Grappa

I’ve been this restaurant more than 20 times, tasted its food from breakfast to lunch to dinner.
Every time it will amaze me.
Any dish on the menu is delicious!

Italian dinner and brunch spot in upper Queen Anne Seattle.
I would recommend going for an early dinner where you can grab some of their house made gnocchi or bolognese.
Or stop by on a Saturday or Sunday late morning to enjoy any of their great brunch menu items including full espresso bar, and dishes like the French toast, breakfast burrito, and Mediterranean breakfast plate.

Context: Went with one other person for the Christmas Eve dinner at 7:30 PM or so.
They had a 4 course Christmas menu for $95 per person, which looked like it consisted of normal menu items but smaller and fitting a set menu. Course 1: Appetizers We got a winter salad and lobster bisque.
The lobster bisque was more like lobster soup with some chunks of lobster.
I don't think it actually contained cream, making it watery, but the lobster flavor was intense, and it was good overall if you like briney things.
The winter salad was comparatively stingy, consisting of berries on arugula with a vinaigrette.
The vinaigrette was salty and tangy and probably the best part of the dish.
The berries and arugula were tasty, but sparse.
For example, there were literally two blackberries and a pinch of julienned apples in the whole dish.
The blueberries and pomegranate seeds were a bit more abundant, but the arugula itself was meager in portion.
Kind of disappointing for the beginning of a nearly $100 meal. Course 2: Small bites/Hors d'oeuvres We ordered their caviar and smoked salmon crostini and American wagyu bites. There were two nonuniform crostini with a small piece of smoked salmon, goat cheese(?), and caviar on top.
The salmon was so strong as to overpower any nuance or delicacy of the other components of the dish.
Overall disappointing (the salmon was tasty, though). The American wagyu bites were a lot better.
Chunks of grilled beef came in a soup/sauce with a piece of grilled bread on top.
Everything about the dish was fantastic.
The sauce was some kind of (tastefully) spicy tomato-based sauce that was flavorful without being overwhelming.
It was almost bowl-licking good.
If they have this in their regular menu, I would highly recommend it.
The beef was tender and flavorful, with some char for contrast.
Even the bread was delightful and the grill marks added tasty intrigue (did that make sense? In any case, it was good).
The meal started to turn around at this point. Course 3: Main course We got a pan roasted half jidori chicken and a Maine lobster risotto.
They were both great. Even a half chicken (wing, thigh, leg, and breast) was a decent amount of food.
The breast was a little dry, unfortunately, but the rest of the chicken was flavorful and juicy.
It looked like they marinate their chicken with a layer of yogurt or goat cheese between the skin and the meat, which added a nice punch to an already decent chicken.
I honestly couldn't tell that much of a difference between a standard supermarket chicken and this Jidori chicken, but it was good in any case.
The other garnishes were nice, but I must give a shoutout to the cipollini onions - so tasty. The risotto's texture was not quite chewy and not quite crunchy, but just right.
The primary flavor was that of tarragon and lobster.
They were generous with the lobster chunks.
It was filling and never tiring - a great entree and experience. Course 4: Desserts We got the pistachio gelato and Mama's tiramisu.
We were actually debating between the flourless chocolate cake and the tiramisu, but were told that the cake was quite sweet and the tiramisu is less so.
The tiramisu ended up being the right amount of sweetness to balance the bitterness from the chocolate and coffee flavors.
It was unlike most tiramisus I've had and more like a cake in its textures and layers (no lady fingers or biscuits).
However, it was great.
Each layer was distinct and tasty.
We were told that they use Bailey's Irish cream, so just a warning to those who might be sensitive to alcohol. Miscellaneous: Service was excellent and servers were attentive.
Food came out fairly quickly for a busy day.
There was a service fee and a mandatory gratuity that were calculated on the post-tax total.
So the 3.5% service fee was actually 3.9% and the mandatory gratuity (if applicable) was 22% rather than 20% as listed.
Reasonable but shady, I thought.
Even for Seattle, I'd probably not want to pay more than $75 for what was served here taking into account quality and (lack of) originality.
3/5