Tavolata

I’m only speaking for the front bar areas. This is one of my favorite walk-​to places in Belltown. The happy hour is one of the best in the universe with large servings. The service is always right on, and the atmosphere is cozy. I usually go alone after work, get stuffed, and have enough left over for the next day.
Get there early to make happy hour. Sometimes there’s a line waiting at the door for them to open.

Ordered the beets with smoked trout salad — A+
Ordered the Octopus Pasta — A+
Ordered the Donuts for Dessert — A+
= Outstanding Ratings !!!
Will be back again soon :)

Great happy hour! Love the vibe of this place! Happy hour portions are enough to eat for dinner. Staff is friendly and knowledgeable about the menu.

Best Happy Hour in the city. Portions are huge, bartender is excellent and freindly.

Came here for our last dinner (I was craving pasta) in Seattle (my boyfriend and I were visiting from SF) and we did not leave disappointed.
Ordered beef carpaccio, wild mushroom with polenta, two pastas, and ended up the zeppole. Everything was amazingly good and fresh and the service was attentive.
Would definitely return next time we’re in Seattle and it may have been out best meal there (and not the most expensive).

I went to Tavolata on a date with my wife and we had such amazing service. Our server was extremely well versed with the menu and gave fantastic recommendations for what we wanted. Our food was fairly priced and the all the plates were on point with execution. We had such an amazing time, felt well taken care of, and everything was very tasty.

Wonderful food, service and value. The staff here treat you like a friend. They also give back to he community through organizations such as an Leukemia and Lymphoma Society appreciation night they hosted. Parking is a bit tough due to location though.

What a wonderful evening at Tavolata. I will never forget the amazing people who made my dinner at Tavolata possible.
It started in mid-​December with me reading an article about a brain dish served here on Halloween. I contacted the restaurant because a group from work wanted to eat brains. I was put in contact with Jen and Chef Addam. Over the next few weeks they helped me set my reservation and agreed to resurrect this brain dish just for my party.
On the night of the dinner my wife and I showed up 30 min early. The hostess was wonderful and quickly sat us even with out our party. We noticed Brain agnolotti on the menu as an app. The hostess did not say that was on there for us. but she did not deny it. I felt honored that we could help inspire the restaurant to bring back a dish for a few days.
As my party arrived the staff would come around and get our drink orders. Some of our party felt the service slow but I felt it was more of a dining experiece that needed to go slowly. It allowed us to talk. After I let them know our whole party was there they quickly got our order and food came fast. And the food was amazing.
Chioggia Beets: A refreshing appetizer of beets with smoked trout. By using the stripped beets the chef has cut some of the earthiness of a normal beet. The horseradish did not come through but the smoked trout parried wonderfully with the beet.
Beef Carpaccio: Anytime you can try beef carpaccio I recommended. Raw beef is always good and Tavolata is no exception. Wonderful light sauce lets the amazing flavor of the beef shine.
Arancini: Balls of creamy risotto that will make your mouth sing. A light crunch followed by the smooth creamy risotto. I could eat dozens of these.
Salumi Board: Great for sharing. Over a dozen thinly sliced pieces of charcuterie. All amazingly tasty. If you want a light app to share with friends this is the way to go.
When it came to dinner we found out that Chef Adam was making a special Brain agnolotti for us. Not only did we get the ravioli but fried brain was on top (more amazing news from this wonderful place)
Brain Agnolotti: This was the crowning dish of a wonderful dinner. The pasta was light with a wonderful tart huckleberry sauce. Sitting on top was a large chunk of brain that had been deep fried. If you have never had brain I recommend trying it. I don’t know how they get it ready here but the texture was almost like pudding. With a fatty flavor that melted on the tongue. Parred with the sauce it became something magical.
Others in our party had the spaghetti (huge bowl filled with cheese) and the cheese ravioli (light and flavorful.
My wife and if finished the evening with the pot de crème. A light hit of coffee brought this desert to an epic level. It was just the right amount of sweet to finish off an amazing evening.
To top it off the amazing dinner Chef Addam visited our table and stayed for a quick picture. It was a pleasure to see a Chef willing to take time away from a hectic dinner service to meet our group.
All in all I can not express how wonderful I found this restaurant. I know I will be back as will many in my party. To have such an accommodating and friendly staff paired with amazing food and an inventive chef you cant find better. I can say I saw the whole fish being cooked and it smelled and looked amazing. That will be what I try next time.

