Ricci Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Frederick

I live in Village Center in Worman's Mill and I've been anticipating the opening of a restaurant in Ricci's location -- any restaurant -- since I moved here over a year ago. Happy to say, I'm delighted it turned out to be Ricci!

I've been holding off trying Ricci until allowing sufficient time to pass for them to get the kinks out, especially after hearing reports about issues with the service.

I decided to wade in gradually and went for lunch during the week when it was less busy. My dining companion and I arrived at 11am on a Wednesday right after they unlocked the door. Couldn't have been less busy LOL. We were the first, and only customers at that point, and an employee was still mopping the floor. The interior is beautiful and I'm impressed with how they worked with such a tight space.

Any concerns about the wait staff were quickly allayed by our wonderful server who was extremely attentive and friendly and periodically checked on us.

In the spirit of keeping things uncomplicated (and affordable), we both ordered the Margherita pizza.

In hindsight, arriving so early probably wasn't the best decision on our part since the pizza oven probably wasn't up to full temperature. It looked like a gas-fired oven with a wood combo.

My dining companion noted that the pizzaiolo cooked two "test" pizzas before baking ours. Our waitress came by and said it would be a little while longer and asked if we'd like any appetizers. She also offered to bring us bread, but we declined since we didn't want to load up on bread.

The pizza was good, and was a decent representation of Neapolitan pizza. My friend had sampled pizza in Naples years ago, and said it reminded him of those pizzas.

Ricci's looks to be a low-hydration dough typical of the style, but it lacked some of the full puffiness and "leopard spotting" of what you'd expect from pizza in a wood-fired oven. Again, this may have been because the oven wasn't fully up to temp. I'm eager to try it again later in the lunch hour on a future visit.

Some final observations and caveats:

Many reviews point out the prices and portion sizes. Yeah, everything is more expensive these days, especially food. The pizza was $16 which is average from my experience and we both took home two slices that we couldn't finish. Most of the complaints about service seem to be during busier times, e.g. dinner or holidays. Yeah, I'm sticking to weekday lunches to be on the safe side. You're probably better off with smaller parties of 4 or less, otherwise, you're going to get split up. Other criticisms have been about the added 20% gratuity for parties of 3 or more. Maybe it's easier and less stressful to just roll with it. Menu items on my "to try" list are the lasagna Bolognese, chicken/eggplant Parmesan with angel hair pasta and the meatball panini -- all attractive-looking lunch entrees. Eager to try happy hour at the wine bar. Best way to reheat leftover pizza: heat in a frying pan for 2 minutes then added 2 tsps water and cover. Heat for a minute or two while covered until cheese is melted. Drizzle with olive oil, etc.

Ricci is a welcome addition to the Worman's Mill neighborhood and I look forward to exploring the lunch menu in the...

I typically don't write reviews when a restaurant falls far below the mark - I just don't return. However, since this restaurant is very new, I hope they can use the feedback to improve.

We had made a reservation for 7 people. Unfortunately, that meant we had to be split into two tables, that they were unable to push together. If that is a limitation of the space that should be communicated when reserving, or they should say they are unable to accommodate parties of that size.

Our server was severely undertrained. I have a lot of sympathy for wait staff, having worked in restaurants for nearly a decade. When I see someone making the mistakes he made, I don't blame the server, I blame the management for lack of training and standards. Frankly, for a restaurant charging 20-50 an entrée, it's unacceptable to ask customers to move their plates so the server can balance the tray on the table while the tray stand gets set up. There were a variety of other mistakes, but my intent is not to criticize the individual. It falls on management to bring the service up to a reasonable standard.

We were initially given lunch menus, only to be told 15 minutes after we'd put in our order that they were only serving the dinner menu that day. Not a huge deal in the scheme of things, three of us had to change our order, and we were told they could still do the crabcake sandwiches two of our party had ordered. However, instead of crabcake sandwiches ($20), we were given crabcake entrees ($44). This is a significant difference and should have been communicated clearly.

In terms of the food - first impressions were being poured water with floating bits of lemon pulp. I like lemon in my water, but there is a reason why restaurants generally don't put lemon slices in the water pitchers. Three of us ordered different pizzas. It seemed like the brick oven was not hot enough, or hadn't been preheated properly, because the bottom was completely white, and a bit undercooked. The center of the pizza was doughy and soggy, while the top crust was crispy. I was told the crabcakes were good, but for $44 there's a lot of competition in Frederick.

I'd also note that parties of 3 or more are given an automatic gratuity of 20%. At most other places, that's only the case for larger parties or 6 or more. As someone who nearly always tips at least 20%, I have my own views on automatic gratuities. However, I despise when restaurants do not communicate this when providing the check. If a gratuity is applied, this should ALWAYS be communicated and not just in small print on the receipt or menu - "thank you all, it's been a pleasure serving you today, just to let you know that a gratuity has been applied so no additional tip is needed, however if you'd like to leave anything extra that's always appreciated." When it's not communicated, it comes across as underhanded and sneaky. It's taking advantage of people (especially the older folk who live in the communities nearby) who might not notice it, and unintentionally tip doubly.

In terms of positives, they have a nice space, and the food has potential. I could see it doing fairly well if they can tighten things up and improve service over the...

This week I went out to the new restaurant all of Frederick has been buzzing about... Needless to say, this place is a cheap trip to Italy. Me and my party of 5 enjoyed a full course with Drinks, appetizer, salad, entree and desert. To start off an old fashion with sagamore that was smoked in-front of me with cherry wood at the table. My wife enjoyed the figgie Peachy (A few of them.) which I got to taste, great drink. Moving onto entrees we had their fried calamari with gulf shrimp, a generous portion the table could easily share. Then the muscles served in a delicious red sauce along with an order of the oysters. All of which were amazing. Moving onto entrees, I enjoyed the Bistecca Florentina. A juicy ribeye served with salad, side( mine garlic spinach.), and beautiful presentation. My server recommended me a medium rare cook which I was right to agree with. Some dishes my guest and wife got were the Seafood Maribella, Filetto, Pappardelle bolognese, and lastly shrimp scampi. We were delighted with the quality of the meat and pasta dishes. We watched a lady at the center of the restaurant make pasta fresh and with delicate care. Which reflected onto the dishes. Our meal was no less than absolutely amazing with a bottle of the featured Barolo 2018 wine our server expertly educated us on the profiles and flavors of. Lastly, Desert. For desert we had a stunning chocolate bomba, tiramisu and Italian Gelato served with Italian espresso. At a point earlier in the meal, I had barely uttered the birthday of one of my guest. To my surprise, his plate was brought out stunningly decorated and with sparkling effect. I won't spoil the birthday rituals for anyone else, but I brought my guest here to impress, and let's say they were blown away. I'll close off my review by saying how much I admired the decor. It was positively chique and stylish. The space and music create and ambiance that has been hard for me to find anywhere in Frederick. The service was on point! The restaurant was full of young, sharp and knowledgeable servers. All of whom went out of their way to make us feel like star guest just after walking through the door. This place is not short of smiles and good times. Will be looking forward to getting out here more on my business trips to Frederick. Would recommend to any...