Lupo Verde — Restaurant in Washington

I wish I could let my one star just say it all.

Two out of the six of us had been here before, and RAVED about it. So we were all super excited about dining here.

The restaurant is beautiful. The lower level is more bar-like and loud. The upper level is quieter, cozier and romantic. It's a beautiful space.

SERVICE:

My friends and I had reservations for brunch at 1:30pm. We arrived a little before 1:30pm, and didn't get seated until 2:15pm. Thank goodness for Colada next door to get us by.

We were seated upstairs for 20 minutes before we had to flag someone down to ask some questions about the brunch special. The manager helped us with our questions. And even though we were ready to order, he had us wait until a server was available.

Around 3pm, we decided to flag down a server down. A female server approached our table and let us know that the male server was actually in charge of our table. But that she would help out and take the order. So we ordered our drinks and food.

Some more time went by (3:33pm) and we saw that our cocktails and drinks were sitting on the bar counter ready to go. We waited for a bit longer before realizing that the two servers were arguing over who was going to bring the drinks to our table. The argument continued for a ridiculous amount of time. Neither one of the servers wanted to take responsibility for our table, and just continued to let our drinks sit. At this point, my girlfriend had to get up and ask them to stop arguing and bring over our drinks. Their attitudes got worse from here.

We asked for the manager and explained the situation. He gave us a blank stare and went into the back. He didn't even check back on us, or even approach our table the entire rest of our experience.

FOOD:

Some of us did the Social Brunch deal which is a great deal in terms of cocktails. The others just ordered the entrées on it's own.

Insalata Lupo Verde - Boston lettuce, pickled mushrooms, parmigiano, red onion, hazelnuts & honey-balsamic dressing. - This was good. But the flavor combinations were a little weird. There was also a runny egg at the bottom of the salad which I couldn't really understand in terms of flavor. But everyone else seemed to enjoy it.

Spaghetti alla Carbonara - Guanciale, eggs & pecorino. - This was a WINNER.

Tagliata di Manzo con Uova a Piacere - Grilled sirloin steak and two eggs. - While it was good. The portion was very small. And the cut wasn't excellent.

Uova a Piacere - Two eggs (any style) with homemade bread, grilled pancetta & fontina cheese. - The bread was good. But otherwise, just alright.

Avocado Salad - RIDICULOUS. You are just getting half an avocado with balsamic on top. With some greens on the side.

The food is overpriced for what it is. Yes, some of it is good. But my friends that had been here before were disappointed. They said the food wasn't as good as when they first opened. The spaghetti was probably the only thing I thought that was worth getting here. Everything else is completely overpriced.

This isn't a inexpensive restaurant. When you come in, you expect to get good service. From the moment we walked in, not one server or even the manager smiled at us. The manager was the absolute worst. We let him know our concerns and he literally provided us with nothing but a blank stare for the most part.

Our friends that raved about this place were super disappointed. And none of us intend on coming back. There are fantastic Italian places in the district, don't waste your time, energy or money on this restaurant....

Going to be honest I was a bit disappointed by this place.

To start with the positives, they were able to accommodate a relatively large group (8 of us on a few day notice) and the place was packed at 9pm on a Saturday. The staff were all super friendly and our waiter made sure to stop by frequently so the pace of the meal went on well. Even though the place was packed it didn’t feel too stuffy since they had the windows open on a nice night (can’t say this will be the case during the summer). The location of this restaurant is also excellent and it is walking distance to a lot of night life.

Now on to the important part: THE FOOD. I’ve had a lot of Italian food in my life and I’ve had the opportunity to eat around different regions in Italy. Because of these experiences, I’ve gained the context needed to know what Italian food should taste like to some degree. I’ve also tried many Italian restaurants in DC so I know there are plenty of authentic spots in this city.

To start, I think the Misto Frito just was not up to par with others that I’ve had. The breading and the actual oil it was fried in tasted off. (3/5)

The burrata on the other hand was very good (maybe the best bite I had all night). Smart pairing of prosciutto, fig, cherry tomatoes, and creamy burrata cheese. (5/5)

My main course is what I really felt let down on. Firstly, it arrived room temperature and since not all the entrees came out at the same time, we ended up politely waiting for the last dish to come out which did not help. Secondly, there was a strange kick to the mushroom risotto. I love spice but not when I don’t expect it from a dish. It was not a pleasant surprise and took away from the mushrooms in the dish. (3/5)

Lastly, for what you get, I find the price to be wholly unjustified. Paying ~$30 on average for each dish, you expect to get hot/fresh food. This was not the case. For $30 pasta, it better be excellent, because for that price you should be getting the best of the best. I say this because I’ve paid less and had much better pasta...

Party of 5 for dinner May 14, 2022. Waited more than 30 minutes before any server or manager came over to us to ask us for water/drink/food orders. When waiter finally came over, we asked for information on 3 wine bottles we were considering, he wasn't able or trained to answer, nor did he offer to bring over the person (long dark curly hair with glasses) who was doing table wine service at other tables around us. We ordered 2 bottles of wine, 3 appetizers and 5 entrees. 5 appetizers were brought to the table and before we realized 2 of them weren't ordered, waiter relied on us to rearrange plates, flowers, etc to find crowded room on the table. (Although waiter ultimately removed the 2 unordered appetizers after we told him, presumably another party was also not receiving what they ordered.) Waited 40 minutes fom clearing of appetizers for entrees to come out. Food was cold, clearly was sitting in kitchen, so sent it back. One veal dish excluded the potatoes included in menu description. At that point, the waiter had to know the service was botched but no manager ever came to our table. There was a woman manager walking the floor who never came to our table so, after the check for about $425 was brought to our table, I went to speak with her specifically out of ear shot of other diners. I explained what we had experienced and that, despite a fully botch dinner service, we were not holding our waiter responsible because the fault was the restaurant's by horribly understaffing the wait staff. She agreed they were understaffed and responded they were trying to do their best and that it has been difficult. (I dined in several other DC restaurants over this weekend which had sufficient staff to deliver outstanding service.) I went back 2 minutes later to add the tip on what I expected would be a reduced check. The check that awaited me was not reduced and, out of exasperation, I paid it including about a 20 percent tip...