A Lotta Love For Pasta Mia

by Prince Of Petworth March 23, 2016 at 10:05 am 20 Comments

pasta
1790 Columbia Road, NW

Roric McCorristin captures the scene last night:

“The line for pasta mia this evening stretches all the way to Euclid St.”

Getting in line for your last chance. Respect.

anon50

waited in a line a quarter this size saturday night (we should have know better, I know). took a full three hours to be seated with menus. I’ll admit, it was tolerable for the first hour, but miserable by the last, and we contemplated cutting our losses on a more than few occasions. however, the food finally (and I mean finally) came, we ate, and by the time our group left (around 1230), we were all smiles.
- ***
  
  Wow, that is patience. Part of the reason I never went here – not going to stand around in line for 3 hours just for the privilege of eating somewhere.
  - Tsar of Truxton
    
    The key to Pasta Mia has always been getting there early (6ish) to get first seating at 6:30. If you can’t get there by 6, don’t bother showing up until like 7-730. Since everyone is seated at the same time, and meals are only made for one or two tables at a time (i.e., service is slow), the first tables served open back up around 720 or 730. If you don’t get first seating, you are waiting for everyone who did to order, get served, eat, and pay.
- TJ
  
  Passed by a few times before the closure was announced, and you could have walked right in.
  I feel some nostalgia for Pasta Mia – lived around the corner on Euclid St. NW in the 90s – but it really isn’t line-standing good.
  - the_famous_boat
    
    It really isn’t. We were there from 6:30 – 10pm and my gnocchi sorrentino tasted exactly like the bagged one from Trader Joe’s.
  - Anonymous
    
    That was my feeling as well. I lived a block away for 5 years and never went. I never heard anyone dog the food but I never heard anything about the food which made me feel compelled to get there super early to get a table or stand in line for hours to get one. I think if you are waiting in line for hours to get a meal, you are already preprogrammed to say good things the meal you get.
- justinbc
  
  I wonder how many people standing in those lines are the same ones who bitched about Rose’s not taking reservations (at least they take your name and number and you can go grab a drink elsewhere).
anon50

by the way is the crane in the background for the new hotel?
- positive pamela
  
  Yes.
Philippe Lecheval

Five years from now that whole strip will be long gone.
- Anon
  
  Good riddance. That whole section of Columbia up to the Safeway needs some serious help.
- ***
  
  Can’t say that is a huge loss. I’ve seen more rats scurry into the walls of that McDonald’s than customers.
welshie

I’ve never been so I am interested in if this is worth going to before it closes- Do they make their own pasta and does it have bite?
- justinbc
  
  No, absolutely not worth it. (unless you lived there like 10-15 years ago when the quality might have been passable)
- ***
  
  So where are the good pasta places in DC? I spent the last 1.5 years in New York and got really used to being able to get good (and cheap) pasta pretty much anywhere.
  - Anonymous
    
    Morini down in the Navy Yard waterfront is awesome. Their $10 Monday night pasta deal ends next week (winter only). We went on Monday night. Amazingly good deal.
    - ***
      
      Will have to check it out next time I am down there – wish there was a few more vegetarian options on the menu, but such is my lot in life.
ExWalbridgeGuy

Was there recently for old times’ sake. Food was great. Like with every trip to Pasta Mia, they were comically understaffed to the point of basically burning money. With a line out the door we watched as tables would sit — empty but uncleared — for about 30 minutes between each party. So if you figure that, in the course of a typical evening, each of the 50 seats was sitting empty for around 2 hours, despite demand, then they’re missing out on maybe 100 customers per night, at about $30 per customer. Works out to easily losing a million a year in revenue… pretty wild.
Jessica

Does anyone know the day it actually closes? Has it been announced?
irvingman

Pasta: something you can easily make yourself at home for about $4, including just ok ingredients for homemade sauce. Buy a can of tomato sauce, toss in some herbs, garlic, onion, and mushrooms, and voila. Why on earth would anyone stand in line for this??? If it were homemade pasta and out of this world sauce, ok, maybe, but $18 a plate for boxed pasta? NO.

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