Due' Cucina Italian Restaurant - Totem Lake — Restaurant in Kirkland

I ate there recently and I have to say I was disappointed in learning that they charge for Parmesan as a topping on my dish. Mind you, this is my first time. When you order you food you’re asked to leave a tip at the end of the order (touch screen ordering) I was shocked that my table was sticky when after all there was hardly anyone around. When my name was called, I had to pick up my own order and place it on my table. If you wanted water, there’s a dispenser but no ice. If you ask one of the employees for ice in your glass, they give you an attitude as if it were too troublesome to give you ice. Once you’re done with your meal, you expected to place your plates, glasses, trash in their perspective plastic bins. There’s no thank you or come back again… but even a “how was the food?” During this time there were two employees sitting at a table near the trash area just looking at something on a laptop. I found their lack of attention to the customers to be poor and disrespectful. Too busy to wipe the tables and sweep the floor… yes, the floor was dirty and had dried pasta and sauce from previous customers. The pasta was prepared well and the sauce was well suited for the dish. However, the portions are small for the amount of money you pay. I was told that the portions are even smaller if you take out. I think this establishment would be wonderful if it had customer service. I would advise against leaving a tip as there is literally no service. You have to seat yourself, pick up your food from a counter, place yourself food in your table and clean up after yourself. Not worth the money to be honest for the amount of food you get and then Parmesan is extra...

Over the past few weeks across many visits, I've tried every single sauce and pasta shape on the menu as well as the lasagna. In short, I love this casual pasta place, much more so than many expensive fine dining pasta restaurants. Therefore, Due Cucina has earned my 5 star rating. Here's why:

Unlike many common pasta/'Italian' restaurants Due Cucina differs in that they serve freshly made pasta (instead of dried pasta), and the difference is night and day. All of their sauces are delicious and playful, and the prices are very reasonable. Due Cucina reminded me of my all time favourite casual pasta place, Grassa, in Portland, and I think that is remarkable! I'm so glad I found this restaurant so I don't need to go to Portland as often!

Keep in mind that I'm reviewing this restaurant as a modern, casual, italian pasta place. If you're looking for an 'American-style Italian' restaurant, this is not it, and I would recommend you coming here with an open mind to experience what good pasta can be like.

Personally, my top 3 sauces are: the classic Pomodoro, creamy Smoked Salmon, and the Mushroom and White Truffle. My favourite pasta shape was the Spaghetti, only because it has such a great bite to it, though they are all good. I'd recommend trying the house made sausage, the decadent guanciale, and crunchy tofu extras as well.

My only critique was that sometimes the plate turned out a bit too salty at times, likely due to generous salting of the pasta water, but I gave my feedback to the chef and it looks like it has improved over the weeks.

Highly...

Oh my goodness the pasta here. SO delicious, probably the best pasta I've had in the US. Perfectly al dente and fresh, flavors were also amazing. We came here on a Friday for lunch, not too many people when we arrived about a quarter before noon. I took some time to decide what I wanted because everything looked delicious! One of the people working there came over with the different pasta shapes, and I also then asked what the most popular pastas are (mushroom, bolognese, pomodoro). We ended up getting mushroom and carbonara, and I don't remember what sort of pasta we got with the mushroom but I wanted an interestingly shaped one and went with the recommendation. We were served the food (oops, didn't realize we were supposed to get it ourselves) and it was so delicious. The pasta was super chewy, and the mushroom sauce, though a bit buttery, was very flavorful and had a lot of mushrooms. The carbonara was also super flavorful, and there were many bites of pork. Portions were good too, and we had tiramisu to end. Really flavorful and moist cake, good tasting cream as well. I'm amazed at this spot, such awesome food and pretty low prices too for the amount of food and quality! Friendly staff and clean place too....