"If your in-laws suddenly appear at your doorstep, demanding fancy pasta dinner in the West Loop right now, go to Gioia. It’s busy, upscale, and has decent handmade pasta, like bucatini cacio e pepe, pici with ragu, and paccheri mancini prepared tableside. As a bonus, there’s a bar that doesn’t get too loud, in case you’d like to have a gentle post-dinner talk about boundaries. " - nick allen, adrian kane, veda kilaru