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Mon-Thu. 11:30 a.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Fri-Sat. 11:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Sun. 11:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m.
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How can this not be a five star?? The food is fresh Italian with a Pacific Northwest flare and the service is so cute! They are very accommodating and will modify anything on or off of the menu. Their pomegranate martini is awesome and now that they have happy hour, there's no reason not to visit Piatti. They make their own pizza dough, sausage and Ciabatta (when you get a sandwich at lunch) and they are always coming up with fun and innovative specials...did I mention 1/2 price wine night??
Nice place, especially in the summer, when you can sit outside in the patio, under the trees.
Fantastic service!
However, the food... the food is not so great. What a pity.
The chef needs to find a recipe, not a better one, but any recipe for real gnocchi because those are not gnocchi
Piatti is a chain, yes. It is located in a mall (University Village), yes. However, it does not… Read more »
Piatti emerged as a compromise candidate between the faction of culinary adventure and the faction of extremely picky Americans who find comfort in chains, and so we arrived on a Friday night. Reservations (for 8pm) proved to be a smart move as we watched a couple who came in directly after us be told a 20 minute wait, raising my expectations that the mass of the commons was in support. We sat down in a busy, large and in general boisterous restaurant environment seemingly aimed at large groups. Since I was with my family, I didn't mind a few minor conversational obstacles.
One might ask, how did the Italian food go? One might answer:
- Bread (free): Not a good use of stomach space except to dip in soup/pasta.
- Minestrone ($5): Forgettable and smaller than a coffee cup? Non bene.
- Special ($9/$16): Comforting heavy pappardalle, short rib ragu, spinach, tomatoes.
- Tartufo ($6.50): Overly sweet chocolate lava cake loosely based on the original.
- Tiramisu ($6.50): Also on the sweet side, but still a much better fit. Approved.
I don't know why there were so many people here besides the Seattle effect of lowered sensitivity for certain rarer cuisines - maybe there's something in the water at UW that makes people love everything in the surrounding area, kind of like the Huskies. However, it served its original intended purpose as a low common denominator.
In Sopranos New Jersey, Piatti would either need to drop their prices by 25-50% or step up their game or they would likely be out of business in six months. In Seattle, I'd come back here for comfort food - how low the mighty Italian standards have fallen.
This is a review of my first visit to Piatti - lunch with a friend on a weekday.
It is a nice atmosphere - light and airy.
The seasoned balsamic that came with the bread was honestly FABULOUS.
We had the calamari to start and it was also fabulous! I'm not big on breaded calamari, but this was not over-breaded or over-cooked as it typically is. The plate was truly wonderful. The green beans and fennel root were unique but welcome partners to the calamari. In addition, it was a generous plate considering the price.
I had the tre colori salad which was a blend of savory/bitter greens (arugula, endive and radicchio) with gorgonzola, almonds and figs. The dressing was a bit heavy-handed for my taste and my cheese snob palate noted the gorgonzola was not of the highest quality, but it was still a lovely salad and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
My friend had the Caesar which she was disappointed with. It had very little flavor according to her.
At this point in time we had enjoyed a nice lunch with excellent service. We expected to just nibble our entrees and take them with us since we'd already had bread, calamari and salad. But we were still looking forward to tasting them!
Honestly, the entrees were a HUGE disappointment. We should have just skipped them.
My friend ordered the chicken penne (I wondered why she chose that when you can make that at home very easily) and she said it was bland and boring. She planned to take it home and spice it up a bit.
I ordered the small portion of the butternut squash ravioli.
Let me digress a moment: My only quibble with the service is that the server condescendingly informed me that the small portion was only four ravioli and would that be ok? Umm.....we are also having bread, fish, green beans, fennel root and salad. I had the choice of small or large.....please don't insult me because I am overweight. Perhaps I am being over-sensitive, but I DID have the choice between a large and small serving. I am aware I am not at The Spaghetti Factory, thank you very much.
