Perche’ No Pasta & Vino

favorite of mine in the area. Followed them from their old digs in LQA. A lot of variety, exciting specials (Black Bear!), great bar service…

I had high hopes based on their Unilocal rating, but was utterly disappointed. They do have a good selection of Italian wines and the waiter guy was very friendly. All 6 of our dishes were below average. Either bland (salmon special, wild boar special) or dominated by one flavor. The taste of the tiramisu was decent, but unfortunately the lady fingers were too crisp, not having soaked long enough. For $ 55 per person I expect much better food.

I’ve been here many times now, and can’t honestly not give a 5-​star review. This place is the absolute best, and I’m elated that I live close enough to visit with some regularity.
My impression of Italian cuisine is excellent food shared with a big family. At Perche No, you’re always family. The waitstaff and chef/​owners are amazingly friendly, and if you don’t think otherwise, you might need to lower your guard and your hoity-​toity ego. David and Lily are wonderful people who open their hearts and hands, so you’d best come prepared to make new friends. :)
When I show up at Perche No, I rarely order dishes. No, I take my seat and then holler to the chef to surprise me /​bring me what’s best that day. Chef David is an amazing culinary maestro, and his imagination, creativity, and boldness is evident in the delectable dishes that are brought to my table every single time. I don’t go there for food; I go there for a meal. The best meals are not rushed. Enjoy the company you came with. Sit and savor the wine, delicately chosen for your meal should you rely on the sommelier’s recommendation; the menu tells you that «Pasta without wine is like a heart without love»… I’m not sure, but given the way that I have never been disappointed with listening to the gastronomical advice from the people at Perche No, I’d buy that!
P.S: If you are courageous and adventurous, ask for the special hidden menu items! Chef David experiments with durian. I’m a huge fan.

Meh…
Soup Luke warm and not too tasty
Wine was corked
Bread cold
Wait staff not well trained
Lasagna noodles over cooked
Unilocal offer was for dessert of the day but when we asked we were told there is no dessert of the day… just vanilla ice cream. Everyone was nice but overall the food and service was not great.

I was really happy with the meal I had here. We started with arugula salad and the calamari appetizer…and then i had the squid ink pasta with sardines and capers and lots of nicely toasted garlic — very unique! and we also tried the goat ragout on quinoa special and the spaghetti pescatore…everything we had was really delicious and well-balanced.…and the design of the place is kind of whimsical.. .. like a colorful Escher painting.. . two stories…we could see the kitchen from our table and it was pretty spotless and calm and things were running smooth in there which also makes customers feel good I think. Great work team Perche’ No!

Need to go this place more.

The kiddo and I decided to venture out on a very soggy Friday the 13^th for dinner. Figured this was the dinner spot when I found a parking spot right in front of Perche’No’s entrance.
We didn’t have reservations, so we were seated on the main floor adjacent to the kitchen but within view and earshot of the pianist upstairs.
Our main waiter looked a bit dour and harried (#), but other wait and support staff were pleasant, checked on us and kept us hydrated. Never checked on us after taking our order, others filled in, and pretty lifeless handing me the bill. (#). I could have mentioned the name off our receipt, but figured this person must be just having an off day on their shift.
Tasty bread, but definitely have to shake up the herby olive oil to get the full flavor. BTW — any refills on the bread basket costs $ 3.75. Probably cuts down on waste, plus pointless to eat additional slices of bread when their dishes come as generous portions and they make their own pasta. Same thing on parmesan cheese — the wait staff sprinkles it on, but one can ask for more. Wilted roses on the table (#), not so great.
The kiddo and I shared the cream of mushroom soup (Zuppa di Giorno, $ 6). Definitely homemade from scratch with a lot of depth in flavor. Perfect for a rainy evening! As I polished off the last few spoonfuls, Lily Kong one of the restaurant owners came by to say hello and inquire about our meal thus far. I’ve experienced this four times now and still comes across as warm and genuine.
By coincidence, I ordered the Rigatoni D’Agnello (remains at $ 18) — very filling with tender lamb ragu. Kiddo ordered the Gemelli Arrabbiata (also $ 18). Great deal — since literally each entrée can be eaten as two meals. I noticed the nearby large party of college students did exactly that, each selected entrée was shared by two or three. The chef and other owner, David Kong, even came out describing assorted dishes which convinced the students to order additional items to try.
It was nice to see the constant stream of customers coming in for dinner, anywhere from pairs and up to ten during the time we were dining.
The pace between entrée to dessert was awkwardly slow (#). Another wait person essentially had to pitch in to box up our remaining entrees and give us dessert menus to peruse. I tried the Tiramisu ($ 8) and the kiddo had the inventive and eye-​pleasing plated Chocolate Lasagna ($ 10)…fried chocolate lasagna sheets with zabaglione and raspberry coulis. Totally devoured!
Easily could have been a solid five stars, but the items I noted (#) really stood out when compared to other Seattle neighborhood Italian restaurants we also frequent.
Note: Perche’no is closed from 11÷16÷15 through 12÷8÷15 per their Nov/​Dec 2015 Newsletter.