Came in to Tavolata last evening for dinner, and I was so impressed.
Upon entering, we were warmly greeted by the hostess, and, though we were a bit early for our reservation, were promptly seated at our table. We were a large-​ish party of 10, and the restaurant was busy, but the service was on point all evening long.
The food… oh my. We started with some apps, the salumi board (yum), beef carpaccio (so good), 0arancini (unreal), and the beet salad with smoked trout (YES.) For the mains, most of the party had the calf brain dish, which was a ravioli with with a garnish of fried brains on top. The dish was delightful, it had a nice balance of textures. I had the ricotta ravioli which was amazing, light and so flavorful. Chef Addam and his crew did a great job, and even stopped by the table to say hi.
The menu is pretty straight forward, but the dishes all have subtle complexities that make you want to come back again and again to try everything.

Calf’s Brain Ravioli… A-​M-​A-​Z-​I-​N-​G!!! Smooth, flavorful, and unique.
Tonarelli is outstanding! A perfect balance of flavors and texture.
Octopus Pacherri so yummy. Spicy, tender, delectable.
Papardelle is just wow. Like eating at your grandmothers house in Italy… Well, I would imagine anyhow.
Potato Gnocchi smooth, a bit heavy, but oh so lovely and the flavor is quality through and through!
You don’t need dessert, but the lemon donut holes are little clouds of goodness…

Given the rave reviews on this place, I was hoping for some semblance of a decent experience. I will be honest — I did not go in with high hopes because one person’s experience of 4 – 5 stars may not be mine.
Made reservations through
. Arrived 10 minutes early for our 7:30 dinner reservation and they were busy preparing our table… it took them 10 minutes and the rest of the party arrived. We were seated.
Server came by 15 minutes later to drop off water… no greeting or apologies for the 15 minute wait. She came back 15 minutes later to take drink orders and appetizer orders. We had to make sure we got our appetizer order in because we weren’t sure when she’d feel like coming by again. Appetizers and drinks nailed — score!
10 minutes later one of our appetizers appeared. It was the beet salad appetizer and it was the only star of our entire meal there. Everything else had already gone downhill. Our food came out relatively quickly and I was quite surprised.
The missing appetizer came out with our dinner.
I was not thrilled with my dish at all — ordered the ‘prawn’ and rigatoni. About 8 – 10 pieces of rigatoni with 3 very small pieces of prawns that really were shrimp. The prawns tasted mega bleachy and I was put off by it, but dammit, that dish costs $ 19 and I’m going to eat it all… and I did.
I thought I’d cheer myself up with their lemon zeppoles with chocolate ganache. There was a bitter aftertaste with the zeppoles. Almost like when they grated for the yellow zest, they got a lot of the white part, making it bitter when cooked. I ate 2 and called it a day. The chocolate ganache was the highlight of dessert. Everyone else at the table agreed I got the better dessert of that lot.
Hubby and our friends ordered the gingerbread… and it was a crumbly mess. One friend said the gingerbread was too strong while I felt it wasn’t strong enough. It was dry and I swear it crumbled when it was passed on to me for a taste.
Our server seemed very checked out and was distant to the point of rudeness. She did manage to get my husband’s dish removed because it was not vegetarian… after the first 3 bites her realized it was not vegetarian and stopped eating. It was the gnocchi.
Overall I was not impressed with the food or the service. I will, however, say that he hostess was the definite highlight of our experience at this establishment, which added one star on to what would’ve been a one star review.
Will I return? Maybe. However, not for a long time.

The Good:
Arrived at 6:00pm on a Friday Night and we were seated very quickly
Long table picnic style dining, doesn’t make for intimate conversation combined with the loud music.
The food we ordered was good up until the $ 31 fish they bring whole on a wood plank and ask if you want to filet the damn thing. Of course I said no and the waiter used a steak knife to do it and left me with a bony piece of fish prob got 4oz tops worth of meat off it and a bone stuck in my throat.
Maybe Im a cheap ass but for that $ 31 could do a lot more elsewhere.
Over all not very impressed.
If you don’t drink, don’t bother asking for an Ice Tea. They don’t have any.

Tavolata — I can’t wait to come back and visit you!
I was recently in Seattle for two days, visiting friends and playing tourist. My friend Colleen recommended grabbing dinner at Tavolata — and she couldn’t have picked a more spot-​on place for a great dinner and a bottle of wine.
1. The ambiance is really nice — and it has a nice active environment.
2. They have gluten free options — which was great for my friend.
3. The burrata was excellent — so delicious!
I had the rigatoni and my friend did the pork chop. We also shared some Fried Brussel Sprouts.
A great dinner option in Seattle — check it out!

