Edo’s Squid

Edo’s squid has got to be the worst kept secret hole in the wall pasta joint in all of Richmond… That is if the lines of well heeled patrons all politely waiting their turn to cop a squat in this ultra minimalist
, raucous and rather sweaty top floor joint is any indicator… and quite a popular one at that.
Edo’s apparently was a old timey Italian pasta joint if the faded photos hanging along the treacherously steep and dark staircase was any indication but when you open the faded door hung with a dust mop and broom the wall of sound hits you like a bitch slap…
It has morphed into a kibbutz like co operative of extremely talented restaurant veterans that produce some of the best Italian and French inspired food in Richmond.
This is a small room with about 160 seats all crammed together in a hard walled room in need of a paint job, window coverings, better lighting and a functioning HVAC system… but all is forgiven when the food hits the table…
Fried oysters and Duck salad to start…
Oysters were of the two bite verity and were sweet, creamy and briny with a light panko coating, only in need of a squeeze of lemon to reach their fullest potential.
Duck salad consisted of a whole Duck leg confit over a arugula, sultanas, blue cheese salad with a simple vinaigrette… fatty, salty, tart and funky all at the same time… great.
Mains were a overindulgent brace of grilled pork chops in a sauce that defied identification. but all I can tell you is that they were tender, savory and the sauce held rosemary, brown sugar and a surfeit of booze… served with a bit too salty white bean and ham side.
Next was the whole fried quail with fried polenta and a side of those overly salty white beans and ham again… good but not great.
Also was the duck with polenta and baby Lenten salad… Good but we just had the same duck confit in the salad so rather a let down.
Now it occurs to me that the menu and special board are conspicuously short on dish descriptives so instead of duck breast in a dish a comfit will have to substitute as that is what is prevalent in the kitchen at service.
The pasta dishes are absolutely frightening in their size and apparently quite popular, bar is so cramped that consuming a whole cocktail without spilling half on your shoes is a enviable feat and service can be perfunctory at best in such a overcrowded and overheated restaurant… {“You had the duck sausage alone… In this restaurant… you sure?}.but It’s worth it folks.
These kids work damn hard to give you a memorable meal at a reasonable price in tired venue and still manage a smile… I like Edo Squid and you will too… just keep an open mind.

With rolling blackouts crippling the city of Richmond, and with no ac or frier in operation, edo squid was put to the test … And let me just say that they passed with flying colors. They didn’t have the fried calamari (they offered to sauté it which I’m sure would have been just fine) so we stuck to the white bean salad and arugula which is godly. You wouldn’t believe the diversity of flavor. You get sour, sweet, and charred all at once. We ordered a family dinner where you get five entrees to share I believe. And wtf edo I didn’t know you had such tender rockfish! It was so effing good. Anyways, every time I come here I continue to be surprised by new dishes.
In the face of adversity you prevailed and you will continue to be one of my favorite restaurants.

I don’t know why this place is rated so high. I came here to celebrate a milestone birthday with friends and it was bad all around. First red flag:
We called to make reservations and when we got there we had to wait over 30 min. What is the point of taking reservations if you can’t keep it. Second red flag: If you come here be ready to hear a lot of noise. I mean a lot! It was so loud I could barely hear my friends at the table. This is not a quite cozy place. At least not on a Friday night. The space is super small and you will bump into the person behind you. Third red flag: our waitress was slightly rude and seemed to rush us. Seemed bother when we asked her to explain some of the items on the menu. Finally, my dish was too salty. So again, why is this place so great? Avoid

Finally had a chance to try this Richmond establishment on a busy Sunday night. I called that day for a table of 4 at 6:00pm and luckily they were able to accommodate us because this place was popping! And with good reason: food is simple but delicious and fabulous for group meals.
ANTIPASTO
–Mixed Green Salad: simple but delicious with cukes, carrot rounds and watercress; you dress the salad yourself with the oil and vinegar on the table
–Broccoleti di Rapa: broccoli rabe with pine nuts, garlic, and red pepper which was a stand-​out dish for me. So much flavor packed in those veggies, I could eat that dish everyday.
PASTA (choice of penne or spaghetti)
–Pasta with marinara and eggplant: eggplant itself was okay but the sauce is outstanding
–Shrimp fra diavolo: tons of perfectly cooked, sweet shrimp swimming in a spicy red sauce
–Sausage, ricotta, broccoli rabe: red sauce based which I didn’t expect but it was very flavorful with the sausage and broccoli
Portions are incredibly generous and it’s best to eat «family style» that way you can try everything. I’m eager to try the Eggplant Parmesan (they ran out that night), Braised Fennel, and their fish specials the next time I return.

