La Tavola

I have never had a bad meal or service! I rarely go back to a restaurant but we come back time and time again. The bread is wonderful, the salads and entrees are fantastic. Top notch service keeps us coming back.

Came to celebrate with friends and had the most delicious and rich risotto here. The lemon tart and tiramisu were also really good. Will come back for special occasions!

We decided to try La Tavola based on a family recommendation. The inside is smallish, but lovely. The host at the door was friendly, if not confused. The place was nearly empty, 1 table of two and one table of 4. The remainder of the space was empty, save a guy at the "bar" that overlooks the kitchen. The host asked if we had a reservation. Did it matter? No. The place was empty. We went at 5:00 PM on a Sunday night. Our service was passable. The "water" delivery for four came with three glasses. We didn't get silverware to eat the starters until after 3 were on the table. These are simple things that make people go hmmmmm when they are getting ready to eat. the kitchen is open - so, you can see what's going on. The menu was spare, they were out of a few things, not great when there are 4 entrees on the menu and a couple of pizzas. We all ordered something different. One of the dishes (mushroom ragu) had crunchy noodles, but was eaten because it was 25 dollars. The house salad was explained as mixed greens with pine nuts and citrus vinaigrette. The salad was all bitters with chunky of onion and grapefruit. That level of bitter needs balance, cheese, bread, something. People didn't eat the salads, unfortunately, the food was wasted. The service staff noticed and offered nothing. The meatballs are full of bitter fennel (greens). If you don't like black licorice, you may not like the sauce. The noodles are obviously handmade, so expect an al dente experience with dense noodles (nonna noodles). The garlic crostini and antipasti were the best things on the menu, and the saltiest experience I've had in a while. The olives were the best thing on the board. No explanation of the weird stuff was given. There were pickled grapes? 5 kinds of meat and a mystery red paste that looked like pate. Explanations are required for food that varies, a food allergy was averted at the table with an ingredient that was out of place based on the dish. After the food came the server was much more attentive to filling waters and asking people if they wanted more food. The server did not ask if we wanted any desserts, drinks or extras (and that was a missed sale). Service - C - food - B Note: A nearby couple said our experience was out of place and the menu was very sparse and "weird" in comparison to a weekday evening.