I’ve eaten here several times and it’s always been really good.

Great restaurant!
And the Chef and his wife has a beautiful life story!
And the food is absolutely delicious!!!

This is by far the best place I have eaten!!! The chef and his wife are amazing! We did a family style which allowed us the opportunity to try just about everything on their menu! They spoiled us with items that were not on the menu! Each of the 18 items total. Were ALL my favorite, not one bad dish down to their dessert! Normally I would have a picture of a dish but I couldn’t help but dig in when each dish came out. Couldn’t wait for the next dish! Place was aaahhhhmazing!!!

Excellent food, excellent service, very nice clean ambiance. Parking is a limited, but that’s the neighborhood.
Enjoyed the salmon special — cooked to perfection. Also had the Linguini with prawns — excellent.
Very reasonable prices.

I went again to give them another chance, and I’m not surprised to say that I still had a bad experience.
One of our orders is for one of the squid ink pasta to not be spicy. I had a child in my party and she’s a 6 year old, so she can’t handle any level of spiciness. Despite having given the order, all 3 of the squid ink pasta were the same level of spiciness (2 – 3), even after the waiter CLEARLY said that one of them were a 0 (not spicy). Needless to say, the child in my party was unable to eat more than a bite, and we had to order a different dish for her.
This could’ve turn out better if the waiter had acknowledged that someone made a mistake. However, after pointing it out to the waiter, the only thing he said was «I already told them to give a 0 star» without even an APOLOGY or any consolidation. He just started to walk away.
To add salt to injury, the whole time it felt like they wanted us to leave as soon as possible; by always wanting to take plates that we haven’t finished.
Good food, but sadly very bad service.

After getting pretty fed up with all of the lines in Capitol Hill, we decided to go out a little bit and venture into the Greenlake area to satisfy our cravings for some hearty Italian food.
Our Unilocaling led us to Perche’ No Pasta, a quaint little place tucked away next to a gas station. No parking lot, but street parking is pretty easy to come by on a non-​Friday weekday.
The menu seemed pretty typical upon first glance — nothing too crazy on there. So yes, Unilocaler, I’ll admit — I expected crazy fusion concoctions as I tend to at a lot of restaurants. Not really knowing what to get, I opted for their squid ink pasta and my friend ordered the Rigatoni.
Sure, it was empty that particular night, but I was still surprised by just how quickly the food came out. I mean it was FAST. And not only that — the food was SO GOOD. I was unexpectedly blown away by how savory the pasta was and how fresh the ingredients used were. Amaaaazing!
So good. I highly recommend this place.