I really wanted to LOVE this ravioli but I just didn't. It came with baked apples and cinnamon. Don't get me wrong, I love baked apples and cinnamon, but I was looking for a savory entree, not a dessert. And the ravioli itself? Tasteless. I ate one at the restaurant and took the other three home in a box. I ended up tossing them in the yard waste because I had no interest even as leftovers.
I would not hesitate to lunch at Piatti again although I would skip the entree and just do appetizer and salad. All in all, it was a nice experience and a fairly reasonable price. I just wish we could take back the entrees.
If I went there for dinner I would be VERY careful about what I chose. But you just can't beat the calamari and salad for lunch!
Piatti is a decent place to stop by for a meal in the u-district. It features a beautiful patio which is great to sit at on a beautiful sunny Seattle day. The menu is nothing to sneer at but nothing that makes you go wow and keep you coming back for more.
The service is ok. I have found that it can be hit or miss, where you have a waiter that takes great care of you and others that just make you go "where the heck are they?"
Ambiance is decent and comfortable. The contemporary undertones are a refreshing look and after a long day of shopping around the village!
Not bad for a U Village Restaurant
For an afternoon appetizer, the pear crostini was excellent. The sandwiches seemed overpriced, though the polenta fries almost justified the prices. This afternoon, we shared a fairly lackluster pepperoni pizza. The pepperoni itself was great, but the pizza was oily and mediocre.
Overall, if you're stuck in U Village and need a bite, it's not a bad option.
Nice place to sit and catch up with the girls.
Options include sitting outside on a lovely Seattle summer day. Indoors is also a nice option - their high ceilings and open kitchen give the place a nice feel.
Food ranges from YUM to so-so.
Highlights:
- steamed mussels (appetizer)
- pappardelle: YUM. House-made pasta with great texture. Served with shrimp and veggies
Meh:
- calamari: supposed to be one of their house favorites. Ours was a little dry and not very impressive. Maybe an off day?
- Alaskan halibut: was OK, but not great.
All in all, a fun place for a quick lunch. Fills up the tank so you can gear up for hours of shopping at U Village!
Happy Eats!
I have dined at Piatti about 100 times, and I've always left satisfied. The service is usually spot on, and the food is to die for. I especially love their prosciutto and fresh mozzarella salad as a starter. The pastas at Piatti are amazing as well. The rigatoni with homemade sausage is always well-prepared, and their chicken penne is delicious. I wish I could bottle the sauce it comes in and just drink it. The gnocchi is very good as well. It is very light as good gnocchi should be. Many places serve gnocchi that just sits like a lead weight in your stomach. I have also had their flat iron steak, which is cooked and flavored perfectly.
If I have one complaint about this place, it's that the sodas are typically flat. I don't know what it is about the mix they have going, but I have never had a good, fizzy coke on any occasion. Still, the people are so nice and the food so good, I find it hard to complain.
This is probably not the place to go to if you want the most authentic italian food, but I love the plain & simple atmosphere with fresh flower decor.
I've been here a handful of times and I may be boring, but I always order the penne pasta here. It comes with chicken, broccoli, tomatoes, roasted pine nuts in a garlicky white wine sauce. It's SO GOOD that I am always tempted to get that instead of something new. Oh and it was $15. Portions are huge so you will have most definitely have leftovers.
I might have to go there for lunch this weekend! 4 stars go to the Penne dish, but I'm not sure about everything else.
This place is definitely the most "real" restaurant in UVillage. The food is just mediocre though. The best part of my meal came at the beginning - the bread and olive oil. We ordered three pasta dishes and they were just okay. The best was the clam linguine, which wasn't even that good (very salty). The worst was the bolognese "fettucine." It had this weird taste that made me not even want to finish it. I'm so glad I got the half size. It's nice they offer small portions, and I appreciate that they make their own pasta, but overall it's not worth the price and I won't be returning.
My wife and I went here because we wanted to try something nice at the U Village shopping mall and were willing to pay a little more to do so. Piatti definitely fit the bill on all fronts.
