Best Contemporary Italian Restaurants in Annandale

Excellent food, sevice, and atmosphere, as usual! Great meal.

Heading to a concert at the Kennedy Center (it's a very easy approach to Foggy Bottom), we tried Claudio's Table out for the first time. We ate early and got to watch the restaurant fill up with a broad range of families and couples from the neighborhood and elsewhere, bringing a real nice ambience. The food was fabulous: fried artichoke with a green salad started things off beautifully, like being in Rome. The linguini with lobster tail, on a light red lobster infused sauce (a special) is among the best dishes in Washington (et Voila's Norwegian sole is another). Our other dish was the linguini with clams. My wife and I shifted our platters back and forth, with help from staff when they saw us treeing to balance the dishes. Wine was lovely and the lemon cake dessert was a brilliant combination of layers. The portions were also perfect (not too big, nor too little) and we stayed awake through our concert.

Corso was really excellent. The menu looked so good that I had a hard time choosing. At our table we had the whipped ricotta which was delicious and great for sharing and the arancini which we all agreed were some of the best we had had in a long time. For the mains we had the scallops and risotto, the mushroom gnocchi, carbonara and the porchetta and white beans. Everyone loved their dishes (with the exception of the carbonara which was the only slight disappointment of the night). The porchetta was especially great. We shared the canoli for dessert and they were a very good sweet end to the dinner but small and maybe not the best value. The 22ox spritzes were a good value, on the other hand.

We luckily picked a slow time, 6:00 PM on Wednesday. Service was prompt and courteous. Everything came on time and as requested. My chicken Milanese was done to perfection. The garlic bread was fresh and just toasted. My wife’s gnocchi with mushrooms was incredible. My picky teenage daughter ate every bit of her spaghetti and even the meatballs. Our guest ate all his spaghetti and chicken. Everything was made from scratch; nothing tasted premade.

Great experience as always. Caesar provided fantastic and attentive service. The food was reliably delicious. The only slight drawback is the noise level which I would describe as overly lively. Patrons and staff were all trying to talk over the music. Perhaps a notch down on music to just make it lively. Thanks, North Italia.