08/09/09

Evening to rememeber

by CChan

We had my friends' graduation dinner here. The food was great and the service was attentive but not pretentious. We had a couple bottles of wine, one of them tasted funny and they gladly exchanged it for a new bottle.

• Pros: Attentive Service
• Cons: Parking

05/23/09

The Bar Outshines the Restaurant

by Zak

I had relatively high expectations. Just as another reviewer noted, I too have been to Volterra, and this is not that food. That said; we were built up very well at the bar for our mild disappointment in the food. It has been about two years since I have been back, but the signature cocktails and the cheese plate we had still gave me lasting impressions. They also make an incredible cappuccino.

My advivce is to go and have a casual experience with a date and get sloshed at the bar.

• Pros: Good drinks and appetizers.
• Cons: The food was decent but not worth the price.

05/21/09

I went on a date there and it was fab

by corepilates

I was there last night for dinner and had a great time. The waiter tended to our needs as my date and I sat and chatted taking our sweet time.. He never once made us feel rushed and the food was great.

Two cocktails and i was feeling a nice little buzz so thanks to the bar tender...

i would recommend Volterra

• Pros: old seattle feel

03/27/09

About as Italian as a Shamrock

by RetChef

I hate for the first review I write, after moving here and signing up with citysearch, to be a one-star business but that's the way it goes, I guess. As it happens, this is the first restaurant my new neighbors took me to. They all raved about the food but they also knew that I spent thirty+ years as a chef, so they were kinda holding their breath.

I don't want to waste a lot of words on this because A) I don't speak unkindly about other chefs easily and B) what I ate wasn't worth a lot of analysis. Let me just say that this restaurant is named after a real place in Italy; a beautiful hilltop town that sits next to the under-appreciated (by Americans) wine town of San Gimignano. I've been there several times, eaten the food, made the food for years, and still have friends there. This is NOT that food. This is over-thought, weird, artsy, pretentious faux-Italian food, no matter what Wine Spectator says. I've loved this food for decades and have found the occasional restaurant in which the chef was from there; one in St. Louis is among my favorite eateries in the country. But what was on my plate here had some extremely silly and wild liberties taken with it. Everything from the appetizers to the desserts showed a hand that takes itself way too seriously and the staff, while polite, treats this stuff as though it had come down from The Mount on a platter carried by Moses. I tasted nothing that had any real skill or thought attached.

I was told that Seattle is not a great restaurant town like New Orleans, NYC, or San Francisco. Judging from some of the reviews I've read of this place, I can see why.

• Pros: Nice part of Ballard
• Cons: Food, service, BATHROOMS!!!

02/06/09

Great service and even better food

by GolfGirl73

I am surprised at the recent posts regarding bad service and food because I just had a great experience last weekend. I had been wanting to try this restaurant for quite some time and think it's one of the better restaurants in town. The tables are close together and it was noisy at times but I liked that it wasn't another pretentious wannabe hip restaurant. Our server was very knowledgeable, pointed out her favorite items and suggested wine pairings based on my preferences. I had the lamb chop which the server recommended be cooked medium (she said the chef tends to undercook the meats). Although, I would have preferred something a little more rare it was still delicious. My friend had the wild boar cooked medium rare and it was rare but very good. I would order that again! The portions were on the larger side so I had plenty to take home and overall I thought for the quality of food and experience, it's a very good value. I can't wait to go back again.

• Pros: Great service, good value, wine list, cocktails
• Cons: Parking

01/22/09

Lovely restaurant; 5 stars w/o the wine list

by girasole55

I highly recommend this restaurant. It was cozy, the food was excellent, the service was attentive. In fact the food exceeded my expectations -- the menu descriptions don't do it justice! For a "fine dining" establishment, the prices were reasonable.

My only complaint is with the wine list, which is pricey. We were celebrating a special occasion, and let ourselves be talked into a more expensive bottle than we might normally order. It was decent, but it wasn't fabulous. Not worth the extra $$.

I would definitely go again.

• Pros: food, service, ambiance
• Cons: wine list

10/23/08

Oustanding All Around

by seattlefoodluvr

Best meal I've had in Seattle. Outstanding food, service, ambiance. The real highlight was the Wild Boar Tenderloin with Gorgonzola sauce. But, we were greeted warmly at the door by 2 cute hostesses, our server was well informed about the menu and led us down a very tasty path, and the room is really beautiful and sophisticated. I am in love with the alabaster light fixtures which the server told me came from the city of Volterra and were designed by the owner. WIll be back soon.

10/18/08

Insulting attitude

by MGourmet

I asked if the sturgeon on the menu was the endangered kind. The waitress asked the chef and returned with the message that it was and that I should read "The Zen of Fish" to get over my concerns about endangered fish. I ordered the wild boar. The waitress asked how I wanted it cooked, saying they served it medium rare. I requested medium well. She said it was served with a lot of sauce so that I would not see the bloody juices if it were cooked medium rare, which is in fact how it came. Though the food was excellent the overall impression was that the guest was not what mattered to them (exception being the hostesses who were very warm and helpful). We will not eat there again.

• Pros: good food, nice hostesses
• Cons: insulting attitude

10/06/08

Ordinary Food and Overcharged Bill

by ClemondWu

This place was not as I imagined. The decoration is pretty general, no special at all. The food is pretty good, but just regular. The service is not bad but they charged for cake cutting (I brought birthday cake from outside). I have never get any charge for cutting cake at any restaurants, even the cheap restaurant. If the charge is 5 dollar for one table, it is fine. But they charged $3 each person. Crazy. I will never ever come back here. There is much better italian food in Seattle. I do not recommend to come here, especially for birthday!!!

09/20/08

What's not to like?

by SpecialPhysX

We love this place! One of the best places anywhere for a special occasion or celebration. It is utterly reliable. Never had a bad meal or a "kitchen nightmare" at Volterra. I love everything they do AND the way they do it. Their Chestnut Pancakes from the brunch menu -- ummmm! Their original cocktails (by Kathy Casey) are fresh and fine.

A meal at Volterra is pricey, but you will get plenty of it -- not like some places that serve pretty plates with teeny portions and charge you for a full sized meal. We splurge for Volterra about 2 or 3 times per year. Consistently excellent every time -- if you can get a table.

I would suggest they consider a change in housekeeping. Volterra is much too fine to seat patrons in corners festooned with cobwebs or bring out glass/dinnerware with lip-prints or crusty food still apparent thereon. Recently, I was invited to be seated on a banquette that had spilled food smeared all over it.

And then there is the striking young busser who circles the dining room silently and continuously, dressed all in black and scanning each table in sequence. He is nice, he is cute, and he clears your table promptly, but what's up with that constant circling? As a diver, I felt exactly the same as if i were down on the reef with a large black tip shark circling constantly overhead.

These are minor considerations that have no impact on the flavor and efficiency of the meal, just the overall dining experience.

• Pros: Consistently Excellent, street parking usually available; good for business dinner
• Cons: Housecleaner wanted; reserved for special occasions due to cost