The food was, if not completely authentic Italian, still really good. She had their sopressatta pizza, which was a combo of briny, spicy salame and sweet chilis. The sweet-spicy combo really was nice, and the thin, chewy crust had a nice brick-oveny smokiness. (She did find it a bit heavy on the cheese, but I thought it wasn't too bad.)
I had the chicken parmigiana, with bucatini (hollow spaghetti) because ... well, I really like chicken parmigiana. The chicken was cooked nicely (though, i wish they had pounded it out flat), and the bucatini was cooked al dente. My only wish is that there'd be a bit less mozzarella on top, and that the tomato sauce be a bit fresher (perhaps more crushed tomato, and less tomato paste, which I detest?). A sidecar from the bar kept my tummy warm.
I also appreciated the service -- not overly fawning or necessarily friendly, but professional and attentive.
I've eaten there twice.
Bolth times it was very tasty. Service was great. Nice atmosphere.
They have incredibly affordable happy hour and a nice menu to go along with it....
So... the food was good... But I asked the waitress if the penne had any cheese in it (I'm lactose intolerant) and she said no. When my pasta arrived and I took my first bite, there was cheese everywhere! The entire sauce was cheesy. To be fair, it doesn't look at first glance that there is cheese, but it is seriously everywhere (the sauce is faintly oranged hued). Fortunately I carry around lactaid tablets and took one right away. I also very nicely informed the waitress that for future reference there was cheese in the penne and I told her that because I had just taken a lactaid tablet, I didn't necessarily need her to switch out my dish since I was starving. However, she didn't offer me a discount, so I ended up spending $20 on a dish that ultimately gave me a stomach ache.
I'd say this place is overly priced (although what can you expect from University Village?) and don't expect the waiters to know what's in all the dishes.
I had lunch here 4 or 5 times - pleasant ambiance, pretty good service, the waiters seem less professional than some comparable places. The pasta dishes are always good, although I'm not fond of the bread. The place is too big to feel cozy. It seems the wine portions are small.
It would get four stars for the dining experience, generally very good despite my nitpicking, except the prices are higher than are warranted.
We have lived by University Village for about 5 years. In that time, I would guess we have eaten at Piatti at least 30 times. Perhaps much more. We have had celebrations there, taken innumerable professional relations there. It is basically our default when we need a nice place to go, and don't want to go far.
In 5 years, I have never, not once, had a dish that was not prepared well. Consistently good food and good service. Some of the dishes are really top notch. My wife and I don't put up with bad food or bad service. In a town like Seattle, there is no reason to compromise. I worked in restaurants when I was younger. Anyone can get it right once in a while. But to get it right, time after time, year after year...........THAT is what defines a great restaurant.
Piatti is part of a chain, but the chefs at the individual restaurants have wide latitude when designing their menus. The decor is the typical American take on Northern Italian style.
Make sure you make a reservation on days when UW has Football/Basketball games or around major holidays, as the place does fill up.
A well deserved 5 stars.
A friend and I visited Piatti while I was in Seattle for a few days and we were passing time shopping in the village. There are multiple food choices in the village, but I was NOT disappointed by choosing Piatti!
1. The decor/ambiance. So cute!! We came on a Sunday later lunchtime, but surprisingly the place was still half/more than half full. We were seating promptly, and our cute waitress came over with the bottle of cold water with Piatti enscribed on it. Is water with no ice a Seattle thing? Because I noticed it in multiple restaurants.
2. The food. YUM!!!! They gave us focaccia bread- warm and herb crusted- surprising considering how expensive flour is these days, many restaurants have quit giving it away for free. It came with this cute vinegar/OO combination with herbs, the waitress swished it around in front of us before serving. I liked it considering most Italian places only serve oil with herbs and it can get a bit heavy.
