La Strada

Nice cozy little italian restaurant on the ave in Del Ray. It’s not quite 4 star. The steak and pasta dishes are my favorite but still fall short of what I would consider good italian considering the price.

No wonder this place is going under. Decent atmosphere, but mediocre, overpriced food. As we left, my lady and I not-​so-​coincidentally said the same thing to each other: «I would have been more satisfied at Chick-​Fil-​A.»
And she doesn’t even like Chick-​Fil-​A.
Honestly, this was a total waste of $ 40. I could have gorged myself on McNuggets for a week for what this place cost me, and those little gems of «chicken» would have been more satisfying than the food here.
I’m sad to see nice businesses leave Del Ray, as I love the area, but MUCH better Italian food can be found close by. I recommend Faccia Luna (don’t be fooled — their pasta is even better than their pizza) in particular.
Farewell, La Strada. Good morrow.

This is a cute little Italian place in Del Rey. We had 3 different entres and a couple salads at our table. Everyone liked their food enough, but no one was gushing about their dish. I was expecting something just a touch more flavorful and memorable. The place is cute with a family-​owned vibe that felt warm and homey.

I enjoyed my dining experience at La Strada on Saturday.
I liked the ambiance of this restaurant. It suited my personal taste. It was small with simple décor. (I love restaurants aren’t pretentious.) Although, it is a small space the restaurant does a good job of trying to give you a private dining experience. Our waiter was also very attentive.
I enjoyed my pasta primavera. It was the perfect amount of pasta and vegetables (for a vegetarian such as myself). The wine was reasonable and also very good. My dining companion felt the portion of his spaghetti and meatballs was a little smaller than he expected. However, the quality of food was good for both of us.
I recommend this as a place to go, if you’re looking for a somewhere that is vegetarian friendly but also has meat options. The quality of the food for myself and my dining companion on both sides of the spectrum was good.
I went to this restaurant to redeem a voucher. I would say with the price of the voucher the food and experience was good to better than average. However, without the voucher it would have been a expensive meal (which, I do understand is partially due to the location of this restaurant). My feeling is I would go back to this restaurant for a special occasion or with guests from out of town who might be interested in seeing the Del Ray area. As a regular dinner spot, it is a little too expensive for me.

Good food, reasonable prices, very good service. Repeat customer, and will be returning to this local haunt for future dining. Never a bad meal. Kudos to management, staff, and the cooks!

The one time I was there, service was very slow. Over an hour before dinner served. We were told by the owner that they took a large carry out order that they probably should not have. They sent over a glass of wine each «on the house». When we got the bill, they charged us for it. The food was not worth the price.
Have not been back.

Wonderful find for patio space and twinkle lights (always a fan). The homemade pasta was very tasty and decent prices on wine by the glass. Attentive friendly staff and an overall welcoming spirit to the place. Charming little find and great for date night or just wine with friends.

We had great Friday night date here. Great service, food was fantastic, and they even fit us in before our reso.
Will definitely recommend to friends!

La Strada’s Cavatelli noodles were easily the best I’ve had in a long time. The soft egg and distinctively fresh noodles were a joy to nibble on, even individually from all of the other savory components in this dish; such as prosciutto, peas and hard boiled eggs — all of which sat together under a thin blanket of grated parmigiano cheese.
The charming atmosphere is one of the reasons why I will be back for another dinner under their romantically lit outdoor seating area. Almost as if you were having dinner in a quiet sliver of an alley in Italy, the ambience and traditional Italian food will have you feeling as if you fell through the cracks of Del Ray, and on to the door steps of a secret passage to Italy instead.
Sadly, the only reason I didn’t give this place a full 4 stars is because of the inattentive service. Not only that, but a server even chased my friend and I out of the restaurant to make sure we meant to over tip him. Service was a bit awkward, and our waiter unfortunately never gave us any bread, or offered to refill our drinks. however the food and atmosphere was wonderful, and I will be back hoping to receive better service next time.
For photos from La Strada, check out the full review here:

