Centrolina — Restaurant in Washington

Amy Brandwein's Centrolina disappointed on multiple levels from quality of food to hospitality. The COVID era requires diners to be patient and understanding as restaurants adjust. However, COVID alone does not explain the shortcomings we found at Centrolina. The single biggest issue was that the food was merely okay—certainly not worth the prices Centrolina charges. Both the branzino and tuna entrees came with a hyper-minimalist preparation that hinged on having excellent pieces of fish to provide the flavor. Unfortunately the fish wasn't up to the task—particularly the thin piece of $36 tuna that did not compensate for the boring cabbage and tomato preparation. The burrata/scallop appetizer was more flavorful but comically small at $22.

Nearly as disappointing was the outdoor seating, which we chose for COVID safety despite it being December. To make a long story short, our heater ran out during our appetizer course, at which point the waiter and manager informed us they had no more propane tanks. I guess propane is currently in short supply (they didn't say this but I assume that's the explanation). The issue is that they'd known about this all day and did not contact me (I made the reservation a week in advance) to offer an advance warning. After the heater ran out, it started raining and we had to suggest to our waiter that he might give us an umbrella, but not until our table, our food, and our clothing were wet. When a restaurant offers outdoor dining, the assumption is that doesn't mean unheated and uncovered. Apparently Amy Brandwein and Centrolina don't see it that way.

On that note, I felt bad for our waiter who was overextended and covering too many sections. It simply wasn't possible for him to handle our heater and umbrella while also covering his many other tables. Again, I know COVID has made restaurant staffing really hard to come by, but the fact is that there weren't enough waiters. Diners should know this before going somewhere as expensive as Centrolina. A waiter shortage can be easier to brush off when you aren't paying so much for dinner.

Thank you to the restaurant for comping our drinks after our heater ran out and our table got wet. However, I must report honestly for the sake of other diners: Centrolina is expensive, the food is unremarkable, and they overpromised and underdelivered on outdoor seating. A truly...

My husband and I visited Centrolina on 22 April to celebrate my birthday after hearing and reading great reviews of the place. The restaurant had many moments of excellence, but the food was lackluster. I DO NOT recommend this restaurant.

To start, we arrived early and were seated early. When we sat down, Nehemiah came to the table and provided us with some up front information about the restaurant since it was our first visit. We started with two cocktails and were both floored by the Negroni!

We ordered the octopus and a bread plate for an appetizer, both of which were great! Nehemiah recommended we order one pasta and two proteins, which we did with the rabbit pasta, the chicken, and scallops. The pasta was the highlight of the meal with a fabulous sauce and perfect house-made noodles.

The rest of the meal went poorly. The restaurant ran out of chicken so we were asked to consider ordering another meal. We were surprised by this since it was only 8pm when we ordered. Since the pasta is made in house and we already had a good experience with it, I suggested we order another pasta dish. Nehemiah became really pushy about ordering another protein dish, putting a big emphasis on the most expensive item on the menu. My husband and I talked about which we wanted to try and ultimately decided to double down on the seafood, adding in the frutta di mare dish (clams, octopus, shrimp). These protein dishes came out and looked outstanding! However, both the scallop dish and the frutta were over-salted. And I'm not talking about something you can look past and throw some bland flavors on; the salt levels were OUT OF CONTROL.

It was so disappointing that the meal started off so well and finished with a fizzle. I debated telling Nehemiah about the salt problem, but he had made us uncomfortable with how pushy he had become throughout the dinner with trying to upsell us on different offerings. We didn't want to deal with the restaurant anymore and were ready to leave, so our decision was just to cash out and go eat somewhere else.

IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR A GREAT ITALIAN RESTAURANT, go to Retrobottega in AdMo. I tried it a few days later and they are heavy hitters in ambiance, culture,...

Average restaurant at best, BUT EVEN WORSE is a lack of integrity shown by the management here, when THEIR staff made a mistake. They double charged our credit card! I will try to be fair, even though we were treated extremely poorly. Overall: the food is okay, but not worth the price. The bad part is the service. During our $300+ dinner with another couple, the waiter barely checked on us-- failing to do simple things like refilling water and asking if we needed anything. He was the kind of waiter who diverts his eyes, instead of looking at you when he's walking by. Luckily, we enjoyed our company for dinner, so we still left a nice tip to be generous. *THEN-- two days later it really went down hill. Monday comes and the restaurant calls my cellphone and leaves a message saying there was a problem with the credit card (we split the charge with the other couple). So, my husband checked our bill. Our half of the charge was there. So he called to find out what was going on. The woman apologized and told him the charge was "accidentally" deleted, so they wanted to charge us again. He explained that the amount was still showing on our bill. She said "she thought" it might take a couple of days for the deleted charge to show. He said, "Well, when it shows that it is indeed deleted, we can recharge it then, but not before, because I don't want to be charged twice." That's how they left it. He even gave her his email to follow up. The next day, he checked our credit card bill again, and yep! There it was. She charged us TWICE! We are now waiting to have one of these charges deleted, and I will report them to the authorities if it is not removed. --This is completely outrageous. Your employee screws up, and then, you have the nerve to violate my credit card. At this point, CENTROLINA should comp us the whole meal, given this ridiculous hassle and how we are being treated. BE WARNED: DO NOT GO TO THIS RESTAURANT. It does not come anywhere close to the hype they try to create in their advertising. Mediocre food and...