710 N. 34th St
Seattle, WA 98103
206-633-3989

I like this place. But, I’ll caveat this review that you have to be in the right frame of mind (ie, you need to be on Italian time… happy to sit there and enjoy the atmosphere, food, wine, company and staff), and have plenty of time, for a dinner here. I’ve been twice for lunch and once for dinner. Unfortunately, my dinner there was right after a killer work-out at the gym, and I was more in the mood for a quick bite and lounging around the house than an hour and a half plus meal with accompanying tango dancing.

One of the draws to Pontevecchio is the staff. Super friendly, they are happy to sit and chat at your table (or someone elses) for 10 minutes or more at a time. Don’t go to be shy.

At their leisure, they will bring you your food, which from my experience has always been good to excellent. As is my habits in Italian restaurants, I tend to order the simplest pastas with a pomodoro sauce. At Pontevecchio, that’s the Capellini d’Angelo de something something… it’s a beautiful, light angel hair with a thin slice of eggplant wrapped neatly around melt in your mouth mozzarella cheese as a garnish. The sauce is perfectly seasoned, one of the closest I’ve tasted in Seattle to something out of Rome… subtle tastes of garlic, olive oil, salt and basil in a very fresh tomato base. I’ve had it now three times, and it’s always good, although at dinner, it was a touch heavy on the sauce so that the pasta was a bit overpowered. We also started with the bruschetta, which was wonderfully crisp and drizzled with a very tasty olive oil. Cam’s cheese ravioli was topped with a roasted red pepper sauce that was slightly smokey and rich. The pasta on the ravioli was slightly thick, with a nice bite reinforcing the handmade feel of the dish.
Salads are served in the European tradition of after the meal, but unfortunately, I just wasn’t patient enough for the pace of the meal that night… after having our dinner plates cleared and sitting their for 30 minutes, we decided to just go with the check instead of the salads.

Be warned: Pontevecchio features other art… dancing and opera 3 nights a week. Wed is tango night; Thursday Flaminco; and Friday is Italian Opera. While the tango dancing was good, the dances also slow down the service even more… so go on those nights if you are up for taking in the art, but not if you just want the meal.

Overall, I’m a fan of the friendliness of the wait staff and the quality of the food, but will probably tend to make this more of a lunch spot than dinner, where the service is a little bit quicker and you can just focus on the food.

CitySearch’s review is here.

Technorati Tags: Food, Restaurant, Review, Seattle, Tips

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