Italiano Cafe

This place is SO hit and miss! My first order here was a total miss (see previous review), but my second order was amazing so I was glad I gave them a second chance. My third order, however, was terrible!
They offer very late delivery on Foodler (
) which I love. However, the last time I ordered a pizza from here, it took the delivery man nearly 2 hours to bring the pizza. By that time, it was freezing cold and hard as a rock. A total waste of time and money. So frustrating!

I didn’t have the slow delivery that others seem to have had occasionally (I ordered on foodler and it arrived only a minute or two after it was scheduled to), and the food was great. We got a large pizza and caesar salad and both were among the best I’ve had (at least via delivery) in my years here in DC.

Italiano café is so good that I signed up for Unilocal just to review it.
This place is absolutely fantastic. The owners are awesome too. It’s probably the best pizza I’ve had in the district, and for 10 $ /​two toppings it’s a pretty solid deal. Sometimes you can catch livingsocial instant promos and it’s even cheaper. Can’t recommend enough to anyone who lives in the area. It isn’t worth metro’ing to or anything (no real seating during the winter, it’s a carryout place) but I’m a block away and wind up there once or twice a week.

I had the build your own pasta for lunch today. It was absolutely fantastic!!! They fulfilled all of my requests for extra sauce beautifully. And, the pasta was soooooo good! The portion size was so generous. It is total worth the 9-​ish dollars for the build your own.
My only complaint is that by the time the food arrived it was cold. So, I had to reheat it. AND, the food reheated without the sauce turning into a mess of grease and cheese!
I am currently moving out of the D.C. area and just wanted some comfort food to help me through the stress… Italiano Café was a great idea!

DON“T ORDER FROM HERE! I ordered over 1.5 hours ago and I still have not received my meal. I was told 45 minutes. Called the shop and was told I only have one driver wait, and he hung up. I hope it comes…

Just got this for delivery from Grubhub: pretty awesome. I got the turkey panini and Italian fries, and was very pleased. The turkey panini comes on a nice ciabatti-​type bread with pesto, cheese, red peppers and some other stuff, quite good. The Italian fries are spiced waffle fries, also tasty. I’ll definitely try them again.

Be warned — do not order delivery!
Our delivery order took over two hours on a Friday night because the poor pizza delivery guy was obviously way overworked and under supported. When we called to check in after about an hour and a half, the guy who answered the phone hung up on us. If the management of a pizza place can’t manage to staff up in order to not send their pizza guy out with fewer than five orders during the dinner rush on the busiest night of the week (and believe me, as a pizza delivery girl in a previous life, the delivery guy has my wholehearted sympathy), they just shouldn’t be in the delivery business.
Pizza itself is probably decent and likely would have been better if not somehow both ice cold and totally undercooked.
That said, we won’t be giving them a second chance.

Try ordering the 6 cheese pizza. It is surprisingly delicious. The flavor profile is well balanced and it will satisfy your appetite. Lastly, the crust wasn’t too thick which sometimes overwhelms pizzas. The café is located on a side street. Therefore, it is a neighborhood secret.

What I got:
–1 large pizza w/​sun-​dried tomatoes and portobello mushrooms (liberally topped)
–2 Coke Zero cans
What I paid:
$ 15 including tip, tax, and delivery fee
When it arrived:
30 minutes after I ordered via LivingSocial
How it tasted:
Not HOLY COW THIS IS AMAZING. Not terrible, either. I was pleasantly surprised by the dollar-​to-​deliciousness ratio.

Their six cheese pizza is delicious.
Normally I do not go for plain cheese pizza and I often shy from pizza joints that do not offer brick-​oven rustic options (I am into Pete’s Apizza, Match Box, Two Amys and the like). For their six cheese pizza, I am a convert.
Fortunately I live across the street and have had no problems with delivery or pick-​up.

