Vita Restaurant & Gelateria - Review - Rittenhouse - Philadelphia - The Infatuation

"Vita is an Italian restaurant hiding inside a Rittenhouse gelateria of the same name (and from the same team). Unfortunately, the best thing about the place is the gelato sold out front. Vita is supposed to be a speakeasy, which means you access the dark, cavernous dining room only after dropping the secret code word to the gelato scoopers—ours was "mangia”—and passing through a faux-refrigerator door. Inside you’re met with a hodgepodge of red velvet booths, rattan bistro chairs, plastic chandeliers, and, for some reason, oversized Grecian urns. Couples and groups of friends pick at lifeless starters and pastas, which are either devoid of seasoning altogether or covered in so much red pepper flake you can hardly taste the undercooked rigatoni or rubbery shrimp hiding underneath. Perhaps most upsetting is the ribeye fiorentina: a $54 leathery steak that's brown-gray in the middle, topped with raw onions, and tastes more like a cut of brisket. In a town rife with great Italian restaurants, there’s no reason to go to a subpar one. Here’s the real secret password: “go to Osteria.” photo credit: Nicole Guglielmo photo credit: Nicole Guglielmo Pause Unmute" - Alison B. Kessler