I’m Eddie Cano — Restaurant in Washington

I'm Eddie Cano fits in perfect for the Chevy Chase area: 1) medicore food in a "modern" joint, 2) chefs that cannot achieve execute basic culinary skills and 3) portions that make you order an antipasi, primi and secondi to get a meal.

I'll start with the food. First the good: Nonna's Meatballs. Well cooked, moist, not rubbery, not over spiced and an excellent ground meat blend meant we started on a positive note. Good amount of sauce with the meatballs. Props for not sweetened your sauce with tons of sugar to make it more appealing to the typical American clientele.

Then things went severely down hill when we ordered our secondi dishes: Chicken Parmigiana and Pesce Spada alla Livornese. First, I don't know if the problem is 1) if a chef (or anyone) is consulting them on this menu or 2) if their chefs don't understand the principal behind basic culinary skills.

Pesce Spada alla Livornese: they put olivers, capers, and tomato sauce together -- three bitter flavors -- on top of a swordfish. In other words, the chef literally made bitter swordfish (all with a straight face). Were they were trying to put a spin on a Meunière sauce with capers? If that's their goal they need to understand they cannot mix together three bitter flavors -- they need to balance the bitter flavors with other non-bitter flavors (thus the brown butter with capers in the traditional recipe).

Chicken Parmigiana: burnt on the bottom edges and mushes on top. The way this dish was prepared leads me to believe they pan fried it, left it in the pan (or griddle) after frying it, and then proceeded to just dump sauce and cheese on top. For those wondering: this is not correct. This resulted in chicken parm with a burnt bottom over mushy breadcrumbs. If you aren't going to take the time to prepare a chicken parm dish properly (pro tip: it goes in the oven) do not put it on the menu, please.

Other items include:

The check-in process at IEC was good - friendly, good technology (text you when your table is ready), and good projections on wait time.

The noise level is high -- the "modern" look people are convinced into believing is nice creates this scenario. Exposed ceilings and concrete floors with no noise dampening means the place will be loud. "Modern" looks over function and comfort. Some people like it because they don't want to hear the person next to them, though. So it's a matter of personal taste.

Finally, the reviewer from WAPO loves these kind of places in Chevy Chase. He calls Bucks comfort food -- because we all think comfort food when we read Quinoa Pilaf, Spaghetti Squash and Asparagus Salad. Sorry for those who went here based on his review. This is another example of common sense exiting people's mind when it comes to food reviews and...

Horrible, rude lack of service! We had a special party arranged for 530 tonight for 9 (including 3 children). They don’t take reservations, so I went in personally to make the arrangements and was assured the one table that would accommodate us would be open ( with pre-poured Prosecco and appetizers) as long as we were all there on time. Which we were.

There was another family eating there when we arrived and were told it would be a 10-15 minute wait...please sit in the bar. One hour and one hundred dollars later (snacks for us and the kids) we were told the table was being cleared for us. When we headed to the table yet another family had been just seated!

This was outrage enough, but a man in a suit came to talk to us, claimed to be the owner, and said the “new group” had come in before us. Not true...we were there when that group came. They just happened to grab the table first. Not their fault...why would they know they had taken our table since no one told them. The owner continued to be rude, defensive and offensive.

What little food we had was quite good ( hence the 1 Star). But we will never go back. We will tell our friends to steer clear. We are in a sweet Chevy Chase DC neighborhood with many choices. Doubt this place will last long.

Here’s a hint...when you’ve already disappointed your customers, don’t make matters worse by being rude...

This was my first visit to I’m Eddie Cano. Atmosphere was pleasing and friendly however the food left much to be desired. I ordered the Eggplant Parmesan which came with no pasta accompanying it. The portion was small and the eggplant was over cooked, under flavored and fiberous. I’ve had better sauce come from a canned supermarket jar. My wife had the ravioli carbonara. This too was poor in quality. The pasta was undercooked (far more firm than al dente) and the filling was dry, chewy and with little taste, and the sauce was no way a carbonara sauce, not even a hint. When the manager noticed our conversation about the food, he came over and asked if everything was ok. I was honest about out disappointing experienced and he offered a free desert to accommodate us. I figured if the food was this unpleasant, the dessert would probably be no better. I will not be returning to this...