la viola

on a chilly saturday night in rittenhouse square i was hanging out for a really decent, high quality feed. la viola seemed to fit the bill, so i was happy to wait until a table became available (a much bigger group had a very large wait, so i was rather fortunate).

after the usual starter of fresh, rustic italian bread with olive oil and balsamic, i went for the penne alla caruso - pencil point pasta and tomato sauce, lightly creamed with peas and pancetta.

this was a tasty dish, even if the hint of vodka was not strong. in fact one observation about the pasta menu is that a majority of the sauces are laced with alcohol. not a bad thing, except for the irony that la viola does not serve alcohol! i was caught short, because this place was byo booze. thefoodwas very good nonetheless.

next time i'll come prepared with some grog, possibly to try the veal. four stars.

my favorite italian place in the city. it's byob, reasonably priced, the service is incredibly fast, you can usually get a table last minute if need be, and thefoodis delicious - starting with the bread. my favorites are the penne alla caruso, orchiette alla romana, the gnocchi, and the ravioli alla viola. you will absolutely be full when you leave. it gets a little bit loud inside the restaurants, but it's a small italian place, which is what you should expect. make a note if you are going to the ovest location or the bistro. the bistro is more casual and is cash only. ovest you should be dressed up a little classier and they take credit cards.

when i graduated from penn 5 years ago, i took my family to la viola for some hand-made pasta for my graduation dinner. i have fond memories here and the quality offoodis great for the price. speaking of price, this place is cash only so please keep that in mind when you visit. frutti de mare this dish had grilled calamari (steaks not the rings) in lemon juice, garlic, olive oil and tomatoes. i wasn’t too fond of this dish but joe thought it was all right. to be fair, i’m not a huge fan of calamari steaks. tagliatelle al salmone joe ordered the home-made tagliatelle pasta sauteed with salmon in a pink cognac sauce. i liked his a lot. the salmon offered a nice variety in texture. pasta of the day this was home-made tagliatelle pasta with shrimp and fish in a blush tomato creamy sauce. i preferred my dish over joe’s dish because i loved the blush sauce and the shrimp. the dishes here are simple but delicious. i love treating myse

november 27, 2012 tags: philadelphia , restaurants by colleen if you’ve ever been to philadelphia, you might have noticed the popularity of byob (bring your own bottle) restaurants. what’s amazing is that there are some very high end places without liquor licenses, making fine dining in philadelphia quite affordable (that is, if you’re a wine drinker like me). i now appreciate the fancy places, but my best memories from college in philadelphia are from some favorite cheap italian byobs. that’s not to say that these restaurants are bad; let’s just say that the focus was the wine at the time. still, i remember always enjoying myfoodat these restaurants, so we made a reservation at one favorite – la viola – the night before the philadelphia marathon . this time the focus would be on the food, and i was curious to see how much of my love for la viola was just wine-fueled. we arrived 15 minutes early for our 7:30 reservation. as it got closer to 7:30, people started pouring in and there w

great italianfoodand byob. can't go wrong!. i had dinner here and loved it! thefoodwas delicious and very reasonably priced. also, the restaurant is byob and there was no corkage fee (which i think is typical in philadelphia, but being from toronto, this was a nice surprise).

i particularly enjoyed the caesar salad as the dressing is so good. the grilled calamari appetizer was also good.
good portion sizes, not too large!

cash only!foodwas excellent.

an cozy places with authenticfoodand service. great price, too!