Cantina D’italia

Services here is amazing! Fast and polite! A lot to choose from to eat and the food is just absolutely amazing! Highly recommend coming here to eat!

My 1^st 5 stars in 2016. A must try if you are a local NVA resident. I was first invited here by a business associate and have come back multiple times for personal & business.
Food (5 Stars) — The food & selection is amazing. I have had over a dozen of there entrée dishes, and everyone was incredible. On of my favs is the bolognese sauce (your choose of pasta) and Veal fettuccine. Prices are a bit high but worth it.
Ambiance (4 Stars) — Warm & cozy, noise low, booth and long table options for large parties. Great for business or private meal 1-​on-​1 or family.
Service (5 Stars) — Great staff. I got to know the owner after my first few visits who personally goes around to make sure everything is going well.
My Hacks — Could be hard to find for your first visit. simply it’s on the far right corner facing the building. My last few meals I let Jason the owner choose our table meal and was a fantastic «Godfather» experience. If you like surprises and want an amazing Seafood mix fettuccine, off-​menu item ask for the Bill Special & Jimmy sent you ;-)

Meatball sub with fries to go. I asked for marinara sauce and they gave me two (big plus). They also added ketchup, an extra plate, and left the cover open so the fries stay fresh. It was very generous of them to do that for me. Service is on point. I’m defiantly coming back tor more.

Very fresh, huge portions, tasty food. Eggplant parm was on the greasy side, but that’s really our only complaint. Look forward to trying more of the menu next time!

I was recommended this restaurant to go try their braised lamb. And it is delicious! So tender and very tasty! The meat falls off the bone and melts in your mouth. The mushrooms in this dish is so good, drenched in the sauce.
I also tried the pasta. Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo was good, it was a bit on the bland side but it was good. Sauce was creamy and chicken wasn’t too dried.
I think I like their spaghetti carbonara better…
Service is average. Not the best but it’s not horrible.

Nice local family run joint. Food was excellent and service was very personable. The server was funny and kept things light. The chicken marsala was excellent! The only thing that was a bit off was there were some loud patrons near by. Other than that, definitely recommend!

I ordered lunch from here. The pasta (puttanesca) + salad + bread was only $ 11 and their pasta lunch portion is pretty generous. Decently flavored… nothing crazy but generally good. The two times I came in, no was there to greet or guide me. Setup inside is very nice and cozy. Would come back.

We ordered a carryout dinner for 7 people on Christmas Eve. I called in advance to make sure that we could make this happen and was took our order early in the afternoon for pickup between 5 and 5:30…no carryout after that time because the restaurant focuses on their in-​house in the evening customers We arrived for pickup at 5 and waited a bit while they finished preparing our food but it was well worth the wait as the food was delicious! Also, the amount of seafood in the entrees was wonderfully substantial and overall they gave us ample portions of entrees, salads, and breads. giving us plenty for leftovers. Very pleased with our Christmas Eve meal and would highly recommend this restaurant.

Full disclosure… This restaurant is owned by a close family friend, however that does not really affect my review…
Ok, so the location isn’t amazing… It is in a little strip mall… Not a place I would normally find or attempt… But… The food is amazing.
They will make you anything you want, everything is super fresh, service is usually fantastic but this is where I may be biased due to the one on one with the owner and waitstaff who knows us.
The place isn’t super fancy inside by any means. You can dress up but don’t need to.
Some recommendations:
Jason, the owner, knows his wines well, if you want recommendations, he is your man… And he has some wonderful bottles
Catering is fantastic from here.
Dishes worth trying:
Bruschetta
Veal Parmesan (make it spicy and do it with a side of pasta)
Alio olio (lots of garlic)
Desserts:
Tiramisu
Bomba
Tartufo
Reasonably prices, near Reston town center.
Can pack out so get a reservation !

Worst spaghetti I’ve ever had. Could not even eat it because it was so terrible. No sauce and disgusting flavor in meat. Almost shocked at how awful it was.

One of the worst dining experiences in a long while, if not ever! We visited as it has good reviews on here, but they obviously were wrong.
When we first arrived, we could see at least 4 staff members sitting in the back but we ended up waiting around 5 minutes in the front before I went back to ask if someone was going to seat us. Strike one.
We ordered the fried mozzarella and bruschetta for apps– the fried mozzarella was just plain mozzarella sticks, the kind you would find at an all night diner, what a shame! The bruschetta was poorly done with almost no flavor or texture to it. We ordered salads and they were also unremarkable. Everything brought to our table was only ¼ eaten, we couldn’t bring ourselves to eat any more than that!
We ordered two pasta dishes– one a plain oil and garlic dish and one called Chicken Brunello, I believe. The oil and garlic dish was dry– like they forgot to put the oil on it somehow! The chicken brunello was incredibly sweet, obviously too sweet for it supposed to taste like that. Everything was such a disappointment, we left having barely eaten much of anything, and didn’t even bother with taking anything home.
The cherry on this terrible sundae was the food poisoning I got from the chicken dish I ate. It had to have been the chicken, since my husband seemed fine, but I was in a bad way.
Stay away, if you can– not worth the trip and definitely not worth your time.

