Espositos Pizza’n Pasta the Original

I’ve been a regular since they opened. Everything is delicious but they prepare fish exceptionally well. Their pizza is the best in town. Cappuccino pie is my favorite dessert.

I truly love this place. Some of the best Italian food in the DMV. It’s a family place. No frills just some of the best sauces around. So happy we discovered it reminds me of the Italian joints I ate in growing up and the gravy reminds me of my gram. If you want good food you have to check it out. Bonus the prices. We ate dinner for two with appetizer for under $ 40.

I’ve lived in Fairfax for a long time and I can’t believe how long it took me to find this place! My family went here for the first time for pizza and we all agreed… best pizza we’ve ever had. Good service too. This is now our go-​to place for pizza. :)

I came in here on a Saturday afternoon. It was my first time at Espositos. A friend mentioned I should try it sometime that it was a «hidden gem.“The place was everything you’d imagine. It was a very quaint and cozy little Italian restaurant. Our server Giovanna greeted us immediately as we walked in and sat us at a table by the window. Giovanna had great energy and recommended the calamari to start off with and it was perfection. Not overly fried or dripping with grease like most places around here. I tried the veal Marsala and my girlfriend had the clam linguine with a side of caprese. They were absolutely amazing!!! The veal wasn’t over cooked and the sauce was to die for! The pasta was home made and the marinara was made fresh earlier that day. Even if you’ve never eaten at another Italian restaurant before you could taste the difference in the freshness of it all, it was so delicious!!! To finish our meal we had a slice of their tiramisu cake that had been made earlier that day. Moist and fluffy to perfection again. I had a chance to meet the chef as he was very interactive with the guests. Extremely kind gentlemen no need to seek approval for his masterpieces because the empty plates were confirmation enough! Can’t wait to go back and bring the whole family next time!!!

Best Lasagne I have ever had, good atmosphere, a bit pricy. Love the service and totally professional

We love to get the pizza here. The pizza bianco and the calamari/​shrimp and the meats. It’s especially good when we have coupons from the
magazine. Everyone is very friendly and the pizza is a thin crust with great toppings that aren’t too greasy. I love the entrée salad because it comes with marinated carrots and vegetables that are absolutely delicious. The eggplant parmesan and the chicken/​pasta and veal dishes are good as well. We had the soup once that was so salty we had to send it back, but that exchange was uneventful. It will continue to be a go to place for us.

I’ve eaten here many times since discovering in 83 – 84; food and service has always been very good. I especially like the marinated carrots/​celery in the salads. Relaxing setting and good food!

The Espositos Italian restaurant has been around in Fairfax since ’82. Some dear friends, the hubs, and I came here to have lunch, and we were all pleasantly surprised! The menu offers items such as Panini al Forno (subs), Frittate (omelettes), soups, salads pizza (in piccola or in grande sizes), antipasti, pasta, main entrees, as well as desserts. We started off with some antipasti/​appetizer plates: the Mozzarella in Carrozza (fried mozzarella with anchovies, these were large block patties of lightly breaded mozzarella cheese with a light olive oil/​butter sauce — I really liked the salty bits of anchovies that comes with!) and the Zucchini Fritti (fried zucchini; these were super lightly battered, and I personally was not a fan of these; the light marinara sauce it came with was a great complement for the fried mozzarella, though!). For our entrees, I tried their Spaghetti Carbonara (spaghetti with onions, eggs, and pancetta ham — the pasta was cooked perfectly al dente, and the dish was pretty overwhelming in terms of the amount of pancetta! It was a good, slightly salty dish!); the hubs had the Fettuccine Romana (homemade flat pasta in cream sauce; this could have been more creamier and cheesier, as it was a bit too bland for me) and the Gnocchi Bolognese (potato dumplings in meat sauce — this was literally one of the best gnocchi dishes we’ve had! The dumplings were pillowy-​soft, cooked wonderfully, and it had some cheeses in there (but, not too much) that made it perfectly melty and yummy — this dish was delicious!); the friends had the Spagetti alla Polpetta (spaghetti with meatballs) and the Linguine Vongole (linguine with clams in tomato sauce). The complimentary bread was soft with a nice little crust, and the salads that came with the pasta dishes were super fresh and tasty! Those marinated sliced carrots are out of this world (I kept stealing the hubs’) AHAHA At the end, we enjoyed a delicious tiramisu, that was of perfect temperature — it was creamy, light, fluffy, airy, and had a great balance of the creaminess and the espresso flavors! Our server, Ms. Esposito, was super awesome — she was friendly, welcoming, and made sure that our beverages were always refilled and our dishes were great. This restaurant is definitely a little gem, and I would love to go back and try out their subs, pizzas, and their other pasta dishes. Check this place out! :D
+yummy salad with marinated sliced carrots!!! :D
+Gnocchi Bolognese!!! :D
+Tiramisu!!! :D
+ask for Ms. Esposito: D
+friendly service!

30 years as a loyal visitor. Always a source of comfort food – and welcoming staff. After a four month trip, it was our first stop after dropping off our bags.

