Osteria Mozza DC — Restaurant in Washington

Not a good look for a hundredth review... Truly, a piss poor disappointment.

We'd found this restaurant via word of mouth, expecting an upscale casual experience and consistent service across the board.

In Short:

Host & Greeting • Pompus host, terrible conflict resolution, lack of attention to detail. Full ‘Host and Greeting’ below.

The Floor • Service was well attended to. Our waitress went the extra mile by not only throughly explaining the menu, but also clearing our table post-apps. Additionally, follow-ups and water had been checked & served in an efficient and consistent manor.

Food & Drink • Drink’s came out nicely, and with an easily seated palette; not too strong, not too light, just right. Entrees were mediocre. I could've gone to Olive Garden for a stronger flavor profile. Some of which i’d even compare to making at home with a microwave and hamburger helper, moreover without the 40 minute wait or inflated price tag. A date night turned sour. In my eyes, a restaurant of this stature SHOULD have food like art; not just in looks, but in flavor profile as-well. If the food is good, it leaves an impression. The only impression I was left with was just sad and bland.

Dessert • Didn’t bother.

Conclusion • From a locals perspective, I don’t think anyone should have to waste their time or money on anything more than just a view. If it’s food, service, or an experience that you want, there are so many other alternatives. For tourists, here are some ideas: Hell’s Kitchen, Ruth’s Chris, Wolfgang Puck, O-Ku, Mike’s American Grill. Just to name a few. Long story short, we won’t be returning to this restaurant.

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Host & Greeting [long] • As we walk in, no host is present to greet us at the door, until a gentleman walking nearby bothers to look up from his tablet, having to further be flagged down for us to be noticed. The first thing I say is “we have a reservation for 8:30pm, but figured we’d check-in and see if there is a possibility for an early seating”, he responds “unfortunately, the wait it quite long, it’s best you wait until the time of your reservation”. [note: he did not ask if we had a reservation upon the initial interaction] We oblige and come back at the designated time (20min from then). Again, having to wait until a host greets us, that same gentleman comes up to the lobby and seats another reservation for two prior to approaching us, who’d entered the restaurant minutes before the now seated party. He then come’s up to us and says “you two can have this table here if you’d like?”, which so happens to be right next to the door on a chill night. As he attempts to seat us, I ask if there is any available seating on the main dining floor. To which he responds, “no, that area is for reservations, which can only be made online. We’re awfully booked for the entire evening, and reservations should have been made as far back as February”. I informed him that we did in fact have a reservation, and that the designated time was available alongside all other times beyond lunch, and on a same-day inquiry. He attempts to apologize and leads us to the desk for another host to seat us in the main dining space. — In short, he lacked spatial awareness, served others prior to us (non-chronological), produced a pompous remark regarding when reservations should have been made, and handed us off to someone else without attempting to resolve the...

5 stars for ambiance, 3 stars for food which was really not what I expected to take away from dinner here. They absolutely nailed the vibe, with stunning design details and perfect lighting levels. It really is a beautiful space that feels both grand and cozy at the same time. The food on the other hand… First, the cocktails are really disappointing small portions for the price. If I get a $17 cocktail, please fill my glass more than halfway, especially when half of THAT is ice. I’d been once before to the bar only and while I didn’t say anything then, I decided to this time - and the response was “we have a standard 2oz this/3 oz that pour, and a full glass is not the presentation we want”. Um…I hear you on not filling it to the brim like a Cheesecake Factory, but a wine glass filled barely halfway with a cocktail is insulting at $17. Gimme three quarters or even two thirds full and I wouldn’t bat an eyelash. For food we got a total of 5 dishes - 2 appetizers, 2 pastas, and a vegetable side. 3 of the 5 dishes were disappointments which is why it’s hard to justify more than 3 stars for the food. The grissini breadsticks are very tasty, but wrapping crispy breadstick crackers in prosciutto with some truffle butter isn’t exactly a culinary challenge, so hard to give too much credit there. The “famous” focaccia on the other hand was mediocre at best. First it does not resemble traditional focaccia at all, rather comes out looking like a crispy thin crust pizza. No issue with the visual disconnect if it tastes amazing but, it didn’t. It was just oddly both soggy and crispy bread and cheese, period. And while bread and cheese can never really be “bad” we were lost as to how this could be Nancy’s “famous” dish. The 2 pasta dishes were TOTAL salt bombs, in particular my Rigatoni carbonara. Like literally the saltiest pasta I’ve ever tasted. My friend’s gnudi was also salty but not nearly as bad as the rigatoni imo. I’d read a couple reviews here mentioning the same and was really hoping those were just an off night, but seems likely not. To their credit, when the waiter came by to ask us how everything was tasting and I told him how incredibly salty it was with my dish already pushed off to the side with only three bites taken, he apologized and took it off our bill entirely. To end on a positive note, the sweet potato vegetable side dish was absolutely delicious. It was a perfect combination of sweet and salty and crispy and soft - a really unique and tasty dish. Unfortunately getting two out of five dishes right at this price point is not going to keep DC locals like me coming back for more when so many other great options exist in the city. I hope they are reading reviews and will work on refining the dishes, because I really want to see them succeed after making the space...

The renovation of the former Dean & DeLuca space is beautiful.

Our overall experience was a complete disappointment. Our service was below average..... Our menus were placed on the table (vice handed to us)

We waited way too long to place a drink order (but seeing our server just standing around - get our drinks, that way we can enjoy it soonest, leading to a potential second round)

Server needs to better gauge body language (and closed menu back on table) to know when to come back to table vice us sitting and waiting again as server stood around.

Server truly had no personality, no warmt.....very robotic, reading script, seemed miserable to be there. No energy, no smile. Thankfully the serve shadowing was extremely friendly and on point....also another server who stopped to give water was also very friensoy. Perhaps our server was having a bad day......we all do.....but I am paying a lot (and you) to eat there to turn my bad into a better one.

Their garlic bread was great....soaked in butter and garlic so not that complicated to make great. Maybe less drenching in butter. Unless you are repurposing bread made a day or two before and then I see why you had to drench it. I highly recommend it be served with a small side of pomodoro sauce/sugo.....it is a must to dip to add extra flavor to the butter/garlic, really makes a difference!!

Arancinni - if you don't know better you might enjoy it. If you have been to Palermo or even Napoli, save your calories. The pomodoro was tasty, needed a little more richness/flavor though.

Branzino.....very tasty.....maybe a bit overcooked as it was a littlr dry. The herbs/greens under were perfect and matched the fished.....on point.

Cauliflower.....average and extremely small portion for price. Do not bother ordering a side.

Chicken.....half a cut up boned chicken. Drenched in balsamic and whatever else it was cooked in. Way too rich, way too complicated in flavor, kind of ruined what seemed to be a nice quality chicken. Onion used added nothing to plate....just grill a red onion and place on side of plate or keep it off. Overall dish was salty too. Do not order it. Oh and it lays on a big piece of the bread.....again, bread gets drenched so is soft. Really think it is day or two old bread, why else ruin fresh bread like this.....very un-Italian to use fresh bread like this, but very Italian to repurpose bread like they have.

Dessert....$20 for a tiramisu. 🤌

Vermentino white wine was okay. Pretty sure a bottle in Italy costs at most $6.

Save your money.....please! Refrain from eating Italian food in DC.....instead use your dinner money to buy a roundtrip ticket to Milan, Rome or Naples and enjoy fresh, real and cheap...