Jacques I.
Yelp
Cantinetta Bellevue is a restaurant I've walked by too many times without having checked it out. Fortunately, my friend suggested we get some bites here, which was a great decision on her part, as it introduced me to the goodness of Tuscan cuisine that's found here.
Although we did not have a reservation on a Tuesday evening, we were able to be seated outside where they provide blankets for patrons if it gets too cold. Sweet! However, it should be noted that even on a Tuesday, this place gets busy, so reservations are recommended.
We started with cocktails. I ordered a Manhattan, which was solid. And since we only wanted a snack, we ordered the focaccia bread with the clams, per my friend's recommendation. Although the bread was served with olive oil and balsamic, we ended up dipping our bread in the tomato-base broth that the clams were in, which was fantastic!
The only minor issue here was that we felt rushed by the staff here. Throughout our time, they asked us several times if they could take away the bowl with the clams, as they saw all the shells were out, but we were still having the broth for our bread to dip in. We had to repeatedly say that we were still working on the dish. Eventually, I just asked if they were closing soon, which they said they weren't. But then a few minutes later when we ordered another drink, our server told us that they needed the table cleared in 30 minutes. Very odd.
All in all, I would come back here to check out more of the yummy menu, which is straightforward and doesn't have a long list of items, but enough to choose from. In contrast, the wine menu is very, very long, which I'm not complaining about. Glad to have Cantinetta in Old Bellevue.