Ray: It had been three weeks since Josh and I had gotten together for our weekly shindig. One week we went to a wedding rehearsal for my Niece (Josh’s Cousin) Daina. In that episode, Josh was the Officient and I was the Wedding Singer. Yes, you read that right. We had the most dominate roles of the wedding, with exception of the bride (and groom) of course. I imagine that most of our readers would have come to expect that of us… The following week that we missed was because Josh and his GF Laura went on a week-​long hike along the Pacific Crest Trail. That brings us to the third week, which was last night.
For dinner, we just pulled a rabbit out of our ass and decided on Perche’ No Pasta & Vino, just around the corner from Josh’s apartment. The building is quite nice, sort of Roman looking, drawing in those hungry souls passing by. We were given the choice of sitting outdoors or indoors. A while back we decided to sit indoors so we can take in the atmosphere, even if it’s a nice day. So, we elected an indoor seat in the warmly decorated restaurant, which seemed to cause a little bit of a problem. They were not properly staffed for indoor diners I guess. That said, the owner (Mrs. Owner I think) explained the specials and made some small talk with us. Our Italian accented waiter soon arrived to take our orders. I went with the Spaghetti Alla Pescatore. It is spaghetti with clams, mussels, scallops and shrimp in a red sauce. Uh-​huh! I know!
The meals arrived in just a short while, beautifully plated with aromas from the heavens. My dish was extremely delicious. I enjoyed every single tasty morsel.
That’s when it turned a little, for me anyway. We wanted a 2^nd beer, but it was like pulling teeth. In fact, every interaction with the waiter from the time we ordered the 2^nd beer to the time we walked out had to be accomplished by our prompting. I mean, we got the beers, then after they were finished we waited for the check. Finally flagging down the waiter. We threw down our cards, then more waiting until we flagged him down once again. «You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave» kind of thing, ya know?
I am torn on how many stars. The place is amazing with outstanding food, but good service is just as important to me. Because the food was SO freaking good, I will move ahead with 5 stars in spite of the crappy and neglectful service.
Josh: I feel like I’ve been keeping Perche’ No in my back pocket, waiting for a Thursday when I couldn’t think of anything else. It’s location is slightly out-​of-​the-​way, easy to pass by, right behind Kid Valley. This Thursday was fated to be the one where we ended up visiting for a review. I’ve been there once, on the evening of some big anniversary party for the restaurant, and had a pleasant experience, so I had high expectations for the second visit.
As usual, we were about the first patrons of the evening, showing up just a few minutes past 5. We decided to sit inside even though the evening was beautiful. We feel that sometimes we get a more genuine feel for a place if we sit in the dining room, instead of the patio or bar. We were seated right away and given menus and water, the bread arrived shortly thereafter. There was only one bread plate at the table, I noticed all the other tables were set to have a bread plate at every place setting. Small oversight, I’m sure. We shared the one we had for drizzling a deliciously seasoned olive oil in and dipping the bread.
The boisterous waiter came to take our order, I was liking the looks of the cannelloni and the ravioli, but in the end the cannelloni won out. To drink I went with the Fishtail Pail Ale (bottled, no beers on tap). The drinks were brought out soon enough, as did the food, much faster then I was expecting a dish like that to take.
It was fantastic! The texture, the veal, pork and chicken. It is a thing to be savored, but that is not what I did. Seriously, I was fighting a very strong deep-​rooted cave-​man instinct to throw my face into the plate.
It took a bit to get the second beers ordered, and then delivered to the table. I could tell the patio was filling up and that was taking most of the waiter’s attention. I felt kind of forgotten. Long wait for the check, long wait to get the check taken, etc.
I wasn’t going to mention this, but here I am; mentioning it. A woman came to our table (I think it is the owner’s wife) and she was talking about their previous location with nostalgia. It was in a ritzier part of town and they used to get limousines dropping people off as they had dinner before going to the theater. She said that they used to have a lot of high-​class customers, but not any more. I thought it was kind of funny, like a back-​handed insult, subtle as it may be. There you go, Wallingfordites, you’re just not quite classy.
Overall I think I like this place. a slightly awkward experience, but the food was so damn good. I’m going with 4 stars

Fantastic one of the best Italian restaurants I every been. I can’t believe I don’t have to travel Italy to get great Italian food.
Very nice romantic ambiance. The owners David and lily are sweet and welcome you with and home family feeling.
I will be back for more fantastic food.

