Seattle Restaurant Week | Dreaming Back to a Roman Summer

I saw that an Italian restaurant I’ve been wanting to try was participating in Restaurant Week, so I immediately came to check it out. I’ve been wanting to try it because a few years ago, I spent a summer in Rome and rarely found good Roman-style pasta in Seattle (Cacio e pepe & Carbonara). I thought I had to find a restaurant that specializes in Southern Italian cuisine to avoid disappointment. (My favorite Northern Italian dish is Spaghetti alla Spinesse!) Rione XIII is a restaurant under the ESR hospitality group, specializing in Roman cuisine with beautiful decor. The Restaurant Week deal was $50 per person for three courses. After eating, I felt like I didn’t need to come during Restaurant Week because the portions were too large… We had six dishes in total and took home half a pizza and half a bowl of pasta. Normally, ordering three or four dishes to share would be more than enough for two people. 🌟 Bruschetta: Anchovy paste with onion & radish, three slices per plate, reminiscent of tapas lab’s pincho, delicious and appetizing. 🌟 Supli Bianco: Fried risotto rice balls, full of cheese flavor, a carb bomb, delicious but too filling as an appetizer, left me feeling full after eating… 🌟 Bucatini alla Amatriciana: A dish I’ve been longing for since leaving Rome, tomato and pork pasta, the pork is cooked to a very tender paste, no chunks, just the salty and savory meat flavor, with a strong tomato taste. The downside is that the pasta was a bit soft. 🌟 Margherita Pizza: Thin crust and crispy bottom! The classic taste speaks for itself. 🌟 Mango Sorbet: Smooth texture, delicious mango flavor, stunning at first but the portion was huge, about the size of a Salt & Straw large scoop, really too much to finish… 🌟 Tiramisu: I found it quite average, the coffee flavor was too strong, and the texture was too wet. Overall, a very cost-effective restaurant, but if you’re not a big eater, I recommend ordering from the regular menu; the Restaurant Week’s 3-course meal for $50 per person is quite a lot… The service was a bit slow, and they seemed short-staffed and busy. #SeattleRestaurantWeek #SeattleItalianCuisine