Visiting VCU students from DC, our daughter suggested Edo’s Squid. I called on a Friday morning, securing a reservation for five at 7:00 and was told our meal would be served family-​style with four entrees and unlimited appetizers. We climbed a stairway redolent of garlic and oil (good sign), and entered a very loud small space packed with tables and people (another good sign other than the noise part).
The fried calamari; brocollini w/​garlic, pine nuts, and red pepper flakes; and roasted red peppers with fresh mozarella were outstanding and hints of what was to come. My test of great Italian is the ability to pull off something as simple as clams in garlic and oil (white) sauce served over pasta. Perfection! The mussels and pasta were succulent in their garlic-​y goodness. We raved over the eggplant parmesan and its ability to avoid the oily slime it descends to in lesser kitchens. The pasta carbonara was toothsome with just the right balance of subtle flavors. We were stuffed at about $ 22 apiece (without alcoholic beverages) and carried home some leftovers. Terrific meal!
If only the decible level could drop about 20. My meter pegged over 80 consistently. This is no place for the hearing impaired unless they can tolerate clamor in exchange for great food simply prepared.

Second time there/​first time about a year ago. Horrible service then/​this time as we were being seated, we felt the same chippy attitude as before– looked at each other and said «let’s go»
Heard others have same experience. Who needs to spend money in exchange for arrogant service etc… Lots and lots of wonderful places to dine in RVA. No need to go here.

So there were 3 of us for drinks and dinner. I will say that the food was amazing. Great combinations and the flavors that resulted were outstanding. This what we ordered.
To start: Lentils, Squid and white bean, Ramps, and fried Skatewings.
Main Course: Veal Scallopine, Softshell Crab, Hanger Steak.
Dessert: Cannoli.
I did give this restaurant 4 stars only because the service was a bit lacking. All in all I do recommend. Enjoy!

Portions are very generous. 1 plate is enough for 2. The Karl is for garlic lovers. The sausage with broccoli rabe is very good, not heavy or saucy. Fried squid is served hot and crispy, not soggy. The oyster stew is «milky» and watery. The lentil soup is tasty; the grain harder than what I’m use to.

I’ve been getting into the habit of reviewing places way after the fact. (My bad!) I went here on a lunch date a couple months ago and ordered the clams white with spaghetti.
The presentation was rustic and beautiful as usual. The clams were perfect and tasted really fresh and flavorful. The rest of the dish, on the other hand, paled in comparison.
The white wine sauce was very watery and didn’t have much flavor at all and just desperately needed more time to reduce. As for the spaghetti noodles, my sentiments have not changed. (If you would like, you can reference my previous review for more details.)
To sum up the dish: delicious clams served in a vehicle of sad, bland, rubbery spaghetti. I ended up just picking out all the clams and eating around everything else. Would order the clams sans pasta.

3 stars because the food was exquisite! The Mrs and I had the same dish with different pasta (she-​spaghetti me– penne) garlic, mushrooms, spinach, cheese. It was delicious!
HOWEVER, I have a few concerns about my dining:
1. Very tight space restaurant. Barley enough room to get to your table.
2. Deafening restaurant noise when large parties are there. (Impossible to hear your company without leaning across the table half way and yelling)
3. Bring a winter coat! If you’re not drinking heavily the restaurant will be FREEZING to you.
4. If they are busy, be willing to wait for your food, longer than expected for a regular restaurant.
5. If they are busy, don’t expect immediate service from your server. (There were three servers and one bus person on a PACKED Wednesday night.)
6. If you order a appetizer, your food will settle before you get your main course, and they give you a lot to eat. (Be prepared to take some home.
I enjoyed my meal, flavorful and delicious but the other experiences made my first visit unpleasant. Even the couple next to us (from out of town) had the same complaints. Worth the food trip but I won’t sit in anymore at dinner time.

Excellent! We ordered fried calamari, squid with garlic/​lemon, caponata, and branzino. Everything was delicious but branzino was remarkable. I would love to return next time in Richmond to try some of the other items on menu. Nice selection of wines and beer. We ate early around 4:30 pm so not crowded then but it was starting to fill by 6pm.
Don’t be put off by exterior (initial we thought the place had closed down not realizing it was upstairs) and dingy carpeted stairs. Service was also pleasant and prompt.

