Archestratus, the first food critic, praised Italian cuisine's "top-quality and seasonal" ingredients and "fair-to-middling" ability to tranquilize out-of-control mayors. Today's Groupon similarly stuns, and rightfully so: for $20, you get $40 worth of fine Italian cuisine and drinks at Vinci Restaurant. Your Groupon is not valid for the prix fixe menu.

Vinci's kitchen magicians conjure simple yet sophisticated Italian cuisine within a warm, intimate setting of candlelit tables and saffron walls. Kick off a round of eating, praying, and loving with ambrosial appetizers such as Vinci's caprese with fresh mozzarella and marinated dried and fresh cherry tomatoes kissed with balsamic ($8.95), then dive into a decadent salsiccia pizza bedecked with duck sausage and goat cheese ($13.95). The pasta-partial, meanwhile, can throw a slumber party in their mouths with a mouth-watering miniature pillow fight of handmade ricotta and spinach ravioli in brown-butter sage sauce ($17.95). Pro-protein diners will pounce on the veal saltimbocca, sautéed with prosciutto and fontina in a rich porcini sauce ($25.95). As the gourmet wreckage is cleared away, keep your sweet tooth from throwing a tantrum with a delectable dessert such as panna cotta with dried cherry balsamic sauce ($7.50), best paired with a dessert wine such as the Vin Santo Baroncini ($5.95 per glass). Gluten-free options are also available for allergy-prone dates.

With its charming, rustic Italian décor of warm tile, exposed brick, and thoughtful decorative touches, Vinci imbues any conversation, even discussions about the best equipment for cleaning out small-diameter boiler tubes, with a sly wit and sultry flirtation. Arrange a romantic mini-getaway under a tiled mural, or practice the seductive art of thumb wrestling across a linen-spread table in one of Vinci's cozy corners with today's Groupon.

Find more restaurants in Chicago.

Reviews

Reviewers at OpenTable give Vinci Restaurant an average of four stars. Yelpers rate it an average of 3.5 stars, and TripAdvisors agree, with an average of 3.5 owl eyes:

• I love all Italian food and Vinci is definitely one of my fave Italian restaurants in Chicago. They have a fairly extensive gluten-free menu, plenty of vegetarian options, and they even offer gluten=free [sic] beer. – lyn t., Yelp
• We have eaten at Vinci many times and have never been disappointed. Have had small intimate dinners as well as large family celebratory dinners and always find the food delicious and the service friendly and accommmodating [sic] and the setting lovely. – OpenTable reviewer who dined on 10/19/2010