Tavolàta Belltown — Restaurant in Seattle

The four stars are because the food and atmosphere were 5 stars and beyond, but the service did not match that. I would only give the service two stars at most, unfortunately.

We went to Tavolata with a group of 8 after a show, so we had made a late reservation (9:45pm). This sends the message that guests are welcome to come that late and still enjoy a good meal, even though the restaurant closes at 10pm. However, that was not our experience.

I received a phone call during the show that the bar would close at 10, and that we were welcome to arrive earlier than our 9:45 reservation if we wanted to enjoy a few rounds of drinks. Our show ended shortly after 9 so we went straight to the restaurant, arriving around 9:20.

We were seated immediately and we ordered drinks and food fairly quickly for a group of our size. After the food arrived, however, it became clear that the staff were done and ready for us to move on. No second round of drinks was offered, not even before 10. A few in our party asked shortly after 10, but by that point the bar was closed. No dessert was offered, and the server began to clear plates around 10:15 that people in our group were still eating from. They had to basically pull the plates back out of his hand. The bill was brought without us asking for us around 10:20.

We probably would not have lingered much past 10:30, but the end of the meal felt so incredibly rushed and we felt we clearly had no choice but to leave. If that's how the restaurant is run, then it doesn't make sense to offer 9:45 or 10pm reservations. For a beautiful meal like what we enjoyed, and a group of our size, it makes sense to assume guests will linger at least an hour to an hour and a half.

I would visit the restaurant again but only earlier in the evening. We tried a variety of dishes and every single one was delicious, fresh, and very special. If only the service had matched the food, it would have been a...

I've been meaning to try this place, and ended up here with my gf after waiting at List for them to run out of gnocchi yet again :/.

First, the food. I had the $18 Papardelle - Beef Cheek Ragu, Grana Padano. This dish looked like it was going to be good, but it had a vague hint of what I can only describe as chocolate flavor, that really threw the dish off. The noodles were cooked well.

My girlfriend had the $25 Potato Gnocchi - Young Matsutake, Baby Shiitake, Parmesan. For being one of the highest priced dishes I was expecting it to be more. In my opinion, gnocchi is such a heavy starch that it most palatable when paired with rich surroundings. In this case the flavor was very bland, not much mushroom or much of anything adding flavor. The Matsutake's were barely noticeable, and likely added to the menu in order to fetch the higher price for the "Seattle" vibe. Unfortunately we were comparing the gnocchi to our true desires down the st for 1/2 the price.

At the last minute we opted for bread, which of course is a $4 up-charge.

Service was overly friendly but not efficient, reminded me of a corporate atmosphere, waitress made sure to push appetizers and higher priced dishes right from the start of the conversation which instantly turned me off, I was almost looking for her "flair", lol.

Playing 80's music which is cool, but not ideal for a fine dining Italian restaurant.

I've only tried 2 of the other ES restaurants so far, but overall, I forsee another Tom Douglas style mediocre chain in the making.

I've seen this before, Once these chef's start opening multiple restaurants their true colors as businesspersons show as money rapidly overshadows their passion for making good food. Fortunately Seattle is plentiful with independent chefs making great food. I foresee another Tom Douglas style mediocre chain...

We stumbled onto this place because it was 10:00 at night and we didn't intend to go to a bar. This place had good reviews and a dining area open for under age of 21 people up to 11:00 pm, so we decided to give it a shot.

The price point was ~$18-$30 for an entree. For example, the Gnocchi alla Romano was $18 and the Ravioli with black truffle was $26. Desserts were all under $10.

Portions sized weren't huge, but they were filling and well-proportioned after we sat for awhile and realized we were pleasantly full.

The ambiance of the restaurant is very bare, stripped down with concrete walls a lot of candle-like lighting, but is overall very cozy and romantic in a low-light setting.

The service in our experience was attentive and polite. Waiter did his job, but otherwise left us alone to talk to each other (which is perfect for the romantic mood of the spot)

Then, most importantly, the food. The food was of obvious quality. The gnocchi was soft and tender to the teeth. The sauce was well-balanced and had good flavor. The better dish of the two as far as impact (for us) was the Ravioli with black truffle! It was a "Oh my god" on the first bite kind of dish. It had a much smaller seeming portion, but every bite was just as delicious. Overall, a strong recommendation. Lastly, we tried the seasonal sorbet (Pink Lemonade) and the doughnuts dish for dessert. The sorbetto was delicious, very tart and refreshing. The doughnuts were VERY light and paired well with the very bitter, dark chocolate sauce they come with.

In short, a great spot for top quality food even if it's late at night. A good spot for a date due to the ambiance and quality of food. A really good gem of an...