Hi,
My daughter and 3 friends are taking the train to Union Station Chicago for a day celebrating a 16th birthday (others are 16,18,21). They will not have a car, and hope to walk most places. I would love a recommendation for reasonably priced Italian food. Not pizza, but a "fancy" type pasta dinner that would feel special, not stuffy. TIA!

There's Italian Village on Monroe & Dearborn. It's about 6 blocks east of Union Station. The building has 3 restaurants, Vivere, the formal dining room is on the ground floor, I'd recommend The Village, upstairs. They'll love the decor and it's a bit more moderate in price.

If they want to head a bit farther, they can try Rosebud on Rush. It's at Rush and Superior near Saks and the Peninsula Hotel and has a sidewalk cafe.

It's about 1.5 miles from Union Station, they can walk and window shop along Michigan if they want or take the free trolley from Union Station. They'd catch the Red Circle line to Water Tower Park. The restaurant is a block south.

Thanks! I bet they'd have fun (and be very silly) on the trolley!

For maps and other info on the trolley, go to www.cityofchicago.org, then select the Department of Transportation and click on the Free Trolley link.

Thanks! They're on their way-I'll report back tomorrow.

Try www.volareresturant.com The food is wonderful and anyone I have sent there has loved it.

Here's "my" mini trip report. The girls had reservations for the 8am train(www.amtrak.com) from Milwaukee to Chicago. They decided they had plenty of time and stopped at both McDonald's and Starbucks. Long line at the kiosks and windows, they and a bunch of people missed the train. Much kicking of selves. But, when they went to trade in their tix for the 11am, they found out that 15 and unders are free on the weekend(no, I don't know why the online booking didn't spot this) and got a refund of the birthday girl's (16 NEXT week) fare! Drove down to the lakefront and spent some time-it was a beautiful morning.
The next departure went smoothly and they enjoyed riding and listening to their iPods rather than driving through traffic and tolls. They had the free trolley information but decided to be lazy tourists and did the Hop-On/Off double decker bus tour(www.chicagotrolley.com) with student discounts. They said the guide wasn't outstanding, but it was a fun way to cover a lot of ground in their now limited time.
They took lots of pictures and were very silly. Perfect.
They walked around Millenium Park for a while on their way to dinner. I liked the recommendation of Rosebud, but made their reservations(www.opentable.com) at The Rosebud Theatre District(www.rosebud.com). They had a great pasta dinner and were given a free tiramisu for the birthday girl. Close enough to walk back to Union Station for the only train back, at 8pm.
Thank you for the suggestions. It was a surprise for the birthday girl, and they really had a good time, falling in love with Chicago again and planning the next visit...

Glad they enjoyed themselves even though they missed their train.