Ristorante Caterina de’ Medici - Italian restaurant in Hyde Park - 1946 Campus Dr, USA

I have been trying to get to this restaurant for years. My wish has finally come true! The building itself teleports you to a beautiful restaurant in Italy. The service is fantastic as provided by current students of the CIA. But the truly outstanding feature is undoubtedly the food!!! I had a cold salad of grilled veggies including Brussels sprouts, blue cheese and balsamic vinegar. The main course was beef short ribs tender enough to cut with a dull fork! Totally memorable. My dessert was one of my favorites-Tiramisu. Creamy, luscious and satisfying. Don’t walk, run to this restaurant. NOW!!!

The tuscan style interior is warm and intimate with various metal decorative touches, chandelier, and center piece olive tree. Getting a window spot would be amazing, but we were seated in the center of the restaurant. We had a few light mishaps with who ordered which drink and dish (a few were mixed up). Otherwise, food was amazing! The homemade cavetelli was cooked perfectly, and I really enjoyed the earthy-herby canneli bean sauce for our perfectly cooked octopus antipasti. Short ribs and broccolini were also cooked perfectly; the honey nut squash purée was extremely smooth. The salmon was probably the dish that least impressed us, as the kale-quinoa and truffle sauce almost felt a bit heavy. I'd give everything a little bit of slack since I heard the students did just switch to new posts; Overall I'd definitely come again to try new dishes.

We had a fantastic experience and amazing food. We went for lunch so we could order more things. Seared Sea Scallops were the best we’ve ever had! We also had the Beef Carpaccio, Cavitelli Lamb ragu, Mussels, Potato Gnocchi, and Seafood pasta. No room for dessert

Unprepared for lunch guests the afternoon we arrived. Limited menu items because they ran out. Never told us until we were seated, having drinks, and tried to order specific dishes. Would have been more professional and helpful to tell us what was not available when we first entered.

Every dish was beautifully executed. My pizza was delicious, but a strong taste of anchovies bothered me. Pavlovas was amazing! Their menu is changing regularly. The students are doing a really good job!

We were so excited to dine here after many years of discussion & never seemed to find the time. I made reservations via Open Table approx. 3 weeks ago. It was almost too easy! Upon arrival the atmosphere was very authentic villa theme with a huge faux olive tree in the center. We were seated almost immediately. Part of the restaurant was closed (no reason given) but the main section had approx 25 tables of varying sizes & a balcony (poss for families with small children) also sat guests. Some outstanding decorative chandeliers drew our eyes up to them almost immediately. The high ceiling only complimented the acoustics & conversation was easy to hear in a room filled with 50-60 dining guests! We choose the price fix menu consisting of an appetizer, entree, desert and was not disappointed in the choices. The rhubarb gelato was outstanding! Our only complaint was our entrees were room temperature & could have been warmer but this is a teaching environment & kudos to the students perfecting their careers. There is no tipping but an added student surcharge that goes to the student fund. Great move by administration for doing this. Chatting with the students was not only informative & interesting but we learned so much about the CIA. The menu changes frequently so what you see this week may not be on next weeks menu. We will be back to try their beer garden & pub faire. Would have been five stars if our dinners were warm to hot & not room temperature.

We visited Caterina for our 20th anniversary and it was an amazing meal. Caterina is one of the teaching restaurants at the Culinary Institute of America, or CIA as everyone associated calls it. My wife is an alumni and my youngest daughter is in her last semester working BOH at Caterina. Our food was excellent and our servers were amazing. You have a choice of several dishes for each of four courses including dessert and it was wonderful. I particularly liked the tortelloni dish I had and my wife swooned over the salmon. I highly recommend this restaurant.

Ristorante Caterina de' Medici is one of five fabulous eateries located on the grounds of the Culinary Institute of America. These restaurants are staffed by the Culinary students and the do a fantastic job. We were served by Emily & Andrea. They were charming, friendly, attentive and are set to graduate this year. I'm sure they will be successful wherever they are bound. The menu choices were diverse & compelling making it difficult to decide what to order. The atmosphere is Mediterranean Magnificence. The lighting and decor help create this Italian masterpiece. The food did not disappoint... The various breads to dip in the virgin olive oil was a wonderful prelude. We ordered the Pizza Margherita with Tomato, Fresh Mozzarella, and Basil as an appetizer. It was delicious. For the main course I ordered the Cavatelli al Carciofi (Sautéed Artichokes, Fennel Purée, with Black Truffles). My guest ordered the Cappellacci di Zucca (Pumpkin, Butter, and Sage). We sampled each others dishes and were both impressed. The Ristorante Caterina de Medici is a bit expensive for those on a modest budget, but worth the price of celebrating a special event.