La Tavola — Restaurant in Baltimore

This is an update of my review from about a year ago. La Tavola is I think the BEST Italian restaurant in Baltimore. The chef-owner, Chef Carlo, is a creative genius with food. He makes virtually everything in house, including the bread, the pasta, as well as the sauces and the main entrees. And he uses the freshest ingredients. On my recent visit, I had an appetizer I think was called bresole. It was a bed of thinly cut, cured meat, with fresh arugula, cheese, balls of melon. And for me the most special thing was figs that the chef lightly grilled. The chef has a fig tree in his backyard. Right now he has a lot of figs from this fig tree. Lightly grilling the fig brings out its sweetness. I have literally never tasted that in my entire life. And I cannot get that for any amount of money anywhere, except at La Tavola. The chef has a commercial fishing license and he sometimes goes fishing in the morning and serves at the restaurant the fish he caught the same day. The chef's commitment to fresh ingredients is unparalleled.

Then I had the short ribs on a bed of risotto. Absolutely fabulous. The meat just falls off the bone. And for dessert I had the tartuffo. I need my food gluten free so I have just the top part of the tartuffo (so no cake). It tastes great. It's gelato with a chocolate sauce.

I should mention all the dishes I named here are specials. Special means it is not available all the time. This is another reason why I never tire of eating here. In addition to the regular menu items, there are always specials that change depending on what fresh ingredients the chef has on hand that day.

The chef is also very open to making his restaurant gluten-free friendly. He does not have a dedicated gluten free kitchen. But I am happy to report I eat here frequently and I have never gotten sick from gluten here. I don't know of any other restaurant in Baltimore that has home made gluten free pasta. Chef Carlo offers strofe which is made with Italian gluten free flour. All I care is it tastes great. Almost all of the pasta dishes are gluten free if you make it with strofe.

Dining here is like dining with family. I like the relaxed atmosphere. The atmosphere is casual but it is also nice enough and the food is special enough to be a special event restaurant. Plus I have always been thrilled with the food here. It's definitely a restaurant...

I had convinced my boyfriend to purchase a Groupon for La Tavola. It was 45$ for a 90$ value: one appetizer each, one entree each, and one dessert each. There is some seating outside on the sidewalk for people watching, but since this was during the heatwave, we stayed inside which was very nice and cool and dim. Lovely quaint decor and comfortable tables and chairs. Our server was a lovely young lady named Maria. We had read some reviews about some negative experiences with the groupons so we were a little apprehensive but there was no need to worry about anything.

First off, the appetizers were huge! He had the bruschetta with delicious garlic toast and a very generous tomato and basil topping. I chose the Fritto Misto which was calamari, shrimp, and zucchini slices deep fried. Both appetizers were so fresh and delicious and the portions were extremely generous.

For our entree I chose the Fettuccini alla Romana. The pasta was freshly made, and the little bits of prosciutto added so much delicious smokey flavour, it was just unbelievable. He had the Petti di Pollo alla Fiorentina which he said was amazing. Everything was so fresh and cooked perfectly.

I chose to order three cocktails. They are pricey but worth it! I enjoyed a pomegranate martini, a mango drink that I can't remember the name of and a chocolate martini. I can't even get over how amazing their drinks are. They were all superbly made and delicious.

Finally for dessert, we had the pine nut tart. This was recommended to us by Maria as the most amazing dessert we would ever have. It's not on the menu and is a house special but you should ask for it if you go. It was like heaven melting in your mouth..delicious and rich and buttery. It was served with a scoop of vanilla gelato and a rich cream. I chose to order the tartufo which was amazing and rich as well..delicious and chocolatey and another amazing portion.

We were stuffed to our eyeballs but left smiling and happy. We know we will be going there again. I can't say enough about this place..Amazing! On a normal night we probably would only get 1 appetizer to share and a dessert to share, so the cost of this place is very reasonable! But allow yourself room in your budget...

Really wanted to love this place. The pictures online sold us, our mouths were watering at the idea of a traditional Italian meal with out a mountain of mozzarella. We started with drinks and bruschetta; my espresso Martini tasted okay but was served in a wine glass and made me feel like a kid drinking Yoo-hoo in a fancy cup. Please get some proper martini glasses, presentation makes all the difference and the extra thick layer of cinnamon on the top is completely unnecessary. The bruschetta was served on fresh bread not Crostini, which resulted in a soggy center. The tomatoes on top were just okay but lacked flavor and salt. Left me wanting some garlic, basil and a good olive oil and the lump of cold melted mozzarella on top added nothing for me. My beet and arugula salad was awful. I’ve never been served a dry salad but this thing came out completely dry, no dressing just a pile of wilted arugula on cold bland hunks of beets and dry walnuts (not candied or toasted or dressed) I wished I had some of my own espresso balsamic or something to add flavor to it. I NEVER use table salt but I had to add something or it wasn’t even edible. Then my entree, the menu described local veal sautéed with Kalamata olives served with fresh grilled veggies…what I received was three TINY soggy saturated pieces of breaded veal smother in cherry tomatoes, one coin of cold charred zucchini, three tiny halves of previously roasted now cold fingerling potatoes that had dried and shriveled from being roasted much earlier and a cold half of a Roma tomato with flavorless breadcrumbs on top. I was unbelievably disappointed at everything I was served. Everything lacked flavor, texture, and salt. Please note I am not a salt lover, I use kosher and mineral salt in my home and prefer fresh ingredients over salt any day but this food was so bland. The dessert however was delicious, homemade cream puffs, covered in a chocolate espresso sauce, with slivered almonds. It was incredible, wish I had ordered that and the fried shrimp appetizer instead of what I ordered. Service here is wonderful, staff...