigatoni. Very flavorful meals paired with a classic ambiance makes this a definite stop if you’re feeling some Italian food goodness in Champaign.

Nando started off promising upon its first arrival to Champaign. The atmosphere is good and the bartenders produce phenomenal beverages. Unfortunately, the quality of the food has declined into the realm of being inedible while the cost has increased to the absurd. The language used to describe each course is abundant with flavor, and yet the end product falls short the moment it hits the plate and palate. Though our small city yearns for a dining experience worthy of the prices being charged, this is unacceptable. And so we wait once again.

My wife and I tried this place last night as a Valentine’s Day make up since we were unable to truly celebrate the weekend prior. When we walked in at around 5 o’clock, the music playing was not quite what we expected with a rock’n’roll vibe that didn’t really scream fancy Italian. Maybe it was just the volume level, because as the place filled up later it was barely noticeable. I might suggest more of a big band, crooner sound for the restaurant.
Anyway, enough about the music. We ordered an appetizer of the polenta with mushrooms in a cheesy garlicky sauce and it was FABULOUS. The polenta had a grainy texture inside with a nice crunch on the outside.
For our entrees my wife had the linguine bolognese that had fresh made pasta. I don’t know of anywhere else within two hours of Champaign that makes their own pasta, and it did not disappoint. I chose one of the gnocchi dishes that was made with a red sauce consisting of puréed tomato skin and a dash of pesto. The sauce was really well made and had a slightly nutty flavor with the fresh tomato notes as well. The gnocchi were literally light and airy potato pillows. I am looking forward to trying different sauce variations with these gnocchi next time.
Lastly, we ordered the tiramisu and the molten chocolate cake for dessert. The tiramisu was highly recommended in reviews and my wife loved it. The chocolate cake had a thirty minute wait time, but it was so worth it. It came with a baby scoop of vanilla gelato made fresh on site and a couple pieces of fruit that worked well with the dark chocolate gooey center.
I have seen some reviews on here about service issues, but the barrage of people that helped to serve us were helpful and very speedy and attentive to our needs. The owner was constantly in sight and friendly with each table as well as attentive to the details of the front of house. The only slight criticism that I had was the hostess. She was having difficulty with the phone which seemed to distract her from a certain level of professionalism and invitational friendliness that I know she is probably capable of being, so we probably just caught her in a bad moment.
Given the price of the meal, I would say that this is the type of place that I will visit twice a year with my personal income, but I will probably drive by it and lament not going more often. It is so nice to have a REAL fancy Italian restaurant in Champaign that makes there own pasta. Everything they brought out from the kitchen looked good and had the feel of a rustic Italian restaurant in downtown Chicago.

I decided to visit this place when my friends told me that «apparently, the waiters here do not know that they are working for a $ 30+ restaurant.»
I’ve visited here on the Valentine’s day on 8:30pm, so I didn’t expect that much about the service. However, I would say ‘fair.’ The waiter for my table was kind and nice, and his recommendation for the wine was perfect.
Still, I cannot say that the foods were perfect. My companion thought the saltimbocca dish was a bit salty, and I wasn’t 100% satisfied with the pear, beet and cheese appetizer with caviar and truffle, for its blandness. I liked my Gnocchi (the one with cheese inside), and loved the green dip served with the fried calamari.
Tip: Never skip the dessert! Semifredo is my recommendation.

Outstanding dinner spot. Pricey but delicious. They make a great old fashioned. Sea Bass was outstanding!

This is by far the best restaurant in Champaign. They have elevated the service and cuisine to an unparalleled level. 10 stars.
Keep it coming
Our 8^th visit

Exceptional food, as at home in Champaign as it is in its Wicker Park location. The owner is friendly and overwhelmingly accommodating. The service was first-​rate, and well-​deserving of the appropriate pricing — though more romantic than family, we were impressed with how incredibly accommodating our server was of our two under-​3 children.
We were thrilled with the quality and exceptional creativity of the food — having consumed meals at Café des Architectes, Spaiggia, Tru, and the now deceased Zinfandel in Chicago featuring both black and white truffles, the simple risotto at this wonderful establishment featured the best black truffle I have yet had the pleasure of meeting. The price is well-​justified (and very reasonable) for this wonderful establishment.
We will be back, many times.

