Spinasse (Capitol Hill)
1531 14th Ave
Seattle, WA 98122
(206) 251-7673
Website
This Italian restaurant was started by jovial pasta genius Justin Neidermeyer in the space long occupied by the grubby vegan Globe Cafe; Neidermeyer moved on, but the emphasis on painstakingly executed rustic cuisine remains under chef Jason Stratton. Stratton, a Food & Wine Best New Chef 2010, notably dispensed with the communal seating (perhaps part of being best is letting people sit with whom they want?). The interior is picturesque, with the kitchen on display as a portrait in craft. The noise level gets high, as do the prices; still, Spinasse is often mentioned among Seattle's most delicious places.
Hours: Fri-Sat 5-11 pm, Sun/Mon/Wed/Thu 5-10 pm, closed TueCategories: Restaurant
Restaurant Details
The Stranger's Reviews of Spinasse
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Chow Bio: Jason Stratton of Spinasse Apr 22, 2010
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S&M Dining Dec 18, 2008
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Reviews/Comments (13)
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13
Fantasitic
Our favorite restaurant in Seattle. Fabulous in every way. Wonderful food, great atmosphere and service. Sit at the bar without reservations. Enjoy the great wine and food. Suck it up and pay a few extra dollars. The place is leagues ahead of all the other Italian crap in Seattle. The moron who wrote Olive Garden is better should of course stay at the Olive Garden.
12
We are not impressed
I think that although the food did not taste bad it was completely overpriced. If everything on the menu was 6-8 dollars cheaper I could have given Spinasse a better rating...but as it stands, too bland to charge $18 for a simple pasta dish that I could make at home.
11
The one star raters must have some things they need to work out
Squash flan - light, amazing. I wonder at how they got so much squash flavor into them without ruining the texture.
Brazed pork cheeks with quince and polenta - Rich and tender, definate porkiness without being gamy, with a wonderfully intense reduced brazing liquid.
All pastas - Believe the hype.
Bacalao stuffed chippolini - I had a non fish lover with my party who loved these.
Service - Accommodating, genial, and knowlegeable. Kept our party informed without being showoffs.
One negative I will grant, it is distractingly loud. That is because there are so many people enjoying themselves in there.
Brazed pork cheeks with quince and polenta - Rich and tender, definate porkiness without being gamy, with a wonderfully intense reduced brazing liquid.
All pastas - Believe the hype.
Bacalao stuffed chippolini - I had a non fish lover with my party who loved these.
Service - Accommodating, genial, and knowlegeable. Kept our party informed without being showoffs.
One negative I will grant, it is distractingly loud. That is because there are so many people enjoying themselves in there.
10
Inspired the cook in me
My husband and I have gone to Spinasse 3 times now in the past 3 months and each time it has been a very pleasant experience. We always sit at the counter and are early so haven't had an issue with noise since the place isn't completely full then. Every dish has been top notch and has inspired me to learn more about how to cook this delicate pasta and to figure out how to get those subtle flavors into every dish without being heavy. Well done, Spinasse. We love you!
9
One of Seattle's Best Kept Secrets
Everytime I've gone to Spinasse the wait staff and food have both been excellent! As long as you're willing to get cozy with your neighbors in the cafeteria-style seating, you are in for a treat.
8
Truly special.
I'm a bit confused by the negative reviews. This definitely is the best Italian place in the city. I've only ever had excellent service & amazing food on the three or four occasions I've eaten there. Stand-out dishes include veal, goat & a mushroom pasta dish. For the record, the latter was vegetarian. My only complaint was that the cherry peppers that came with my bagna cauda weren't de-seeded, & I thought I was going to lose my taste buds.
7
Navigating a difficult restaurant
I can't disagree with those who complain that the restaurant is TOO LOUD. It is. There are lots of things they can do to fix it. Loud restaurants drive me crazy and end up making me irritated.
What saved us from noise hell was to sit at the far right hand end of the counter where we sat cheek by jowel (no complaints there; the man I was with is hot). That way our backs were turned away from the cacophany, we were so close that we didn't have to raise our voices (it felt nicely intimate amid the roar), and we could look into the kitchen where there are some of the hotest men cooking in town.
I've only eaten there once. And yes it is overly expensive. But the meal I had (duck) was incredibly good. I took about half of it home and enjoyed it as well the second time around.
Given the prices, I will not go there regularly. Given the noise, I will only sit at the counter, preferably all the way to the right. The service at the counter was quite good. I can see how being waiters having to navigate an incredibly crowded room might become testy. I suggest that communal tables be ditched. It may save a lot of sanity.
I'm not holding my breath. The night we were there the place was jammed. As long as that is the case, the owners have no motivation to fix the problems.
What saved us from noise hell was to sit at the far right hand end of the counter where we sat cheek by jowel (no complaints there; the man I was with is hot). That way our backs were turned away from the cacophany, we were so close that we didn't have to raise our voices (it felt nicely intimate amid the roar), and we could look into the kitchen where there are some of the hotest men cooking in town.
I've only eaten there once. And yes it is overly expensive. But the meal I had (duck) was incredibly good. I took about half of it home and enjoyed it as well the second time around.
Given the prices, I will not go there regularly. Given the noise, I will only sit at the counter, preferably all the way to the right. The service at the counter was quite good. I can see how being waiters having to navigate an incredibly crowded room might become testy. I suggest that communal tables be ditched. It may save a lot of sanity.
I'm not holding my breath. The night we were there the place was jammed. As long as that is the case, the owners have no motivation to fix the problems.
