Red, White and Basil

It’s times like these I wish 1.5 stars was available. I’m not sure what got this place a 4 star rating but, my food was not good. I ordered the linguine with pesto and chicken. The chicken was dry and there were a total of 4 small pieces. The pasta was gummy and not well mixed. There was a ball in the center where it had clumped together into a mass of chewy mess which wasn’t even particularly cooked. Had I not been so hungry my girl friends dog was in danger of becoming a meal this dish would have certainly ended up in the trash. Unfortunately for my stomach and taste buds I hadn’t eaten in roughly 20 hours. I powered through this pasta I could have made with expired ingredients and a blind fold on. The service was good and the food was ready when we came to pick it up which earned it the 2 star rating.

I cannot in good conscience recommend this restaurant. I could’ve bought a bottle of spaghetti sauce and boiled some pasta and made something tremendously better.
We ordered two pastas:
1. Gluten free penne with marinara and meatballs. I’ve had gluten free pasta at other restaurants and this was very starchy and had a chalky aftertaste. There was barely any marinara sauce to cover the pasta and the most bizarre part was it covered in large chunks of green onion. Not very Italian and very overwhelming on onion flavor.
2. Fettuccine pasta with pesto sauce and chicken which had an awkward gummy and sticky texture. This is a direct result of pasta sitting in water not hot enough. For a restaurant that prides itself on pasta, this was a basic cooking 101 mistake.
Will not return. I spent $ 33 and I’m not happy about it.

Okay, so let’s start with the food. Its pretty tasty. Homemade pasta of great quality and wonderful selection of sauces.
The issue is that they have a pretty small menu (the entire menu is built on choosing between two starters, several types of pasta and one dessert for $ 16). Im actually completely fine with small menus, but what happens there is that they make a lot of the same and push it to the table too quickly. In 20 minutes, they will give you 3 courses and the check. Its kind of taking a way of the restaurant experience. If it was a bar it was maybe appropriate, but its not.
Plus, there are several things that are missing from the menu and in my opinion are necessities at Italian places, one example being espresso, that would have went well with their one dessert but you can’t order it.
Ending again with the food, its pretty tasty so probably worth your visit.

This restaurant is brand spanking new and has really comfortable outdoor seating. Food was ok, although I’m not a fan of only having a fixed price menu. The reason they are only getting 3 stars is because it is fairly overpriced and they threw out half our leftovers when they packed them into the takeout containers.
More on the food. My pasta combo was delicious. Fettuccini with smoky shrimp and mushroom sauce. My gf’s dish, with chicken and vegetable sauce from the basil part of the menu, however, was totally bland. Cannolis are a lot smaller than you probably think.
I don’t think I’ll be back. it’s definitely overpriced for basic pasta! (But this is d. c)

Quaint restaurant. The food was good and the service was excellent. The staff was very friendly. The pasta wasn’t heavy so I didn’t feel guilty eating it. The ravioli was very flavorful.

Surprisingly great deal for a good quality DC restaurant, much less one just off the rowdy 18^th street Adams Morgan corridor. I appreciate any place that focuses on one primary thing and does it well (in this case, pasta). Good portions for good price, as well as a good and simple pre-​fixe menu. I always get bolognese as a standard at most pasta places as a way to judge the quality of everything rest. Everything tasted great, including the fresh fettucine (thick to the point of actually being papparedelle, which made me quite happy!). My friend was happy with the gluten-​free options. Outdoor seating made this an all-​around lovely spring dinner!

I really wanted to try this place for a long time because it really looks great from outside.
The waiter was very nice! Good location.
The soup was also good. But the rest of
food was just ok. The pesto sauce was plain. Another pasta dish was too oily.
No bread was offered or/​and served.
You can have a better pasta dish even at a chain restaurant.

Came in on a Sunday for brunch with a friend. Good customer service from start to finish. The Bruschetta was fresh and presented differently compared to other Italian restaurants I’ve been to. I enjoyed the shrimp and vegetable rigatoni with Arrabbiata (spicy marinara). I’m sure I will be back to try one of the pasta combinations with pesto.
Wasn’t a fan of the coffee.

Great food for a very affordable price! For $ 16 you get a three course excellent meal. I highly recommend the tomato soup as your first course. The ambiance is very beautiful and the service is excellent/​fast. The pasta is handmade and you can taste the amazing quality! I don’t recommend the bolognese sauce though. There is indoor and outdoor seating. I recommend trying!

3.5 stars for weeknight dinner.
Pros:
— Was able to walk-​in on a week night w/​o a reservation & no wait
— Delicious pasta
— Convenient location for Admo/​U-​Street dwellers
— Good salad as first-​course
— Good customer service
— Small, nice, relaxed atmosphere
Cons:
— Bread nice & crispy but bland
— Could do without the cannoli (small & not flavorful)
I’d say it’s a welcome addition to the neighborhood!