I ordered a ceasar salad to start and the sopresatta pizza (my friend ordered the margarita). The ceasar had a little too much parmesean on it, but the dressing was great and the lettuce size perfect. Our pizzas were great- well, I can only comment on my own as I didn't try my friends but she said it was great. Thin crust, my sopresatta was great with sweet peppers. I ate almost all of it, which is a 3-4 pieces. I wanted to order dessert but was seriously too full, too bad because their panna cotta sounded amazing.
Overall, I was very pleased with our meal at Piatti and if I am ever in Seattle again for an extended period of time I will definitely go there!
This is not authentic Italian food by any stretch of the imagination. It is a chain after all. The atmosphere feels a bit like a mall or an Olive Garden. We were hungry and I saw butternut squash ravioli on the menu. I am such a sucker for butternut squash anything!
The ravioli was perfectly portioned (six raviolis) and savory with a just the right amount of sweetness. It's a great vegetarian dish. My partner had one of their pizzas which was a thin crust with sweet red pepper and pepperoni. He enjoyed it immensely.
The bread and the herb olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette is very yummy. I could have eaten the bread for my main course. So good!
Overall, I would not make a special trip to eat here, but if I am shopping at the U-Village and have a craving for Italian food Piatti is not a bad option.
I love Piatti. My parents used to take me here every time they would drive me back to school after a weekend at home. The food is so good and the waiters are very friendly and attentive. Most of all, I love the atmosphere. You feel like you're at a secluded California vineyard. One of my favourites.
This place is a must-visit for happy hour. Their happy hour is 7 days a week from 4-6pm in the bar. The prices are out of this world and the food is excellent!
I've been here twice now for what I like to call a "happy hour dinner" with my boyfriend and it's been great. The pizzas are rich and flavorful (the Margherita is to die for!) and the polenta fries are a HUGE favorite of mine. Also highly recommended is the fried calamari with fennel and broccoli and the caesar salad. Their house pino grigio is also quite nice.
The atmosphere is a little lacking, but the noise level is very low and the staff all appear to be quite pleasant.
To be perfectly honest, the prices are sky high come dinner time, but as long as you sit in the bar during happy hour, you can get a huge amount of delicious food for a great price. I would definitely recommend trying it.
Yes, it's a restaurant in the middle of University Village shopping center. We were pleasantly surprised...we arrived right in time for happy hour and it did indeed make us happy! After dragging Rob around from shop to shop (and this was after he had to wait for me while I was getting my hair cut), he just wanted to go home and take a nap. Then we encountered Piatti. Several wine selections at $4 a glass...several selections, that's not common for happy hour wine. Whee! Beer and well drinks on happy hour special as well of course. Happy hour appetizers at half price. Rob got a very generous sized sopressata pizza for $6. He was on top of the world, though full beyond belief by the time we left. I ordered on the regular menu...the frutta salata which was spinach, raspberries, blueberries, slivered almonds in a raspberry vinaigrette. Also comes with goat cheese but I asked to skip the cheese. Service was fantastic (thank you Susan) and our weekend was punctuated on a positive note!
Beware the Cakeage fee. If you bring in your own cake they will charge you $5 per person (I was recently told the cakeage fee is only $1.50 per person). Sure, they cut it, serve it, and clean up after you, but when you bring in a group of people to a restaurant and they order a fair amount of food and drinks it just seems like this would be filed under "cost of doing business" or even "be nice on people's birthdays."
Other than that it's a nice, if somewhat sterile, restaurant that serves tasty food for a fair price.
Great food, average ambiance, good service. But its the price and the little things that get in the way.
Had a large dinner party there and the service was great. I had bought 2 dessert cakes for my party and I was told that there was a "per slice per person fee" for the desserts i had bought. So on top of spending money on dessert, I had to pay THEM to cut it... Probably the most inane thing i had ever heard.
"All the high end restaurants charge that fee"
I dont think so..
I have been to Ruth Chris and The Met and they have NEVER charged me.. and besides.. *ahem* they think they are high end?? They are just a bit above olive garden...
Other than that - they were good.
