Cantinetta

Came here on a Saturday night with reservations. After standing around for a few minutes, was «greeted» by the host who waved off my question about seating and was ORDERED to stand at the crowded bar. The bar area, which was three deep, proved to be claustrophobic and after a few minutes of being jostled by passing wait staff, we finally decided to make our way to the door. Along the way, we were hectored by the «host» until finally he told us not to ever waste his time again.
Now, I have been coming to this restaurant for a few years and have enjoyed the food, the ambiance, and the good wines, but whoever they have working the front as the host drove me away as a customer.

I have been coming to this restaurant for many years. For a long time it has been one of my favorites. I am writing this as I have just walked out of the restaurant and a supremely disappointing experience. It is a Tuesday night and I came here with my wife and a couple of friends to celebrate birthday and the amazing support of friends during the birth of our son. We had 5:45 pm reservations. During our meal I was standing up at various points in a corner because our infant son was with us and he was in a pouch quietly asleep against my chest. About halfway through our meal I was asked by the host to sit down and eat my food because I interfered with the ambience of the restaurant. He mentioned that there was something wrong with my manners and actually announced to our table that, you just don’t stand and eat,‘The waitress was fantastic, but unfortunately we had to leave early because of the host’s rude treatment. The waitress comped most of the meal, which I feel was appropriate, however, the night was ruined and I do not plan on returning despite years of dining here.

This is probably one of my favorite places in Seattle. Great for a light out with your significant other or a small group of friends. I ordered the salmon which was delicious and prepared perfectly. My fellow diners were also really happy with their meals. Great ambiance and food, definitely coming back!

Cozy place with attentive service. Try the pappardelle bolognese or the tagliatelle (if you like bacon). The tiramisu was really amazing. We ordered the sunchokes but the pancetta was too overwhelming for my taste. A tad pricey ($ 100 for an appetizer, two glasses of wine, two entrees and tiramisu).

The food is ok, but it’s not worth the portions and the bad customer service at the door. I came in to have a nice quick meal by myself before my hectic weekend and asked for a table. After work, I was really looking forward to it! But I was told I could only sit at the bar. There were more than six open tables — seriously? I’ve sat at the bar here before many times, but if I’m going to get food and spend $ 30+, I deserve a table. The bar isn’t comfortable and I’m fine with it if I’m just ordering a glass of wine. I like the tables because you actually feel like you’re waited on, and you don’t have to talk to anyone. I asked twice. Nope. How rude. I was told that I couldn’t get a table because they had people coming in the next hour who had reservations. But there were more than six tables open! I didn’t bother staying since they weren’t interested in giving me a very simple request. Too bad since I live right around the corner. Not planning on frequenting this place any more.

One of my favorite restaurants in Seattle. MUST GO!

Excellent place for a date night.
The atmosphere is fairly loud and crowded, so I would not go for a quiet intimate date, but for a Friday night full of great food, music and company.
The caprese was delicious. The mozzarella cheese melted in my mouth and the heirloom tomatoes were delectable. The salmon was also spot on.
We will be back.

This restaurant is good but they didn’t quite do enough to stand out for me. My friends and I tried a variety of dishes but to be honest, none of them stood out.

the food here is good. not fantastic, but good. some things are definitely better than others. the pappardelle bolognese tasted great but the ratio of sauce to pasta was *way* off. there was, like 1 giant noodle hiding under a small mound of rich sauce. weird. the boar pici i had tasted fine but the pasta itself didn’t have the best texture (or perhaps it was overcooked).
the service was fine & pretty well paced, especially given how crowded it was.
my main complaint about this place is the «ambience». maybe i’m just getting old but man, it was dark & loud in there! so dark that a couple of people in our party were having a hard time reading the menu & so loud that we could barely hold a conversation & this was on a tuesday night!
for my money, i think cascina spinasse is way better.

Cozy, elegant atmosphere, friendly staff, excellent service, and delicious food. The house red wine was great. I had the lobster mushroom appetizer — amazing! The Pappardelle alla Bolognese is the best Italian dish I have ever had. I have been to this restaurant twice and had to order the Pappardelle alla Bolognese the second time because it was that incredible the first time. I love this place and am definitely going to be a regular customer here.

