This was my favorite restaurant in Seattle before it moved from the cute little Broadway location. Last night Duwardo and I tried out the new location to see how it measured up to the old place.
We walked in and the rustic little place we had known and loved had now transformed into this huge open space that I have to admit did look beautiful. The high ceilings gave it such a spacious feel. Although I miss the rustic hole in the wall feel that I used to have, this new layout gives them about 4 times the space they used to have and creates more of a fine-dining experience.
We were placed in the corner of the room and were slightly worried about whether the servers would remember we were there, as the old la Spiga did not have the greatest service. However, with the new and larger space it also comes with a lot more servers and I do not think my water glass was ever low. There was this great girl that kept coming back and peeking in on us every 5 minutes to make sure we had everything we needed.
I as also happy to see that the prices hadn’t changed and they had added new things to the menu. However, I am never going to stray from my beloved gnocchi al pomodora. I live for this stuff, and I’ve never been anywhere outside of Italy that has made such good gnocchi before. So I was excited to order it. Duwardo ordered the roast pork dish and we shared an appetizer of the a piadina with mozarella, prosciutto and truffle paste. The appetizer was still delicious, although a bit too much mozarella this time, but not horrible. The gnocchi and pork came out and I looked at my plate and said “They didn’t give me as much as they used to give me!” Duwardo tried to convince me that it was a larger plate and so it looked like a smaller amount. Notice the tried…I was never convinced. I know my potato gnocchi intake and surely I was getting less here. Another difference between the gnocchi was that they weren’t all the uniform size that they used to be. There were some big pieces, there were some super small pieces. Duwardo stated “at least you know it was handmade.” But here’s the thing, I never doubted that it was handmade…but now it just makes me feel like there was no care in making my gnocchi. I took a bite and it didn’t taste as good as the old gnocchi. One bite was really chewy, the next bite was really soft. It wasn’t consistent throughout the plate. By all means, this is still better than the other gnocchi I’ve had in Seattle…but it was no longer the best I’ve had outside of Italy. That title goes only to the old la Spiga now.
Duwardo’s pork was cooked to perfection and he loved everthing about it. I had a quick bite of it and it was moist and juicy and quite delicious. I’ve said this before…I’m not usually a big fan of pork because most people (myself included) cannot cook it well so that it maintains the moisture, but that was a great piece of pork. We shared a great bottle of chianti wine with our meal and overall had a great time.
Here’s the thing, I may sound critical of the changes that have occurred, but it’s still a great restaurant. Osteria la Spiga may no longer be my favorite restaurant in Seattle and I truly miss everything about the old place (the ambiance, the food, and yes even the slow service….but I mean that’s Italy, you stretch out your family meal). However, Osteria la Spiga is still going to be one of the best places in Seattle to get Italian food. I’m just sad that my favorite hole in the wall restaurant is now gone and I’m sad that other people will not get to experience the beauty of that place. I still will return to this place…it may not be 3-4 times a month like I used to, but I’ll definitely still return to eat my beloved gnocchi and hope that maybe last night was an off night and they’ll go back to making the brilliant poofs of potato goodness that I love and know they’re capable of making.
Osteria la Spiga, 1429 12th Ave, Seattle, WA
