Antico Posto

During an evening of shopping near the Oak Brook mall, we decided to eat at Antico Posto, an Italian restaurant located in the middle of the shops -unlike most of the restaurants at the mall which are located on the outer ring of the mall. (side note: Natalie had been there before but it has been since the summer of 2002.)  Since it was a Monday evening, we didn't think we really needed reservations but we were mistaken. We were told we would have a 20-30 minute wait and that was about right. The unfortunate thing that we (and others) noticed was that there were several empty tables throughout the restaurant, including 2 right next to where all of us were waiting. Most likely some of them were for reserved parties, but the way the hostess kept walking away from her station and talking to other employees sure made it seem like she didn't know what was going on.
Part of the reason we wanted to eat dinner on a Monday night was because we heard about a Monday night special - 10 of their entrees were available for $10 each. (In the fine print we saw that this promotion will be ending at the end of 2011 so good thing we got this in now). For entrees we ordered off this $10 list - Natalie got Lasagnetti (lasagna type noodles) with Italian sausage and goat cheese and Nick got Fettuccine with smoked chicken. For an appetizer we got prosciutto with figs and pear jam. Before any of the food came, the wait staff brought bread, olive oil and some antipasti vegetables (olives, peppers, carrots, etc.)

The appetizer was our favorite.  It was thinly sliced prosciutto and the pairing with the figs and jam was outstanding.  The pasta dishes were good but not great.  The smoked chicken was the most interesting part of the fettuccine dish. The lasagnetti needed a better balance between the amount of the noodles and the meat sauce - it could have used more sauce for the size of the noodles.

Final thoughts on Antico Posto:
Food - the appetizer was great, the entrees so-so; for better Italian food at the Oak Brook mall go to Maggiano's

Service - not sure how the seating was really going, we were minutes away from just going somewhere else, and then it was a little slow to get our food
Atmosphere - very busy, lots of bigger parties - probably due to the holidays and shopping at the mall, lively bar atmosphere as it is also a wine bar