The Hanukkah Bruschetta is delightful: Hanukkah because of the smoked fish topping that gives it that 1920s hard-​working immigrant Jewish flavor. It’s a New York bagel with lox packed into a lovingly Italian bruschetta– it’s a Liger.
The carpaccio has the PIZZAZ of pop rocks in the way that the sea salt crunches and the chili flakes pop.
Let the groovy, rustic ambience dance with each masterfully orchestrated bite. It’s love at first Bite, seeing as I am writing this review from the bar, before eating my pasta, moved to instant praise.

I’m a fan of Ethan’s restaurants over that Tom guy who charges an arm and a leg for consistently mediocre food.
Tavolata, for me, is just a HH spot. It goes until 7p and is priced far too well to go any other time. Throw in a glass of house red or white for the night and the two of you are out the door for well under $ 50 and you’ve just had one of the better meals in town.
Order any pasta with a red sauce and they’ll even mix/​match a bit for you if you smile and bat your eyes.
This is a bruh, want, squad, goals — free zone so bonus points for not catering to that type of clientele. For you restaurant week complainers and goers out there, F off because if you really want to enjoy a restaurant, go during a regular time for regular service as to what the owners/​chef envisioned, not some sale priced crap bringing out a class of people who don’t belong there.

We arrived to a packed house, but a cancellation opened up a seat for us upstairs in the loft. Intimate and secluded from the main dining room, we were given a few minutes of audible conversation until a birthday party showed up. Haha, regardless, there was much entertainment to be had.
We browsed the menu and decided to share the dishes family style, but first order of business was drinks. You know how I do! It’s been awhile since I’ve had a glass of red wine, so I decided to go with the Sangiovese. I don’t remember which one, but it definitely needed a bit of time to open up. As it had time to breathe, the wine mellowed out and was less bitter and spicy on the forefront. A little on the dry side, but balanced well with food pairings.
We started with the Burrata appetizer. It came with roasted Delicata squash, Ballard honey, hazelnut, watercress and prosciutto di Parma. With all the elements combined, you get the sweet and savory all in one bite. It’s a pretty decent portion for an appetizer too!
For our entrees, we chose two pastas to share. We had settled on the Rigatoni early on since it was simple and a familiar dish all around. Spicy Italian sausage, marjoram, tomato and parmesan. You really can’t go wrong with a classic.
Our other selection was the Paccheri, which is a large tube noodle, tossed in a tomato/​fennel/​sofrito sauce and served with Gulf prawns. Although I’m not the biggest fan of fennel, this was a dark horse on table. The sauce was tangy with a light hint of fennel on the back, while the paccheri noodles maintained its shape to hold the precious sauce.
Couldn’t be happier with the selections for the evening, but we had just enough room for dessert. Lemon zeppoles (small doughnuts) dusted with powdered sugar and served with a chocolate sauce. The lemon flavor was not very strong and it just tasted like a regular donut, but it was fun dipping them into a chocolate bath.
Honestly, probably the best and my most favorite meal while I was in Seattle! It definitely felt like a great welcome to the city.

This place has been on my «to try» list for a long long time, so this restaurant week was the perfect opportunity. Let me start with the most important part: the food. We got the bruschetta with pickled onion and smoked mackerel and the burrata for the appetizer. Both were really delicious and definitely whet my appetite, but I have to say that the burrata was mind-​blowing and might actually be my favorite part of the meal. For mains, we got the baked semolina gnocchi, which was swimming in amazing marinara sauce and made me feel like I was eating pillows, and the ditaloni, which had really unique flavor and some awesome bursts of meatiness with the beef cheek.
What really made the night perfect, though, was the service. Everyone from the hostess to our waitress was amazing, and that really made our night. Tavolata gets a huge thumbs up in my book.

Their atmosphere, staff and of course foods are all amazing.
They select nice wine which goes well with the food I ordered.

Extremely disappointed. I made a reservation for Seattle Restaurant Week almost a month in advance and was so excited to dine here!
We arrived and were quickly seated, the hostess assured us that our server would be with us shortly. 20 whole minutes passed without anyone acknowledging us– no drink orders or anything. We didn’t even know who our server was going to be! At that point we decided if no one came within the next 10 minutes we would leave. Then three employees walked by our table with menus still sprawled across it, and still no acknowledgment. I have never left a restaurant after being seated but the poor service we received was just unacceptable :(

Come during happy hour is a great way to sample some dishes at a cheaper price. Prices effective also in the patio area. Ordered the prosciutto de parma, papardelle, rigatonie, crème de pot, & doughnuts. Food was good. Drinks weren’t. Service was ok. Street parking.
Pics on Instagram @amanda.n_

Pssst. The best damn happy hour in Belltown is here. Daily from 5 – 7, $ 8 house made pastas, friendly servers, and warm ambience make Tavolata’s a perfect rendezvous after work to relax and be merry. Note, the happy hour menu only applies when seated in the bar area.

