Fiorella Pasta — Restaurant in Philadelphia

Fiorella was not just a great meal but wonderful experience that we came away from completely satisfied. On leaving, my wife and I remarked to each other that this is what we wished the food had been like when we actually did travel to Italy, so needless to say it has our recommendation.

I guess I had no idea how literal people were being when they said that Fiorella was a "pasta bar". I had assumed our reservation would be for a table for two like any other restaurant, but do note that this is a very small and compact space, and our party of two was sat right at the bar. To my knowledge, unless you're dining outside there aren't really big tables and you'll likely be sat right at the bar in full view of the chefs preparing each meal. The good news is that this was very enjoyable! The kitchen team is very organized and talented and it was a fun and unique experience to watch them cook everything literally inches away. Everything else at the bar is also exceptionally charming, especially the giant vintage bronze cash register that sets the tone nicely for the whole experience.

In addition to the nice wine selection there are some cocktails, and we had the "pasta water martini" which was swaps vermouth for pasta water, resulting in a nice and uniquely neutral tasting martini which we enjoyed. Otherwise, we had wine and had no complaints.

Although all of the pastas are the main courses, we were informed by our server that for a party of two we should get five or so items in total so that we didn't leave hungry. We ended up getting one appetizer and three pastas, and largely our server was correct; most of the pastas are pretty small portions with the glaring exception of the rigatoni which was substantial, and we took about half of it home.

We started with the pork belly appetizer which was not only the highlight of the night but also one of the best appetizers I've had in the whole city in quite some time. The meat was caramelized in what seemed to be a brown sugar rub and then served over a delightfully fresh corn salad which perfectly balanced the sweetness of the corn with nice acidity in the dressing. This dish is a must have if you visit!

Our first two pastas were the ricotta gnocchi with brown butter and cherries, and the francobolli with clams and breadcrumbs (basically like a ravioli). While individually each of these dishes were very solid, I think they complemented each other perfectly. The gnocchi was almost too rich and heavy, and could have certainly used probably double the cherries, while the francobolli was light and the parsley and breadcrumbs made it bright and fresh. Lastly we had the sausage rigatoni which was my least favorite of the three, but was still pretty good. It was relatively simple but high quality (especially the sausage) but I felt the taste of the pasta itself was a bit too strong. Like I mentioned earlier though, it was a huge portion.

Overall Fiorella is an easy recommendation for anyone who loves pasta and wants a unique experience at the bar. It should definitely be noted that since portions tend to be small and it's recommended to share several options, it will get quite expensive quite quickly. If nothing else, it's worth it just to sit at the bar because it smells...

Fiorella was recommended to me by a local foodie. We were going to be in Delaware and asked where we should go in Philly to celebrate our 21st anniversary. Without hesitation Matt said "...lots of great spots in Philly, if you can get into Fiorella, I'd highly recommend it." So, here I am giving my review of Fiorella. We were greeted outside by very happy and friendly staff. They quickly brought us upstairs to our table. There our server brought us water and asked if we'd like any drinks. We looked over the menu and asked some questions and quickly decided what our choices were. While waiting for our appetizer we enjoyed some focaccia bread. Soft and chewy inside with a crispy exterior dipped in oil, delicious. We ordered the pork belly appetizer and it was the most tender pork belly I've ever had. You could eat it with a spoon. The skin has a nice crackling texture that went well with the corn/burrata and basil. Our entrees were the gnocchi (cherries and brown butter) and Mezzelune (sweetbreads caciocavallo and balsamic) First of all, if this restaurant hadn't been recommended, we'd probably never would have even considered these dishes. Let me tell you, we would have missed out! The gnocchi are not potato based so they were larger that the typical gnocchi and much more fluffy. The cherries offered a mildly sweet tartness and the brown butter coated everything beautifully with a hit of nuttiness. The sweetbreads Mezzelune totally assaulted my taste buds, in a good way. The sweetbreads gave the dish it's saltiness, the pasta had a faint chew, the caciocavallo gave the dish it's creaminess and the balsamic added the sweet acid. Personally , I'd like to see some crispy pancetta and a few chili flakes added to this dish and if die a happy man. We shared a desert, blackberry crumble cake. Soft moist cake, topped with a blackberry and basil sauce. They also paired it with a peach sorbet topped with a basil infused oil. 10/10! This turned out to be one of my favorite dining experiences. If anyone has looked at the small menu and is hesitant about going, please, make the reservation and go. The menu is small but everything on it has a purpose and is...

I'm really disappointed. Fiorella did so many things right that the missteps really stand out - and they are some glaring, basic missteps.

Let's start with the good. The staff and service are great. Aside from one time when my water glass was mistakenly refilled with sparkling water instead of still, everything was perfect.

The Fool's Gold zero proof cocktail is amazing! Smoky, complex, delicious, I wanted to drink it all night long - which I could as it was zero proof. Now I happen to like smoky Scotch, but my wife doesn't and she also loved the cocktail. The Brown Butter Old Fashioned was pretty good, though I didn't notice any brown butter flavor.

Most of the appetizers were great. The squash with apple, taleggio, and spiced maple syrup was delicious. My wife said the scallop crudo was great. There were little pastry rolls that I'm guessing had prosciutto and goat cheese that were devine. The wild boar terrine was okay - we enjoyed the cherries and crackers it came with more than the terrine itself. The focaccia was really good too - great for mopping up the syrup of the squash and cherry sauce of the terrine.

Then we get into the pasta, and that's when things fell apart.

The anolini with fig and foie gras was really good. My ricotta gnocchi were really good, but my wife's were too salty. Both our cacio e pepe dishes were way too salty - her's was unpleasantly salty, mine was unbearably salty. Both our rigatoni were also way too salty.

The salt absolutely ruined the pasta dishes, and it seems like such a basic mistake that I can't believe it happened repeatedly. These were "using table salt in a recipe that calls for kosher salt" levels of salty, and I still can't believe that the dishes went out like that - I felt like I was in an episode of Futurama with Bender in the kitchen. The fact that there were varying levels of salt between my pasta and my wife's is even more confusing.

The olive oil cake for dessert was okay, but left me wishing I had gotten one of the other desert options instead.

So great service, mostly great appetizers, amazing zero proof cocktail, and pasta that was ruined by egregiously...