Growing up in my family, I was lucky to be surrounded by some pretty amazing chefs, who while gifted it seemed in all forays of cuisine, were particularly in tune with their Italian roots. Because of this, when dining at Italian restaurants, I tend to be a bit more critical in assessing the food. So that said, when I saw La Tagliatella was opening in my Clarendon neighborhood, I was cautiously intrigued.
The restaurant’s location, in a fairly decent sized corner spot of busy Clarendon Boulevard, already set the expectation bar pretty high among passerbyers, including myself. The location’s previous inhabitant, Restaurant 3, a local favorite for its bacon-loving chef, surprisingly closed its doors after 4 ½ years, likely unable to keep up with the expensive price tag of the location.
Lucky for La Tagliatella, the Italian-based business comes to the location, with a deep wallet, having over 135 locations throughout Asia, Europe, and the US. Yes, it’s a chain. On top of which, the restaurant boasts of its variety of pastas and sauces, which customers can mix and match. This all just screams, “mass produced Italian cuisine”. And judging by the colorful reviews the restaurant has been privy too, it seemed by convictions were spot on.
But, obviously you should not judge a restaurant from its reviews; you should go experience it for yourself. And, to be honest, I was hoping to be able to prove the reviews, and my far-sited first opinion, wrong. Who doesn’t want a great Italian restaurant blocks away from their home?
On a sunny Tuesday evening, I met up with my friend Lillian at a table on the side patio area of La Tagliatella overlooking Clarendon Boulevard. Perfect for people watching, and hopefully Italian cuisine. At 5:30PM, we seemed to have the patio to ourselves, which is unusual for the area on such a beautiful evening as this.
The menu is a bit two-faced and hard to navigate. On one you have what appears to be an organized breakdown of various categories – starters, including house made focaccia, calzones, pizzas, and some entrée offerings. But the descriptions of the dishes lacked any real detail and required a bit of questioning to the waiter.
On the other side of the menu is this overwhelming list of pasta and sauce offers, with an oddly separated list for the pasta of fresh, stuffed, and dried. Why on earth would I want to pick the dried pasta over fresh? And the sauces, while a plethora of offerings, were again overkill. Tomato, olive oil, light cream, or cream base to navigate for choices. This is by no means the place to bring an indecisive diner.
We opted to start with the restaurant’s signature Tagliatella Pizza. The Napoletano-style pizza was topped with tomato, mozzarella, fried eggplant, and Parmigiano-Reggiano, and drizzled with honey and balsamic vinegar. While the dough was crispy and quite tasty, the pizza overall was pretty bland in flavor. You didn’t a taste the eggplant; likely from the slices being too thin and covered in oil, with the only bit of flavor coming from any bite with some of the balsamic drizzle.
Tagliatella Pizza
Thankfully, we were pleasantly surprised from the focaccia breadbasket. The house-made focaccia comes in three different variations – olives, tomatoes, and an onion –with a crispy exterior and soft interior that had us going back for seconds and thirds. And the spicy olive oil offered to accompany the bread was a delicious touch. “So far they should be a bakery because their bread is the best part,” Lillian commented. Sadly, at this point I had to agree.
Focaccia - Tagliatella Pizza
Next up, at the suggestion of the waiter, I tried the Caesar salad. Out comes a completely unrecognizable plate, which had me questioning if he had brought the right dish. He verified, in fact this was what I ordered and I proceeded to deconstruct. The salad was comprised of mixed greens, sole di Puglia tomatoes, and anchovies, shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano, croutons and topped with a drizzling of dressing. The components of the dish just seemed very mismatched, with the Caesar dressing and mixed greens not tasting at all appetizing and the tomatoes a bit odd on a Caesar salad. I had two bites and pushed it to the side.
Caesar salad Caesar salad - Tagliatella Pizza
Hoping for redemption with our entrees, the waiter brought Lillian her order of the Napolitano Brochette – skewered pork tenderloin, sole di Puglia tomatoes, balsamic onions, and fresh basil, served with a fried gnocchi and tomato sauce. The unusual presentation had the skewer of pork dangling above a vinaigrette sauce, thanks to a metal attachment to the plate. Lillian looked completely confused when the dish arrived and kindly asked the waiter if he could remove the metal stand from the plate. The pork was cooked nicely and juicy with flavors from the marinade coming through beautifully. Unfortunately, that’s where the high points of the dish ended. The gnocchi was extremely dry, replicating more the taste of burnt tater tots than any gnocchi I’ve enjoyed.
Napolitano Brochette - Tagliatella Pizza
As for my entrée, I went for the fresh tagliatella pasta with a Bolognese sauce. While the pasta was perfectly al dente and delicious, the sauce really missed the mark. The Bolognese was not the rich, flavorful Italian meat sauce I was hoping, but bland, lacking any real depth or boldness. To say the least, I was pretty disappointed.
Tagliatella Pasta with Bolognese Sauce - Tagliatella Pizza
The meal did end on a high note though, thanks to the heavenly gelato we ordered for dessert. Lillian opted for a combination of strawberry and pear gelato, I went with chocolate and cherry. We devoured every bite, literally licking our spoons to salvage any last sampling.
Chocolate and Cherry Gelato
La Tagliatella could give other spots in the area a run for their money, with their delicious focaccia and mouthwatering gelato. But, when it comes to delivering Italian cuisine from the main menu, this kitchen clearly has some work to do.
The post Our Review of La Tagliatella appeared first on ClotureClub.com.
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