Volterra

Great service and food thank you keep it coming
Tried the lamb shank
And nice Sangiovese

Went here for lunch a couple years ago. Nice atmosphere with high ceilings. Good handmade pastas.

Great food! Great atmosphere and great service. Had the wild boar and it was incredible.

Bad service at the bar!
Really upset. We went after work for couple drinks and appetizers, everyone is disappointed

I wish you could have half stars as I was torn between giving another 4-​star versus a 3.
Had the Dine Out Seattle meal at the bar. Let me say the bar service here at the small intimate bar is excellent. There were three of us and we ordered all different items so we could taste most everything on the menu! Everything was good, some okay, some really yummy. The main issue I found with several of the dishes was the lack of flavor depth — calling it ‘bland’ would be too strong a word and my palate isn’t dessensitized but there weren’t any «OMG you have to taste this» moments but there also was nothing close to «this doesn’t tast that good» either.
The other reason to bring things down a notch: Very lean on protein. I don’t mean as in not having fat but as in, not much on the plate. Maybe it was because we were doing the Dine In Seattle. But I’ve thought protein portion sizes here always have seemed on the lighter side relative to the prices on the menu.
The final reason for the downgrade: price gouging on the wine list. The majority of the wine list is up in the $ 50 and higher range. Virtually no inexpensive selections. Ouch!
Great atmostphere, very good but not OMG food, and pricey (especially if you aren’t doing a special deal, happy hour, etc.) is how I would sum things up. Still probably what I’d consider in the top 6 or 7 places to eat in Downtown Kirkland but slipping from the top end to the lower end of the range IMHO. I’m sure I’ll be back at some point and wouldn’t be surprised if my next review is a 4.

Tonight we had a winemakers dinner with Col Solare wines and winemaker Darel Allwine! What a treat from start to finish!!! Although Darel is my husband, and perhaps I’m a little skewed, the wines from Antinori and Col Solare were amazing. Not only did Don and Michelle provide an amazing venue, staff and perfect food to pare with the wines, they gathered a lovely group of guests ! The biggest surprise of the evening was the 2000 Col Solare!!! It is showing beautifully for a 15 year old wine and if you can find some you should take a moment to enjoy it! It’s going fast I hear. Also don’t miss any meal from this lovely restaurant !

My husband and I have had dinner here many times as well as taking clients and friends here. We have never had a bad experience and the food has been yummy each time. The service is fabulous. This is one of our Kirkland favorites!

I’m visiting from Hawaii and was looking for some Italian food. A family member mentioned Volterra. They have had another restaurant on the west side for awhile. This one has been opened just under two years. The setting is casual. The wine list shares worldly as u might suspect as well as a decent amount of local. Although they do not offer a kids menu. Our experience with our two year old was fabulous. They made a little side of pasta for him.
My friend had the set menu for the evening. A good price of $ 45 which included an appetizer, salad, entrée and desert. My wife had a pesto pasta which she enjoyed as well. My lamb ragu was incredible. The only time I had a better dish was in Europe and grandma was literally in the back making fresh pastas from scratch. Had to resist chipping the plate as I finished with bread wiping up the left over sauce.
The service was impeccable. Very attentive, while not trying to turn and burn as they say. Not only will I go back next visit. I highly recommended to my Ohana in the area.

I met a girlfriend for happy hour and we had a wonderful time. The cocktails were delicious, and I would highly recommend the mushroom polenta and the tiramisu! The bartender was really nice, didn’t rush us and made us feel welcome. We would return again for sure!

Went there a couple weeks ago and ordered linguine w clams and the seasonal dessert. Linguine had absolutely no flavor and probably the least tasteful Italian dish I’ve ever had. I was thoroughly disappointed and had to come home and eat something after spending a good amount of money.
We were there celebrating a friends birthday and 3 out of 4 were not happy with their meal. The seasonal dessert which included grilled nectarines, were very sour.
Very disappointing

It’s always uncertain how an extension of a fave restaurant is going to do.
The Hostesses could not have been better. I’d like to tip them directly for their effort if I could in finding our [last-​minute] group of 8 a table on a packed Saturday night. I mean, these ladies went above and beyond to make it happen.
Our server was great though others at the table would have disagreed. He made a few blunders but none of them I’d have noticed had others not pointed it out.
Overall the food was on par with the Ballard location, the ambiance was great, and I think it’s a wonderful addition in a happening area.
Might sound vanilla but sometimes vanilla is just what you need in knowing you’ll get a sure thing.

