Piccolo Trattoria — Restaurant in Doylestown Township

Piccolo may look deceiving on the outside....pizza place in a strip mall. It is anything but! There are two entrances...one for take out and the other dine in. Take out is situated separately from dine in with the option to grab cold soda and beer. DO use Open Table for a reservation. We were greeted and seated in one of the dining rooms. Bathrooms are on the left before entering the dining area. Great idea for a quick fresh up. On the bar is a beautiful square bar for those who prefer a cozy high top dinner. Foccocia bread with marinara sauce brought to the table as we looked at the menu...which was laminated and quite awkward/bulky to flip back and forth. The wine menu was a bound book. Very incongruent ways of presenting menus. We chose a bottle of Reisling and it was chiiled in a bucket at the table. The dining area has fantastic lightning, beautiful seasonal decorations with booths and tables, spacious dining and thoughtful sound proofing. The kitchen is open to the right of the room and it was lovely to see food prepared. The menu is has something for everyone..apps, salad, soup, pasta, fish, chicken and veal, kids menu and pizza fare. Gluten free options is offered along with veg. Appetizer was grilled calamari in lemon olive oil sauce with capers and lemon in a mesh bag...no seeds! It was tender but I felt a tad under done. I am not a fan of capers but this paired well in the dish. Pasta E Fagioli served in a beautiful cruet was not particularly flavorful and the beans were hard. My husband had the chicken and shrimp gumbo. It was like thick chicken soup no wow and no definitive flavor. I was immediately drawn to Fico for my entree and opted to try it with veal...sauteed with figs and porcini mushrooms in a Cognac cream sauce with angel hair pasta. My dish was one note and served with 3 small very tough pieces of veal. I had hoped for tender veal, earthy mushrooms in a cream sauce with a hint of cognac. My husband choose Pappardelle Vienna...with chicken and sun dried tomatoes in an Aurira sauce. He enjoyed it and the pasta was cooked to perfection. It also lacked a wow factor. We ended dinner with an apple crumble with ice cream on the side. It was hot and the apples were tender...but I wished there was more hints of cinnamon and a dash of nutmeg and the crumble with more oatmeal, butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. The bus boys service was tight...no water glass was left unfilled, dishes were whisked away and remains promptly boxed. Our server was attentive at the beginning but faded away at the end. The price...

Food is mostly above average for a local Italian American restaurant. Our dishes were all pretty rich and filling. We ended up taking some home. No room for dessert.

(I would probably rate this place 4 stars for the dine-in food and experience, but we did takeout here, and the pizza was way below average.)

Hostess station was quite untidy, and hostess was absent; we were seated by manager after waiting a few minutes. Service was good, though the kitchen released the dishes at an odd pace. We received our salads right before appetizers came out. Main courses came out before we completed appetizers and salads. We ordered a large bottle of Pellegrino, and shorty afterwards were all given glasses of ice water, followed by the Pellegrino.

I ordered the Australian barramundi over risotto special. It was pretty good, but the way the fish was cooked resulted in the skin side being a bit tough and chewy, and the skin was not crisp. Risotto had large chunks of good quality lobster (or maybe crab?) meat. This risotto was just a bit too oily for me. Maybe they went a little heavy on the butter or olive oil.

We also had the pasta of the day – black pasta with seafood in a creamy cognac sauce. Very good, but to me, excessively rich and creamy for a seafood dish. We enjoyed the appetizers from the specials menu – burrata mozzarella with avocado and dried figs, and the deep fried stuffed zucchini flowers.

The Fusilli Faraj was very good – “A mixture of Porcinni, Shiitake, Oyster and Portobella Mushrooms in a Mascarpone Cream Sauce with Truffle Oil & Reggiano Cheese”. The fusilli pasta was substituted out for some other longer, flat and curled pasta. No complaints – it seemed home made and better than typical fusilli.

Menu is pretty extensive. I’d like to return and try some other dishes. This place does a lot of take out business, and has a separate door and counter for take out.

We had takeout pizza here and it was pretty bad. The crust was dry and crisp, and tasted almost stale. If I had to guess, it seemed to be cooked for too long in an oven that was not hot enough. The pizza was stretched paper thin in the middle, and as a result did not fit in the box, so it was folded over on the sides. What a disaster. Plumb tomato topping was...

I'm not one of those people who sugarcoats ratings and gives blanket good reviews. One of the best features about this restaurant is the consistency of the food. We have rarely encountered "off days" when the food was just way subpar. Now that we have found our new favorite server (Kurt, I'm looking at you), I'm ready to type out my review and rave about this location.

When we had out of town family staying with us, Piccolo was one of the core places that we knew we had to introduce them to. The Carbonara, the Pesto, the Vodka sauces, made fresh and delicious, EVERY SINGLE TIME.

What blew my mind this time were the specials. The Chilean Sea Bass and the Barramundi were cooked to perfection. They aren't staples on the menu. They were part of the specials (so definitely in the $30-$50 range), but OMG, I'm excited to go order them again. The piece of fish was very generous (I hate ordering a special only to get a sliver of the protein) and cooked to perfection! The pasta that came with was shaped like a purse, stuffed with delicious cheese. I don't mind paying more for good food, but my personal pet peeve is when I pay, and the food is barely mediocre.

The highlight of the meal was the service (and if you can imagine just how good this meal is, that is saying A LOT). Our server Kurt was phenomenal. He was funny, friendly, and super helpful. We had a large party, but because we wanted our family to try a bunch of different dishes, we only ordered 8 main dishes to be shared among 12 people. We still walked away with some leftovers (great portion sizes), but the most amazing thing was that Kurt just made us feel so comfortable when we asked for it to be served family style. Extra plates and utensils, not even batting an eye that we weren't getting meals for each individual. Seriously, how have we never gotten him before? If you want the FULL Piccolo experience, definitely ask for Kurt to be your server.

Going back tonight to celebrate a birthday. Requested Kurt. It's going...