Carnivale Restaurant Review

The drinks are great, the food was good but small portions with the chicken meal that I ordered. The performers did a great job and interacted with the restaurant guess!

Carnivale!

This place is full of life! Very colorful and vibrant. We had a party of 10 for a birthday and the wait was about 15mins with reservation. The cocktail list looked so good I just wanted to order one of each! I picked a Raspberry Mojito that had fresh raspberry puree. This drink was on point!! For an appetizer we ordered the mushroom flatbread, AMAZING!! For entree, I had the carne asada dish and that was fairly decent.

Best part, dessert! We ordered the carnival ice cream cake. Visually it was fun to look at, because it had the same vibrant colors the restaurant had! It was a light chocolate cake layered in between with 3 flavors of ice cream: pistachio, guava, and vanilla bean. It was accompanied by with two sauces and a light whipped cream. All these combination of flavors work well.

At the end of the meal the restaurant surprised the birthday girl with an organic lime cotton candy with caramel popcorn and a candle to blow out! Nice touch!

Overall this place is great of any occasion and great on drinks, appetizers and dessert!!

Loved the place I definitely thought that you pay for the experience. Don't get me wrong, the food was amazing but it wasn't the food that made it a great experience it was the staff and the entertainment.

The venue is beautiful with a great ambiance, but the service was slow and the food was cold. We were a corporate Christmas party group of about 70 people with planned reservations there for almost 2 months.

This was my second visit to Carnivale. We ate here on a Saturday night at 6:30, we were a group of 9, we were seated immediately. I ordered a mojito and it was delicious, however the food was the opposite. We ordered a "pick 3" combination for cerviche, our selection was shrimp, tuna and oysters. I couldn't believe how small and flavor less the food was. The main entree was the paella. This made me and my wife laugh when it was brought to the table. It had a tiny piece of calamari, one tiny piece of shrimp and a few clams and oysters. The upside of the dish were the two scallops, those tasted great and were cooked perfectly. The paella was mostly rice and should have had more seafood, especially for how much it was. Overall this place has great decor, but the food is not worth it. At least not my experience.

PROS: Service was on point, our server was friendly and attentive. The place is huge and you get a nice experience of a high class and clean restaurant.
CONS: The food is not the best I've tried, steak was a little burned. Portions size are ok. It's quite expensive for the food quality they offer. My visit was during a busy weekend night and the service was slower than expected. Definitely not my favorite place to return. My review is based in comparison of other similar places i have visited before. Dishes price go around $40-57.

Food was good and service amazing we had Gustavo helping us will definitely be back!

Ramon was a excellent server highly recommend and food is always good

The food is amazing.... waiter new his menu.... good place to take your girl fellas...

One of the best dining experiences I have had in the city. Service was great and so was the food but not only that also the presentation of the food and how attentive our waiter was.

What an underrated place to eat! I recently visited here with my family and we had a fantastic time! We made a reservation in advanced for a Thursday night meal. The waiter at our table was super attentive and fun to be around. The high ceilings and music definitely made the night more lively. The best part was the food. I came in thinking the food would be average, but I wrong wrong. My family includes both meat eaters and vegetarians. And both sides had a wonderful time eating. Both choices were super fresh and delicious. Give this place a try!

Meh. Cool place, unique fare. Nothing served blew me away. Just ok. Was there for a wedding, wouldnt go back otherwise

Good food! This is a Great space for group events. My fiancee's cousin had her wedding reception upstairs and I've enjoyed several pre-planned dinner meals with professional industry reps.

Beautiful experience, live entertainment, drinks and food galore.

It wasn't much options for the brunch menu. I got the chicken and Waffles and it was ok not worth $16. Love the scenery and selfie room.

Exquisito I have a great experience I can t wait to go again!

I love Carnivale. There is nothing on the menu that is bad, and i've tried it all. Great atmosphere and decor.

Little expensive for such decently good food. I love the live shows

was in town for business and was lucky enough to stumble upon this gem :-)

Great food, amazing ambience. My favorite eatery in Chicago.

Awesome happy hour, flavorful food, great music and creative cocktails in a colorful, lively spot.

The food was amazing! We had the lamb chops, Gnocchi and the Scallops. Great drinks. Our son in law is Vegan and enjoyed the rice cake dish and thought it was awesome! Desert was also wonderful. Try it for yourself.

Good atmosphere, good service and good food and drinks

Handled party of 12 with no hiccups. Everything came out at same time, and they got it all correct!

Catch a fun shown here and amazing food. The mojitos are very good. Great for private events.

The atmosphere and decor at Carnivale is amazing! It's over-the-top. If you're looking for a unique place to eat or host a special event this is a good spot. We ordered a cocktail that was lit on fire. It's a super showy place. We had a great time, but we did have a reservation and had to wait a half hour. Our group was large so perhaps it was difficult to seat us, but with a reservation we were a bit bummed about that. Otherwise, it's a fun night out.

This place has been around for a while now, but still gets me every time. Awesome food and the classic Jerry Kleiner "Mad Hatter" design. The bar area has a lot of seating and is a great lunch spot as well!

Great place so colorful and bright. Food was great!

Noisy, great service and decorative place. Not impressed with menu or food.

Absolute perfect dinner experience for our anniversary

Great customer service!! I had a great time in there it is very clean and the food its delicious i recommend it. Friendly staff & great food! Good job guys. Great company.

Extremely overpriced for the quality of food and service.

The experience was great and the waiter was on top of everything!