Made reservations and our table was not ready so they sat us at the chef table and were able to watch the chefs in action. They comped us for an appetizer since our table was still not ready. A party was still eating their desserts. After 35 min we sat at our table and ordered the boar, risotto mushroom, tagitalle lamb meat and crab ravioli. Delish !! It was my husbands birthday and they gave us a free tiramisu dessert too. Our waiter was attentive and mindful of our 7 yr old we enjoyed our meal very much. Definitely coming back.

We went there on Saturday for happy hours and I noticed that they have changed the menu. It wasn’t too busy when we got there. The bartender, Joe, was very helpful and friendly when we had questions. He made some special drink which was very refreshing and my girlfriend ordered beer.
We were both very hungry so ordered pan seared sea scallop, steams clams, salmon ravioli (pasta of the day), sliders with duck rogue, linguine with clams and a cherry pie on special. The service was fast and Joe helped us changed the plates.
The seafood here is amazing! I love the clams because they are meaty and fresh. For the salmon ravioli, I felt like the sauce was too creamy with a little bit too much mayonnaise although the salmon tasted great. The dessert which was on the special was served cold with one scoop of ice cream. Not sure if we told Joe that we didn’t want to wait too long for our dessert. I didn’t expect the pie would serve in cold temperature. Besides, the dessert was all right because we were expecting a slice of cherry pie not a miniature size of the pie. Joe made some strawberries with balsamic vinegar with some black pepper for us to clean the pallet. That was the happy ending! Overall, it was great experience and we would know better what to order next time!

The mommies and I came here for restaurant week and I was pleasantly surprised by the nice restaurant week menu (usually restaurant week doesn’t yield that great of a menu). The place is cozy and fairly intimate but they were willing to let one of my friend leave her baby in his stroller by our table while we dined.
We all got the three course deal — I got the prawn salad (2 prawns on a bed of greens which was tasty but small), halibut (a little overdone and covered with tomato sauce which detracts from the fish itself served with lightly blanched green beans and roasted potato), and finally tiramisu (light cream and easy on the espresso flavor). I also tried a bite of my friend’s duck ragu with house made pasta (tons of duck and good portion size and the noodles were so yum) and another friend’s beef tenderloin (juicy and full of flavor). I also tried their fresca which was light though a little tart but at least not overly sweetened.
Overall a tasty restaurant and I definitely wouldn’t mind trying something else on the menu next time!

My boyfriend and I have been to Volterra twice now. The first trip was great! The food and service were both excellent! However, our last visit on Sunday, April 12^th was a terrible dining experience.
We have been on a diet for the past month and decided to allow ourselves one nice cheat day since we had been doing so well. The first place I thought of was Volterra because I had fallen in love with their fuscili pasta with pesto cream sauce and it sounded like the perfect fattening cheat day treat. I booked our reservation on Wednesday to make sure we had a seat. This place is small and fills up pretty quick.
We showed up on Sunday and were seated right away… That’s where the good times stopped.
Our waiter was a very rude man with a grey goatee. I can’t even tell you his name because he never introduced himself. He asked us for drink orders and we let him know we were ready to order. I asked for the fuscili pasta and was surprised when he said «oh I think we our out of that» let me check. I mean it was 6:45 on a Sunday. He came back and confirmed they were out and my heart sunk. I had been looking forward to that all week. What followed was even worse.
The waiter never apologized for running out and didn’t even help me pick out something else from the menu. He acted like it was rude for me to even ask for more time to decide.
I ended up getting the Wilde boar with gorgonzola sauce and my boyfriend got the lamb ragu. When the waiter brought the food he reversed the dishes but plopped it down so fast we didn’t have time to have him switch it so we had to awkwardly trade plates ourselves. I always ask for cracked pepper but none was offered and he never came back to check how we were doing so I never had the chance to ask. He never even asked us how our food was! Mine was alright but very small. The ragu was delicious but you can get the same thing at Brix which is about a mile away and it’s half the price (and better in my opinion).
I finished my wine and it sat empty for almost my entire meal. The waiter came back and dropped the dessert spoons but again didn’t stay long enough for me to ask for more wine or anything else. He finally came back to ask me if I wanted another drink but by that point all I wanted was a box for my left overs and to get the hell out of there. We felt extremely unwelcomed and actually uncomfortable.
I asked for the box for my food and asked that my dessert be boxed as well. He replied «well they have already plated the dessert»… As if that matters! By that point I was ready to create a scene but my boyfriend pacified me and got the bill. We left a 10% tip on our $ 100 meal. Which was too generous since we barely saw our waiter and when we did he was being a jackass.
I will not be returning to Volterra EVER. I guess I will just make my own fuscili pasta from now on.

