While I had a lovely pre-birthday celebration dinner at La Pecora Bianca, there were some service hiccups that sadly prevented them from getting a 4.5 Fork rating. The dinner started off great - it's a lovely space, bright and airy and really friendly waitstaff. The menu looked great too - it's Italian focused with a nice antipasti selection, an entire vegetable section, pastas and and secondi dishes. We started with the polpette ($10), the crab and avocado crostini ($14), the zucchini crostini ($9) and the primavera ($13) vegetable. For my main entree, I couldn't resist the tagliatelle ($22).
The appetizers came out quickly and were wonderful. The polpette (meatballs) were moist, juicy and made with short rib and brisket. I could have definitely eaten the entire dish myself and understodd why the waiter suggested that we get 2 of them instead of 1. The crab and avocado crostini was great as well - good serving of fresh lump crabmeat on a soft but still crispy crostini and balanced with a small piece of refreshing grapefruit and avocado. As for the zucchini crostini, it was supposed to be served with ricotta cheese on it but since Richelle hates cheese, we asked for it on the side. So it was a bit weird but once you spread the cheese on to the bread, it was totally delicious, just a bit unconventional. But the best appetizer was actually the primavera - which was spring peas, shaved pecorino, parsley with a mint puree. The spring peas were amazing - so incredibly fresh and crispy and combined with the mint, it was seriously like spring time in my mouth. It's a definite must order if you like peas.
Then this is where the meal went a bit south. It became painfully obvious at some point that they forgot our entrees because everyone around us was getting served except for us. I will say that the waiter was very apologetic about it and offered us a free dessert for our wait which was a nice touch. Finally once the food came, everything looked and smelled great until Jill mentioned that her pasta was cold. It sounds like they may have made her dish and then forgotten about the rest of ours and just left her dish sitting out in the kitchen. The GM/host was mortified and offered to bring out another pasta free of charge - again a very nice gesture. Unfortunately for Jill, we were all practically done with our dishes by the time her 2nd pasta came out but at least it was warm. As for my tagliatelle, it was great - nice ribbon pasta with a hearty beef and pork bolognese. It wasn't like the pasta in Bologna but it was still a really well constructed pasta dish that tasted homemade.
For our compted dessert, we got the nutella tart, which I'll be honest and say I actually don't like nutella but I didn't want to cause a fuss since everyone else seemed really into it. I did at least try the dish and it was as expected way too chocolately for me but I guess if you like that kind of thick, heavy, nut-y taste, you'll enjoy the dish.
By the time we left, it was almost 3 hours after we had been seated. Luckily it was great company, good food and I loved having a spritz again since being in Italy (although they weren't $6 like they were in Italy). The service issues were too bad but I definitely appreciated that they acknowledged their error and made up for it - that's a sign of great hospitality and despite those hiccups I would still definitely come back here again. Total bill: ~$80/pp with tax, tip and drinks
Photo Credit: Yelp
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