Tavolo Wine Bar and Tuscan Grille
If you’re a frequent reader to our blog, you know that we love Federal Hill in Providence. With that said, if you’re new here, Federal Hill is considered the “Little Italy’ of Providence and we have yet to find a bad meal anywhere on the Hill. Tavolo is certainly no exception!! https://www.tavolowinebar.com/
This was a guest Spooner night as we had a double date with our friends Laurie and Jerry to The Great Escape Room. On a side note….if you enjoy escape rooms you will want to check out the Great Escape Room in Providence. Great staff with fun and challenging rooms! I am proud to say that we are 3 for 3! You can find more information about them here https://thegreatescaperoom.com.
Ok, back to Tavolo! After an hour of brain work we were on the verge of being Hangry so I’m glad it was a quick 5 minute ride to the restaurant. We were lucky to find a decent parking space ( which is rare) near the restaurant and as soon as I walked in I knew we were in for some great food! I kid you not….my nose told me all I needed to know. It smelled amazing!!!
We were seated in the back of the restaurant and greeted by our waiter/bartender Anthony. We ordered our drinks and started looking at the appetizers. Tavolo has a good selections of apps but Laurie and I were craving pizza, so we each ordered a Margherita Pizza ($13) as an app. Why didn’t we just order pizza as our dinner you ask? Ohhhh because there were too many other things on the menu that looked good so why not get both???? Life is short! Always get both 🙂
Anthony came to the table to make sure we had a full bottle of oil to dip our bread. When he put it on the table and walked away, Jessica looked at it and said “that’s it?, where’s the cheese and pepper?” LOL!
We take our bread dipping very seriously around here! We just assumed that the bread would come before the apps and we grew more hangry while we waited. Anthony walked by several times but the bread was no where to be found. The next time he walked by I think we all said “excuse me can we have some bread”. Anthony explained that he usually gives the bread when the appetizers come but we joked with him that we needed it ASAP!
Now let me tell you about that dipping oil that was on the table……it was fantastic! It may have looked like plain oil but it was “secretly” infused with garlic and pepper. Bold flavor and just enough heat at the end of the tongue…perfect! The soft Italian bread didn’t have a chance with 4 professional oil dipping people.
Travolo… hear me when I tell you that you need to bottle the oil and sell your first bottle to Two Girls!
We all enjoyed the thin crust pizza and had to hold back from eating all of it as we still had our entree’s to order and I was already thinking about dessert. Two Girls Tip: Always think about dessert, so pace yourself! 🙂
For our entree’s Jerry opted for the Sirloin Steak (on special topped)with garlic butter, served with mashed potatoes, asparagus and 4 shrimp ($48) The steak seasoned well but was cooked a bit under the temperature Jerry ordered. Anthony immediately offered to take it back and have it brought to the correct temperature but Jerry chose to “power through…lol” . He’s such a trooper! 😉 Jerry raved about the shrimp and couldn’t stop talking about the mashed potatoes.
My plate came out last so I was excited to dive in to my potatoes and Jerry wasn’t kidding! WOW! So maybe I should tell you that I ordered A Braised Short Rib, one the bone, served with mashed and a mix of carrots and green beans. I can describe my meal with three letters…. O.M.G! The most tender, fall off the bone rib, floating ever so gently on bed of the most buttery, perfectly seasoned mashed potatoes. The sauce was sweet, rich,and quite honestly I could drink the sauce out of a cup and be very content…lol!
Laurie ordered the Chicken Parmesan even though she was already full from the bread and pizza. A generously portioned piece of breaded chicken topped with marinara sauce and gooey cheese sat atop a bed of al dente rigatoni. Laurie was impressed with her meal and ate as much as she could while still leaving room for dessert.
Jessica was craving seafood so she ordered The Linguini and Clams ($24). The little neck clams sat nicely over the garlic and white wine flavored linguini. The clams disappeared quickly and Jessica was on to the pasta. I asked her if she liked it and as I turned to look she was eating the broth like it was a soup. That’s all I needed to see…..she was enjoying it. Two Girls Fun Fact: Jessica can make a meal out of any sauce or broth. Give her some bread for dunking and she’s happy as a clam ( pun intended :))
As Anthony saw that we were slowing down, he asked if we had room for dessert. Realistically I don’t think any of us did but we all said yes because, after all, it’s room to not have dessert!
Anthony brought the dessert menu to us and we all wondered about the Affogato because there was no description. He explained that it was vanilla ice cream topped with caramel, hot fudge, and whipped cream….. but that’s not all! A cup of hot espresso is poured over the ice cream creating a happy little volcano of sweet goodness.
Jerry , Laurie and Jessica all ordered the Affogato ($8) and I chose the Flourless Chocolate Torte($8) with raspberry compote and Chantilly cream. Both of the desserts were fantastic, and we joked about needing a bulldozer to take us out of the restaurant as we were all completely full.
I have nothing negative to say about Tavolo as everything was delicious and Anthony made our experience that much more enjoyable. If you’ve never been to Federal Hill we highly recommend that you check out Tavolo on your first trip. Parking can be difficult especially on the weekend so plan some extra time and don’t forget to make a reservation. Oh, and if Anthony is your bar tender or server don’t forget to tell him that Two Girls Spooning sent ya!
Happy Spooning! 🙂
Sara and Jess