This is a review for 02÷14÷15. Let me start by saying that I’m of Italian heritage, most of the dishes on many Italian menus I can make at home; and I’m familiar with how things should be. I had much higher hopes for this restaurant based off of Unilocal reviews as well as the ratings of the first one located in my hometown. I should have listened to the reviewers who gave this a poor rating, but after wanting an authentic Italian restaurant by this university for so long… I tried it with my boyfriend last night, with reservations at 7:30 for Valentine’s Day dinner.
Alas.
The Good: The ambience was lovely; it was perfect for a romantic date. The tables were spaced about the average they are spaced in most Italian restaurants. The drink list seemed well done, maybe a little expensive for some of the wines. The hostess and the host at the front were extremely professional.
The Bad: Oh, where to begin. The food. The carpaccio. There was so little meat in it that my boyfriend considered leaving the leaves on the plate to send a message to the chef that he did not order a plate of leaves. He also mentioned that he has had significantly better carpaccio, which was still authentic by other Italian chefs, not only in New York City, but in Italy (well, obviously) and in Russia. So. Apparently Central Illinois is too far from Italy. What gives? This is a very simple dish to make! The chef is Italian! What happened here?
On to the next dish. my boyfriend ordered the rigatoni alla peppe; which he did not have a problem with, but was not particularly impressed by. I ordered the gnocchi di patate alla sorrentina. The gnocchi were fluffy, but the sauce… it also did not impress. The presentation could have been better. The portions were authentic, but this did not count in their favor. The food was «okay», but the price was not justified by the quality. For prices the same as Boston’s North End, and more expensive than OTTO’s in Manhattan. the food should live up to money people are paying for it.(I’ve had better food, in Boston, for much less or the same price)
For many of the reviews here, I almost doubt their familiarity with other similarly priced, authentic Italian restaurants; for this price, it is taking advantage of those who do not know better. Our waiter, Carlo, was missing for most of the night and slightly rude; although it was nice to hear Italian, I would have preferred to have had better service. Il servizio è discreto anche se non particolarmente attento… si dovrebbe portare il formaggio!!! I did see one of the owners or head chef walking around and checking on people; however, maybe he should have been checking on his staff.
Will I go back? Maybe for drinks and a dessert, and that’s all anyone should order here. I most likely will not return. Maybe it is because Italian cuisine is not the Midwest’s strong point, but save your money for somewhere else. For some of the glowing reviews, I’d also suggest taking a look at how authentic they are– there are a few for this place that look awfully fishy. Perhaps some people did have 5 star experiences, but to be honest, for Valentine’s Day dinner, my experience was unacceptable. I’m willing to believe that it could be because the restaurant is still somewhat new, but still! Get it together! I really had wanted to love this place too. There was nothing that we ate that I could not have made better at home; on that note… who would want to pay $$$ for mediocre food and poor service? We wanted a special night, but we were left very disappointed.
tl;dr
ambiance ⁵⁄₅
service ²⁄₅
food 2.5÷5
overall price to quantity & quality ²⁄₅
total experience: ²⁄₅
Would I come back? Not likely

