I've lived in Georgetown for a few years now, driven by this place countless times. I figured I'd finally try it out. I like to try local places and go new places, so I figured I'd try it.
I probably won't be back, certainly not any time soon.
The best thing I can say about it is that it's like stepping back in time 20 or 30 years. The whole place seems trapped in amber from some point in the late 1980's or early 1990's. I'd bet money that place hasn't been renovated in a quarter century or more. Aside from the modern-design credit card machines at the cash registers and a couple of signs saying they deliver through a local delivery website, nothing there was from the last 20 years. Everything from furniture to menus to the music that was playing (non-stop 80's hits) was from that era. If you've got a retro nostalgic urge to step back to 1990 and visit a pizza place during the Reagan/Bush era, this place might scratch that itch.
The restaurant itself, however, was mediocre at best and there are better places for Italian food in Georgetown and the surrounding area.
I suspect a lot of the really good reviews here on Yelp are because of childhood nostalgia, a lot of longtime Georgetown residents probably grew up with this place as the Italian restaurant of their childhood and see it through those nostalgic eyes. As someone who moved to Georgetown only a few years ago and has had Italian cuisine around the country, and in Italy itself, I can't see it the same way.
The service was lousy. I was waiting in line, got to the front of the line when the person behind the counter said they were busy and let someone cut in front of me because she said she only had time to help one customer (and apparently it wasn't going to be me). So, after they let someone ahead of me, I had to wait some more at the front of the line to place my order. The place is busy, and they apparently practice favoritism to some customers.
When my meal was ready, the server who brought it out to me seemed confused, I saw her ask with confusion who I was and where I was to another employee and call my name out to the restaurant for where to bring my food. I had to flag her down, and realized that's not how food is brought to your table at any normal restaurant.
The best thing about the pasta dish I had was the garlic bread, that was actually pretty tasty and the high point of my meal. I tried to dip it in the marinara in my pasta though, but they were stingy enough with the marinara there was nothing there to dip it in.
The Italian food connoisseur in me was rather bemused that their "pasta supreme" was linguine marinara. The conventional wisdom in Italian cuisine is that flatter pasta like linguine and fettuccine goes with rich oil/cream-based sauces like Alfredo or clam sauce, and smaller round pasta like spaghetti and capellini goes with marinara.
Also, I should have known from the menu not having the price of a fountain drink on it that it was going to be expensive. It was over $2 for a regular soda. I was on a tight budget for that meal, if I knew it was going to cost that much I would have just got a cup of water.
Also, I thought I was ordering just a regular plate of pasta, but it came out with a layer of cheese on top. This apparently added about a buck and a half to my meal. I didn't order it, but it did explain why my meal was over $10 for a small plate of pasta and soda, especially since the pasta was only $6 and change on the menu. I didn't ask for it like that when I ordered, but I wasn't in a mood to argue, but given how hectic and chaotic the front counter was for ordering, and how confused they seemed about orders overall, I figured they'd gotten that mixed up too. I just noted they'd managed to tack on a little more money onto my dinner bill.
I left a little hungry, I didn't leave full. It definitely wasn't a big plate of pasta, my food was brought to me in a small aluminum take-out tray on a Styrofoam plate, and also Styrofoam drink cups are used. Reducing waste and environmental impact is NOT a priority of this place, I guess it's another way they're stuck in the 1980's.
A few minutes after I left, I got the final vote of disapproval. . .from my digestive tract. I got that rumbling in my stomach that I always get after eating cheap food, and that anguish in the restroom that followed a few minutes thereafter. It was an entree that doubled as a laxative! read more