La Panetteria Ristorante Italiano Bethesda

The restuant gives out free bread that is as dense as a pretzel and tastes like it too. It comes with olive oil, you can request butter if you so desire it. For starters I tried the meatballs and calamari. The meatballs were tender, flavorful & I believe they were pork. My calamari was tender, perfectly seasoned and lightly breaded. The meatballs and calamari came with the same rosé type sauce, it had a nice kick of sweetness, cream and tomato sauce, it was honestly delicious and I fell in love with it immediately. I had the risotto ettore and holy moly it was a game changer! The rice was tender, the black truffle was the perfect amount and not overpowering and the cheese was pully and not too over powering. I felt like I was I heaven when I was eating it. I was honestly worried that the truffle would be too much but it wasn't so I was very happy about it. The risotto al funghi e tartufo was meh, the rice was undercooked and it was very disappointing. Not a whole lot going on with the dish. We also had the petto pollo al masala, it had a sweet flavor that was so tasty. The chicken was thin and juicy with mushrooms on top that were delicious. There was a side of cut potaoes that had some sort of seasoning that was really good and not salty but very savory. I was pretty disappointed in the lasagna, it tasted fine but when I took the leftovers home and cut into it I legitimately found 12 layers of pasta, with a slim line of meat sauce x2 and some ricotta. The pasta was very soft which was nice, but knowing this I wouldn't get it again. There is also live music once a month by Emmanuel Trifilio, I spoke to him and he's a great guy with soothing music. I definitely recommend stopping by to have a great meal with some wonderful music. Overall I definitely recommend checking this spot out, everything including the food and atmosphere were amazing and the food was over the top. The one downside is that the bathrooms are not handicap accessible and part of the restaurant was not either.