Hank's Pasta Bar — Restaurant in Alexandria

I really didn't want to leave this place a terrible review. The atmosphere is awesome. The hostess was amazing. I made a reservation for Jazz Brunch at the tail end of restaurant week for my mother's birthday. The jazz band was awesome. They called ahead of time to confirm my reservation and notify me of the pre fixe menu. It wasn't available online but I was expecting there'd be something I was interested in so i was okay with it. The staff was all great with the exception of the server, who from the beginning was lazy and inattentive. He'd forgotten several requests. He took forever between ordering. I had to physically go find him a few times because he'd forgotten things and never come back. There was only one other table seated in the entire restaurant at the time. He just super sucked in general but I let it slide. I ordered the eggs Benedict. It came with 2 pieces of toast with spread as a first course and pie or cake for dessert, which was for sure sub par. I left feeling like I could've stayed home and saved $30. I was really stoaked to come here because I heard really good things about hanks restaurants but the food was really sub par and generally disappointing. Fast forward to the check, I explained to the server how it should be divided...thrice. He entirely screwed up in closing the check and essentially rolled the entire bill with the exception of drinks onto my card. After having already charged my card, he offered to reverse the charges and correct it. But knowing that banks take several days to reverse funds, I declined his offer. I also kind of was through waiting around for him to take entirely too long to execute small tasks. If you're looking for a cool place to grab a drink or enjoy some jazz on a Sunday, this is it. If you're looking for timely service and good value in the food, you'd probably want to...

My wife and I were looking forward to trying this new local restaurant. Unfortunately, it wasn't what we had hoped. The floor manager (?) was great in both manner and efficiency as he found us an al fresco table and got us initially set up. My wife ordered the Orechiette Pesto, made with an arugula pesto, and I, the Goat Cheese & Beet Plin, which were described as rectangular ravioli. Though everyone's tastes are different (obvious), my wife found that the arugula's natural bitterness was a little overpowering about halfway through the dish. The ten pieces on my plate were very small so I was not sated by a long shot, and especially for $17. But it was really the small things that depreciated the dining experience for us and, therefore, made it seem a little overpriced: No offers to refill our iced teas. I think this is generally standard for most restaurants, no? Coffee not arriving with cream (waiter did not ask this when we ordered two coffees so had to dash off again) Dirty teaspoon provided with one of our coffees Desert menu not arriving after we requested it - we mentioned this when the waiter arrived with our check; however by that time, we had finished our coffee and were ready to roll. We left a 20% tip as we don't believe wait staff should suffer what seemed like some deficits in training by management. I do hope they seek out their online reviews as I wish their business well and hope that they will succeed once they iron out these issues and maintain...

First time. Loved the atmosphere. Casual upscale chic. Used open table since it was a Friday night visit. Parking is a little challenging since they dont have a lot and it's mostly street parking. If there is a garage I didnt spot it. They sat us right away for an 8pm reservation. We tried a couple signature cocktails. I loved mine. (Vodka pear basil lemon). The cocktails were pricey, but made with premium and fresh ingredients so it was worth it. The menu is slightly confusing, but our server was super helpful in guiding us and making suggestions i.e. we ordered crostini to try it and while the menu says 1 for $4 on the menu, it meant one piece/slice where we thought it might be enough for two people to share one serving. Not a big deal, point is, this food here is upscale and really delicious, but some of the portions are small and elegant. The grilled octopus was the best octopus I've ever had and that was plenty to share for two. Reminded me of how fresh the seafood was when I visited a coastal town in Italy. We also shared the linguine with clam. The pasta itself was excellent, but the dish lacked a little punch, however incredibly fresh. We ended with flourless chocolate cake with vanilla gelato. Wow. Incredible. Overall I was not disappointed. The experience was fun and enjoyable and I cant wait to try more offerings on the menu. It was truly hard to decide what to order because there are so many things on the menu that...