I had always been intrigued by La Strada, but never ventured in until I saw a new consignment wedding dress store set up shop next door. That is what finally got me past the invisible line of Evening Star Café that divides those restaurants which I frequent from those that I am ashamed to say I neglect.
The space itself is adorable. I felt as though I was whisked away to a hole-​in-​the-​wall restaurant in Florence. It’s a very relaxed atmosphere, where one feels as though he or she can stay for hours drinking wine and not be bothered. Now, in the interest of full disclosure, that relaxation is both good and bad, the bad being that service is a little too lax for my taste. One man was very attentive with our dessert, but our main server went missing for long periods of time. He was very attentive with our wine choice, however. La Strada has quite the wine list and we had an amazing red blend wine which our server helped us choose. I also fully enjoyed being so close in proximity to our neighbors, since we were in the middle of two dates, and it was obvious it was early on into each relationship. Oh, how I love awkward getting-​to-​know-​you convos!
The food was just delicious. The bread was warm and delicious with the rosemary-​infused table olive oil. The calamari and arancini appetizers were perfectly cooked and wet our palates just enough to get us excited for the main course. I had the ravioli special which was stuffed with veal and accompanied with a morel sauce. I am always a sucker for anything with morel flavor. The ravioli was homemade and perfect. My boyfriend had the beef tenderloin which was very tender and flavorful. The sides of mashed potato and spinach were not forgotten and were also very well done. For dessert, we couldn’t decide between two, so we ended up ordering both the tiramisu and olive oil gelato. Both were good, but I was hoping for more booze in the tiramisu and more overall taste in the gelato.
Overall, La Strada is a great place for any night out; whether it’s a special occasion (they have a closed-​off front room for small parties) or relaxed dinner for two. And in the warmer months, they have an adorable outdoor patio! Perfect for sitting and sipping wine into the night.

Service was really slow but that could be because we came just after lunch. We hd to go to the back just to see if they were really open (nobody came out to greet or seat us so we were unsure). I had to find our waiter to ask for the bill.
Food was good. Not bad but not great. Didn’t knock my socks off or rock my world.

Just like the reviewer before me, I’m between stars. I’m going to go with a 3.5. I went here with my husband last night (Friday).
I’d suggest you make a reservation! As other reviewers note, they expect it gets busy on the weekends, and it does. This place is a cute, cozy little house but the seating is limited and people take their time enjoying their food (as they should, it’s very good, I’ll get into that in a little bit). I called at 6:40pm to put my name in, their next reservation wasn’t until 8pm. We figured we’d give it a shot and show up and put our name in. We arrived at 7pm got seated at 7:45pm and were waiting with several other people without reservations. The host wasn’t the most friendly, which didn’t leave me with the very best first impression but the place smells great when you walk in so I didn’t really care.
I really liked the atmosphere and décor of the restaurant. Again, cute, cozy. It definitely seemed like a neighborhood place as so many patrons knew each other and the waiters and host. Ohhh Del Ray, you are so cute.
We enjoyed the food. My husband had the porkchop, which was recommended to him by the waiter. It came with sauteed spinach and mashed potatoes. He loved it and would have licked the plate if it wasn’t for those pesky «social norms» ;). I had the salmon with sauteed spinach and pesto. I love garlic and the spinach had plenty of it. The salmon was melt-​in-​your-​mouth delicious. I’d say it was a tad bit on the salty side, that may have come from the pesto. We had the flour less cinnamon cheesecake which was light and fluffy but the taste was forgettable.
A few tips: When you make your reservation, ask to sit as far away from the door as possible. It’s a small place and when you’re in the dining room, they have curtains to divide the «waiting area» (read:tiny hallway) from the dining room. But, when the door opens you can really fill the chill in the winter. I’d also avoid sitting in the front room on a busy night. They also have curtains for that, but that’s where the wine is so the waiters are constantly coming in and out of the tiny room to get drinks, and the «waiting» hallway is right there and despite the curtains, it could seem that all those waiting are standing right over you.
has a $ 25 certificate for La Strada which we used. The terms of the certificate are that the minimum purchase is $ 50, not for use on in-​house specials and that 18% gratitude is included on the original, not discounted, amount (as it should be). With the food we ordered and the certificate, our meal and tip came to $ 40 (as opposed to $ 65). Not bad for the quality of food! And, now we know we’ll be back!

