North Italia — Restaurant in Washington

We came on busy Friday night at 630. We had a reservation (recommended). The atmosphere was great - dim lighting, soccer games on at the bar, and large windows into the busy kitchen. Outside there was plenty of seating and propane heaters to keep you warm. It took some time for us to be seated and then waited on, but they were very busy but it didnt seem they were franticallyunderstaffed like so many places are. We were a party of 6 with 4 adults and two kids 12 and 8. Two of us ordered sangria, which was good, and one ordered a glass of wine. Prices for drinks were roughly double what we would pay back home for the same quality, but I suppose that's to be expected in DC. I was surprised that bread and oil was not given to the table. It costs extra, so we opted not to get it. I must be used to Italian places back home where you feel like family and are welcomed with garlic bread before dining - even at the more upscale places. We ordered the calamari appetizer, which came on a bed of greens. I'm used to a sauce or marinara served for dipping. Not here. Bed of greens, battered calamari, grilled lemon. The calamari was large and good quality (not chewy at all). The battered coating felt "heavy" to me and didn't seem to have much seasoning (which is not an issue if dipping in marinara). I tried to season my portion with some salt and pepper, but the table's pepper grinder was empty. Our youngest got her pizza before our mains, which was helpful since she was getting hungry. The pizza was great - sauce was flavorful, cheese melted perfectly, and the crust was soft inside but with enough crunch to hold shape. Main dishes came out next. I had the Bolognese (house specialty) and I have to say that I was hoping the bowl would be full for the price being charged. It was just over half full; however, that half was flavorful and delicious. The noodles were perfect (fresh pasat) and the sauce was reduced to the perfect consistency, staying on the noodles when turned. My wife had the spicy rigatoni. It ended up being too spicy for her (and she likes spicy food). I think the culprit here was the sausage in this dish, which definitely had some red pepper flake. We ended up swapping bowls and I enjoyed the spicy rigatoni dish a lot. I only wish that the bowl was full when served, especially for the price. One of the mains that was brought out was incorrect, and they quickly remade the correct dish. I wouldn't even bring this up except the incorrect dish AND the correct dish BOTH ended up on the check and had to be corrected before we paid. Grandma ordered the chicken parm and she was not impressed. It seemed lukewarm when she got it, like maybe it was done before the pasta and sat before being brought out. It did seem her chicken parm was a good size portion of both chicken and pasta. The overall consensus was that the food was good, but the portions were a little small for the price. Bread not being included was a disappointment for everyone, especially with the amount waiting being done between ordering and being served. A few of us also spent way too long with an empty cup, and while I understand it was busy, there were enough folks in our party to justify bringing a carafe of water for the table. It just seemed like there were lots of little things that added up to an okay service, which was kind of disappointing when we spent over $200 on the meal. I guess I'm just spoiled by our local Italian places back home that serve big portions with a focus on family versus fancy and still have amazing food and service for half the price. This place is probably more suited for an intimate dinner with friends or a date night than for family dinner, and that's okay. Different strokes for different folks. If I came back, it would not be on a weekend. I'd love to try the bread - it...

I usually don’t post reviews but this seemed important to get out there. I’ve gone to North Italia many times and have always received top tier service and the cuisine has never failed to impress. Last night’s experience was far from their usual caliper though. Food and atmosphere was amazing as usual, but we had an exceptionally bad server at our table of 4. He arrived 15 minutes after we were sat, was greeted with a cold “what drinks do you want?” and when he returned with them, sat the drink tray on the ledge behind my partner so he had to lean forward to not knock it off. To add to that, after setting the tray down behind my partner he walked away to handle another table, leaving the tray with our drinks on the ledge. He came back after a couple minutes. Then he interrupted our conversation by asking “are you ready?”. We gave him our desired starters and he came back and backhandedly (I used to be a server) served every plate that was set on the table. He then took our entree order and everything went smoothly until we got it. He’d forgotten our coffee and tea orders, and didn’t even bring out the salad we asked for. We flagged him down and prompted him on both, and the coffee + tea came out but the salad didn’t. We’d already finished our meal by the time the coffee came out so we decided to ignore the salad at this point. He didn’t check on our table much. He asked if we needed anything else and we declined dessert, I asked for a box to take half of my meal home. He took my plate and all the glasses, plates, and silverware off the table and also told (not asked) me to hand him all the plates he couldn’t reach. He then took another 30 minutes to bring the check over so we were pushing to get out of there to make our next venture. He then dropped the check tray off at our table as he flew by, and didn’t even look at any of us, nor did he say anything. I didn’t get a chance to ask about where the box and other half of my meal went to and he never came back after that. He’d not told us his name either so I don’t know what to refer to him as. So, I’m very bummed that he absconded with my meal since I was going to save it for the day after. He seemed new or unhappy to be there, and I hope he’s learning how to more properly deliver better service. We all have to start somewhere right? I know this is not their usual but this one particular server was very bleh and tinged the experience in a negative light. I’d definitely come back as 99% of the time it’s a completely positive experience, and I still recommend North Italia to my friends...

I was suuuuper regular to this place and used to go there at least 2/3 times per month… Until February 16: we went with 2 friends and the mother of one of them to celebrate a birthday, we ordered some entries, 4 different pastas and desserts… everything was amazing till later that night. The 4 of us were with diarrhea and vomits… some of us very severe, the others not that bad, the 4 of us we realize the common denominator when the next day we have an activity planned and we had to cancel because we were feeling like trash, and that was the moment when we realized we were going through the same… Then we started to think and talk what we ate in common, and the entries and the pasta was the answer, because we were crossing plates so we can all try each other election. Next day or so I went to talk during the noon with the manager (a white stocky short guy) to let him know what was happening with us after a visit to this place. He showed him “very concerned” and said he would talk with the people who was working there that night to see if they heard something similar from other clients and he would called me back to see what they can do as a result. The call never came. I’ve left him my number and name, showed him the check with what we had that night, told him that 2 of us went to the emergency room because we were feeling like trash, even like that he never called back.

So annoying to see how cynical and fake can be the manager when you’re showing him how bad you were after eating something from his kitchen. What else did he wanted me to show? The diarrhea and vomits? Videos of us feeling miserable and spending the night in the bathroom?

We used to love this place, the food was amazing, the menu, the flavor, the guys who work there, the drinks, the ambiance, everything… we always spend +$150 every time we visit them, never complain about anything, the only time i went to talk to them about the issue that we had this guy had the audacity to lie and never show up or never offer an apology or explanation with what happened. Never. I wasn’t expecting money, free food or anything, I was expecting a “hey, sorry, this is not gonna happen again, we promise” and that’s it.

But this place never again. And we are spreading the word and our experience there. Also let me know if you still not believing us, we can show you the invoice from the emergency room and the conversation with the other girls talking about how we...