The first time I went here was for a Unilocal event, so I didn’t want to write a review about RW&B until I returned independently to get a somewhat objective opinion. Met a friend there at 8 pm on a Friday night, we gave a phone number for them to text while we wait as there are no reservations, and were told it’d be 40 mins. To kill time while we waited for a table we went around the corner to the Blagguard to get a few drinks. About 15 mins our phone went off saying our table was ready, maybe we got lucky, but it was cool.
The inside is pretty cool, the tables are made with plumbing pipes for an industrial feel (I dig it) and it’s a somewhat bit on the smaller side in terms of size.
So the deal is simple, $ 16 gets you a three course meal.
First course was a choice between a house salad or Tomato Basil soup. I went with the soup, and while my experience is limited to tomato soups at home that I can dip grilled cheeses in, I realized after the first spoonful that I’ve been doing it all wrong. Additional note, I crushed this soup, didn’t leave a drop.
So for pasta, you get an array of pastas, sauces, and meats. There are of course items you can add that will add to the cost, but you get the idea. I went with the Tortellini, Scampi for sauce, and shrimp. My friend went with tortellini, a spicy sauce which I have no clue what the name was, and sausage. I’ve got to say, enjoying mine quite a bit and having a bit of my friends RW&B is now a top pick in DC for me when it comes to Italian.
For third course was a cannoli, which I consumed and thought was nice however I was so stuffed by that point I probably will need to go back and try it again to make a fair assessment.
This is one of those reviews where I write it out of integrity, but hope few read it so I can continue to go there over and over again to try every combination of pasta they have.
All the pasta. Give me it all.

Oh man this restaurant was so disappointing! My friends and I had very high hopes for this restaurant since the pictures looked great and there were so many good reviews. The bread here is delicious. But the wait isn’t worth it. It’s nice that this restaurant sends the customers that are waiting to a cute little bar down the block to get 20% off drinks during the wait time but still not worth it.
The salad was ok, nothing to leave me wanting more. We ordered 4 different pasta dishes and they were all warm. My tortellini was not al dente, it was very firm and too chewy. My friend and I both ordered the tortellini and both dishes needed longer cooking times… so it wasn’t just me. The middle of the dish was warm and the outer noodles were cold. For a place that serves fresh pasta that’s 80% of the menu, you would think that the pasta would be the magnificent part of the meal. The primavera was just olive oil with charred veggies. I could have made better pasta at home.
I would not recommend eating here. Find another italian restaurant to try.
The restaurant is very small. Do not come here with more than 4 people. It’s a little room that can maybe accommodate 25 people.

This tiny little restaurant is so adorable! It’s very wood inspired/​Italian kitchen feel! Their system is you get a three course meal for around $ 16 or more. You can choose between a soup or salad, type of pasta, sauce, and a cannoli for dessert. Great flavors, delicious food, but I would also like to have the option of just one course for cheaper. All in all, delicious and will come back! Can’t wait!

For a place with uncomfortable, sardine’d seating predicated on quick meals, it sure is slow. For a place so buy, it sure is unclear why. At half the cost, and four times the speed, this would be a decent food truck.
The idea of the restaurant, quick service pasta, is much better than the execution. Service is slow, so you have plenty of time to feel your back ache from oddly proportioned stools, and use your elbows to fight off the diners crammed next to you. Everyone gets a salad or soup, why does it take so long to get them? Why aren’t they sitting ready?
The pasta is fine, it’s good even. By the time the pasta arrives, you’re hungry and harried enough it’s almost beside the point. The vodka sauce has a nice flavor, and the noodles are fully toothsome. And then the cannoli arrives.
And yikes, that cannoli is a terrible way to end things. The cannoli is a fried wrapper with icing stuffed inside. This is not a cannoli; even bad cannolis should use ricotta, or something that’s not pure sugar. Even being two bites big, the cannoli was too large and I left it unfinished.

