Ristorante Piccolo

The restaurant I decided to go to this time was called Ristorante Piccolo. This Italian restaurant is nestled in Georgetown, Washington, D.C. At first, I was trying to go to different Italian restaurant known for their handmade pasta, but that place did not have any open tables until 9:30pm! I guess this was partly my fault because it was a Sunday evening around 5:00pm. I was walking around Georgetown and decided to go to the next Italian restaurant I walked by.

When I first walked in, the ambiance was incredible. The room was softly lit and the warmth in the air made it even better because I was freezing outside in the windy, 30 degree weather. I was immediately seated by the host and sat at a tiny table for two, perfect for my boyfriend and me. I have never heard of this restaurant and kind of went on a whim, so I was looking through the menu for quite some time. The server came up to our table after about 5-10 minutes or so, but he only introduced himself and told us he would be right back which was fine with me because I was still trying to decide what I wanted to eat. I was kind of shocked with how loud he was talking because the room wasn't loud, but it wasn't quiet either. I watched him walked away and go to another table and say the same thing to them, except I heard him talking just as loud. Why did he talk so loud?! No one will know. He came back after a couple minutes and asked if we wanted bottled water or ice water. We chose ice water and decided to order an appetizer of fried calamari. I wasn't really in the mood for fried calamari since I just had it at the other restaurant, but my boyfriend wanted it so we decided to get it. As it was time to order our main courses, I asked if I could get lasagna, but without ricotta cheese because I am not a fan of it. He responded with, "No, our meals are already pre-made, we don't make meals to the order." This kind of threw me off a bit because it made me wonder if all their food was fresh or not. I ended up going with "Carmelle alla Salvia," which was basically ravioli filled with roast chicken, vegetables, and herbs covered in a butter sage sauce and shredded parmesan cheese. My boyfriend chose the "Ravioli Aragosta," which was ravioli stuffed with lobster meat, served over a lobster bisque. He also asked which wine would go with the lobster ravioli and chose what the server recommended. 

After our server took our order, a man with a basket of bread came over to our table and placed one slice of bread on each of our plates along with a small plate of olive oil. I thought we would get more bread, but I guess not! The server also brought out a glass of white wine for my boyfriend, but I can't remember what it was called. As we were waiting for our food, we kept hearing the server talk to each table. This kind of annoyed me because I did not feel like listening to his overpowering voice and not be able to listen to my boyfriend that was sitting a foot away from me. Our appetizer arrived about five minutes later and it was really good! The lemon that we squeezed over it brought out the freshness of the calamari. The food came out about ten minutes later, the ravioli aragosta pictured at the top and the carmelle alla salvia pictured at the bottom. I thought we would get more food for the price; five pieces of ravioli for $20? I'll pass next time. We both cut up the ravioli into bite-sized pieces and started to dig in. My ravioli only tasted like chicken and nothing else. I could not taste the herbs or the vegetables! The lobster ravioli was pretty good, although it was not as hot as I expected it to be. We didn't want to say anything to the waiter because I get scared that they will take the food back and spit in it and return it to our table. My chicken ravioli was pretty hot, but the lobster ravioli was only hot on one side of the plate. My boyfriend also said the wine did not go well with the lobster. The server never came back to our table until we were done. The manager was the only one that had asked us how everything was doing.After we finished eating, I decided to make a trip to the bathroom. Boy, that thing was tiny! You walk into the bathroom, make a sharp left or right into the two stalls they have, and you can pretty much fall into the toilet once you get in there.

Overall, my experience was less than decent. The fried calamari was the only thing I really liked. The server was too loud, the price was a little too much for the quality of the food, and the bathrooms were basically nonexistent. The ambiance tricked me into thinking the restaurant was going to be superb. I would only recommend coming here if you are cold, starving, and have extra money to spare.