Cafe Milano — Restaurant in Washington

An Italian restaurant is only as good as its atmosphere. If the food is great but the restaurant has no vibe- the meal is forgotten. In short, a good Italian restaurant offers you a great experience, not just great food. Cafe Milano on Prospect street has refined this to an art and consistently delivers memorable experiences for its patrons.

The experience begins as you're greeted by Laurent and his expert hosting staff. A quick look to your left and right before you're seated gives you a head's up on Ermenegildo Zegna's latest offerings displayed in the eatery's foyer. If you're here for lunch, the dining area is full but not packed. If you're here for dinner, you're led through the bustling dining area and quickly seated. Seating is tight, but part of the excitement of a city Italian restaurant is overhearing other coversations and putting in your two cents (being Sicilian, I can tell you this is true!).

Your experience is continued as your server greets you with water (gas or no gas) and tells you about tonight's recommendations. I've been here many times, and guarantee that with Jose or Nabil M as your waiter you'll have the very best experience possible! It's to the point now that I don't look at the menu, and simply ask them to order whatever it is they think we'd like. I've yet to be disappointed. The wait staff as a whole are professional, knowlegeable, and attentive and could serve as a benchmark for what wait staff should be.

While waiting for your food, take the time to look around and above you. On the ceiling you'll see DC related frescoes that really identify Milano as a DC landmark. The artwork around you is current and not boring. But really pay attention to the faces around you... this is a hot spot for the notorious and you'll probably be eating next to a politician or celebrity. The windows and doors in the front room fold away and allow for all in the restaurant to enjoy a beautiful evening and the sounds of the city.

Once your food arrives, note how fresh and aromatic everything is. Cafe Milano is known for its veal and you can't go wrong with the Veal Milanese, however, I can't recommend enough that you try their fish. Both the John Dory and the Spigola are worth coming back for time and time again. The Butternut Squash Ravioli and Calamari make for excellent appetizers as well. Paired with your meal is an extensive list of wines (by the glass and bottle). You'll note some are prefaced by a NW. This stands for Nuschese Winery (the owner's winery) and represents a significant portion of the available selections of Reds. I emplore you to try them as they are truly fantastic.

No meal experience is complete without the obligatory dessert. Of course they have Tiramisu (which is fantastic), but the real winner here is the pumpkin poundcake with dolce de lece ice cream drizzled with honey. I can also attest to Nabil's concoction of lemon sorbet with chocolate ice cream. Finish this all up with an espresso or a shot of Campari and your check is brought to you.

As you're leaving Milano, take in the sights and sounds of the city and take a walk down by the waterfront. This is the perfect way to finish off a great experience!

I have been here no fewer than 10 times and look forward to every opportunity to take my friends here to kick off the evening. I hope you have the same great...

If you’re considering this restaurant, don’t. Go to the Peacock Cafe next door for actual good service.

My friend and I were near Cafe Milano when we checked OpenTable to see if the restaurant had any availability. They did have availability, but not for 30 minutes. So we called ahead, and let Cafe Milano know we were just a few minutes away and asked if they could seat us. The man who answered was happy to oblige and excitedly said to come in and they definitely had room to seat us. We walked up to the restaurant noticing all the available outdoor seating. But the atmosphere changed the moment we stepped in.

I am Black and my friend is white.

We were ignored for several minutes until a hostess rudely called us over, stating “What do you need!?” Initially incredulous that she was speaking to us in this manner, we walked up to the hostess stand. The hostess angrily told us that they were fully booked for the entire night.

We explained that we’d called ahead only a few minutes ago and were told by a man that we should come in and they could seat us. An older man standing next to her, the manager, gestured and said, ‘It’s fine. Just seat them.’

This is not the upscale dining experience either of us expected. In fact, my friend, who’d visited this restaurant previously, commented that she’d never been treated so rudely by a restaurant previously.

The hostess deigned to take us to a table outdoors.

But we just couldn’t bring ourselves to patron a place that had treated us so rudely.

We discussed it briefly and decided to leave once we spoke to the manager.

I walked up to the manager. He ignored me while he spoke to three other people.

Finally, an assistant general manager came over.

The assistant general manager smiled at me as I explained what had occurred. He blithely apologized and turned away saying, ‘Oh, how long did you wait for a table? I can make it right and seat you right now.’ His words and demeanor gave away just how little he had listened or cared.

Eventually the other manager, the man we had spoken with on the phone, came over and said the hostess was right to deny us seating and that the restaurant was fully booked--he was just treating us, random people who had called, special. This seems to have been a bald-faced lie given the Assistant General Manager’s offer to seat us immediately and the fact that OpenTable had available reservations for the restaurant that the hostess declined to offer to us.

The bottom line is: avoid this restaurant.

We were treated kindly and respectfully at the Peacock Cafe, which is conveniently located next door to this disreputable...

I normally do not write reviews because I believe you should give opportunities to a person or business to correct the matter themselves before putting it out in public. I, however, think I need to mention a couple of things regarding my recent experience in Café Milano. My husband is the one who always makes reservations with them, and it was my first time using my phone number to make my reservation. We have always loved going to Café Milano and have enjoyed our time there as a family. The last visit we had was to celebrate my birthday. We had a 5 PM reservation, Joy was our server, and she was amazing. She acknowledged it was my birthday and everything was going great until around 5:30 PM, she advised us that she has been asked to attend to guests who are seated outside and someone else will take over our table. This has never happened to us before and it was odd, but we had no problem with it. Unfortunately, this is where everything got messy. No one came over to say they had our table, no one asked if we wanted another drink or even wanted water since our glasses were clearly empty. Someone collected our empty drink glasses on their way of passing without saying a word to us and apparently a manager oversaw the serving in our area. When our food came out, I asked the same manager if they were short of servers, and he got visibly offended and advised me he is in charge here and everything is going well. Isn’t it odd that he claims everything is fine and not the customer? I must mention our amazing food was placed in front of us without a word and then he was gone because our next table, Kevin had a birthday to celebrate. The manager was so distracted with Kevin and his family and making sure Kevin was happy that we had to find him at the end and ask for our check. Of course, he forgot I chose to be there to celebrate my birthday too but for some reason, Kevin was more important to him. I must add I was heartbroken and extremely disappointed so on my way out, I mentioned something to another manager. That manager mentioned they can pull all my records using my reservation, as I mentioned above, this was the first time I used my Resy account to make the reservation. Not that it should change the way we get treated but clearly is. They thought this was our first time there. Absolutely an incorrect assessment. I must mention, I feel like this was my last time in café Milano though. I will not make a choice to go somewhere when I do not feel welcomed. So...