I can't really give an in-depth review because I didn't even order anything from here. But I did eat bits of my friend's food. It wasn't fantastic but it was pretty good. I remember thinking it was rich.
What's i'm really raving about at this place is the complimentary bread that comes out in the beginning. The best I've ever tried in my life! It comes hot and fresh right out of the oven. Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside. The dipping sauce is drool! It's a seasoned balsalmic vinigarette. I meant to eat just a bit b/c i felt guilty for not ordering anything. But I could not stop no matter how hard I tried.
The atmosphere was classy and looked like a great "date place." The price was more than what I might usually spend (b/c I'm on a budget). The waitress was so kind to us too!
Terrific restaurant. At the risk of sounding like a small-town girl (which I am), that was the first place I ever ate fennel bulbs, which are delicately breaded and fried and served with their calamari. Their bread is indeed amazing, and I am a tremendous fan of their chicken penne pasta.
The staff have always been very courteous, and I appreciate the feel of the restaurant.
Piatti is a great pick for a pricier lunch for UW students, but not the best for a nice dinner.
Food: Tasty. The ravioli on the lunch menu is fantastic (for some reason it's not available during dinner). The lamb gnocchi for dinner was awful (but expensive). The eggplant appetizer is great, and the fettuccine is quite good also. The margherita is an excellent choice for pizza. They also do give you nice bread while you are waiting, though the balsamic / olive oil dipping spread is sub-par.
Service: Depends on the waiter/waitress. Once I got the snobbiest guy, and he never checked on us. When I went for my birthday dinner with some friends I got a very nice girl.
Price: Steep, especially for college students. Comparatively, this isn't the place to spend your money in Seattle if you have it. However, if you (like me) are feeling lazy and want to go to a slightly nicer restaurant with friends/hubby then why not? Again, I stress that lunch is much better than dinner.
Ambiance: Busy, bustling, but still relaxed enough to feel "upscale" for most students. Being raised on the Eastside, I don't find it particularly impressive, but I still pull on my nice Joe's when I go :)
3.5 stars. not uber consistant but quite tasty.
decent happy hour in the bar (can't go outside with it) but it is a bit on the pricier side of things
Ack, an Italian restaurant in a mall? Piatti used to be a chain that I would avoid, why eat Piatti here when I could be comforted with Italian chain food in Hawaii?
Well, the food is great, the bar is excellent and large and the food quality has improved by leaps and bounds in the last few years. Oh, its also on Open table and can accommodate all sorts eaters including my older parents and my younger cousins.
We went there this Tuesday when I threw in the dishtowel. I had my normal insalata pesce with yellowtail tuna, TH had a nice Pear salad with booth canyon pears and a lovely thin crust pizza with locally foraged mushrooms. Great service, nice table (booked on Open Table at 5:30 for a 7 pm ressie) and no dishes.
Oh, did I mention their bar? Campari and soda within .5 miles of my house. I'm happy.
Have only been for Happy Hour but loved the bruschetta, the margherita pizza was pretty good, too. Liked the flavor of their olive oil. The wine tasted like it was on its way out and they were more than happy to replace it. Decent Happy Hour prices and a decent variety of food to choose from. Would like to be able to sit outside but apparently Happy Hour is only inside.
Piatti is a mainstay for us, a slightly upscale restaurant with good, freshly made food (of Italian persuasions as the name implies) with a local accent. We appreciate their ability to accommodate my daughters' food allergies (gluten-free and dairy-free), and those of us who are not gluten-free enjoy the freshly baked focaccia and sourdough, which they serve with a European style mix of oil and vinegar. Service has always been friendly. This is one of our favorite Seattle restaurants, especially when we have shopping to do in University Village.
Expensive, bland Italian food... kind of like the Olive Garden at its worst. Go to Ciao Bella down the street for more authentic, tastier Italian food.
2 1/2 stars for a combination of marginal-quality ingredients and an overpriced menu-- we had a hunch to look elsewhere, but we were desparately hungry. The descriptions on their menu overstated the food:
- Starter bread was nice and warm, but they were cheap with the olive oil/balsamic vinegar. They served a sallow, lightweight, non-virgin olive oil. All fat and no flavor.
