Date Night Restaurants

Inizio is a cozy, pasta-focused restaurant in beautiful Elmwood Village. Freshness comes first here—we make everything we can from scratch in our kitchen, and we haven’t begun cooking your pasta until the moment you order it. Our motto, “tutto fatto a mano” translates to mean “everything made by hand,” and we believe that the personal connection to the preparation process can be tasted on the plate.

Enjoy great food, a lively atmosphere, cocktails, and entertainment! We have a spacious bar and indoor restaurant, and a covered patio for those sunny warm days. Live music year round every Wed., Fri & Sat. and some other days too. We can host banquets, golf tournaments, happy hours, showers, and so much more!

GiGi’s Cucina Povera is a locally owned restaurant serving the freshest of local ingredients in a Sicilian country atmosphere. Our culinary philosophy is “Making great food with Simple, Fresh, Local, and Seasonal ingredients, by transforming humble ingredients into dishes that are more than the sum of their parts. To Taste Sicilian Food is to taste the ages, to sense nature, to feel the people, and to know and love the land. Sicilian foods are influenced by Greek, Arabic, French, Italian, and Spanish cuisines, resulting in exotic varied and exceptional cuisine — at Gigi's Cucina Povera.