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Cinque Terre in Seattle is a place that has been on my list to try for a while! Their concept is modern Italian, and my interest has been peaked as I have heard it is a very trendy place to go out, and the food is fabulous.
My husband and I chose Cinque Terre as the place to celebrate our 3rd wedding anniversary, and I am thrilled that we did!
Walking through the door, my first impression was that this obviously was an “it” place to be on a Friday night. The lighting was dim with lots of blue under-glow around their counters, and techno/dance music was playing giving it a club-like feel. Definitely not a stale, whispery kind of place. If you have dined at Barolo in Seattle before, the vibe did somewhat remind me of that.
Immediately I was impressed with the customer service, as our menu had been printed with “Happy Anniversary” on top. All their literature also mentions that they are a locally-sourced, farm-to-table restaurant, which is something very important to me! Not only does locally sourcing ingredients stimulate the local economy and support small businesses, it also provides you with more fresh and healthy food, not to mention better tasting 🙂
On to the menu. Though we saw the big wood-fire pizza oven when we walked in, we felt like we would be doing the restaurant a disservice if we just had pizza for our dinner. We wanted to try more complex dishes that would truly show off their muscles.
Speaking of muscles – that was our first dish to sample! They were offering some steamed basil mussels, which was something we decided to sample. I love basil, but don’t think I have ever combined a pesto with mussels. They were divine! It was a great flavor mashup and a great place to start.
For the main course, my husband had something off the special menu and I wish I remember what it was called. It was a tender roast with cranberries and squash in the sauce over polenta. One of those things that looks atrocious in a picture but is total comfort food in real life. I did the “Gnocchi al sugo di carne” and feel that I had the better dish, being that mine was some of the best gnocchi I have EVER HAD. Seriously, EVER! I made sure to pass my compliments to the chef, since it was so pillow-y and tender, I enjoyed it thoroughly. There was some spice to the meat sauce and it completely hit the spot for me.
Dessert was a struggle, only because there were so many delicious options to choose from! When at a Italian restaurant I think it is a given you do the tiramisu, which was a solid choice. We shared a slice of that along with some puff pastries filled with gelato… they were good but I kind-of wished I just had a slab of the tiramisu to myself.
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In all, service was wonderful, food was spot-on and it was a great experience!
If you decide to give them a try, I would encourage you to try one of their pastas because I felt like that was their strongest dish out of the bunch. Have you ever been to Cinque Terre in Seattle before, and what was your favorite dish? Now, to decide my next stop restaurant to sample 🙂
Cinque Terre
2001 Westlake Ave
Seattle, WA — 98121
(206) 456-6300
X.O. Abbey Co.
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Sounds amazing, I’ll definitely have to add it to my “restaurant goals” board!
It looks like the perfect place for a special evening:)
oooh, putting this one on the list! Thanks for the heads up 🙂