The Italian Taste at Trattoria Poggio Antico

It’s a Friday night and me and my officemates are feeling tires for a week long full of work and deadlines that we all wanted to go home already. But when we stepped out of the building we were surprised to see people all over the street, fx and van terminals with long lines and the cars stuck in traffic jam. Instead of joining the long lines of people waiting for an fx or van, we decided to eat first and gave ourselves a treat.

Our office is located at McKinley and although there is the Venice Piazza and streets full of restaurants, we always find it difficult to decide on where to eat. Especially now that payday is still a week away, we are on a tight budget but we don’t want to settle on fast food chains especially if we want to treat ourselves. So as we walk along Tuscany, we reached Trattoria Poggio Antico.

At just by the name, you will already know that this is an Italian restaurant serving and by the looks of the place you will think of it as an expensive fine dining restaurant. We would have not thought of eating at the restaurant if not for the accommodating waiter that introduces as to their menu. With a very sincere smile the waiter invited us to dine as he told us that all their food is good for sharing, there is a complimentary bread basket and we are very lucky as beer is in the house as well. Without second thoughts we decided to oblige at the waiter’s request to try their restaurant.

the bread basket and the dips

As we sat at our chairs, the waitress put the basket of bread at our table together with pesto and salsa dip. It is just the right way to ease our hunger as we went through their menu that is in Italian. It took us some time to decide on what to eat as we find each item in the menu as a must try, but we finally choose the Salciccia Arrabbiata (grilled Italian Sausage in spicy sauce) as appetizer, two pastas – Tagliatellealla Carbonara (fresh flat pasta with egg and bacon sauce) and the Spaghetti allaPescatora (spaghetti with assorted seafood in tomato sauce); and a pizza, the Arrabbiata (pizza with spicy pomodoro sauce and Italian sausage).

It took around fifteen minutes before the order was served but because of the bread we did not mind waiting that long for the food. The pizza was served first then followed by the Salciccia Arrabbiata and then the two pastas.

After some photo shots, we then dig in to our food. I got a taste first of the spicy Saciccia Arrabbiata. The spiciness of the Italian Sausage is bearable even if you dip it in the spicy sauce. Don’t expect the sausage to be pure meat as it is just like the other sausage there are small amount of fats that tis present, but still I think the fat adds to the texture of the sausage.

spicy Saciccia Arrabbiata

creamy Tagliatellealla Carbonara 

The next one I had is the Tagliatellealla Carbonara. I loved the taste of this carbonara, so very simple. It’s just pure creaminess. There is no other side taste that would battle in your taste buds. Plus, there is also a hefty amount of bacon that compliments with the creamy carbonara.

Then I got a slice of the Arrabiatta pizza. The nice thing about the pizza is that although it is thin-crust, the crust is not hard to bite, and it is also flavorful. The pizza is also covered with so much cheese. There is some part of the pizza that is salty but according to my officemate, it may be caused by the olive that is in the pizza. Overall I still find the pizza delicious.

the cheesy pizza Arrabbiata

After finishing my carbonara, I also get a serving of the Spaghetti allaPescatora and I might say that this is one of the delicious pasta that I have tasted. There is a gracious ingredients of seafood – clams, slices of squids, pieces of salmon (I think), and shrimps. The taste of the tomato sauce is just right; it is neither too sour nor salty. The squid is tender, the fish is not salty and there is this big shrimp that is like completes the whole pasta.

the sinfully delicious Spaghetti allaPescatora

beer in the house

When we finished our meal and us we walked through the door, the waitress that served us was with all smiles as we joke around with her. And when we stepped out, the very accommodating waiter waved us good-bye and sincerely invited us to come again. The staffs are all friendly and you can feel that they are sincere as you talked to them, unlike other restaurants where every word of welcome, greetings and farewells are part of a memorized dialogue.

Although Trattoria Poggio Antico is far from our office, I would not have any second thoughts, if somebody invited me to eat there. I might be even the one inviting my office mates to go back to the place.