Pines Of Italy, Featuring Now-Legendary Manager Darlene Wilcher on Columbia Pike in South Arlington - Closed

[DonRocks]

Would someone please find a way to juxtapose this video (Warning: Not Safe For Work Or Children - make sure to watch the whole thing) with the background music from Pines Of Italy's website? It would be ... hilarious.

Oh my God! It just keeps getting funnier!

"�President Truman would frequently visit here when he was in office. He would dine and sit by the fireplace smoking his pipe."

[DaveO]

Ha ha ha.  That is a riot.  and thank you for putting an historical note to the video.  

[BookGuy]

If i am recalling correctly, the Pines of Italy was the first offshoot of the Pines of Rome in Bethesda.  It was not owned by the same people, but used pretty much the same basic Italian menu.  This place also spun off the Pines of  Florence group started by former employees.  Vicino in Silver Spring was also started by someone who had worked at the Pines in Bethesda.

[DPop]

Good for her

[DaveO]

If i am recalling correctly, the Pines of Italy was the first offshoot of the Pines of Rome in Bethesda.  It was not owned by the same people, but used pretty much the same basic Italian menu.  This place also spun off the Pines of  Florence group started by former employees.  Vicino in Silver Spring was also started by someone who had worked at the Pines in Bethesda.

I'm sorry, but if all the Pines' restaurants are offshoots of Pines of Rome in Bethesda....that is an example of the great spread of mediocre meals at affordable prices.  and lord knows I've eaten meals at a slew of the Pines' over many years.   years of mediocre food at middling prices.     ho hum

[dwt]

Back in the day, when disposable income was in short supply, Mrs. DWT and I took great pleasure in our evenings out at Pines of Rome. This would have been in the '80s. If I recall correctly, the value/quality graph was nearly perfectly optimized for us. I was actually impressed by their execution of whole roasted fish, usually sea bass (or was it broiled?). Our favorite waiter was John (sorry, don't recall his last name), who went on to become the proprietor of Vicino in Silver Spring. Vicino's menu was an exact copy of Pine's. And for several years it achieved the same value/quality balance. It helped that our children, when they were elementary/middle school age, loved it too (spaghetti and meatballs and pizza were their favorites). At some point, Vicino went down hill. Food quality suffered and the tiny kitchen seemed to lose its ability to deliver the goods in a reasonable time frame on busy nights. We took it out of the rotation several years ago. But I still have pleasant memories of both PoR and Vicino.

[DaveO]

PofR and all the Pines' have always been kid friendly in food, price environment which imho gives them an extra star as a destnation for many.