I hate giving a place 3.5 stars. I find it especially silly when someone breaks it down to 3.75 stars. But I’m going to break my rule and do just that for La Strada. Heck, I’ll even give this place 3.625 stars.
It is a worthy restaurant here in Del Ray. It was a quiet night, Thursday evening, I think mostly because Del Ray kind of caters to the stroller crowds when dinning, but that was not a problem.
Cozy definitely comes to mind eating here. With La Traviata and other standard Italian music playing to add to the intimacy. I will say after reading about how good their bread is, I wish it was a little bit better, but I always fill up on bread so I had more room for their menu. House wine goes for around $ 7 per/​glass.
Their fried calamari and spicy marinara sauce was some of the nicest I can remember. Even my wife, who’s not a huge calamari fan enjoyed it. Very lightly fried and calamari was nice and tender, with good flavor. Dinner was not too extravagant. Wife went with spaghetti bolognaise and I had ravioli with truffle sauce The sauce had a very strong, reduced flavor it it which I did not mind. I wish the ravioli’s were filled a little more, but still nice, while the wife enjoyed her spaghetti, pasta was done well.
It’s places like this that makes the wife and I feel fortunate to live around Del Ray. It’s a perfect neighborhood spot where you can bring the kids and enjoy a family style meal, or leave them with a sitter and enjoy your surroundings.

Tiramisu… not what I want in a tiramisu.
Came here with the husband — we had a gift certificate purchased forever ago. It was a Friday night, waited about 15 minutes for first available table (not outside, unfortunately.)
Husband is vegetarian and we were hesitant to go after seeing the menu. But once inside the server let us know that everything is made to order so it’s not too hard to leave out meat on some entrees.
Everyone was very nice, just slow service. Took a while to just get water and some bread. But then we saw the diners next to use get their orders in record time, so we waited to order our entrees til after getting our appetizer so we could enjoy the place.
Eggplant «sliders» — good — got the meat on the side for the husband.
Pappardelle pasta with chicken ragout — fresh pasta was excellent. I wasn’t sure about the sauce and asked the server «is it mostly tomatoes and chicken, or are there other vegetables?» Server and I didn’t connect — it’s not a tomatoey sauce at all and that’s what I missed. Lesson learned to really ask in depth.
Husband got the fava beans and gnocchi. I was a fan (lusting over that dish when not loving my own) but he was meh. For him, nearly $ 20 on pasta better rock his world.
And I was tempted to try the Tiramisu. For me it’s like Pad Thai — have to try it wherever I go. For me it wasn’t moist enough. Didn’t taste coffee or seem that the cake was soaked at all. Tangy filling, which was nice, but seemed to be made with one sheet cake for each layer/​not slices of cake or lady fingers lined up next to each other.
We may give it another shot, but probably only if there’s a special listed outside that catches our eye. Or if the folks are in town and treating — if we’re going to spend $ 70 on a meal, rather it be at Cheesetique.

Total can of «Meh».
After sitting down, we were informed that the menu was limited due to a wine event that was taking place inside. They were offering a pre fixe menu for $ 30, with a selection of 4 entrees. The menu and the waiter seemed to imply that this limited menu was all that was offered during weekdays, but the information from our server was so confusing we never really figured it out. Of the limited four entrée selections, they were out of one, leaving only 3 pasta selections available. They were kind enough to offer a beef tenderloin as a substitution, but I still felt slighted by the highly restricted options. This isn’t the Soviet Union. I generally expect to sit down in a restaurant and have some choices, not a restricted menu which is not even really available. «Let’s just hope you like the substitution we offer you…» is not a great way to run a restaurant.
The beef tenderloin was a nice cut of beef, and the potatoes were well seasoned. But the presentation and overall sense of the meal was rather underwhelming (though the quality beef was a nice start). The gnocchi pesto with fava beans gets props for the addition of fava beans, but the homemade gnocchi was overcooked, and the pesto was bland. I found the fava bean addition to add nothing to the dish.
Any restaurant gets major props for offering a ricotta cheesecake, but this was (with the caveat that I am a major ricotta cheesecake snob) exceedingly meh. I was quite unimpressed.
The service was friendly, but sloppy. Despite the fact that the restaurant was nearly empty, I could not order a second glass of wine until I had nearly completed my entrée. There wasn’t even a single «thank you» at the end of the evening, despite the fact that saying thank you is pretty much the most essential aspect of the job (I should know).
Finally, the patio was disturbingly sparse and bare. A single plant would have enhanced the ambiance greatly. Given the size of the patio, I am surprised that this has been overlooked.
Overall, this restaurant strikes me as the kind of place that took potential and squandered it with extreme sloppiness.

