Cheap Italian Restaurants

[Capital Icebox]

This time felt more like Ye Olde Spaghetti Factory than a neighborhood restaurant.  Only thing missing were cans of Heinz tomato sauce on the shelf...

Are you talking about the decor or the service? Because the decor in the main dining room has stayed the same, and the addtiional room certainly doesn't bring to my mind cans of tomato sauce. Service here has always been great, in fact it has improved with the expansion. As for food, I am usually pleased and occasionally very pleased, especially when the dish involves anchovies, which the kitchen doesn't shy away from. Twice I have had to send entrees back, but both times the restaurant handled the situation properly.

That being said, if I didn't live nearby I wouldn't make a point of visiting here. For the neighborhood, it's a wonderful addition, but I don't see it deserving much attention in the DC dining scene. It's just a nice place in a part of Old Town that doesn't have many quality restaurants to offer. Michael seems to realize this, and it's what makes this a great place to have around. (And to be honest, I like having the wine bar to myself.)

[Escoffier]

Just a observation. It seems that people posting place a lot of stock in their relationship to the owners, like that actaully has somthing to do with the quality of the food.

Does seem to be a dominant theme, doesn't it?

[Escoffier]

Are you talking about the decor or the service?

The service...I don't give extra points for silk wallpaper or gold gilt on the doorknobs. I go for the food...ambiance I have at home.

Because the decor in the main dining room has stayed the same, and the addtiional room certainly doesn't bring to my mind cans of tomato sauce.  Service here has always been great, in fact it has improved with the expansion.  As for food, I am usually pleased and occasionally very pleased, especially when the dish involves anchovies, which the kitchen doesn't shy away from.  Twice I have had to send entrees back, but both times the restaurant handled the situation properly. 

This must have been my time to send things back. There was nothing in the food that made me think this wasn't something I couldn't make at home with Prego and a box of Muellers and some miscellaneous seafood. Service was hit or miss. Mostly miss.

That being said, if I didn't live nearby I wouldn't make a point of visiting here.  For the neighborhood, it's a wonderful addition, but I don't see it deserving much attention in the DC dining scene.  It's just a nice place in a part of Old Town that doesn't have many quality restaurants to offer.  Michael seems to realize this, and it's what makes this a great place to have around. (And to be honest, I like having the wine bar to myself.)

I do live near the neighborhood and find Villa d'Este to be considerably better as far as food goes. Personal tastes, I guess..

[Anonymouze]

Hello I'm new to this site and brand new to Reston VA. I hope to add my 2 cents.

We went to a Great restaurant in Great Falls VA! I'll copy n paste my comments on another site to here:

Fiore Di Luna

1025 Seneca Rd. (by Route 7 & Old Georgetown Road)

Great Falls, VA

703-444-4060

This is their site:

http://www.fiorediluna.com/dinner_menu.html

Open Tuesday through Friday for lunch and dinner; dinner only on Saturday and Sunday.

Note they have a cigar bar in front and great wine list also when we were there a cellist, piano and singer trio who were very good and enjoyable.

(This was the high point of this otherwise heart-rending day.)

After my mother's funeral, my husband and I stopped here on the way home because we are still moving into our home in Reston, the fridge is as barren as a desert and both of us had nothing to eat yet.

I just wanted to share with you some information about the delicious food and superb service as well as gorgeous interior and exterior design. It was quite relaxing and almost made me forget the previous hours sadness briefly.

We started with the two appetizers, one each which we shared... an appetizer of carpaccio of beef tenderloin with foie gras and also prosciuitto w/ buffalo mozzerella and both were presented beautifully and tasted great.

Then we moved onto the main course and since it was late we stuck with the pasta dishes they also have seafood, meat and more (mahi mahi as well as swordfish and both sounded fantastic but again... it was a late hour)

I had the ravioli anatra which was filled with duck and foie gras and served in a light sage sauce with truffle flavoring and Jeff had a glass of pinot and he had Garganelli which was homemade crinkled penne pasta with veal tenderloin tips, fresh herbs and porcini mushrooms

For dessert we had the chocolate mousse layered with hazelnut served with an orange sauce, and I had the hot strudel of vanilla-flavored Granny Smith apples wrapped in phyllo dough and served with a homemade cinammon and vanilla ice cream.