We came here a couple weeks ago for my sister’s birthday celebration. My sister found it while researching places online and on Unilocal for a new place for us to try.
The first thing we noticed when we got seated was how dark the place was. And they dimmed the lights again halfway through our meal! Otherwise it was a nice and cozy restaurant and was pretty full and busy when we were there on a Thursday night.
We had a very nice and cheery server who greeted us quickly after we got seated and took our drink order. After reviewing the menu for a few minutes we ordered an appetizer off their specials which was the pork belly aranchini (sp?), steak and potatoes, summer corn and blueberry risotto, gnocchi, and the pappardelle bolognese. We all really loved the pork belly aranchini appetizer. It came with four pieces which was perfect for us. My sister ordered the steak medium rare but thought it came out more on the rare side and also felt it wasn’t as warm as she would like it to be. Our friend’s gnocchi also had a weird texture, not as chewy as you would expect gnocchi to be. I really enjoyed the risotto I ordered and so did the other girls. The corn and blueberries came together surprisingly well with a sweet and slightly tangy flavor —
easily our favorite dish of the night. For dessert we ordered the Nutella zeppole and the chocolate bodino. Both were very good but I think the zeppole was a little on the heavy side. They put a candle on the chocolate bodino for my sister’s birthday celebration which was very nice and cute.
Overall it was a nice restaurant with nice ambience but all the food dishes were not consistently made well so I’m not sure if I would come back.

I went here a couple years ago and enjoyed it. Last night, not so much. I won’t go much into the completely unremarkable food and surly service — everyone has an off night, I suppose. And adding on a gratuity for a party of 6 or more is standard practice, but it’s 20% here instead of the usual 18%. Whatever. But they charged us sales tax on the gratuity? Seriously? Maybe other places do this, but I’ve never experienced it. We asked our server about it — out of curiosity, not accusingly — and got a pretty snotty non-​answer. Not going back.

Love this quaint Italian restaurant in Wallingford/​Fremont! It’s in the neighborhood, so parking my be a little difficult FYI. Everything on the menu is excellent! I ordered the pappardelle bolognese and ate it all. Would definitely go again! The only major issue of the night was the service. Our waiter was a bit strange. For instance, I asked for a to-​go box for the remainder of my meal, and he gave me a look as if I had asked him to do a backflip. Maybe he had had a long day. Other than the odd service, great place!

Dinner here is always above and beyond!
I’ve been here on two separate occasions. The first being an intimate dinner with a close friend. We did the whole works. Appetizer. Entrée. Dessert. And a couple glasses of wine. We got there and ended up closing the place down and not once were we rushed out or made to feel like a bother. The bolognese is my favorite dish and never lets you down. The portions are perfect and allow for you to have 3 courses and not feel overly stuffed
The second experience was a large party for a birthday. We had about 12 or so people and being the small space that it is, it definitely didn’t feel that way. The party was planned in advance and they did a great job meeting the needs of the birthday girl and making sure all the appetizers were out, all the entrees came out, wine glasses were never empty and we all got to sing happy birthday.
I probably wouldn’t have picked this place out on my own, but I’m so glad to have been brought here because it is somewhere I will always continue to go back to!
Absolute gem of a restaurant.

Four of us enjoyed dinner on a warm Seattle evening in July. The food was very good — the octopus appetizer was delicious, and the gnocci was a true standout. For dessert, we enjoyed plum sorbet, which was a big hit at our table.
In addition, the service was excellent: attentive but not intrusive, and our server was quite charming.
We’ll be back!