I heard a lot about this place and wanted to try it out. Walked in on a Thursday night around 8. The place was expectedly packed, but the noise level is what really stood out. It’s been a years since I remember a place this noisy.
Service was bad. I realize it was a busy night, but the waitstaff was indifferent and really couldn’t care less unless you were super cool. I guess I wasn’t cool enough for their attention.
Food was unevenly salted where parts didn’t have any and other parts with so much salt that it was inedible. You figure that a restaurant with a reputation as this place would have their kitchen down to a point where this wouldn’t be an issue. I doubt it’s ineptitude, but probably more of a case of indifference similar to their waitstaff.
Would I come back? No way. Similar to the people working at this place, I don’t really care much about the food here. There are many other excellent places to eat in town.

Fabulous! Try the skate wing! I can’t say enough about the skate wing! I wasn’t a fan of the chowder simply because the broth was thin! The flavor was excellent and it was full of seafood and veggies! The sea bass was impeccable! Service is impeccable! Lyndsey is an incredible server! Will definitely try this place again! Don’t judge the place from the outside!!! Go upstairs and open the door with the brooms hanging on it! You won’t regret it!!! The tiramisu is the best I’ve ever had! Even in Italy!!!

Good Italian food in huge portions, just off the VCU campus, I can see why it is so popular. When I was in college, a place like this with reasonable prices and the chance to take home half your dinner to have later was guaranteed to be a hit.
We started with the trek up the worn stairs to an unmarked door beside shelves of cleaning supplies, I think to create the illusion of finding an unknown little trattoria. We got there early for dinner after a theater matinée show, so no problem getting seated, we could pick our table. The dining room has lots of windows, table seating at maybe a dozen 4-​place tables lining the walls. There are lots of smaller tables in the middle that could readily be moved together to create seating for larger groups, although they are too close together if you are just a twosome. When we walked in the door, I was tickled to see a table with a huge pile of garlic cloves and 2 cooks sitting and cleaning them for use — so much fresh garlic! We seated and then unfortunately met our waiter, who turned out to be nearly rude, barely sparing a few words to explain a couple dishes on the menu.
On to the drinks — I ordered a Campari and OJ, to bring back the zen of a happy visit to Italy — my drink of choice there. Nicely done. We didn’t get wine but I did love seeing the cheap bottles served to the table with short juice glasses, nice touch of authenticity. The warm bread and dipping oil on the table was so good.
Specials are on poster paper on the side wall, a little hard to see from some chairs so a dinner companion read it off for us. We ordered mostly pasta dishes from the main menu, choose your sauce and whether you want spaghetti or penne. The pasta was so-​so but the sauces were out the ordinary, I had a puttanesca sauce, chunks of tomato, capers, olives and yes please with the optional anchovy. A friend had the gorgonzola sauce which was good but too strong to have a heaping plate of it all at once. We wanted more bread and our waiter had disappeared.
Ready to go and still our waiter was nowhere to be found, so finally we stopped another waiter to get the leftovers boxed up and get our check. Still our waiter didn’t come by — seriously this place is not that big and we couldn’t flag him down from across the room — so we finally left and handed him the check and cash on our way out. I know, it’s a college location and hip but I prefer quality over quantity and a more complete dining experience.

One of the best restaurants in Richmond. The Karl is my go-​to dish. I also love the arugula salad, and the fried calamari is absolutely fantastic.
Some of these reviews mention how busy/​loud/​dark it is but I’ve always found that its difference really adds to the atmosphere. If you don’t want the loudness, go early or go for lunch. Edo’s always has high quality food and I’ve never had a bad dish here.

The pasta dishes are excellent; they know what they are doing. Service is professional. Atmosphere is nice. Value is spot-​on. I don’t order the pricier dishes, which I’m sure are good, I’ve always stuck to the pasta.
I’ve heard complaints about the customer service, but frankly, I think people are expecting a backrub with their bolognese; the staff is professional and prompt. They aren’t friendly, thank God, they are professionals doing their job. Food is brought out as it should be, not cold, and with no mistakes.

