Due' Cucina Italian Restaurant - West Seattle — Restaurant in Seattle

EDIT: The only thing positive I can say is that we did receive the refund. I've read the co-owner's response but I don't accept the explanation given for the quality of our food.

I've been cooking pretty much my entire life starting when I a very small child helping family in the kitchen. I've worked in restaurants before I was of legal age to do so. I attended culinary academy fresh out of high school. I'm a chef. I know the effects and flavor profiles of aged cheeses made from various types of milk. I use them frequently.

You're mistaken if you think I'm some novice that doesn't know good food from bad. The terrible tasting food your restaurant served us had so many issues wrong with it that I never completed mine. After that initial bite that made me feel sick, I threw the rest in the trash.

I didn't feel like cooking the night I ordered from your establishment and you had just opened so I was curious. It was your restaurant's chance to make a good impression and it failed. Then I get talked down to as if I didn't know what a good sheep's milk cheese smells or tastes like. My dish was rancid. You had just opened your doors to the public and you were already serving rancid food to the public. As I've read through the other 1-star reviews I see that I'm not the only person this happened to. /end of edit.

I waited to write this review in case I should temper my negative experience with the refund that we were promised. However they didn't follow through and no refund has been applied.

One might think that take-out was encouraged by a business that has a small, streamlined front counter with walk-up order kiosks and a phone app that's recommended to you if you try to order online.

When we ordered take-out for the first time at the brand new West Seattle location, we were pretty excited. There were already 10 reviews on Google and they all gave it five stars.

My husband ordered the pasta with braised beef and I ordered Pasta Carbonara, usually a favorite of mine. We ordered a small house salad to split.

When my husband returned home with our food I was immediately put off by a couple of things; the small to-go containers and the smell of... something. Was it rancid sauce? Some soft-ripened cheese that had turned?

When we opened our containers I noticed that there were maybe four small pieces of Guanciale in my rancid-smelling Carbonara and my husband found maybe five very small pieces of braised beef in his pasta (See photos).

My carbonara seemed to be the source of the off-smell. When I transfered the pasta to a plate, I used a piece of bread to sop up the sauce on the bottom of the to-go container to try it. It was very, very bad. It was bitter and tasted extremely off. At that point I poured the pasta back into the container and put it back in the bag to be returned. My lips actually felt like they were being burned by a chemical reaction. I rushed to the bathroom to rinse my mouth out and brush my teeth.

My husband ate his pasta but he said it seemed undercooked and then there was the issue of a lack of meat.

He called the location to ask if he should bring back the carbonara for a refund but was told they were already closing and that they would just issue a refund for the entire order. I thought that was a generous gesture but wanted to wait and see if they would actually grant it--and here we are.

They told my husband that the carbonara, because it's a raw egg dish, should be eaten at their location or immediately upon receiving it in a to-go container. For context, we only live about 5 blocks from the restaurant. It had not been sitting in the container for more than maybe five minutes.

Again, I reiterate that their entire business model seems to be designed around "pasta on the go" so why would you offer a dish that's allegedly going to taste rancid immediately out the door? I guess that was their way of shifting blame. It's insulting.

We were watching this place with eager anticipation but what a HUGE...

I grade not against an imagined standard but on how well the restaurant achieves its goals. Here they are continually making fresh pasta and cooking it perfectly and serving it with straight forward sauce recipes at modest prices. They favor the Italian standard that the pasta is the meal and the sauce and cheese are the condiments, so if you need the sauce or cheese to overwhelm the pasta you may be displeased. This is not grandma’s Mac and cheese.

Seating was well spaced with 6 movable tables for 4 that could accommodate larger groups by being placed end to end, 7 booths that could hold 4 very comfortably and up to 6 good friends and then 2 groups of 4 bar stools, one with a view of the kitchen and 6 bar stools that wrap around part of the food prep area and 4 without any view.

As others have described, you order on a touch screen from a well organized menu as you enter, then seat yourself. They call your name when your food is ready. You pick it up from the kitchen counter and bus your own dishes after. So not a fine dining experience but excellent food at prices from 15-20 years ago.

Menu is adequate but large enough to satisfy most people and segmented so that you can limit yourself to a prima piatto (4 types of pasta only) or get antipaste, prima, secondi , salad, and dessert. Wine list was limited but value oriented and drinkable. Volumes were average to large with about 2 cups of pasta per serving. Salads were fresh spinach somewhat heavily dressed (my only complaint).

Prices are about 50-60% of Racollto, and Haymaker and -50% of il Nido. Quantity and quality are the same on a good night at those restaurants. We had 1 burrata with bread for 2, 1 house and 1 eggplant salad, 2 pastas with a poached egg to moisten the cacio e pepe and 2 orders of sausage and one 5 Oz pour of pino grigio with pretip total of $64.

There is little or no reason for me to cook pasta at...

UPDATED REVIEW

My partner and I returned a couple of nights ago. We haven't been in a while, and, unfortunately, in that time, the portions have been SIGNIFICANTLY reduced. I got my usually side salad, and it was literally half of what it used to be. I almost returned it it was so laughably small.

The pasta, while still pretty tasty, was also smaller in portion size. It's not really worth the price to us any more.

The service was also not as good as it used to be. We used to be greeted when we entered, and someone always checked on us. That was noticeably lacking this visit. Perhaps an off night? Who knows.

What a gem! This place was recommended to me by a friend, and we drove over from Burien to try it out. It didn't disappoint!

The ordering process is easy, and it's all self-serve to keep the cost of food down which I appreciate in today's inflated economy.

My partner got the carbonara and said it was "actually really good" which, for someone who never compliments food unless it's Mexican (like him), is a major WIN for this place.... Seriously! I ordered the mushroom truffle pasta and added pork sausage. It helped satisfy my pregnant belly 😍🤤 We also got side salads, and since I love salad, my only wish would be for it to be a bit larger.

You can tell everyone works hard to make this a great place to work and eat at. As we left, they said "Goodnight Keegan" which was adorable that they even remembered my name from an order I placed a hour before.

I'm already planning a lunch date with a friend in a couple of days because I'm still thinking...