Also next door is Pizzarama and the manager/owner is very nice and the pizza is REAL tasty IMHO!

Hope to chit chat here with all of you sooner or later... as the new kid in town.

[crackers]

Welcome Stacey and thank you for the detailed first post! I hope your days ahead are brighter.

[infohunter]

One of my favorites is Pasta Bella at 454 Elden St, Herndon, VA. The dining area is very small so weekends can get quite busy. They do take reservations on the weekend which I would stress. The don't serve everything at lunch, like soup as an example, which is unfortunate as they have some awesome soups.

Here is the local review written March 24, 2006.

http://www.observernews.com/stories/curren...astabella.shtml

[kturkey88]

Where do people go for classic, "Red Checkered Tablecloth" Italian food?

Chicken parm, lasagne, fra diavlo, etc...along these lines....

Thanks!

[CrescentFresh]

Luigi's

A.V.

[Jacques Gastreaux]

Otelo, on Conn. Ave, below Dupont Circle.

[hillvalley]

A.V.

Until it closes soon

[Jttops]

Where do people go for classic, "Red Checkered Tablecloth" Italian food?

Chicken parm, lasagne, fra diavlo, etc...along these lines....

Thanks!

I'd try Amalfi in Rockville on Wilkens Ave. Very good white pizza, good solid tomato sauces and some of the best eggplant parm I've ever had. Also, Pines of Rome in Bethesda and Vicino in Silver Spring are along the same lines you are looking for.

[The Hersch]

It was a half block from our apartment and would have been really convenient if the food didn't suck. And I mean SUCK. Bad bad bad.

"It" being Pines of Florence on Connecticut, just below Kalorama Road. I'm currently exiled from my apartment nearby by the painters, and had dinner there last night. I had been there before, but years ago. I remembered it as being on the upper end of mediocre, and that seems to be the case still. I think "SUCK. Bad bad bad." is a little unfair. This is a modest, unpretentious little place, with modest, unpretentious food that is broadly edible, though not especially good. I started with a pasta e fagioli soup, which was actually quite pleasant and clearly house-made. Then I had an osso buco that was, well, okay. Not very good, but not bad. Like all the veal and chicken dishes, it's accompanied by linguine, in this case apparently sauced by the same stuff the veal cooked in--tomatoes and onions, mostly. The prices are impressively low. The soup was, I think, $2.95. The osso buco was about the most expensive thing on the menu at $14.95. You could certainly have a filling meal including a glass of cheap wine, tax, and tip for about twenty dollars if you wanted. Would it be memorable? No, of course not. But you'd be nourished and it wouldn't make you sick.

[wrash]

I love Villa Bella in Burke, in the WalMart shopping center at Burke Center Parkway and Roberts Parkway.

The last couple of times at Villa Bella haven't been up to its previous standards. I don't know if they're using less-experienced cooks, or not getting the best ingredients. Whatever it might have been, when I went there last night for dinner, I think it was my last time.

I ordered what is normally a nice, light, fairly healthy dish, which is the mixed seafood in marinara on linguini. When it arrived three of the mussels hadn't opened, which meant that half of them were dead before cooking, and should never have been served. The clams were so badly overcooked they were like chewing rubber. You couldn't cut them with a table knife. Those didn't get eaten. The shrimp, while overcooked, was edible. The scallops were OK. Pieces of clam shell were strewn throughout the dish, and I ended up breaking a tooth.

The bruschetta appetizer was soggy enough that it drooped.

At least the hot bread was still hot and fresh and delicious, and the linguini was properly cooked.

The other good news was that my dental insurance covered the damage.

I've heard (from my dentist who used to go to Villa Bella, too) that there's a much better Italian restaurant in Lorton called Pane e Vino (http://www.paneevino-ristorante.com/). I think I'll try that next.

Wayne Rash