Its, much nicer on the inside than the outside. We were at a company's event. The service was excellent, however the food was OK. It wasn't great, but wasn't bad at all. My favorite and only drink is Bloody Mary, and its always virgin. Thus, I feel like I have acquired a taste for it. Their's is not very good at all. It tasted like salsa juice.

We had a fantastic time here when we were there for a private event.

There were samba dancers and aerial performers. Really liked their drinks and the paella. They had good tacos as well.

Delicious, great atmosphere. What else do you need?

Great customer service and beautiful atmosphere however the food quality is no good. The steak was tasty however the rice was horrible. Tasted like uncle bens rice with additional spices. The prices are super high and the food quality is not worth the price that is being charged. The drink was tastier than the food. I would recommend just ordering appetizers and drinks and seeing performance. Save yourself the disappointment in food.

Awesome food and atmosphere. A great, kicking place to be.

Great atmosphere but the food was not that great (bland.).

amazing atmosphere and tasty food, come for the experience

Just beyond my expectations, food was just amazing and let me not mention the drinks. We went on a Monday so it was a pretty calm atmosphere. The actual restaurant is beautiful! With vibrant colors and very chic furniture. We ate at the lounge, but definitely next time we are there, we will eat in the dining area. Server was very courteous and always checking on us. Thank you for the wonderful experience.

Very very great place 2 eat out @ love to hospitality.

Was a little disappointed that our host recommended a dish to my wife that had cilantro, after she explicitly said she does not like it.

I love this place. I had visited many years ago and I try to get by here whenever I visit Chicago. Clearly, they've changed the menu since my last visit. The atmosphere is very lively and colorful. We ate in the bar area because it was so packed. I always enjoy the drinks here. I didn't really enjoy my entree this time (nothing that the restaurant did wrong), but that won't stop me from visiting again.

Ambiance is great, fun environment. It gets a bit loud at night if you're coming with family or younger children but very fun. Food is great

We came here for lunch and had a great time. The service was excellent, the food delicious, and the decor absolutely beautiful!

Friendly service, great venue for celebrating with friends and family.

Great for a special date or celebration. Visually pleasing for sure!

the food all sounded terrible so my main course was a appatizer calimari and it was not good at all

Food was good, service not so much. Rude wait staff. You could tell the waitress wanted to be anywhere but at her job. She was very unfriendly to everyone and yelled at other wait staff in front of customers.

Delicious food and really attentive wait staff and management. Got the flank steak with chimichurri and rice. Hasn't disappointed me since the first time I came 7 years ago. Mixed drinks are nice too. Lots of options. Atmosphere is A+

First visit, excellent food, only the service very delayed may be by date. Expensive prices but good food. It will be revisited.

Ummm where to start. This place had an "artsey" feel to it. To add a small perfomance every hour was really entertaining. The concept was, to say the least, was unusual. We were there for a company Christmas party. Perhaps that is the reason for the unusual concept. The food was good. The bar tenders were very friendly. And having a bathroom concierge was a great touch. My only issue was that some old the wait staff were rude. And I even caught one of the male wait staff checking out my wife. I thought it was just me until several people at our table immediately commented about this event. This place is interestingly different, but nothing that I would go back for on a regular basis.

I enjoyed the decor more than the food. The salsa night is always fun, and the live music. I enjoy sitting at the bar and watching the dancing and listening to the music. The food is just okay, I guess it is a fusion restaurant of Central American food.

This seemed to have been taken off for some reason. We were rushed out. Brought bills without asking. Given leftover dessert as a sorry before closing. Server wanted to get out. Wasn't offered coffee. Plates cleared too quickly. I could go on.

Had a great experience and the food was delicious. Had agua fresca (mango), and it was so refreshing, so much flavor. I liked the decor, it makes the place feel so alive and chic. As far as the price, I think its worth it. I highly recommend this place, and I'll definitely come back. The waiter was very nice too.

Excellent all around experience. Food was delicious, waitstaff was attentive and knowledgeable, atmosphere was fun but not too loud. If in doubt, ask your server for recommendations.

Good food. Decent service. Entre's priced 3x appetizers for roughly same amt of food.

The food was sooo yummy.. We LOVED the coconut shrimp! The drinks are strong and tasty! The service was fantastic! It was a very special and gorgeous experience!

Its my first time there, and the place was overwhelming beautiful, we received good service, I should say, make a reservation. The food was good, drinks were good, the scenery was amazing, I ll come back again.

What an amazing experience. The food, the atmosphere and the service was incredible!

First time going and definitely enjoyed the food and ambience

Love this place!! I've been here for dinner, just desert and just drinks and had great experiences all three times. The decor is very bright and fun and the servers/bartenders are really great.

Great place for a celebration. Great food and service was outstanding!!!

Beautiful vibrant decor. I've been here on several occasions and I believe they changed they're menu quite a bit. However the food is still delicious and the drinks as well. Great place for an anniversary, or birthday dinner.

One word: MUST GO! Excellent drinks and even better food. Very tasty lamb!

Excellent food, servers and design. The entire experience is pure perfection.

I've really liked the food they offer, and the staff is very professional.

The environment in this place is awesome. Everything from the decoration to the music creates the perfect atmosphere to have a great conversation. The food quality varies a lot, some dishes taste great while others are disappointing.

Way too expensive! the food was mediocre. Will not be visiting again anytime soon. The "show" was a joke

Attended a private Halloween party, great staff, great food, great venue!

Service is always awesome! Food is always unbelievable ! Drinks are delicious! I highly recommend Carnivale to anyone.