Pasta Freska

Pasta Freska has been one of my favorite places to go out to dinner in Seattle. I love that you do not have to make decisions about what you want to eat and that all you have to do is to tell the chef what you do not eat. After that food just magically appears on your table until you walk away stuffed.

As I have been to the restaurant about six times now I have had some very mixed experiences. It is easy to see the pattern though.

Go in a small group (four or less) and on a weeknight, and you'll have an amazing time. Go with a big group (I've been with nine or twelve) and you might walk away grumpy.

The problem lays a lot in jealousy. Everyone gets different dishes and this is great and amusing when there is a small number of people there. You are most likely more familiar with the people and you can nibble on each others food and have a great time. With a large group this is much more pronounced as up to three dishes at a time can be on a table. You see them setting down a pasta that they like and they run out by the time they get to you. Jealousy. And then you get the plain spaghetti. Personally I was sent into a fit of jealousy when the birthday folk from Friday's dinner got given lobster tails. Lobster tails! Those things are expensive! For anyone that has never seen me eat lobster... I look like I am doing something positively sinful. So yes - jealousy. Main reason for the jealousy is that you have absolutely no control over it. As there are no menus, if you see something that you like that you want some of, you can't have it. Everyone gets what the servers randomly bring you and you just have to deal with it. If the birthday folk get something that you like at any other place - you can order it now or later and pay for it and have a great time. Here you'll have to deal with not having it because that is how it is. They'll ask you if you had enough food in the end (you can tell them if you didn't get enough dishes, they'll bring you more so don't ever walk away hungry in any way), but not if you got the food that you wanted.

Also there is the problem with wine. With a couple of people it is easy to tell who drank how much when the final bill comes (as wine randomly appears at your table, yet you pay by the bottle). With a large group... not so much especially if the bottles that they happened to bring out that day were pricier. What are you going to do - try to recall who drank how many glasses? Not so much. Its all in fun and the purpose of dinner is to have a great time with folks that you care about, so dividing out the bill that looks confusing in the end is not so much fun.

I've walked away with bills of $150 for four people which I think is quite reasonable for a nice dinner out with wine and dessert, to $120 for two people out of a large group which I think is completely unreasonable. All depends on the wine and the division of the dessert.

All that being said, the food is delicious and the atmosphere is great. Cozy, small, and an amazing family atmosphere. I do love the place, but unless there is some crazy circumstance I really do not want to return there in a large group. On a date or with a small group - it's amazing. I took my parents there when they visited in the summer, as well as a couple of friends when they were visiting from out of town and they had an amazing time.

So bottom line. Love the restaurant in a small group. Hate it in a large. Go accordingly and you'll have an amazing time.

As for the photo above - that is one of the birthday boys from Friday's dinner blowing out the candles on the dessert (shared by four people per plate). He had some flash paper (?? I think? Please correct me if I am wrong) and lit that on fire along with blowing out the candles. Led to a pretty amazing shot in my opinion.