Finally had the chance to try Cantinetta — it’s only been on my bucket list since I first moved to Seattle five years ago!
The restaurant is so good-​looking. Rustic, yet modern, clean yet cozy, it made for the perfect Saturday evening dinner date venue.
Here’s what we feasted on:
Italian Greyhound cocktail (delish) and a Manhattan for my friend.
Homemade foccacia bread and olive oil (a freebie!). One of the meal highlights!
San Daniele Prosciutto e Melone. Oh man, I’m not even a fan of cantaloupe or any melon for that matter but this dish turned me into a believer. The prosciutto was salty and delicate, nestled atop beautiful, juicy, vibrant slices of cantaloupe then drizzled with olive oil. It was the perfect refreshing starter for a warm summer evening. My only negative comment was that the dish consisting of three pieces of melon and three slices of prosciutto and a drizzle of olive was a whopping $ 14. It’s quite comical if you really think about it.
Bibb lettuce salad with hazelnut, fresh herb and buttermilk. I was expecting this dish to be far more satisfying than what we received. I’m a huge fan of luscious, buttery bibb lettuce and especially when it’s topped with crunchy hazelnuts. For a restaurant that left the salting up to the guest with a dish of fine sea salt on each table (a really thoughtful touch, by the way) this salad was completely over salted. Especially considering every other dish we had could’ve benefited from a flourish of finishing salt. It was disappointing to say the least.
I ordered the ravioli with ricotta-​reggiano, summer corn purée and watercress. A delicious, light summer dish. This dish definitely could’ve benefited from more salt, but definitely grateful for the sea salt on the table!
My friend ordered the tagliatelle with spot prawns, heirloom tomato and saffron. Nice and light, again with lovely aromatic flavors. The homemade tagliatelle was a winner.
All in all, I had a lovely meal but I wasn’t completely blown away where I would be in a hurry to return, especially for the price.

One of my favourite. Always focus on tasting their great pasta. Cocktails just fine.
Nosier than expected but servers are nice.
They had lava cake before, I loved it, hope they will bring it out again

Shame on me to continue to give restaurants another try — especially when there are a lot of really good, affordable (and expensive) Italian restaurants throughout the city — but I wanted to have a better experience at Cantinetta this past week. The location, setting, prices are all great for a neighborhood restaurant, but the food and service was a disappointment.
First, the antipasta plates were tiny and really hard to share for our table of 4. For the cost almost rivaling that of the pasta, we were definitely expecting more. The best antipasta was the fresh bread brought to the table.
For dinner, one of our guests ordered the lamb gnocchi. Unfortunately, the sauce/​lamb was overly salted and we had to send the dish back. You may think this was a pretentious act, but the guest who ordered the dish was a chef at Café Lago and been a cook for a long time. The rest of the table tasted his dish and agreed.
The waitstaff handled the request to send the food back very appropriately and brought out another pasta dish pretty quickly. Although, most of us had or were very close to finishing our dishes.
My pasta/​spicy sausage was good, but nothing that would bring me back to Cantinetta in the near future.
As our dinner was ending, we were still at the table and ordering drinks for after dinner. The table was continuing to share and slowly pick away at our dishes, when the bus girl swiftly swung in and cleared the plates, including the bread plates without even inquiring if we were finished or interested in taking any of the leftovers home.
It was the final straw in my book to finally give up on Cantinetta and explore the other Italian options throughout the city.

Cantinetta is easily my new favorite restaurant. It has a cozy and romantic yet bustling ambience. Love the market lights on the patio and the quiet neighborhood location.
We ate here for Dine Around Seattle and enjoyed every bite. The Painted Hills Braised Beef was perfectly cooked and seasoned, and very tender and flavorful. I loved the mozzarella, pear, and arugula salad. Even the vegetable soup, while very simple, had exceptionally pure and complex flavor, with bits of ham and perfectly cubed vegetables cooked just to translucency. The highlight, of course, was the nutella zeppole, with just the right amount of sweetness and density. There are many dishes here that I would love to try (which is rarely the case with me!). I can’t wait to eat here again.

After visiting Bar Cantinetta and loving it my husband and I decided to check out this place. I went for the Dine Around Seattle menu while he chose from the regular menu.
I had a mozzarella, pear, and arugula salad which was very good-​great portion size. My husband got the Charred Fuyu Persimmons, mizuna, spicy coppa, and balsamic salad which was tasty.
Next up I got the Painted Hills Braised Beef short ribs, creamy polenta– slightly better here than at the Bar location– was more juicy and melted right off. My husband had the Scarpinocc, braised duck, foie gras, balsamic pasta dish which he enjoyed. For dessert we had the apple crisp which was tasty too.
I recommend this place and would come here again