Editor’s Note: This story originally read to say Chef Roberto Donna owns Il Radicchio. According to Roberto Donna’s PR department, Donna founded the group of restaurants, but has since sold the venture.
Sure, for some of us, All-You-Can-Eat Spaghetti is kind of an unnecessary concept, whether it be on account of our fear of carbohydrates or a lack of capacity to polish off more than a helping or two of the dish.
That being said, naysayers shouldn’t be turned off by Il Radicchio’s bottomless bowl of the classic pasta. The “spaghetteria” with locations in Arlington, Fairfax and DC, is an inexpensively-priced venture founded by Galieo restauranteur Roberto Donna, and one branch is conveniently within walking distance from my new home in Courthouse.
The place has specials, salads, panini, appetizers and a wide array of gourmet pizzas from which to choose, but my family, who was in town for the weekend, went straight for the spaghetti. For $6.50, you get all the pasta you can eat, and can choose from a variety of 8 oz servings of sauce, ranging in price from around $2-4. The menu I found online was different from the one I had in the restaurant, but still gives a general idea of the place’s selection.
My family sampled three sauces: a mascarpone-based cream sauce, a marinara with artichokes and shrimp and a gorgonzola-pistachio offering. The mascarpone was only adequate; it had a sourness I wasn’t expecting and was a bit runny on the texture. But the other two were delicious, particularly the pistachio. If none of our choices sound appealing, there are over 15 more that should suit your fancy; a friend of mine enjoys mixing pesto with a red pepper sauce, creating an Italian-flag worthy plate.
Other notes: bruscetta is generously piled with tangy tomatoes and drizzled with balsamic. Service at lunchtime was attentive, but not intrusive, offering us complimentary cappucinos when our waiter heard I was new to the area. All in all, the meal was a perfect welcome to Arlington for this former Silver Spring resident.
Il Radicchio
1801 Clarendon Blvd
Arlington, Va
703-276-2627
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26Aug
15 Responses
I ate there for the first time last week. Seriously among the worst service I’ve ever had and my fish was literally swimming in oil (it looked like a bowl of soup after the meat and veggies were gone). My girlfriend’s pizza was ok – guess you gotta stick to the simple stuff.
Ew. Glad I didn’t get adventurous.
Oddly enough, the man in the photo, Roberto Donna, who is the owner (click on the link at menu online to get more info about him) was the challenger on Iron Chef America last Friday, the same day as this posting. (Food Network) He was battling Japanese Iron Chef Morimoto. He got slaughtered and more weirdly, only finished 2 of his 5 dishes. He just paced himself badly and ran out of time. Alton Brown (the commentator) noted he’s never seen a challanger NOT finish his dishes before.
That is funny timing! I think that was a rerun b/c I believe I remember hearing about that when it happened. It’s too bad!
I’m 99% sure that Donna has nothing to do with the Radicchio chain. It’s not on his website and I have it from an inside source that he’s definitely not involved in the food. He was connected to them at some point, but that has since ended.
Yeah, definitely not. See “Current Activities” at the bottom of his bio.
hmm, maybe the site I visited was inaccurate. I’ll check it out – thanks!
But yet the restaurant is still mentioned in the bio earlier on. I’m going to find out the exact relationship and clarify.
Probably not inaccurate, just dated. If it’s the same site I went to, that story is from a few years ago but has no datestamp — the date in the corner is just the current date.
James Beard Foundation still references it as of 2005, but they could be using dated info.
If you’re looking at his Beard Award bio or the event with Michel Richard, they were both from about four years ago. The site is deceptive — look at the URL for accurate datestamps. He’s definitely not involved with IR; he sold off all properties except for the central Galileo when the restaurant group went bankrupt, which I believe was a year to year and a half ago.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20200-2004Aug20.html
No reference to IR, Barolo, etc. DCist says he “partnered or managed” in IR: http://www.dcist.com/archives/2004/08/26/trouble_on_21st_st_galileos_woes.php
Yeah, Roberto definitely crapped the bed big-time on Iron Chef. Not only have I never seen someone not finish their dishes, I’ve never heard the announcers (on either the original or American versions) actually be openly critical of what a chef is doing.
The Iron Chef performance was pretty disappointing. And I’ve got to say, after several trips to Galileo, the place is overrated. Certainly better Italian can be had in the city for less money.
But the lunchtime grill is great, as are his cooking classes. And I’ve heard that dinner in the laboratorio is pretty amazing.
Galileio had very good food the one time I went (Restaurant Week), but the staff treated us like something that crawled out of the garbage. One of those places that should have a “Rich Folks Only” sign out front.