Since the first time was too good to be true, I went to Esposito’s for a second time.
Oh boy, it was horrible.
I have never felt the way a did.
We sat and waited for at least 10 min to order drinks. Then I decided to complain because that was unacceptable.
So, someone came (not friendly at all) to take our my order.
I waited for ao long that the last thing I wanted to do was to order food. But I did. I skipped drinks because I was no longer in mood for it.
I order a salad and pasta. I was eating my salad and my server came and tried to take it away from me (I was holding my fork.)
I don’t if because I was already disappointed with the place, but my food was very blend. As a great Italian, of course o ordered pasta. But I wished I had not gone to Esposito’s that day.
P. S. since I had two different experiences there, I may go for another try.

Great little family run Italian place. Actually angry with myself for not having tried this place sooner. The marinated carrots in the salad is a nice, unique touch. The veal parmigiana was excellent. Kids had pizza which was very good too. Highly recommend!

This is a nice, spacious, old-​school style Italian restaurant. There’s nothing overtly formal or fancy about this place, and sometimes that just hits the spot. It’s homey, unintentionally verging on kitsch, and charming in its lack of pretension. It’s comfortable enough for families or groups of friends, but quiet and nice enough for a casually romantic evening that aims to be intimate but not intimidating. They have booths, which I am a huge fan of. The décor, the service, and the food are retro — you won’t find anything innovative here and you’ll be happy to discover that you’re not missing a thing. All the classics are served, and they’re all great. My personal favorite is Pollo Francese with a side Caesar salad. The service is impeccable, and lends an old-​world European vibe.
I’d love to try their pizza, but I’m still hooked on my favorite chicken, and everyone I bring there is hooked on their own favorites for the time being. I wish that they would offer pizza by the slice so I could test what they’re offering without making a full commitment to a pizza meal. However, I suspect that if they went that route, they’d be overcome by the students at the local high school which is in walking distance.

We’ve been going to this place for the last couple of years. The food and pizza are excellent. On our last visit two of us had the chicken marsala and the others had lasagna. All of the dishes were good. It definitely has the nice mom and pop atmosphere and our waitress (Gina?) was wonderful. Their outdoor seating is nice when the weather isn’t too hot. The pizza is baked in a wood burning oven and is awesome!

The spaghetti I got was pretty good. The atmosphere is very mom and pop and welcoming. Staff was genuinely move and friendly. Food came out pretty quick and came with a big salad and lots of bread. Great value! I will be back as their menu is very vast and extensive

We’ve been eating here for over ten years now and never had a bad experience. We went back last night for the first time in a while since we moved out to Centreville. It was exactly as I remembered it. Small, family style place with red checkered table clothes and carafes of wine. The gnocchi which is my favorite was excellent. My wife had it with a pink sauce that was not on the menu but they had no problem making it upon request. The fried cheese app was out of this world! We requested it with marinara instead of butter sauce and once again they obliged. Great food, great value, great service!

Delicious! The marinated carrots on the salad are good. Zucc with spinach, ground beef, mozzarella was good, too. Veal scallopini was delicious. Homemade bread buon.

This is the BEST and the ONLY truly authentic Italian restaurant in Northern Virginia! Se tu vuoi magiare cibo autentico d’Italia, vieni qua. Their pizza is a mix of Brooklyn style and actual Italian style pizza. And their Gnocchi Bolognese is incredible. Maria and Giacomo are excellent people and they do an amazing job running this incredible restaurant. If you live in NoVA and you haven’t been to Esposito’s, you’re truly missing out. This is some of the best food NoVA has to offer.

I ordered a large plain pizza to go. First of all, their large, and perhaps local large, is a medium pie by New York standards. Meaning, with eight slices, they are not very big portions. As for the pie itself, the sauce and cheese was actually pretty good. Unfortunately, the crust was very doughy with a dull after taste. As described by another review, it’s a very limp pie. I actually came here because they claim to have a brick oven; so, I was under the impression that the pie would have a firm outer crust. Not the case, just a soft crust along the bottom and very doughy inside. They charged $ 13.00, which I consider expensive considering the size of the pie.

I have been a customer of this restaurant since they opened in the early 80’s. These days is can be difficult to find a family run business. They have a reasonable price point, varied menu and the brick oven pizza’s are excellent.

This was our third vacation dinner based on Unilocal reviews and we are convinced again that trusting the locals is the way to go. So the outside was not overly grand but upon entering it was spacious and had lots of patrons eating. I noticed right away there was no kids menu and they said they could do half orders for my 7 yr old ($ 5.00 penne w/​butter, no drink incl.) The dinner salad was just enough with a great creamy Italian. I got the ravioli with cheese and spinach topped with a cream sauce, it was a good portion of 6, very filling. Hubby ordered gnocchi bolognese, the portion was medium. He said it was tasty. All in all the food was very good, the service was very fast, and priced accordingly. Our entire bill was $ 35.00. We highly recommend.