Stopped in on Friday evening with my wife for a nice dinner. This is probably more of a 3 ½ star place, but I couldn’t round up to the full 4, so I chose 3.
Ambiance & Décor: The dining room is nice, with a good mix of exposed brick and wood The tables along the wall are a bit too closely packed together, which is a bit awkward.
Food: We started with the arancini di riso. There were three different kinds and all three were excellent. We each had a salad (Caesar and Delizia Tricolore). Both were pretty good. For the main course, I had the Cavatelli alla Norma, which was great. My wife had the filet, which lacked seasoning (salt and pepper would have been nice) and was over-​priced (more on that later).
Wine: The wine list was pretty substandard, given that this place is trying to be more upscale. In addition to being small, there were lots of more recent vintages that are nowhere near ready to drink. The prices are also quite high, at roughly 3x retail. We settled on a 2009 Brunello which was good, but not worth $ 92.
Dessert: We had two desserts: cheesecake and the chocolate cake (which takes 20 minutes to prepare and is totally worth it). The cheesecake was good and the chocolate cake was excellent. Like the regular list, the dessert wine list was a bit lacking (no Tawny Port or Madeira?). I decided on a glass of the Vin Santo (which was good, but a tad overpriced), while my wife had a Cappuccino.
Service: Yikes. Here’s where things could use lots of improvement. Our server was friendly, but was clearly faking her way through questions I overheard at other tables. She told the couple next to us that the 2009 Barolo they had on special would be «excellent» with the salmon the woman ordered. (If you don’t know wine, that’s actually a terrible pairing.) Thankfully, they didn’t take her suggestion. She also spoke with what sounded like a fake Italian accent and couldn’t explain one of the dishes to someone who asked. When I asked her to help me choose between two dishes I was interested in, she did so, but it was clearly just a guess. Our appetizer and salads came out at the same time, which is unacceptable at an upscale restaurant.
Value: The appetizers, salads, and pasta dishes were reasonable. Some might argue the prices on these things are high, but they’re in line with other restaurants like this. The filet was way overpriced given how it tasted (I can do much better at home). Some of the menu prices were just silly, however: $ 69 for veal? Really? We’ve been to some of the top restaurants in Chicago and never seen that. As stated earlier, the wine list was also priced too high for what was on there.
Bottom Line: If you’re going to charge upscale restaurant prices, you’d better have top notch service to match. I suggest lots of training/​tasting for the staff on the dishes, coordinating courses, and wine pairings. Better yet, have a sommelier on staff and have servers defer to them if wine questions arise. I also suggest a serious look at pricing. Some of the menu items and the wine list need revision. Without some changes, people are likely to stop in once but never return. I ‘m still on the fence, but will likely give it another shot.

Nando recently opened in Champaign and I thought it would be perfect for a Valentine’s Day dinner with my significant other.
We made reservations for early at 4pm on Sunday February 14^th.
We got there about 5 minutes early and were seated immediately along the south wall, at the half-​booth, half-​table. This was good until the place started to fill up, my date thought it was a little close quarters, but I know from experience this type of seating is common at Italian restaurants.
The inside of the place is super nice. Clearly an upscale restaurant, beautiful wooden tables, some really nice décor, and plenty of natural light from the big windows in the dining room.
Our server, Deanna, was accommodating and patient with us as we took quite a long time to finally get our order in. She recommended several dishes, described the ones we had questions about, as well as very generously let my date sample not 1, not 2, but 3 different wines before deciding which one she wanted a full glass of. We ended up going with a class of the sweet Morando red, and I got my favorite variety, Chianti, which was called Ghibello. Both were very tasty, and a fair pour for over $ 10/​glass. We structured our dinner in a 3-​course fashion, which Deanna got 100% correct and came out in the proper order. Service was excellent, no complaints at all! The owner even came by to briefly say hello and ask how everything was, nice touch!
The bread, oil and olives on the table were delicious. The bread is apparently made in house, and it was fantastic. The oil was of noticeable high quality and tasted wonderful.
We started with a salad. We went with the insalata valentino, which was a simple arugula with a citrus dressing and some grated cheese. I thought it was okay, but both felt was lacking something. My date suggested an element of texture, perhaps something like dried fruit, nuts, or tomatoes. We decided between this salad and the Caesar, and probably should’ve gotten the latter.
We decided to split an appetizer from their special Valentine’s Day menu. We got the burrata bollicine al tartufo. This was quite good, it was orange and regular beets with a dollop of a very creamy cheese (marscopone?) and a few pieces of truffle and caviar. I saw «truffle» and «caviar» on the description and had to have it, but there wasn’t that much on there. Bummer. Still very good, but at $ 20 I thought it to be a little pricey.
Our main courses were just single entrees for the both of us. She got the lobster and crab ravioli and I got the cod livornese. My cod wasn’t bad, but I really wasn’t as impressed with it as I thought I’d be. Perhaps it was the sauce, which was kind of just a red sauce with onions, olives and polenta. I was debating on getting the cod or the pork loin, and should’ve gotten the pork. At $ 22, I feel like there were much better items on the menu, including my date’s ravioli. If she hadn’t decided to get that dish, I probably would have gotten it myself. The raviolis themselves were to die for. Fresh lobster and crab in a rich, creamy sauce. A must-​try if you like seafood ravioli like I do.
We opted to take our dessert home. We got a cannoli, and thought it was just alright. The filling was good, but I thought the shell was a bit too crispy/​hard.
Overall a good experience at Nando. This restaurant brings authentic Italian food in an upscale atmosphere to downtown Champaign, which I feel is a great fit for it. I honestly felt like I was eating in Chicago, which is host to so many great Italian restaurants that emphasize quality.
My only minor gripes about Nando would be that it is pretty expensive. The portion size varied, our salad was a decent size, our burrata was understandably small, my date’s ravioli I thought was a small portion for the cost ($ 26). My fish dish was huge.
Either way, the food here is excellent and of high quality. If you know anything about great Italian food, Nando is it. I guess you’re paying for the convenience of having such fare in a more rural area like Champaign.
Definitely coming back here.