- They charge $3 for lemonade refills (?!)
- The gorgonzola in their pear salad was this waxy, white cheese. Little flavor. No blue whatsoever.
Here was our tab: $60 for a lemonade + 1 refill, a diet coke, small spinach pear salad, one lasagna, and one linguine with clams. The last dish was $16, but it tasted OK.
Foodies should skip this place 'cause you'll be disappointed.
Non-foodies should look elsewhere for less expensive, better quality Italian food.
I love there pizzas and they have really nice special cocktails - I love the cucumber gimlet they serve (and I normally am not a gimlet person) Just don't fill up on the bread which is quite good....
Not quite sure how to rate this one. I have not been particularly impressed with their pasta dishes, but the pizza and salads are always wonderful, as is the seasonal bruschetta. They have a decent happy hour menu, for $10 you can get a pizza and a glass of wine.
Why do I do this to myself? If I know that I'm heading to a particular location and will undoubtedly be hungry, why don't I do a quick yelp search? But no. . .I do myself a disservice and end up at a place like Piatti for dinner because I was too hungry to walk all over the U Village. Service was great, and the atmosphere was nice so if that's your thing, go for it. Your taste buds won't jump for Joy, though. Points off for weak ingredients- the quality of the olive oil, the gorgonzola in the pear salad were just meh. Honestly, the menu items sound much, much better than they taste. The prices of the entrees do not reflect that the meal will be. . .overwhelmingly blah. Finally, they just suck for charging for refills. Good thing that I drained my lemonade.
Piatti originated in San Diego, CA. The Seattle location feels a bit contrived almost like you're in Palo Alto or Smellvue, (Are you a Pottery Barn or Restoration Hardware Slut?), but if you are slutting it up in UW Village, try their Shrimp Pappardelle or the gorgonzola specials. The food is pleasing, yet forgettable. The decor is cheery and kind of like California Pizza Kitchen. Piatti could learn a thing or two about success by studying the service and style at Il Fornaio, where it's still possible to serve the masses without distancing your customers.
I almost never give 5 stars but this restaurant is one of the best I have eaten at. The service is great, the food is delicious and the cost reasonable. I must say I have only been there when I have had a marvelous time, I am sure it is the atmosphere, could be the occasions which have been memorable. I have tried almost everything on the menu and enjoyed each dish immensely.
I pretty much frequent this place just to eat the bread....specifically the focaccia with their garlicky balsamic dipping oil. So really, the 4 star rating is for the bread. I could really care less about the rest of the menu.
Winters are cozy when you order warm specialty drinks or sit by the fireplace and summers are beautiful out on the open-air patio surrounded by beautiful cascading flowers. The food is rustic and delicious - the menu changes often but try the specialty pizzas, clam linguini, pork tenderloin, and the specials. The desserts are also beautiful and delectable. The staff is always friendly and attentive, and I usually always see the managers chatting with tables and making rounds. Great place to go during any season!
The food is fantastic! Everything...and I mean EVERYTHING is homemade in the beautiful exhibition kitchen (did I mention it is a spotlessly clean restaurant?). When you go try the affettati misti, the house made artisan cured meats that Chef Felix Acosta and his Sous Chef team of Shubert Ho and Kevin Favro have spent all year perfecting. Better than Salumi! Also try the pizzas cooked in an applewood burning stove. They are thin crust and oh so delicious. Another must try is the Salmon. It's served grilled on a bed of yummy lentils and fall root vegetables. As for the bar drink up their house made lemoncello. The cocktail menu was updated this fall and features creative drinks. Happy hour everyday from 4-6 in the bar and half price wine on Monday nights. The happy hour has food AND drink specials. In the summers their patios are amazing with flowers cascading over the railings and marble tables to dine on. Go, try it out!
Neighborhood: University District
Category: Italian
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