Olio e Più - DC

Review summary

1. M

   Meredith

   VIP

   Washington DC

   8 reviews

   5.0

   8 reviews

   Dined today

   1. Overall 5
   2. Food 4
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 5

   I went last night for my birthday dinner. Where the record, there is a caveat to my 4 star review. There was only one area I can’t genuinely give the place a 4 star, but everything else was absolutely wonderful and deserves all the five stars that they can get. I will start with the one area where I can’t give 5 stars, and that was the food. My friends and I all shared food, so we got to try a lot of items on the menu. The standouts were the lamb meatballs, the Hamachi crudo, the fusilli, and the tiramisu. All of the flavors in each of these dishes were very distinct, and delicious. However, given this is an Italian restaurant, we were underwhelmed with the ravioli and the clam pasta. While the portions weren’t tiny, I do feel the cost of the dishes was a little high relative to the amount food you received and what the fish itself was. But then again, we are also in DC. IMHO, and as others have said, where this restaurant really shines is the ambience and the service. First off, the holiday decor was gorgeous, and they were giving ornaments to all the diners, so it definitely set a festive mood. All of my party, except for two of us, were fairly late to the reservation. It was super crowded, but the staff were very accommodating and patient while we waited for our whole party. Additionally, our waitress Mariah was absolutely wonderful!! She was knowledgeable and charming while still being efficient . As the Birthday Girl, I appreciate the restaurant went out of its way to give me a special book about the restaurant. Mariah even managed to scrounge up a few sparklers to make my dinner extra festive in addition to my happy birthday dessert message. All in all, this is a great place for a casual yet slightly elevated dining experience. I’d come back for the customer service and ambiance alone, and despite the few disappointing pasta dishes, there were enough other star dishes I tried to make me interested to try more.
   

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2. R

   Rosy

   Washington DC

   4 reviews

   4.0

   4 reviews

   Dined 1 day ago

   1. Overall 4
   2. Food 4
   3. Service 3
   4. Ambience 5

   Ambience is amazing! Hostess was nice. Service can be upped.
   

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3. K

   Kim

   VIP

   Washington DC

   5 reviews

   3.0

   5 reviews

   Dined 1 day ago

   1. Overall 3
   2. Food 3
   3. Service 3
   4. Ambience 5

   Beautiful space nice looking menu, could be more flavorful - felt a little blah and lacking in context/flavor. Was there for lunch. Nice server but slow service
   

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4. L

   Lindsey

   Washington DC

   1 review

   5.0

   1 review

   Dined 3 days ago

   1. Overall 5
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 5

   Great! We had an authentic Italian woman at our table who approved. Wish there was at least 1 vegan pasta option for our vegan friend. Overall delicious and we will come back.
   

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5. L

   Lynn

   VIP

   New York City

   74 reviews

   3.0

   74 reviews

   Dined 4 days ago

   1. Overall 3
   2. Food 4
   3. Service 2
   4. Ambience 3

   I was excited to try this new restaurant. Great location for downtown. Good reputation coming out of New York. Unfortunately, as is typical in DC, the service and level of food quality is just inferior. I got there early to order the wine since it was a business lunch The guy behind the bar didn’t seem to understand how to prepare to serve the wine and what wine inventory there was. They ended up bringing the wrong bottle of wine after they didn’t have the first one chilled. We finally just said fine. Then they took the wine to keep it chilled and we couldn’t get them to serve it. Then it was another 30/45 minutes before we got our food ordered. It’s just not together. I know you should never eat at a new restaurant this quickly so shame on us, but this was really off. The good news is, I think that the food was Decent and I feel like with time it can probably get it together. Also, the lights were turned up to cafeteria level. The ambience was ruined because of the lighting. Take a page from New York. Get the lighting and ambience right. Get your service together. And you will have a successful restaurant. It was packed so clearly people want this downtown. Good luck. I will be back, but I’m going to wait a while 
   

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6. K

   Kimberly

   VIP

   San Antonio

   8 reviews

   4.0

   8 reviews

   Dined 4 days ago

   1. Overall 4
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 4
   4. Ambience 5

   I love this new spot. The servers are working hard and will get it together. Two bottles I ordered from the wine list were not available. The salmón crudo and the branzino were both quite good.
   

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7. T

   Taylor

   VIP

   Jacksonville

   1 review

   5.0

   1 review

   Dined 5 days ago

   1. Overall 5
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 5

   Mariah was phenomenal, service was great and the manager introduced himself. We got the spaghetti carbonara, one word: Amazing. Mariah gave us a great suggestion for a Christmas pop up bar to go to afterwards. Our last night was perfect in DC. Thank you Olio e Più!!
   

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8. B

   Bridget

   Washington DC

   1 review

   1.0

   1 review

   Dined 5 days ago

   1. Overall 1
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 1
   4. Ambience 4

   Service was horrendous. We had a 12:30 reservation and weren’t served food until 2:30. I had to ask for a cup of coffee three separate times. Food was excellent but the service was atrocious
   

   Olio e Più - DCResponded 4 days ago

   Hello Bridget, Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback with us. We are sorry to hear you had an unpleasant experience. With the intention of creating a better experience for our guests, please kindly contact us at guestrecovery@thegroup.nyc with your contact information as well as your review as a reference, and we will reach out to you. We look forward to speaking to you soon. Sincerely, Emma Guest Relations Team
   

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9. C

   Cathy

   New York City

   3 reviews

   4.0

   3 reviews

   Dined 6 days ago

   1. Overall 4
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 4

   The food and service were excellent. The four stars instead of five was due to the very below drink quality. An $18 Manhattan was room temperature and tasted as if it had been mixed hours ago. The $16 5 ounces of Chardonnay was not properly chilled. I do not understand why a restaurant with this quality of food can have such a disappointing bar service!
   

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10. A

    Aaron

    Washington DC

    3 reviews

    5.0

    3 reviews

    Dined 6 days ago

    1. Overall 5
    2. Food 2
    3. Service 5
    4. Ambience 5

    We were there to celebrate my daughter's 33rd birthday. The Hostess was amazing, friendly, and welcoming. For starters, we had the Fritto Primavera, which was well seasoned but a little undercooked for our liking. The charcuterie board my husband ordered never came and he was a bit disappointed when he inquired if the salami was house made, the server said no. Although the clams were a tad small, I enjoyed the Spaghetti Alle Vongole's flavor. Mom had the Cavatelli Gamberi and was underwhelmed, the Broccolini was extremely salty, my husband and daughter ordered the Ribeye, they were accidentally given each other's plates (one was medium rare and the other one was medium) and said those were ok. The tiramisu, panna cotta, and drinks were delicious and I wish we had the same experience with the food.
    

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