Not so Bellissimo

I decided that this year, to wave goodbye to my 20s, I wanted to be pretty low key and just enjoy the company of my closest friends.  In keeping with that theme, B and I decided to have a little celebration just the two of us on Saturday night before my actual birthday on Sunday.  We made reservations to check out a neighborhood Italian place in Fairfax called Bellissimo.  It gets rave Yelp reviews, which is something both B and I look to as a gauge for what's to come. 

We entered into a cute little store front restaurant that held no more than 20 tables.  They had a little trouble finding our reservation since we'd made it same day on Open Table and they seem to be more of a call-in, hand written reservation kind of place.  But the owner was extremely sweet, getting us seated right away and coming over to the table to chat with me while B parked the car.  So far, things were looking up for our evening of neighborhood Italian.

The service for most of the meal was excellent. In fact, there were more servers than tables I think. We were rotated between three different guys over the course of the night and with the exception of one time, never wanted for anything.

The place has a pretty good sized menu and it took us a long time to decide.  When we finally ordered, B chose the Insalata di Rucola (arugula salad) and one of the evening's specials, a roasted rockfish.  I chose the Torretta di Mozzarella (a basic caprese salad) and the Agnolotti Amore ("round ravioli" style pasta filled with goat cheese in cream sauce).  We also shared a bottle of Pinot Grigio.

Unfortunately, our disappointment started when a spinach salad with fennel and walnuts was delivered to B in lieu of the arugula salad he'd ordered.  Although credit goes to the restaurant that, aside from being a little stingy with the parmesan, the salad was delicious.  My caprese, sadly, wasn't as good.  To bottom line it, the ingredients were cheap and the tomatoes weren't ripe which made for an overly salty and sad caprese.

Our entrees were another mix of highs and lows.  My agnolotti was homemade, fluffy and delicious but bogged down in an overly heavy sauce that was clearly not the "light" cream sauce the menu claimed it to be.  B's rockfish was so-so, a little overcooked and served with sugared carrots that were well prepared but a little too sweet to be paired with the subtle fish.

The best thing I can say about the wine is that it wasn't memorable, good or bad.

After a long wait for our waiter to return we ordered a tiramisu to share to cap off our meal. No highs and lows here, just highs. It was delicious.

Overall, this was a meal that gets about a B-, better than chain Italian but nothing compared to some of the other "neighborhood Italian" choices offered in the metro DC area.