Small. Authentic… Reservation really recommended
I had the daily special, a fish, believe it was a trout. We made a reservation and still had to wait for extra 15 min, the maitre’d apologized thrice, and it was OK because the restaurant being small and people wouldn’t really leave if it is a party or a good conversation…
The bread was good. food-​authentic, no doubts on that… one of my friends had a pasta which tasted good… had the mushroom for appetizer which was huge in size but tasty.

Oh, La Strada, what has happened to you?
Perhaps your Gamberoni alla Siciliana and gnocchi are still wonderful and deserving of those original 4.5 stars, but everything else I’ve tried since I first visited you has been pretty much a miss or nothing special.
I’ve never seen such a small portion of mussels before. My ravioli al tartufo was undercooked and had hard edges. The portion was tiny as well, with black truffle shavings that had somehow lost all their flavor or were overwhelmed by the veal stock based sauce. The dish had no truffle flavor whatsoever. The fresh mozzarella was underwhelming with a hard bumpy texture, but those balsamic roasted cherry tomatoes were the star. The dessert menu has largely disappeared and is now a much simpler, less authentic variety of items kept on a stand at every table. However, the gelato and chocolate mousses were quite delicious — the mousse being rich and so airy. It surprisingly made me feel full finally despite how light it felt on the tongue.
I still love the warm, family run atmosphere. And I still love that you’re a fixture of the neighborhood. But if I go any more times, I won’t have any stars left to knock off :(. 2.75 stars overall.

What a find (and I found it on the Unilocal iPhone app!) After a run in Alexandria a friend was craving pasta and in our search for local Italian restaurants we stumbled upon La Strada. At 2pm on a Sunday both the brunch and regular menu were available leaving plenty to choose from. Learning that all pasta (expect penne), breads and even the mozzarella was made in house I was torn for choices. My friend opted for the pasta carbonara and I had the bruschetta and caprese salad — all were delicious. The ambiance was cozy, staff was pleasant and décor was pleasing.
Note: They have a separate dining section that seats 8 – 10 in a semi-​private area up front by the window (which I vow to return to) and a terrace with outdoor seating.

I will be one of the few dissenters… We tried La Strada for dinner tonight (a Sunday). While we were sat quickly on the patio everything pretty much went downhill from there.
Bread & Salad: The bread they brought to the table was cool enough that it might have come straight out the fridge. We ordered the ceasar salad — they are trying too hard to be fancy here. Very little dressing, no croutons.
Entrees: We didn’t finish them, we didn’t take them home. I got the Fussili con Zucca, Keith got the spaghetti with meatballs. Both were extremely bland and the spaghetti sauce was likely out of a jar.
Drinks — our drinks were never refilled during our visit
All this for $ 58. It was one of the worst restaurant experiences we’ve had in a long while.

I came here and sat outside in their cute patio area.
We started with the caprese, which is probably a little early seasonally since we didn’t seem to get the heirloom tomatoes. For a $ 10 appetizer, you only get 4 tomato slices but a decent portion of lumps of mozzarella. They sprinkle some fresh pesto sauce on top, which finishes the dish nicely.
For entrée, I ordered the seafood stew and my friend ordered the tomato pappardelle with lobster. The broth of the stew is on the clear side, but has an incredible flavor. The calimari and salmon were fresh and the mussels were quite large. I would definitely get this dish again. My friend gobbled up the lobster and pasta quickly, so quickly that she sang the dish’s praises with her mouth full.
My one complaint is that we had to wait too long to get our entrée. Otherwise, the service was good and they kept refilling my water, which is a big thing for me.
Note: WAMU member card holders get buy-​one-​get-​one-​free entrees here!