a tavola

this restaurant is great. s.... this restaurant is great.
service was very good, the food even better.

dericious.

when we arrived at a tavola darlinghurst, i stopped to admire the huge marble table in the front dining room where the pasta is made fresh every day. the envious home cook in me even started plotting "the great marble table heist" for a couple of fanciful minutes.

i love the concept but they need to learn how to properly cook a pizza. so excited to have a place like this in cincy and esp. madeira, but my first trip there was disappointing because pizza is in that lovely oven too short of time and the dough is soggy and not properly cooked in the middle. this is not how wood-fired or any other pizza should be cooked. call the folks at pomidori (the original local wood-fired pizza) and ask them for some guidance. a slice should not collapse in the middle on to your wrist when you pick it up and i watched people at other tables exp. the same thing. i tried it again last night and was curious as i watched from the bar at least 4-5 workers at all times watching and examining how each pizza came out - clearly, they must realize there are issues with the cooking temp, the oven, dough, etc. the pizza chef was pitching pizzas in the garbage can right and left. charred on the outside and wet in the middle does not a good pizza make. if the stone oven isn't cutting it, throw those babies in the regular ovens. would be a light less stressful for the staff and dewey's churns out those pizzas with no troubles and a packed house. also disappointed that they have been unable to open the lovely patio outside during this perfect "high season" for outdoor drinking and eating. i know so many people are waiting for the patio to be open since seating is so limited inside. i hear they cannot handle the capacity due to the oven??? with that many workers on a tuesday night - most standing in the kitchen inspecting each pizza, i would think you could be serving more customers? just sayin' i wish them nothing but success and look forward to eating a properly cooked pizza soon!

i "like" a tavola but i am against it in principal.. otr food is a good thing, however i have noticed a trend of salt over content and a lack of respect for freedom in the style of cooking. most restaurants in otr specialize in the "black box" or "black line" method of gimmicks and well prepared guy fieri style machinations of hotplates and deep salt content, often presented in "luxury" fry baskets, duck-fat batter, etc.

i find this gimmicky method of cooking to be irritating, lately. it is as if some special ingredient (duck fat) or creative combination (duck sliders) is going to make your food better. instead, what often happens is that a "black line" appears over the menu items and plates upon delivery. a pre-established methodology of cooking replaces a general sense of the foods freedom, hence the black line drawn around the flavor, constraining each element to its own locale. salt is a great black line, it will certainly cause more severity in the strength of a black line. perhaps a lack of a black line or food freedom is brought about by preparation, chopping, handling, mixing, sifting, placing... a general sense of "soul" in a food to replace a general sense of "gimmick"... most often "gimmick" meaning market value in the eyes of a status obsessed locale.

so, a tavola. the first few times i went here, i did not like it. the food was too rich, the sauce tiresome, the dough not crispy in the way i like. however, i now do see that this is "gourmet" pizza with a different emphasis on the quality and depth of the flavors. this is not as much "cram it in" pizza as it is "fill up while mildly savoring the good ingredients and salt content" pizza. i must note that i enjoy eating here. i would like this review to serve as something of a critique of otr food in general, of which a tavola is a part, if not one of the main offenders.

the cheese ball appetizer is to be commended, as are the meatballs. however, is salt required to bring out a flavor to this extent? are we cincinnatians really so blind to the black line method and the dire consequences of saltation? i believe many of us are, though i do hold out hope for a new dining with respect to the decrease of the black line as well as an increasing presence of a lack of "bar stools," duckfat fritters, and highly regulated dinner ordainments. these must be replaced by freeflowing spaces of hot food and low salt content. portion constrainment (dish method) in combination with salt battery is no longer enjoyable for me.

love it!. went here on a date on a rainy saturday evening. we had heard that this place gets busy quickly, so we arrived around 5:45. we were told there would be a 5-10 minute wait (yay!), but we actually waited around 35 minutes (le sigh). luckily we were able to snag two seats at the bar, so we were able to parch our thirst while we waited. we got our drinks at the happy hour rate ($1 off all specialty drinks until 6). the drinks were really well made and quite strong. i had the ginger beer me with bourbon (delish!) and my date had the stefano (he really enjoyed it...i tasted it and liked it, but wow was it strong!) we were eventually seated in the middle aisle towards the back of the restaurant. it was pretty cramped, but not enough to bother me much. my date and i split two pizzas, the leek specialty pizza (delicious) and the gorgonzola piccante. both pizzas were wonderful! my date and i really enjoyed our visit, and we'll be sure to visit again soon!

sometimes when your original plans for the night don’t go so well, you end up having an even better night than expected and that’s exactly what happened this thursday.  we decided to go to a tavola since there was a long wait at another restaurant. we arrived at the door and was approached by a man who said it would be around 15-30 minute wait which we were happy with that time frame. at this time it was 8:00pm. every 10 minutes the man would approach us and tell us a table would be ready soon. at around 8:30pm we finally got a table and by this stage we were starting to get a bit impatient, so perfect timing. we got seated at the bar and as we we sat down the man who looked like a co-owner was very thankful for the time that we waited. we were then told that our waitress would come and explain the menu for us. i’ve never seen this approach at the restaurant but when you look at the menu, you realize why it needs to be explained. all these different dishes and names, i got a bit lost a

service is great, the food is simple and simply done, though i wouldn't call them generous portions but nearly $40 for a plate of pasta?

great place!. we tried to go to the eagle last night and it was a 3 hour wait. we decided to walk down the street to a tavola and that was probably the best decision we made all night! from the minute we walked in the door, the hostesses were very friendly and accommodating for my group of 5. i love the ambience of the place including the fancy bound menus. they had bell's hopslam beer on tap, so that makes me extra happy. our waiter was wonderful and suggested that we order 5 pizzas for 5 people. that was a little too much, but we all went home with leftovers. again, wonderful experience and i will definitely be back in the future.

a tavola is place which is all about “fresh” – the way it’s meant to be. it has the atmosphere of a large marble communal dining table, fresh handmade pasta hanging in the kitchen and a beautiful collection of italian wines (which my liver is thankful i don’t have in my own cellar).   i am greeted with the typical, “you mean everything to me” italian hospitality. i love it. i am seated at my spot on the long table, where i am brought a nice piece of rustic italian focaccia with olive oil infused with chilli. the olive oil soaks into the bread, while it retains that firm fresh crusty feel… it’s absolutely heavenly.    then my entrée arrives, a lovely vitello tonnato. it’s different to one i had at harry’s bar (see above the page of my review). its soft rare poached veal fillets with a t

don't go as a couple. first of all, we loved the food. our server was great and knowledgeable. pizza and appetizers came out quick.

my issue is that my wife and i walked in (no reservations...which was fine) at 5pm on saturday. we were told that they try not to seat couples ahead of bigger parties. we had to wait at the bar while we saw a party of 3 and 4 come in after us and get seated. even when we asked to sit next to another couple at the same table, they told us they couldn't do that. ultimately, that is what they did after we waited.

perfection. this is a hidden gem. great service, lovely environment, beautiful, intelligent food. go!

it was awesome. great service food was amazing so fresh and so much flavor. dessert is a must!

just ok - not great. had dinner there a few weeks back - can't say that it was great, there was nothing bad about our food but i'd say that it was probably the atmosphere of the place, there's something a little depressing about it. i'm not sure if it's the small imperfections you start to notice like the cracks in the wall, the peeling paint or just from the weird lighting. anyhow - can't say we'll be rushing back there

awesome pizza!