Al Volo Osteria — Restaurant in Washington

Visited on May 4, 2024. I'm a regular at Al Volo and I love to take my friends and also hold special occasions here. Saturday night, I dined in at Al Volo and received poor service. We did not have a reservation but we were still sat promptly (thank you!). But when it came time to ordering food, the server was rushing us, and even told us to hurry up because they have reservations. At this point, we were sat for less than ten minutes.

We managed to order and everything was going okay until I was served the wrong dish. I let the food runner know that it wasn't the dish I ordered, and she told our server. The server came over and accused me of ordering wrong, basically shoved the ordering device in my face, and said he repeated our order and that we agreed to it. He didn't repeat our order because he was in a rush, he was super rude and disrespectful, and especially as someone who comes in often with friends and business, it was plain rude.

He was super confrontational and then realized how confrontational he was and apologized. But I didn't get my dish remade. Nor was there any compensation for the wrong meal or poor service. I wasn't expecting either but a genuine apology would've been nice.

We will not...

We liked the feeling of this small, informal restaurant as soon as we stepped inside -- its tile-topped tables were cheery and the elevated seating area up front offered views out the window and across diners heads' to the open kitchen beyond. We were impressed by the chef, especially when we noticed him coolly juggling about 8 saute pans, each a different order for a large group nearby. It was even more impressive to see the results brought out all together, piping hot. (We've been served far too many lukewarm meals, with dishes sent out at the kitchen's convenience, not the diners'.) Even better, our pastas were delicious! I ordered something that sounds ordinary but was far from it -- fettucine bolognese. It's hard to explain what made it so good and so unique, but I've been thinking back ever since to that flavorful, thick sauce full of meat. (In fact, I decided to conduct a taste test of a similar dish last night at a far better-known place, and theirs was nowhere near as good.) The only thing I can't rave about is the salad -- my arugula was fine but overly lemony, and garnished with mushy cherry tomatoes that tasted old. But hopefully that was an aberration -- we'll be back, and...

I was at this restaurant the evening of 11/6 to collect a takeout order. There was no one standing at the pick-up table so I looked for the order myself - to no avail. I stood there for 15 MINUTES, while staff walked by several times, going up and down the steps whilst looking me dead in the eye - and did not bother to mutter a single word to me. Not even a simple “Hi have you been helped” or “Can I help you?”

At or around the 16th minute, a group of Caucasian patrons entered the restaurant. And low and behold, one of the staffers that made eye contact with me several times damn near flew to the take-out area to assist them immediately after they walked in. And, I just stood there in disbelief. I eventually flagged down a lady staffer and asked if anyone was working the take-out area, which she replied no; however, she would check with the kitchen about the order. A few minutes later, she returns to tell me they don’t see the order in their system. So, I literally wasted 20-25 minutes in this restaurant for nothing.

The level of service that I received was absolutely appalling, and I do not recommend anyone of color...