First of all look for the charismatic owner that exemplifies the definition of Italy!
His name is Dario, but you will know who he is the minute you walk in.
Being a Chicago girl that works out of NY and Italy I can’t think of a better place to spend a night with the people you love. Please choose to have a wonderful meal, but better yet a PRICELESS experience.
Cheers!
Lisa & David

Great and authentic. The owner and chef are Italian and their accents shows it. Food is great. The daily specials change continually. Service is attentive. The owner came twice to our table to chat. We’ll be back to try other menu items.

While the staff were very friendly, the food was just ok and the prices were outrageous. The atmosphere is similar to that of a bar — very loud, cramped. We were seated about 8 inches from another table along the wall. I would rather go to Biaggi’s! We won’t be back.

Kridz birfday was Tuesday, on groundhogs day, it seems like it’s always on groundhogs day, I guess that’s a groundhogs day thing.
We had planned to drive up to 3 floyds for beer and dinner, but one of the people going with us got called in to work because one of our coworkers at the brewery was sick. So instead, we made reservations for here at 6 pm. This was actually one of my first ideas of where to go, but the 3f option got thrown out there because… wtf, why not 3f?
We used the reservation making thingy that is a part of Unilocal,and it worked like a charm. Provided a time, then got a confirmation email shortly thereafter. Around 4, received a confirmation text message, and then a confirmation phone call. So, I’d say it worked great.
Showed up around 5:58, hostess asked if we had a reservation «yes, virgil» she said, ok, this way. As we go to be seated, I see one of the wait staff, who I had beer with a week or so before, we said hi, then she asked if we wanted to be in his section. Sure. So we sat with Josh.
It was a 2 top table by a post. While not the greatest, it sufficed for the 2 people that we were. They came and lit the candle on the table. Got us water. Josh took our drink order. Which may be my only complaint of this place, is it’s very dark. With a menu that’s got small print, and half the words that I don’t recognize, it’s nearly impossible to read the menu. Kridz asked if I was going to be an old person and take out my flashlight to read, and I considered it, but was able to get enough light from the candle to make a decision. She went with an Italian beer, I went with bourbon.
They brought out bread and olive oil with olives. She really likes green olives, but hasn’t ever eaten an olive with a pit in it.
Josh came to take our order, as kridz was still sitting there with the olive pit in her mouth. Se flawlessly ordered the lobster and crab ravioli while attempting not to choke on the pit. I went with the ribeye steak.
As josh left she pulled out the pit and put it on her small plate. I asked «you’ve really never had an olive with a pit before?» because there was so much olive left on it. She was like «lets see you do better!» so I popped one in, and produced a very clean pit. She said it looked like I was trying to tie a cherry stem in a knot in my mouth. I responded that it felt more like I was using mouthwash. We chuckled.
The dinner didn’t take too long to come out.
Her plate of ravioli had a cream sauce with maybe dill in it. It was a slightly foreign flavor, but good nonetheless. My steak was 16 oz, and was served on a butcher board. It was served on a butcher board that stuck out over the edge of the table. It was served on a butcher board that was completely covered with steak. When it arrived I thought that maybe I got one of those fancy steak for 2, but no, this massive serving was all for me. It was garnished on the side with some potatoes (I tried them, they were really good, but again, the no carb thing). The steak had some really thin cheese on top, I believe it was manchego. It also had a balsamic reduction on it. Quite tasty. There was greens with cherry tomato that lined the edge of the plate.
For desert she went with tiramisu, she didn’t need a flashlight to know she wanted that.
As a beer guy, I’d like to see more Italian beers on the menu. I believe there were about 5. It included the standards of peroni and moretti but also had a couple other things. One of my favorite beers is Italian, but sadly, there was no offerings that I saw from that brewery, Baladin.
We were well taken care of by Josh, and the rest of the staff. Dario (I believe) came by and talked to us a couple of times.
There was absolutely nothing unpleasant about the place. I can see it being busy and taking longer, but that happens everywhere. At least everywhere good. If you go to a place and there’s a long wait to be seated, and you start to get angry while waiting, go somewhere else. Once you start on the path of anger towards a restaurant, you are just going to sit there and complain about everything.
This place isn’t olive garden.
It’s actually very nice.
As we left to go have a drink at Barrelhouse 34, it started raining. We get in, and there is no cable signal. We order a drink. Momentarily, you couldn’t see pnc out the window due to the heavy rain. Then it stopped. We were just a little bit wet.
But wet and full is better than not.