Came here for dinner last night (Monday around 7pm) — I’ve been wanting to try this place since I heard that they opened. I came with two other people, and the staff was really nice about seating us in a comfortable spot. We got the table closest to the hostess podium against the window. They added a third chair on the end to accommodate our group of three. They don’t take reservations so I was a little nervous about getting a spot at first since the restaurant is so small.
First off, the décor is beautiful. They have this huge photo of these (possibly famous) women eating pasta, a big beautiful window so you can look outside at Florida Avenue and U-​Street, different jars against the wall on shelves, a small bar area, and an awesome logo.
The tables are pretty close to each other, but it didn’t feel smushed or as though anyone was invading my space. I thought it would when I first walked in, but everything ended up being alright.
The staff is really nice — the bartender seemed to know what was up, and the waiter looked like he was still figuring out his bearings, but they were both extremely helpful and great.
They do a three course meal option for $ 16 — you get either a soup or salad, then you get to choose your pasta and sauce, then you can add a protein or vegetables on top if you would like. Then the end with a cannoli for dessert.
Their menu is vegan friendly. They specifically say which items can be made vegan. It is confusing for vegetarians though, because they just write (v) — and made me question at first (before the waiter explained) whether some of their pastas were vegetarian or not.
I ordered the Tomato Basil soup as a first course. It was in a cute cup, and had some basil oil added on top for presentation purposes (and maybe also for flavor). It was good, just like any other Tomato Basil soup though.
Then I got the cheese tortellini with marinara sauce. The pasta was obviously made fresh, and made to perfection (in my humble opinion at least). There were some greens on top as a garnish, which made the dish pop.
For dessert they gave a cannoli, which also was obviously made fresh. I was pleased with this as well. It was light and didn’t taste too sweet either. It was a great ending to the meal.
The portion size of the dishes are smaller than what you would get at most Italian restaurants I’ve been to – but I liked that about Red, White, and Basil. I was able to pretty much finish everything. I got pretty full about halfway through the tortellini, but if I came really hungry I probably would have been able to finish it.
Overall, fantastic experience. I will definitely be back and bring guests in the future.

Wow! Great Italian themed brunch at Red Hot and Basil. The pastas are made in house daily fresh and I can taste the difference … Big time. They offer an expansive and affordable menu — I mean a filling delicious dinner for $ 16 is awesome, right? They also offer wines on tap and ultra Delish cannolis. The chef was formerly with the Inn at Little Washington and the food quality reflects his experience — yum!
The service is impeccable from smiling friendly servers eager to ensure a diner’s good experience. The restaurant is intimate but open, bright and airy. Simple, yet elegant décor that’s perfect for the venue. This is a mid range restaurant upscale feel with mid range prices.
Highly recommend Red Hot and Basil for delicious, flavorful pastas done right.

Came here on a Saturday evening after doing some grocery shopping. Nice weather, some great food find and what I thought was supposed to be a great dinner. Unfortunately the following happened.
The good: the food was definitely above average considering it’s a 16 $ prix-​fixe. I’ve worked in the restaurant business for almost a decade and concepts like these take balls to execute and rarely fail to impress.
The bad: My girlfriend and I ordered one prix-​fixe and decided to share it. As I got a phone call for a work emergency and got the cheque I was rather shocked to find a 5 $ split entrée charge! I wasn’t upset about the 5 $ but the fact that the waitress/​management thought that I’d not tip well enough based what I ordered. Instead I tipped 25% and left graciously. It was only when I had a conversation with my visibly shaken girlfriend that I realized I had to make a point.

RW&B is an amazing deal for DC and their food is delicious. I only wish it was a little closer to my apartment. They have a fixed price menu that comes with salad, build your own pasta and a cannoli for dessert. I’m not a huge dessert person but I love that they have one option and do it well. It leaves more of an impression. «Let’s go to the pasta and cannoli place» just sounds more fun than «Let’s go get pasta».
Anyways, their sauce was godly and my mouth is salivating thinking about it now. The only thing is their space is on the smaller side though I’ve only been on a Monday night so I can’t speak for the weekend crowd. I would imagine it would get packed because what do people love more than pasta? The other thing I really appreciated about RW&B is they have a glass and a half option for the wine :)

Pretty solid fare here! My boyfriend and I got the prix-​fixe meals for $ 16 pp, which includes a house salad, pasta and cannoli. I ordered the cheese tortellini (highly recommend) with arrabbiata sauce and loved it. My pasta was cheesy yet not too rich because of the sweet red sauce, which also had some heat to it. The bf got a fusilli pasta with pesto sauce and enjoyed his dish as well. The pastas here are definitely fresh and homemade, not store-​bought (yay!). I’m not a big fan of pastries in general so I wasn’t too keen on the cannoli but I can see why others would enjoy this little pastry dessert.
RWB was nearly full when we came here at 6:30 on Saturday evening so I might suggest coming before 7 on weekends to avoid a crowd, as they don’t take reservations. Seating is slightly awkward and the tables are really close together because of how small the restaurant is. Probably isn’t the best place to go if you have more than three people in your group. Service was relatively quick and our food came out in a timely manner.
Overall, the food is tasty and a good value for the price. Will definitely return!

Great spot for a first date, or a small group of friends! I had a great «pasta bar» experience and would happily come again. The waiter was very welcoming, enthusiastic, and knowledgeable about the restaurant. For example, the cheese tortellini IS delicious, and all of the pasta is freshly made that day. Hence, RWB recently introduced a «happy hour» special where the pasta is half-​priced from 9:30pm until closing.
By D.C. standards, this is an affordable outing — you get a house salad, a bowl of pasta, and a cannoli for around $ 20. I enjoyed bolognese and there was plenty of fresh pepper/​cheese to seal the deal. You’ll leave full-​but not stuffed-​by the end of the night.