One of the favorites in the neighborhood, I would say Al Di La perfectly fits the bill-- solid spot but not outstanding. Food is great, but some of the service/details take away from this being a ringer.
The ambiance is very cozy and there were a mix of families and dates when I went with a friend on a weekday night. It was never completely full but definitely still busy, so I assume on a weekend you'd need a reservation.
The tables are really close to each other, to the point that you have to move your table if you're sitting on the bench side and want to exit/enter. Additionally, they didn't offer a place to hang jackets/coats so it gets really cramped as people put their items on the bench as well.
The service was ok, but there were a couple of things that could be improved. First, it took almost 20 minutes for us to be able to place our order, and this was after flagging down the waiter. Not sure if they were understaffed but it felt pretty slow and generally like we were not looked after.
The other weird interaction was when I was ordering a glass of wine-- I was trying to decide between two and asked if I could taste them and decide. The person taking the order (not our main waiter) responded saying he could tell me about the wines. I found that odd, especially as their menu already has some lovely tasting notes for each of the glasses and so I pushed back, noting that I already read from the menu notes about the wine and I would like to taste it. I've been to plenty of restaurants and know this is normal, so it left a poor taste in my mouth that the server tried to avoid letting me try the wines.
Now, for the good-- the food was overall pretty tasty. We tried:
- Trippa stew: this was delicious. A lovely, thick stew with the trippa having a lovely texture (not too soft, not too chewy).
- Radicchio salad: nice, bright salad. Solid appetizer
- Malfatti: this is definitely on the mild side flavor wise-- my friend didn't like it as it didn't have much flavor (the gnocchi was basically ricotta and the brown butter sage was mild as well), but the gnocchi was soft. I thought it was good but wouldn't order it again.
- Tortelli di zucca: we both liked this dish and I would order again! Interestingly enough, the sauce was also the brown butter sage but it doesn't say it on the menu.
While I dinged the service/ambiance above, there was some redeeming moments. We ended up with leftovers and our waiter was really kind about boxing them all up in a really thoughtful manner-- he put the butter in, wrapped in paper, alongside our bread! He also said the kitchen wanted to check on whether we liked the trippa, as we had a lot left over-- this to me highlights how the kitchen really cares. read more