Take-Away: Lovely ambient date spot near the Capital suffers from poor value and mediocre food. This up-scale Italian restaurant boasts a promising menu with more misses than hits. The service was great and the food was garbage.
Food: The food was beyond mediocre and very expensive.
First we had the INSALATA ALLA NAPLES 15. It sounded great on paper but was poorly dressed, lacked much of the fruit in the description, and the oranges in the salad were covered in pith and very bitter.
For an appetizer we had their Calamari which was okay but could have been hit with some salt.
I had the PAPPARDELLE ALLA MARINA GRANDE - which amounted to a bowl of poorly dressed arugula (not seasoned well at all) with a minuscule amount of ricotta, a touch of parm, three or four halved cherry tomatoes and a bit of under al dente egg noodles. Guess how much? Nearly $30! Horrible Value.
My dining companion had the Four Cheese Ravioli in Cream Sauce which was fine, because it's really hard to screw up cheese ravioli.
We had Negronis with our meal which were watery and not very good. You'd think an Italian joint could make a good negroni.
Ambiance/Service: Very nice ambiance with lots of fun Italian paraphernalia. Our server was incredibly charismatic and knowledgeable. She was perhaps the highlight of a mediocre meal.
In the restaurant's defense, I have had great pizza here in the past but my review reflects my most recent experience. I didn't have time to relate my experience to the restaurant but imagine they would do a good job with recovery.
For better Italian try: Osteria Papavero - Lombardino's - Greenbush