Piola WDC's soft opening

I went to the soft opening of Piola WDC this week. This new spot on 14th Street, located at 2208 14th ST NW to be exact, is right next door to Dynasty Ethiopian. For the soft opening this international Italian restaurant chain was offering half-off their menu items.

From the menu, the Ortomisto pizza looked to be the most veg-friendly of their 12" pizzas, so my boyfriend and I ordered that style, hold the cheese. We got the whole-wheat crust option but I think the ratio of whole wheat to white is 1:5. The Piola pizza has a paper thin crust with lots of char and a thin layer of tangy tomato sauce. The pizza toppings are added after the pie comes out of the hot brick oven.

The Ortomisto

Our delicious veggie pie came topped with thin slices of roasted eggplant, cooked spinach, roasted peppers, and broccoli. The pie was also supposed to have cherry tomatoes, which we totally forgot about until our attentive server brought them out as a side. We put some of these perfect tomatoes onto the pie and forked up the rest.

I neglected to photo the large salad that we also split. It was full of arugula and other mixed greens, tomatoes, carrots, peppers, cucumbers, and scallions. The server brought us olive oil and balsamic vinegar for the dressing, when we said we were vegan. He wasn't too sure about ingredients of the house-made dressings.

close-up with cherry tomatoes added

The multi-level restaurant space is interesting, with the raw, exposed look and fresh construction/new wood smell of many modern restaurants. However the acoustics are horrible. It's true that some diners enjoy the cacophonous din that a busy restaurant creates. This place had that heightened, on-the-scene noise level on a slow, soft opening night. Perhaps their outdoor roof deck will provide some respite?