Unpleasant hostess. 4 different people
waited on the table not communicating with each other. Good wine, decent food… nothing that’s worth the price point. Tried it, had a nice time, nice waiters, good dessert, won’t be back.

I tried this place before. I went again because Dario asked me to come again and try it (see compliments). I was excited too because I really dig their food or at least, I did. It was just the service that bothered me.
It was on repeat. I did not make a reservation. I came hella early (it was a weekday). There was NO one there and I still had to wait. I had to wait to be acknowledged by the hostesses (there were two — one was taking a call) and then I had to wait for a table. (15 minutes maybe more?)
The restaurant has a faulty system where it makes it impossible to transfer your bar bill to your restaurant bill.
The server was cool. Got the bread and the olives, but no refill and we were hungry. This time the food wasn’t good either. I paid $ 70 for this again? Nope, not doing it again. Not even for take out.
I don’t know. The next time I eat here SOMEONE ELSE is paying because this is how nice people go broke.

I came here with a couple of girlfriends last night. I must say, I am so happy that Nando has opened up downtown. It’s filling an important void of upscale Italian food in CU. On our way out, we run into one of the waiters who informs us he’s straight up from Rome! Too good to be true we thought! We challenged him on this notion but it turns out to be true! Many of the employees including the owner are actually from Italy. Not only that, the food is great without being pretentious. The service is attentive and helpful without being overbearing. Actually, I will even venture to say that the service was almost too attentive. When I arrived, looking for my friends, the owner himself noticed that I looked lost and brought me to someone who could assist me with putting our name on the list. Seconds after I finished something, someone was asking if I wanted more to drink or eat. This was all very impressive considering how packed they were last night.
Last night, we tried the gnocci, polenta, & panna cotta. It was all top quality with really great ingredients. The mushroom flavor in the polenta was super intense and savory. The texture of the gnocci was soft and unlike anything I’ve tasted. The vanilla flavor of the panna cotta is the most «vanilla» thing I’ve ever had. Can’t wait to come back and try more!
I would highly advise that you make a reservation in advance. Last night at 7 o’clock on a Wednesday, there was a 45 minute wait for the three of us. It was fine, we just had drinks at the bar while we waited but in hindsight, a reservation would have been smart.
Watch out Champaign, this place rocks!

Went here with friends. The waitress ignored us the whole time. The food portions were small for the price, and I honestly didn’t think it was any better that what I can make at home. They didn’t refill bread or olives until we asked at the very end (there were four of us and they gave us three pieces of bread) and the waitress was pretty shitty about it. I was never asked if I wanted another drink either. At the end of the meal we asked to split up the check and she said that was something they couldn’t do, so that was a nightmare. Not sure if she just didn’t want to do it or if they legit don’t do it, but either way, it was surprising that they wouldn’t. The owner came out to say hello which was nice, but I will not be going back. Expensive and terrible service.

We had a fantastic meal here to celebrate Christmas with my family. The food was delicious, especially everything house-​made: the bread, focaccia, and pasta all is! Prices reflect a finer dining Italian experience, which it absolutely is, and portion sizes allow for a salad, appetizer, or dessert without gut-​busting, which is perfect. Definitely fills a niche we were missing in Champaign, and does so fantastically!

What a fun and delicious night! We started at the bar for a cocktail. Try anything with the homemade limoncello! The bar is perfect for a cocktail or two!
Carpaccio to start followed by the Caesar salad, loved the Caesar!
The main event was pasta with a pork tomato sauce. homemade pasta — need I say more! We finished with a wonderful tiramisu — a perfect evening with Dario and great service.