Tavolàta — Restaurant in Spokane

To be transparent, the food was absolutely terrible. Again, the food was bad to say the least. I wonder if the pasta noodles were even cooked? It was practically raw. Tonight I had, the worst pasta I have ever been served. Raw, undercooked pasta, noodles. I asked for them to remake it because you could bite the noodle and could see that the center of the noodle was not fully cooked.

When I asked for them to remake it, they then served me the dish again about 2-3 minutes later. Upon eating, the remade spaghetti it had the same exact texture and hardness. I can almost without a doubt say that they simply remade the dish with the same food I sent back to them.

My personal experience it takes more than 2-3 minutes to cook pasta noodles, even more because the noodles were regular sized and not thin spaghetti noodles nor angel hair spaghetti pastas noodles. In addition, I was not offered bread and had to ask if I could have bread. I then asked if I could also please have butter because they did not ask if I would like butter. To my surprise I was never given the butter and had to again ask for butter. When I came to the restaurant it was not busy at all, very slow and unoccupied. The bread that came complimentary to the pasta was also stale. I feel bad for writing such a negative review however the service was not the best either. I was not offered a different dish or if I would like the undercooked pasta removed from the bill. I do not think they care about pleasing customers more pleasing their pockets.

This restaurant is supposed to be fine-dining but that it is far from it. Please if you want to support a business that serves delicious food where you come back running back for more this place is not that, I imagine after this experience anywhere else will serve better spaghetti, I would rather go to olive garden then eat the food I was served tonight. If you're looking only to have a dish with food on it then perhaps this restaurant can cater to those needs but the chefs who work clearly do not have passion for cooking. Unfortunately many other reviews share the same thoughts, not only the same thoughts but same exact experiences, 3 other reviews have similar experiences with undercooked pasta so it brings me relief knowing I am not the only unsatisfied customer. I hope the owner or manager will take to heart this post and not see it as a complaint but rather advice, please have the chefs not hurry and make food. Nothing good comes from rushing, take your time. I dont mind waiting 10 minutes or even 15 to have a well made plate of wonderful spaghetti. It is a simple dish does not require much effort just a touch of love and care. Please listen to the customers, the spaghetti is not good and many people are complaining.

In total I spent $60.50 for 2 drinks, and 2 plates of spaghetti. My plate of spaghetti was the regular adult sized and it costed $30.00 if you ordered without the meatballs it was $24.00. In addition I ordered a kids sized spaghetti plate for my companion who was not that hungry at the time. Now what I can speak well of was the meatballs. Although they only came with 2 meatballs (cheap) they did have a well balanced and flavorful bite. In total I ordered a kids spaghetti ($9) with two meat balls its an additional $6 totaling to $15.00 and a regular, "Spaghetti" with meatballs ($30) and two $6 dollars drinks in total $60.50. This establishment needs passionate chefs, what they served tonight was sad. The spaghetti was not made with thought or love. Instead, it was mechanically served without the love or thought that is the...

In a word: Pleasant. Not mind-blowing or fantastic, but an enjoyable experience. The range of reviews on here has been surprising, and I will say that I think a huge part of that is expectation. If you expect this to be the best Italian restaurant you've ever eaten at simply because it's an Ethan Stowell restaurant and because someone told you it would be, you will be disappointed. However, if you expect satisfying Italian food and good drinks, small, crowded tables, friendly service, and a chic ambiance, you'll have a good time. My husband and I went for a date here on a Friday night a few months ago, sat in the lounge--at the bar, because it was Happy Hour and the admittedly cramped tables were all full--and enjoyed a nice meal together. It was busy and loud with the Happy Hour crowd, but the layout of the lounge seems to cater to that, so that it's not uncomfortable. The bar was a nice spot to sit and felt surprisingly intimate considering the cramped quarters. The bartenders and servers were really nice, attentive, apologetic if delayed and knowledgeable if we had questions. My husband, dependable in what he orders at restaurants, asked if they could make him an Irish Coffee, and even though it's not on the menu, they had coffee, they had Bailey's; They were happy to accommodate. I had the "On the Porch" mocktail, and I LOVED it. It was absolutely scrumptious. Lemony and refreshing, I ended up ordering another. We had two baskets of the bread throughout our meal, which was warm, fresh and delicious, though the olive oil it came with was a little bitter. I had a ricotta on bruschetta(?) appetizer that was divine. My husband ordered the gnocchi for dinner, I ordered the spaghetti and meatballs (holy thick, luscious noodles, it was a carb-lovers dream), and both were great. For the number of people who complained about the small portions and not being satisfied, I can't concur with that. I ended up taking half my pasta home (it was just as delicious heated up as leftovers), so between the bread, the appetizer and the entrée, it was more than filling, and I never felt that I was getting that typical fancy-restaurant-small-portion. It was an expectedly higher priced meal, but we ordered off the Happy Hour menu to combat that a bit, and roughly $100 later, I felt it was well worth what we spent. So, it was pleasant! Given the choice between Tavolata and the Olive Garden this was before, I think Tavolata is undoubtedly better. My recommendation: Try it at least once. Just don't go in with some preconceived expectation based on what you think this restaurant should be because of the ESR...

Had a date night at the much raved about Ethan Stowells Tavolata. As a chef & Maitre d’ instructor, it’s always challenging to receive poor reviews, so I’m struggling with this higher end restaurant! I always look forward to in-house Italian bread, crusty outside & chewy firm interior, it’s the only time I eat it. This bread was a doughy brown whole wheat for sandwich slices, just did not fit with the meal. Homemade pasta is always a treat but this was ‘Molto al dente’ in all courses. Entrées arrived 5 minutes after beginning our appetizers, so sent them back to kitchen. We had only just opened the wine! Chef apologetically sent out a complimentary dish of broccolini?? which was not on menu & stems where woody & old. Service was friendly but very disconnected & had to ask several times for same items. Surprisingly It was not a busy night for holiday weekend. Service requires serious some training!! Burrata with pickled carrots was excellent Pork belly dish, dry! How can pork belly be dry? English pea ravioli, fresh peas where crunchy and ravioli again needed more cooking time, (should be firm enough to bite without feeling a crunch). Personally the bland sliced potatoes in this dish served no purpose! Casarecce pasta with prawn was misleading as it appeared to only have ‘one’ & it was chopped up! Chocolate torte, w/ house cherry compote, arrived with a ‘canned’ strawberry sauce (I’m allergic to strawberries) & torte was very dry & aged. Did chef miss training in restaurant law & menu labeling! Will not return, check was close to $300 incl nice bottle wine, which was best part of meal. At this level everything should be en pointe. Sadly very disappointing, scale of 1-10, it’s a 4 for...