This is the worst restaurant in the world. I placed my order on
, my order was taking long to be delivered (over 45 minutes) and I called the restaurant and the guy that picked up the phone said «what do you want, we are working on your oder, what the F*&*K do you want?». He is completely irrational, and if I was you I wouldn’t order from this restaurant, any customer service shop needs to understand that they need to have basic self respect.

I was looking forward to trying Italiano Café when I placed my order on
. That was an hour and 15 minutes ago. If this is the best pizza I’ve eaten in my whole life, I still doubt I’ll order from them again. Assuming it ever shows up …

It was literally freezing outside so I decided to have delivery. I’ve seen this place a lot and decided to give them a try. I ordered the Turkey Panini and Italian Fries with cheese, but they were out of the latter, so I opted for the eggplant dip in an attempt to be «healthy.» The panini was delicious and inexpensive (they’re having a $ 6.66 special for panini, chips, and drink). I will never order the dip again. I will frequent them again, but if I need a $ 10.00 minimum delivery I’ll order the tiramisu.

Great place for pizza. Ordered from here (3) three times in the last month and a half. Off the beaten track and a great add /​option in the neighborhood. The vegetarian pizza is excellent as were the Paninis.
The owners/​staff are very nice as well. Two thumbs up.

3.5 Stars.
I’ve been meaning to try this place after walking past it following a night of drinking at American Ice Company. I called and placed a pickup order, eschewing Boli’s (which is directly across the street from me) in favor of this new local spot in hopes that it would be a cut above. I asked the order-​taker if he could make me some garlic knots – he had no idea what they were but said he would try to make them. For those who do not know – garlic knots are basically just balls of pizza dough dipped in garlic and butter. They’re essentially breadsticks in circular form. I haven’t been able to find them in DC (they were a NYC specialty), so I was glad to hear that he was willing to try. The result? Good – a little smaller than what I’m used to and there wasn’t any garlic on them, but still pretty tasty. The mozzarella and caprese panini was the star of the show – with fresh basil and gooey mozzarella in abundance. The pizza? It was just OK-​compared to Bolis, the $ 9.99 2-​topping large was smaller than Bolis 1-​topping $ 8.99 X-​large; the cheese and toppings were better but Bolis crust is crispier and more flavorful.
All-​in-​all, this was not quite a 4-​star experience but I am rounding up because the things we ordered that were not pizza were very good; because the service was excellent/​very friendly, and because I hope that this neighborhood joint succeeds and improves their pizza beyond the
merely «OK» quality that it is now.
NB: By no means am I holding Bolis out as the best or ideal pizza… far from it. Would I ever pick it over 2Amys, Pete’s Apizza, and to a lesser extent, Paradiso /​Coppis? No, but it’s cheaper, closer, and it’s solid when you want to feed 3 or 4 hungry ppl for less than $ 10. Italiano Café is comparable to Bolis in that respect – not sure which one is better – probably a tossup.

Decent addition to the neighborhood. Went a couple days after it opened and got a slice of pizza. Service was great. Pizza was good. Cheesy, sauce was good, crust was ok. The staff asked if there was any spices I’d like to add which I thought was a plus.
A couple people had ordered pizzas to go and the pizzas looked really good. Interesting pizzas on menu (mediterranean and buffalo chicken) so will be coming back for those.
Good luck Italiano Café, we’ll be back!

We’ve eaten here about a half dozen times and love the food. Paninis are huge and tasty – especially the Turkey Panino – and pizza is very good as well. Great addition to the neighborhood!

I have to be serious since this is a first review, right. Sorry, I know. Okay, serious mode:
I was biking down V street and saw this place I’d never heard of.
It looked like a hole in the wall non-​franchise, so there was a chance it might actually be good, which would make it the first good non-​franchise pizza place in the U Street area.
Ordered delivery a pizza with meatballs: good. I prefer thin crust, this was more medium crust, but I still thought it was good.
Bread sticks were good and a good serving size, but there could be more sauce included. Maybe a bit more seasoning in the sauce and sticks.
Will order from them again.