We kind of did a progressive dinner and ended up here for dessert only. We didnt have reservations as this place seems to be a reservation kind of place, but they were able to accommodate by sitting us at a community table. Some people dont like sitting community style, but shooooooot, Im totally fine with it.
Server was quick with drink orders and we ordered the Lemon Zeppoles. It’s basically donut holes. They are freshly made to order, dusted with powdered sugar and served with a dark chocolate dipping sauce. Definitely not a cakey dessert, pretty light and a flavorful, especially in the chocolate. You get about 15 – 18 balls so its perfect to share and a good way to end the night.
We observed a lot of other dishes coming out of the open kitchen, they all looked wonderful from the charcuterie plates to all kinds of pastas. The restaurant is bigger than I thought, good amount of tables on the sides, long community table in the middle with an upstairs dining area as well. Nice looking décor and slightly dark to set the mood. No issues with service as we weren’t there very long.

A bit underwhelming from start to finish, what a disappointment from one of my favorite celebrity Seattle chefs!
The best part of the meal was the pork belly appetizer. The highly rated lemon donuts were fresh but overall everything was quite standard and definitely not noteworthy. I was also unimpressed by the porkchop. The ravioli was atrocious — completely uncooked on the edges.

HAPPY HOUR REVIEW (every day 5−7PM)
I try not to eat a lot of pasta, but when I do, it better be delicious. Tavolata was so worth the carbs. Went for happy hour. Pretty much everything on the menu is $ 8, drinks (wine, wells) are generally $ 5.
Grilled little gem lettuce — an interesting take on salad as the lettuce is lightly grilled. Light oil based dressing, large flakes of parmesan. A little salty as it’s garnished with anchovies.
Seared scallop (special for the day) — this was one of the specials of the day. I’m so glad that I’m not a scallop person because, man, scallops are hella $$. But for $ 8, you get A seared scallop that comes with an amazing citrusy, oil based sauce sprinkled with hazel nuts, radish slices, and celery shaving.
Rigatoni — so the pastas are supposedly the same size as the regular menu pastas. Score. The sausage is just this a large patty that’s so flavorful, spicy, savory. The pasta was pretty well cooked, although some were a little undercooked. This one was unexpectedly my fav.
Pappardelle — maybe it was a mistake to try the rigatoni first because while this one was really good too, the flavor is a less strong and was over powered by the rigatoni. The pappardelle was softer and better cooked compared to the rigatoni.
Service was a little slow, but I wasn’t in a hurry so I didn’t mind. Overall, I really enjoyed my experience at Tavolata and will definitely be back soon.

My girlfriend and I went on a Belltown Happy Hour crawl with Tavolata being our grand finale and boy, were we blown away!
First of all, mad props to Tavolata for having a happy hour from 5−7pm, which is practically unheard of in Seattle, or anywhere for that matter. For all the places that have happy hour at 3pm, I ask myself daily, «who the heck can make a 3pm happy hour on a week day?»
The restaurant was dark, cozy and sleek yet still open and welcoming. I especially loved the front windows being open that allowed for tons of beautiful natural light in the bar area. We sat at a great sturdy, wooden bar top. Classy.
Before I even get to the amazing food, I just have to rave about our bartender/​server for the evening, Armin. He was genuine, helpful, informative and warm, setting the stage for one amazing meal and dining experience!
Our happy hour meal began with two cocktails, a warm beet salad, salumi board and torta frita. The warm beet salad with smoked goat cheese, pistachios and mint was earthy, fragrant and rich; perfect combination of flavors for a beet salad. The salumi board was simple and perfect, with a lovely drizzle of salt and olive oil over delicious prosciutto and Parmesan. Lastly, the torta frita, little fried pillows of dough, was perhaps one of the best things we ate all night. Imagine a savory beignet. And now you can start to drool.
We then ordered two pasta dishes (off the happy hour menu — $ 8!): the gnocchi alla romana and spaghetti. The spaghetti was a perfect al dente with the salty, spicy and tangy juxtaposition of anchovy, chili, and garlic. The gnocchi was not your typical gnocchi, but it was divine. Six huge potato pasta dumplings rested upon a bed of slightly spicy marinara then we topped with mozzarella and baked to perfection.
As if we didn’t have enough indulgence in our evening, we ended our fabulous happy hour with chocolate pudding with cocoa nib and lemon zeppole with rich chocolate dipping sauce (also off the happy hour menu!) The zeppole were TO DIE FOR.
I can’t wait to return to Tavolata! Best dining experience I’ve had in a long while.