Raleigh's Contemporary Light Italian Restaurants

Tavola Rossa Entrance

Recently we went to Tavola Rossa, Raleigh’s Italian Restaurant right behind Crabtree Valley Mall. It’s good light Italian food…I don’t know if they classify themselves as northern Italian but that’s my take on it as the flavors there are mild and subtle compared to heavy, spicy, rustic southern Italian or Sicilian flavors. We’ve been there at least half a dozen times and never been disappointed.

Tavola Rossa’s atmosphere is contemporary with high ceilings and pendant drop lights. Many of the 4 top tables have a booth backing

and two wooden chairs.  Honestly, the chairs don’t look all that comfortable without any cushion or additional back support, so I always sit myself against the booth seating when it’s available. And Eric usually joins me so we can have a more intimate dining experience instead of conversation across the table. He was telling me about a friend who reads the paper in front of his lady friend during a meal. Yeah, you go ahead and date your newspaper and hello, I’ll bring my IPOD. Are you kidding me?

If you look around you’ll see small family gatherings and couples. I’d say it’s a more a grown up and affluent crowd than not. Not a lot of children if any that I’ve noticed. They do have outdoor seating which will be nice in the summer.

You can also see the kitchen from your table. That seems to be the modern restaurant way of doing things. And there’s also a private room behind velvet drapes for catered dinners and events. From time to time they have special events for the public.

…But anyway, at Tavola Rossa the wine is good and the food is better. It’s a nice evening experience.

It ain’t cheap but for good food, it’s fair value. You’re looking at around $100 meal two of you have a 3 course meal and a glass of wine. We had a $25 gift certificate that we brought and bought for just under half price or $10… which hey, just went towards an extra appetizer or dessert.

I like a good red wine with my dinner. Especially Pinot Noir and Shiraz as they’re generally lighter in taste. I also like white wine when the weather is warm, but it fills you up quicker so if you wanna eat more, drink red if you like that kinda wine. The red wine menu is broken out into soft, smooth, and bold red wines. I ordered the California Harlow Ridge Pinot Noir and my husband ordered the Tuscany Chianti by the glass. I actually liked his better and he liked mine. What a surprise! …no really, this actually almost always happens to us unless he orders a Merlot or a deep cabernet which are too bold for me. I just don’t like those bitter or oak-y tastes that I find a lot in those reds.

Tavola’s bread they serve is warm off the grill. It has grill lines on it and is some kinda light sourdough bread. I love it and usually most restaurant breads. I can usually tell if I’m gonna like a restaurant that I’m trying for the first time if I like the bread. Kinda like the first impression sorta thing. But this wasn’t our first time at Tavola Rossa so I was just expecting good bread again. And this time instead of butter (which would be just fine with me), they served it with a hummus or baba ghannouj (sp?) which was just soooo good. It wasn’t the type of hummus (if it was hummus) you buy at the store. The consistency was less like a butter spread and more like a jelly. I’m sure they’d send out some butter though for people who don’t like the hummus.

And our appetizers we ordered were excellent. Actually all their appetizers have been really good there that we’ve tried, so I’d recommend trying all or any. I think we’ve pretty much tried them all at some point. I never remember what appetizers we ordered, especially since they have Italian names. And you don’t see the exact ingredients unless you really investigate your dish, because they mix in the good stuff real well. (Not like just a jumbo cocktail appetizer where ‘what you see is what you get’…nothing wrong with that but their’s is chef’s work at its best!) I just remember what the mixed dish looked and tasted like. That’s how you know it was good! Here, have a look-sy yourself:

Tavola Rossa Appetizer…looks like a meal! And imagine, it tasted better than it looked. The appetizers were like meals upon themselves.

I ordered the shrimp and polenta dish for my main course and Eric ordered the seafood stew. Mine had an Italian name with Gambero in it which means shrimp. His was just called Seafood Stew.

When the plates came out, they looked very similar in color and size. And we both had fat shrimps. His had noticeable potatoes and scallops and mussels while mine had polenta and mushrooms. The presentation wasn’t fancy but the shrimps were very meaty so that made it impressive. I’ll take a lotta good hearty ingredients over a towering art display any day. You know what I’m talking about, right? …those finer restaurant entrees that are built upwards like a tee-pee to give it an chef’s artistry look. Anyway, the sauce was very mild and tasty. It was a butterscotch color.

I was stuffed after the meal. But when it comes to desserts, there’s always a special open room in the stomach.

We ordered the tiramasu sampler dessert.

There was a banana, hazelnut and original tiramisu in each of 3 cups. I liked the hazelnut the best and my husband liked the banana one…it tasted like it had some rum in it. Maybe that’s why he liked it. I thought overall it was pretty good but kinda dry in texture compared to other tiramisu’s that I’ve had over the years. I will say though it’s hard to really screw up a dessert with sugar and butter, but I’ve never really been blown away by their desserts. Eric really liked it though and tiramisu is one of his fav’rite desserts so that’s saying something. He’s more a pie guy, and I’m a cake gal (that includes cupcakes). So right there we have our differences in dessert. Put a French mousse cake or a 5 layer strawberry shortcake (or tall cake…hehe) in front of me and I’m in heaven. I actually have had one of those 5 layer high strawberry cakes in my fav’rite restaurant in all the Triangle. Heh…you’re not gonna get that outta me so easily! I’ll share another time… I promise. 

At Tavola Rossa, I really go there for their hands down great appetizers, delish dinner entrees and good wine.  You should give it a try on an evening out or for your next big occasion.  If you have any Northerner friends coming, this restaurant will make them feel at home as it’s probably the type of restaurant they’re used to. By the way, I’m looking for a good moist flavorful lemon or orange cake recipe. I made an orange cake with orange gelatin as one of the main ingredients one time but it just wasn’t the same as real orange zest or orange extract flavors. Well, it tasted like orange gelatin. So please lemme know if you have a good recipe…

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Category: Raleigh Restaurants