Orzo Kitchen & Wine Bar — Restaurant in Charlottesville

My first restaurant post-move-in to Charlottesville, and it was FANTASTIC! I cannot recommend Orzo enough, and I’m already starting to feel the charm of Virginia. The food was delicious, and so was the atmosphere. Shoutout as well to our server, Stephen, who made the night quite enjoyable. A friendly face is always comforting when moving to a new city, so having a kind server who took the time to chat with us was great.

Once we were seated, we started with the 2020 Artimino Poggilarca Super Tuscan. The price was reasonable relative to the quality of the wine. Orzo is an Italian restaurant, so why not go with a Super Tuscan, am I right? Next time I might splurge on the Super-Duper Tuscan—haha!

Moving on to the food, we started with the halloumi and some bread. The halloumi was delicious, and we all particularly loved the sauce that accompanied it. Stephen mentioned they made it with ouzo, which I usually do not care for, but cooking it together with the other flavors in the sauce changed my mind! The bread, I believe, is freshly baked, and they serve it with great olive oil. Having family in Italy and close friends from Greece means I’ve enjoyed great olive oil—and this was really good olive oil.

For our mains, two of us had the Risotto D’Estate, one had the braised lamb, and another had the grilled fish. I do want to preface that the fish and the lamb were from their rotating “Passport Menu,” which Stephen said changes every 4–6 weeks. Regardless, the quality of the dishes tells me that whatever they have on this changing part of the menu will be good no matter what. The fish was a light, delicate cod with the right amount of smokiness and earthiness. The vegetables that came with the dish were well seasoned and not too mushy either. The braised lamb was very tender, and the quality of the meat was clearly good. The accompanying sauce had great flavors.

For the two of us who had the risotto, we were also very happy! This is the dish I had, and it was a lovely blend of flavors. The pistachios in it balanced out the salty/sour-ish (not the best word, but you’ll know what I mean) flavor from the cheese in the dish. It was outstanding.

Finally, we capped off the meal with a tiramisu, the chocolate pot de crème, and some limoncello. The limoncello, I should add, is made in-house—and OH, that was a treat! I didn’t try the tiramisu, but was told the creaminess was perfect. Some tiramisus can be too watery and the ladyfingers dry, but that was not the case here. Similarly, my pot de crème was to die for! I am a chocoholic and have been baking/making sweet treats for nearly a decade now, so I know a good dessert when I try one.

The only thing they could add to their menu is espresso! They have regular coffee, but an espresso is really what I enjoy after dinner.

Overall, we had a fabulous meal, and I cannot recommend Orzo enough. For my first culinary endeavor in my new home of Charlottesville, I could not be happier. Please check out Orzo—and say hello to my new...

We went here for Valentines day and it wasn't a great experience.

-The bad: It felt like a cattle call. Seriously. They crammed a BUNCH of people into the restaurant, they squished the tables as close together as possible with not even a tall flower centerpiece between us, so we were having a romantic dinner at a table 3 inches from another couple's table, on both sides. Literally I was bumping elbows with the woman next to me. We did ask if we could sit side-by-side, but we could not because all larger tables were being used for larger parties or multiple couples (like 2 couples who didn't come together being placed at the same table with a small centerpiece dividing them.) Then they tried to rush us through every course. They brought out the appetizer literally 30 seconds after the soup, and we still had both on our table when the entree came out. We asked them to keep the entree under the heat lamps while we ate and they said they could not. We were told the meals were on a 'set time' and to get to the next round of customers we had to be brought the dishes out quickly. Then the dessert came out when we were only half done with the dinner. Along with the dessert came our check, at which point the waitress stopped re-filling our water. It DEFINITELY did not feel like a 4-course romantic dinner for 2, as it was advertised. It took about 40 minutes to be seated, select our meals, get served 4 courses, and be expected to leave. It was a little too fast for what I was looking for.

It wasn't all bad though, and I think its important to point out some things we really loved. -The food tasted pretty good (not amazing, but reasonable for the relatively low cost). -The special menu was so great! Like it came right out of the food network ;) I really enjoyed the options! -The price was nice -they had a pre-planned dinner for 2, multiple courses, all one cost. It was (I think) $50 for a couple - thats cheap for V-Day! -The restaurant was also cute, I like...

My best friend took me here for my birthday dinner on 8/14 while we were visiting Charlottesville. We’re from out of town and chose this place because of the excellent Google reviews.

Pros: Our entrees were really good. I had the red wine braised lamb and my friend had the peasant beef and pork bolognese. Both dishes were flavorful despite the small portions, but both of us thought the cost were worth it. Their dessert menu was sufficient and I love that they recommend wine pairings for each of them. I had the tiramisu which was great. Decor was great and the setting was intimate.

Cons: Our server made us incredibly uncomfortable from the get go. He greeted us in a monotonous, almost condescending tone, and then proceeded to do the same for the rest of the evening. We felt so unwelcomed. His entire demeanor almost ruined the night for us, but at least the food was good. We were asked how we were doing maybe once by the host and never again. Their clientele were older white folks, and both me and my friend are POC, which both crossed our minds as to how unwelcoming the place was for us. It was my birthday and he checked my ID for when I ordered a drink, but didn’t say anything about it nor offered to put a candle on our dessert. Their reservation system asked if we were visiting for any reason and my friend said for a birthday, but despite them prompting us for that info via email they still didn’t do anything during the meal. NO BREAD. The waiter brought us some dry olives which we didn’t even touch. How bizarre. It was hard finding the entrance to the place, we ended up coming in through the back from inside the strip mall since that’s what our GPS pointed us to.

This would’ve been a solid 4 stars if it weren’t for the...