My family and I have been coming here for years. The food never disappoints! You always see some of the employees talking to customers that come regularly. They take good care of you. I was extremely disappointed when I went there and was treated so poorly by a Hispanic server, I don’t know his name but I’d love to find out and let management know about him. I had brought my friends there, thinking it’d be a great experience for them since Ive never had a bad time there. I was embarrassed that we got treated that way, not to mention letting my friends down! My American-​Italian family always loves the food, service, and environment. We have been going here since I was very young, and for this to happen I honestly couldn’t see Cantina D’Italia the same.

Great Italian food! Really enjoyed the spaghetti carbonara and the CAPELLI D’ANGELO ADRIATICA with fantastic scallops, crab and shrimp. Dishes are large and can easily be shared. The bread that comes with the meal is also very good! Great portions, good atmosphere and very really reasonable prices.

We had an excellent experience here. It is nice to have finally found an Italian restaurant in Herndon that truly lives up to what a former New Yorker hopes to find.
The kids split a cold antipasto and chicken fingers with fries.
I enjoyed the veal parm and sausage and tomato soup. My wife had the baked ziti.
The service was great, the prices were excellent and the food was darn good. What more could you ask for?

This is a very good Italian restaurant! They have done a great job of setting up an Italian theme with the décor and music.
This is probably one of the first Italian restaurants that I’ve been to that overwhelmed me with their menu choices! It seemed like everything on the menu would be delicious. With every meal you can get a house or Caesar salad. The house salad was a little lacking, the dressing was kind of space and seemed waters down. If you like carrots, be prepared to see some of the largest carrot cuts on your salad! I ordered a seafood pasta that was piled high and was very good! Even though my food was delicious and was a mountain high (slight exaggeration), everyone else’s food at the table looked and was mighty tasty (oh yes, I ate off of other people’s plate!).
I would definitely recommend this location for dinner and would also tell you to be prepared to bring home leftovers and expect a little bit of a dent to your pockets. But it’s money well spent! Check them out.

The person who sat us was a bit grumpy and seemed rushed even though the place was practically empty. Instead of saying «Your waiter will be with you,» he just dropped the menus and hurried a way. I had to yell after him to find out where the bathrooms were!
The waiter was nice enough.
The food was very good!

Finally got to try this place and happy to say that we’ve found our new go-​to when craving Italian. We got fried mozzarella, Caesar salad, chicken soup, beef ravioli and Bella vista chicken (cream sauce with mushrooms and crabmeat). Fantastic food and ambiance. Service was great as well. Glad to support a non-​chain mom & pop restaurant (it’s apparently been there for 22 years)!

Excellent spot. Felt like I was a regular on my fist visit. The service was excellent and the three waiters made sure that we had plenty of drinks and our food was prompt. They greeted everyone like they knew them.
I had the Mediterranean seafood and it was excellent! My wife was very pleased with her meal as well.
Wish we lived closer so we could visit more often. Good stuff!

I’ve been here several times, and I’m taking my parents here in May when they come down for my graduation! Cantina has wonderful classic Italian food in a nice, quiet setting. Great service as well.
I always go with my boyfriend’s family, and we always get the fried zucchini and Caprese to start. Yum! They also have an amazing Caesar salad.
I always get a pasta dish for my main course. I love the Chicken Portofino. Someone already said this, but it’s the dish with pasta in a cream sauce with apples. When I got this, everyone at the table thought it sounded weird and doubted it and then tried it and they all agreed it was amazing. I also like the beef ravioli and the spaghetti with mussels. The eggplant parm is really good as well.
Go here! You won’t be disappointed!

Been coming here for years… a solid italian place. Our fav is their meat sauce.
Problems are front of house. Most times no one there to greet you. We just know that so tend to grab two menus as grab a booth. At some point someone will notice you.
They do get large parties at times and they do take reservations so consider that as options.
Another problem as you drive up is there are NO signs showing hours or if they are open. The reflection from the glass doesn’t let you see the lights on. Ignore that and come on in.
Despite these issues front of house… our servers tend to keep an eye on us. … things are paced leasurly so if you have any time constraints you need to let them know.
Besides pasta I’m meatsauce we also love their ship diavolo. Shrimps are huge and fresh…
So our rating is a 4… but just barely! It’s a great local place…