Tavolàta Fremont — Restaurant in Seattle

Every dish at an Ethan Stowe restaurant will be delicious; the fresh pasta alone is worth 5 stars, and the Tavolàta Stone Way chef brigade did not disappoint! It was the stellar service and extra touches, even more than the meal, which made my first visit to Tavolàta Stone Way an especially memorable experience. The atmosphere is not as inviting as other Stowes, but the staff add much more than ambience. I took a friend out for his birthday and the creative, extra touches were amazing.

As a preface, I have enjoyed some of the highest-rated restaurants and hotels in the world over the last several decades, as has my friend (much more so). We both recognize excellent service, and unassuming Tavolàta delivered.

We arrived more than a half hour early for our reservation, before the restaurant was fully staffed, but the hostess was kind and unfazed, and discretely set to work accommodating us. Ruby, our server, was her very own birthday gift! She greeted my friend by name and wished him happy birthday, and the rest of the evening treated us with extra warmth and thoughtfulness. The new manager, I believe, was responsible for even more personal attention by making sure there was a little decorative “cake” on the table, along with an envelope containing a birthday card signed by a dozen staff members! Talk about feeling welcomed and appreciated! The piéce de resistance was that our menus had a printed banner across the top saying Happy Birthday (and my friend’s name)! The evening before, I had taken out other guests to a birthday dinner (another Ethan Stowe) and none of the above had been offered, not even a “happy birthday” when I had added that to the reservation specifically. Oh, and Tavolàta also provided a complimentary dessert complete with a lit candle (and no singing—extra thanks for that!). I realize that is a customary touch at many restaurants, but the serving staff made it feel special.

As I waited for my friend at the front door, the open kitchen let me observe the back staff, who were all professional, friendly, and respectful to each other as well as to the front staff (this is not always the case). Just an amazing group, clearly dedicated to providing engaging hospitality and an irresistible meal—thanks to everyone at Travolàta, and especially the delightful Ruby, who contributed to a wonderful...

I’ve got to give an updated review as I went again:

I came for free rigatoni day, initially I just wanted that fabulous salad. Again, I had phenomenal service. Again, they were playing terrible dad rock at a fancy(ish) Italian restaurant. AGAIN, everything was so salty. This time even the salad was immensely salty, still pretty delicious so I’m not gonna take off an overall star. Last time I had ESR rigatoni it was phenomenal. This time it was salted to all get out. I expected a bit lower quality rigatoni on free rigatoni day but it was early and no one was really there so it’s no excuse. My theory is the salt level is tasted before they douse everything with pecorino which is a pretty salty cheese. I really love that salad so I’ll likely go back.

Original SRW Review: Been meaning to come here for a long time as I’m a fan of other Ethan Stowell Restaurants and I believe they normally do a great job.

Came for restaurant week, late-ish on a Monday. Not busy at all, kitchen wasn’t preparing a single item when we walked in. We were greeted promptly and sat. The music playing reminded me of a bowling alley or a grocery store, not an Italian restaurant where you’re paying $20-$30 for an entree.

SRW menu was fun. Appetizers were mostly incredible. The Tavolata salad was superb and I’ll be back. Tried the beets which were also delicious and flavorful as well as the burrata which was somewhat of a let down, cheese was fine but what came with it was a bit odd (mustard and collard greens?).

For entrees I had the short rib which was INCREDIBLY salty almost to a point of being inedible. The piece of meat was cooked almost spot on if not a bit over but every single element on the plate had far too much salt. I thought perhaps it was just the top of the meat but it was salty through and through.

The ricotta ravioli was the favorite of the night with a nice complex sauce and a healthy portion. We also tried the potato gnocchi which was delicious when eaten with a perfect bite of gnocchi, sauce and cheese but pretty dry overall.

I’d give em another go as restaurant week isn’t always the best display of what a restaurant can do but for the overall price I...

overall, service was fine, especially since we were a large group. but was left with a bad experience that I feel like is something that needs to be addressed - we went as a group of 10 ppl to celebrate a birthday, and brought a cake. myself and a friend asked the people at the front (who we later found out was the chef) if we could keep the cake in the fridge (as you do, at most restaurants). the people at the front gladly agreed and told us to let them know when they should bring it out.

later in the evening, we let our server know to bring out the cake, and after blowing out the candles they quickly brought the cake to the back to cut it (and only cut it - we still served the cake onto plates ourselves).

on receiving the bill, there was a 50$ fee (5$ per person) for cake cutting. we were shocked, as this was not something we had been told of upfront. a fee to cut the cake is fine, had we been told... but 50$ was more than the cost of the cake itself. honestly it is ridiculous... if you think about it, if 2 people went, would you be charging 50$ when you're probably making the same number of cuts as for 5 or 10 people? or would you only be making cuts enough for 2 slices. a flat fee would make much more sense!

later that night, another member in my party called to inquire about the fee - the person who answered the phone told my friend that we had in fact, been informed about the fee (which we hadn't), but they would take off the fee so as "not to upset anyone" and basically hung up right after. this in itself was very upsetting. ☹️.

probably won't be...