My girlfriend and I went to Tavolo this past monday for their 2-for-1 pizza deal. I mean, two "gourmet" pizzas for $17 is a no-brainer if you ask me. Unfortunately, our experience was hardly as wonderful as other reviewers have indicated.
First off, we felt that our server was a little "pushy" when it came to drinks. We stuck with water at first, which seemed to annoy him from the get-go. Every time he came to check on us, he made a point to ask if we wanted a drink, and at one point asked if we had "picked a wine yet". We relented and purchased one glass of their cheapest just to get this guy off our back. Despite this, other servers who periodically checked on us were pleasant and did not pressure us at all.
For our appetizers, we ordered the Arancini which was in fact delightful. The risotto filling was smooth and creamy without feeling too unstructured, while the pieces themselves were bronzed to perfection. Paired with a robust tomato sauce; this dish made for the ideal introduction to the food at Tavolo.
Unfortunately, the pizzas hardly met the bar set by the arancini. I ordered the 'Tavolo' while my date ordered the 'Jenny'. The 'Jenny' is a Margherita base with prosciutto, arugula and shaved parmigiana, a pretty standard dish at many gourmet pizzerias. This pizza was solid, although we hoped for a touch more arugula, this was hardly a deal breaker. Now for the Tavolo... Oh boy. Topped with house shaved porchetta, bocconcini, smoked provolone, roasted garlic and RAPINI. Like, a lot of rapini. You could not take a bite of this pizza without being overwhelmed by the bitter, and earthy taste of rapini. To make matters worse, when you managed to taste some of the porchetta, you could obviously tell that the meat was far from fresh, and had probably been at the very least 3 days old. I wouldn't call myself particularly picky, but this pizza was close to inedible.
I notified a server of the overwhelming taste of rapini, but she told just to tell them to leave it off next time. Well, that is if there is a next time.
We ended the night off with a desert that was described as a donut-like pastry with Nutella and a side of vanilla gelato. It was okay. The dish was simply deep-fried dough, rolled in sugar, on a bed of Nutella. I was disappointed but I guess that's what I get for ordering the obvious "safe-choice" off the desert menu. Should have gotten the tiramisu.
All in all, Tavolo was a huge disappointment and I can't see myself nor my girlfriend returning to this establishment willingly.