I was in a party of four. We got one basket of bread containing four slices.
I noticed on the menu that additional bread would cost $ 3 – 4.
I looked around and was disappointed to see that tables of two were getting the 4 piece baskets also.
I took a moment to point out to the waitress the inequity in their bread distribution. Their treatment of a table of two sets the precedent that each patron is entitled to two pieces of free bread.
Their treatment of a table of four discourages me from bringing more people and makes me wonder if I’d have gotten 4 pieces had I shown up alone.
I asked the waitress to bring us an additional basket of bread at no cost.
She told me she had to clear it with management.
Management allowed the waitress to bring us three pieces of bread and a tiny bread heel from the end of the loaf… because apparently I had unknowingly engaged management in a pissing contest and management, from behind the curtain, intended to humiliate me in front of the three people whom with I came. Touché!!!
Or… perhaps they’re just cheap and desperate, which would explain the Gnocchi.

I get the same dish every time we come here. The fettuccine with prawns — it is delicious! We also get the grilled portobello mushroom appetizer every time. They taste like a well seasoned steak… OMG, so amazing.
Customer service here is alright. Lily always sits with us for a bit and we talk and take pictures. I’ve seen her get pretty snotty with a busser though, which makes me feel uncomfortable. She really likes my boyfriend… Haha.
My only complaint is about the bread you receive before your meal. It tastes kind of cheap and it isn’t toasted or anything. Whatever though.
If you’ve got some extra money for a pricier meal, this place is awesome.

Yum! We had a great meal here.
I used to live in Rome and don’t feel like this was authentic to what I’d had over there (not as fresh, noodles were very, very chewy/​heavy) but was very close & very good!
I was prepared for Lily, the owner, to stop by our table & I felt that she was very friendly & appropriate. We celebrated a birthday with a table of 20 & she took pictures of us, made sure we were taken care of, etc.
I liked the opportunity to do a flight of wine to try what you wanted. Boyfriend got the ravioli with gorgonzola and it was very good, creamy but lacked that pungent blue cheese flavor we both love. A friend got the alfredo with prawns with also looked good. Someone got the canolini & finished them very quickly. Another friend got the spaghetti with clams (vongole) — looked good with lots of clams. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to I tried the squid ink spaghetti… It was surprisingly good — very salty & fishy with the PERFECT amount of heat. I don’t think I would order it again but I also thought my dish was the best (b/​c of the heat).
Honestly, I think this place is over priced. None of the Italian food was that amazing & nobody had leftovers. For $ 20 a plate I expected more flavor & freshness. Still, it was a pleasant meal with great service. Also, the décor was a little weird on the 2^nd floor. Looked a little «thrift-​shoppy.»
Street parking only — you’ve been warned.

I went to this place because my close friends keep referring it to me. I had a squid ink pasta with sardine dish which is amazing. Prices match with the quality of the food.
However, I got irritated by this one Asian lady named Lily. As soon as I sat down at the table, she came and ask me if I was Thai people. I didn’t not get offended but her way of asking made me feel like she was judging me and my friends. She yelled at a busboy right in front of us like we should see it. We felt uncomfortable knowing she was walking around the table. The wonderful waiter had earned 3 points out of 10 customer service points for this restaurant.
I particularly do not like to see people get yelled at while they are working. There are more ways to communicate in order to get a person to do a better job.

The customer service is perfection, (especially by the owner, Lily). The food might be even better.
A couple of friends and I stopped at Perche’ No for dinner prior to attending a party in Fremont. My friends ordered some of the entrees, but I was boring, and opted for a margherita pizza because I was wearing a dress, didn’t want to eat anything too heavy and arrive to the party looking like Fat Bastard.
Big mistake. My pizza was good, and I gobbled it down quickly, but the aromas coming from my friends’ entrees were absolutely divine! They all loved their dishes and every single one of them (8 total) cleared their plates. This was everyone’s first time at the restaurant, and it was unanimous agreement that we’d all come back again.
Here are the plate clearing entrees that are worth trying:
— Campanelle con Funghi Porcini e Olio d’Tartufi
— Cannelloni alla Toscana
— Gnocchi Marinara
— Rigatoni alla Ragu d’Agnello
— Ravioli Portobello al Pomodoro (The person next to me was eating this, and if I had known her better, I would’ve asked to lick her plate. The aroma from this plate had me salivating like Pavlov’s dog.)