6
Not impressed
I've been to Italy and have enjoyed some amazing cuisine. I was under the impression that this was an authentic style Italian Restaurant. What I found was an extremely loud dining experience. The food extremely over priced and bland. Extremely insensitive wait staff. I've been in the customer service industry most of my life. I teach the importance of customer service and explain to my employees how the highest customer service will create repeat customers. Mr. Owner I would stress this to your employees.
P.S. I've had better meals at Olive Garden.
P.S. I've had better meals at Olive Garden.
5
Bad Customer Service
a. At full capacity, this place is SO loud, you can't hear the person across you!
b. Staff unapologetic for screwing up reservations.
c. Adam from Spinasse, you specifically told me that your restaurant accomodates vegetarians on the phone, and when we got there, the first thing our waiter said, "I hope no one is vegetarian in your group!"
d. I studied in Rome, my sister is married to an Italian who is about to publish an Italian cookbook, we went to a small town in northern Italy for her wedding and stayed there for a week. Guess what, they have Coke in small towns in Italy, so don't patronize me when I ask for Coke, and tell me they don't serve Coke in the Italian countryside. You're full of shit and a snotty attitude.
e. Why don't you go back to the Italian countryside, and learn how to make a Compari Soda, since my $10 cocktail was disgustingly sweet.
This place has the perfect recipe for going out of business.
b. Staff unapologetic for screwing up reservations.
c. Adam from Spinasse, you specifically told me that your restaurant accomodates vegetarians on the phone, and when we got there, the first thing our waiter said, "I hope no one is vegetarian in your group!"
d. I studied in Rome, my sister is married to an Italian who is about to publish an Italian cookbook, we went to a small town in northern Italy for her wedding and stayed there for a week. Guess what, they have Coke in small towns in Italy, so don't patronize me when I ask for Coke, and tell me they don't serve Coke in the Italian countryside. You're full of shit and a snotty attitude.
e. Why don't you go back to the Italian countryside, and learn how to make a Compari Soda, since my $10 cocktail was disgustingly sweet.
This place has the perfect recipe for going out of business.
4
Underwhelming
Bland food, indifferent staff, over-priced...what more could you ask for in a restaurant?
3
Loathed it!
Oh where do I begin? I hated this place after the first 10 minutes until now.
1) They obviously didn't think about what would happen if they had people waiting. There is nowhere to wait! You are scrunched between the wall and the railing with servers flying by you with trays of food.
2) They obviously have no concept of how reservations work. We made reservations for 8:30pm, and we weren't seated until 9:30pm. (They also only offered us free appy's after we complained that we'd been standing around for almost an hour.)
3) Apparently, they don't understand the question, "Is this place vegetarian friendly?" They said they are, but they are definitely not.
4) They're push for authenticity ends up making them seem like they're full of it.
5) They shouldn't put things on the menu that they can't make. The rabbit was horribly overcooked.
6) For what we paid, I expected a little taste of heaven, I got noodle-roni.
7) They need to figure out how to work their credit card machine because most people in my party were charged multiple times, and now we wait until they can fix it. Like the last guy said, when you're paying $40+ per person along with wine and dessert that's quite a hit to the pocketbook especially when you're paying it three times.
8) There are a million great Italian places in Seattle, go there. Not here, please not here.
1) They obviously didn't think about what would happen if they had people waiting. There is nowhere to wait! You are scrunched between the wall and the railing with servers flying by you with trays of food.
2) They obviously have no concept of how reservations work. We made reservations for 8:30pm, and we weren't seated until 9:30pm. (They also only offered us free appy's after we complained that we'd been standing around for almost an hour.)
3) Apparently, they don't understand the question, "Is this place vegetarian friendly?" They said they are, but they are definitely not.
4) They're push for authenticity ends up making them seem like they're full of it.
5) They shouldn't put things on the menu that they can't make. The rabbit was horribly overcooked.
6) For what we paid, I expected a little taste of heaven, I got noodle-roni.
7) They need to figure out how to work their credit card machine because most people in my party were charged multiple times, and now we wait until they can fix it. Like the last guy said, when you're paying $40+ per person along with wine and dessert that's quite a hit to the pocketbook especially when you're paying it three times.
8) There are a million great Italian places in Seattle, go there. Not here, please not here.
2
Everything it claims to be.
Spinasse is perfect. It's not trying to be what it isn't, & it exceeds the expectations of what it is. The service is wonderful, the food couldn't be more right. This gives Tavolata a run for its money.
1
Great Addition
This is a new restaurant located near the Online coffee company on 14th. The food is served family style and everyone at the table orders the same series of dishes, paying a set price. We did four dishes for four people and paid $47 each. With two bottles of wine, it was an expensive night. Personally, I hate cafeteria seating (think Serious Pie downtown) but I guess if you're friendly and didn't come for private conversation, it's not such an issue.
The decor was fairly well executed, and the inside felt comfortable, if perhaps a little too intentionally unpretentious. The kitchen looked fantastic and is open for all to see. The cheap flatware and painful lace drapes were poor choices. They lessen the elegant tables and smartly chosen elongated serving dishes, which are well-suited to serving two people sitting at a long table.
The wine list is exclusively Italian, which is another heavy-handed reminder that you are in an "authentic Italian restaurant." A small Washington selection might make some patrons more at ease with the unfamiliar Italian names. Or if not, at least suggest pairings on the menu.
I would describe the food as La Spiga on a very good night. We had salumi, a pleasant salad of chicory, a potentially delicious (if slightly under seasoned) ragu, and an outstanding braised goat. A welcome addition to other fine restaurants opening in the area.
Spinasse
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