Came highly recommended but even my friends didn’t care for the new menu.
Ordered from the happy hour menu:
Mussels and clams: in tomato base. Lots of slivers of garlic. Flavor was off, watered down.
Potato Spears: spendy for sure. Translated to $ 1 per piece. There were 7.
Blood orange martinis were flavorful but conservative.
Can’t say I’ll return in spite of the free bread, olive oil and fennel seasoned salt.

Stopped in here after another restaurant was unexpectedly closed for the night which turned out to be a nice stroke of luck. We were seated immediately by a friendly hostess and, before you knew it, we had water, bread, and menus on our table to get things started. Our waiter was attentive without being intrusive and seemed to know just when to come check on us.
We ordered the Linguine with white clam sauce, Papparedelle alla Ragu D’Agnello, and Chilled Amaretti Zabaglione each of which was perfectly prepared and delivered. You can tell the kitchen staff at Volterra takes great care in crafting creations worthy of the fine dining status these restaurants have earned over the years. Definitely looking forward to a return visit as there were many more menu selections I would like to try.

Came here for restaurant week and really enjoyed the dishes I split with my friend. Wild Boar Tenderloin and the Lemon Panna Cotta stood out. Would definitely recommend folks come here if they don’t feel like heading to Seattle for restaurant week!
Do note the atmosphere of this place is a bit more formal, though they won’t turn you away if you aren’t dressed the part.

Middling
Ambience: 4
Food: 3
Drinks: 3
Value: 2
We came here for the restaurant week and selected their signature dishes, the lamb and the wild boar. We were told that these were the same quality and size as the regular menu (because… restaurants sometimes put out an inferior menu for the special). And even though we were aided by several beers and a couple of glasses of wine, it was still only ho-​hum. The meat were not very flavorful and the meat, while nicely cooked, were too lean. The sauces were completely lackluster.
The appetizers were decent, as was the desert… but…

Happy hour galore-​all day (pretty much) and everyday!
I heart the Volterra in Ballard. It’s small, cute, cozy and dim lit. The food is great. But this one, this one is like a step sister from another mother. It is complete opposite of its ballard location.
Ambiance– it is modern. I like the white linen clad tables all around. I like the bright lights. I especially like their bar area. Always so open and airy. And you can see all the hustle and bustle of the kitchen from pretty much every tables in the bar. If you incline, you can actually sit right next to it as well.
Service– attentive. I always end up sitting in the bar because it’s the less crowded area during their lunch rush. There are a few cool servers that served us well during my several lunches. They have a ton of staffs here. Hostess, manager, servers, bartenders and even the owner/​chef. They were all pleasant.
Food– Happy HOUR!!!(s)
This place– wait for it… wait for it! This place has happy hour 12 pm — 6 pm!!! Yeaaaaaaa is it crazy or what? I mean, really? Who doesn’t love happy hour? And for a nibbler like me, this is perfect. Ordering full blown entress are always a waste of money since I only want ¹⁄₃ of my plate. But happy hour! I can get away with tasting a few and not feeling half as bad.
*Mussels with sausage in almost cioppino like broth. Serves with garlic spread covered bread. Skip that if you have to meet another living soul after or else!!! Yea. No, not happening. But their warm bread is pretty nice though.
* Lamb Oso bouco — pretty heavy dish for lunch but it serves on a bed of polenta. Tender and tasty.
* Baked broccoli with cheese– so cheesyyyy!!! But tasty. It could potentially put you to sleep!
* Seafood cioppino — yummm! I like this dish. Its seafood and tomato sauce. Simple!
* Lamb meatballs — heavy tasty dish. And you can get half price pasta dishes! (Or half portioned: I forget) But they seem pretty big to me.
White wine sangria, happy hour wine, blood orange vodka! I always end up getting a drink here when I do lunch because. well it’s always happy hour! It’ll be like a crime not to drink. Plus, my lunch companions always talk me into a sangria. At happy hour, you just can’t say no :) Now I just wish the darn Kirkland parking meter maid would have a drink or two so she would stop giving me tickets!!! The only reason I rush out of here every time is to move my car from getting tickets. Else I’d stay here longer, eat more and probably drink more. Fun lunch for sure!
*