Went with friends for a dinner, this was a Soup Nazi restaurant !! you get a lot of insults but the food is ok !!
Restaurant offers Family style, which means we can have any amount of 4 Entrees and any number of appetizers.
Ordered following (I am a vegetarian and only going to talk about the foods that I tried)
Broccoletti Di Rapa: If you like broccoli with a lot of salt in it, then this is for you.
Roasted Red Peppers: This was pretty good with an amazing Mozzarella
Entrees
Eggplant Parm: This was pretty awesome, very flavorful !!
Garlic Pasta: name of the dish was simple but I thought it would be a pleasant surprise, but I was surprised that it lacked a lot something important, Taste
Desserts were awesome !! if you’re a dessert person go for this, not a place for vegetarians !!
Not to forget be prepared to get insulted :)

This place is amazingly great! Lots of room to park a party. I would suggest calling ahead. The food is super tasty and if I lived closer I would probably eat there every other day. If you wanted to come here on your first date, I think your date would greatly appreciate it. It was a very nice ambiance and enjoy a good conversation while enjoying tasty Italian food.
My friends and I would always check out restaurant to eat at in Richmond, but when we like a restaurant, we would go back a few more times within the month. There’s always a crowd and the staff are friendly. Come here for the wonderful food and the great company.

We ordered the sea bass, spaghetti with crab, scallop chowder, duck salad, and calamari.
The best was the duck salad. Now that was SUPER yum.
The chowder was flavorful but wasn’t a thick chowder, as I would prefer
Calamari was your standard good calamari
The pasta was good pasta with lump crab meat
Sea bass was fresh and well-​prepared

Would Tony Soprano kill to eat here? I tink not, but whadya gonna do? The Squid is hid… up a narrow stairway that opens into a dark box. (To hide the lack of décor, perhaps). Think tenement chic. It is also as noisy as a sawmill. In fact a sawmill maybe quieter. I am not the first Unilocaler to so say although writing it is the only way anyone can get the message across. You can’t even hear the loud music over the din of diners. If you are proficient at American Sign Language, by all means, go here, you are in for a relaxing dinner out. However, notwithstanding the cacophony, its as busy as the one rest room at a frat party.
The Cocktail program consists of Beer and Wine. You can yell for your server to yell for the bartender to make you a standard simple cocktail from the book, if you insist. Why not have a glass of the 2013 Montepulciano and be done? Remember you have steep stairs to deal with when you’re finished.
The Bread service is out sourced to the Flour Garden Bakery and served cool from the fridge. The oven not working, boys? Dunk it in the Olive Oil and Balsamic on the table and relive your days in Chem class.
The Staff: College kids but our sophomore got all the answers correct except exactly what kind of oysters did a turn in the fryer before they came to the table. «They’re from Maryland, I think» said she. Me too, but I have a name. Okay… better than they’re from a farm in Nha Trang. To all the Unilocalers who are Black Haters for no particular reason other than they have a keyboard, there is nothing wrong with the service here. They’re just super busy running around like a pack of mad hamsters. We were waited on hand, foot and tummy, and because it was so noisy we were spared the «awesome» when we asked (yelled) for extra napkins.
The fried Oysters (whatever their names) were spectacular. A pile of hot and juicy creatures. (Sounds like a Saturday night at old Plato’s). They were huge, magically crisp and oh so oystery. Even though they were shucked off site, they were simply terrific. The Walrus and the Carpenter would have eaten everyone before they started their walk down the beach.
Edo cornered the market on Escarole (and salt as well). It comes as a braised hay stack with minced Garlic, Olive Oil, Anchovy, Chili Flakes, Pine Nuts, Salt and more Salt. Alas, it was a tangle of greens as salty as Bosun’s mate on leave. (Leave the Escarole… it was inedible). I felt like a ruminant after chewing and chewing and chewing like a browsing Hippo.
The Spaghetti with Sausage, Ricotta, and Broccoli Rabe was spot on, even if the noodles were not made in the kitchen. (Even Mario Batali doesn’t bother at Babbo). Here, the pasta was
al dente-​fied just right. There was a mountain of it and a flat plane of it when we plowed through it. Filling and hardy. A perfect dish for an Italian Well Digger. Hot, toothsome and requiring expando overalls.
The Oysters and the Pasta should elevate this noodle parlor to a 4 but Edo’s misses the mark by a whisper, although I think there may be someone’s Tuscan Grandma lurking in the kitchen somewhere like Oz working the levers because soem of what they’re preparing is just fine. Too busy, there is a tendency to cut corers instead of Gnocchi.
Can you find better Italian food? Sure. Just load up the V W Bus and head west to Alimento in LA. But if you’re in RVA you can say «Here’s lookin’ at you, Squid». Although no one will hear you.