Centrolina
Italian restaurant · Downtown
974 Palmer Alley NW, Washington, DC 20001
![Centrolina by Centrolina [official site]](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/63265494/centrolinapasta.0.jpg "Centrolina by Centrolina [official site]")
![Centrolina by Centrolina [official]](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/63298615/BURRATA__1_.0.jpg "Centrolina by Centrolina [official]")
![Centrolina by Centrolina [official]](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/66646259/1175194_202003241857.0.jpg "Centrolina by Centrolina [official]")
Highlights
Seasonal Italian fare with handmade pastas & on-site market
Seasonal Italian fare with handmade pastas & on-site market
"Smack dab in the hyperluxury of CityCenter, Centrolina delivers Italian cooking with enough polish to fit in with its well-heeled neighbors. With a fireplace and buttery light surrounded by lots of marble and right angles, it manages to feel luxurious yet welcoming. Come here dressed to the nines for a five-course dinner, or post up at the bar in your best blue jeans for a cocktail and focaccia so light it might float off the table. There’s lots of loveliness across the seasonally-rotating menu, like the roasted porcini mushrooms drenched in rosemary-infused butter broth, but the real reason to come to Centrolina are the pastas. Springy squid ink bucatini arrives coated in a lush tomato-eggplant ragu that demands you pause your dinner conversation, no matter how lively, in order to close your eyes and sigh contentedly." - Team Infatuation
"Built around nostalgia, Centrolina was conceived by chef Amy Brandwein more than a year ago with the goal of offering a cookie that reminded her of childhood; that impulse led her to the Italian rainbow cookie, a distinctive tri-colored dessert that evokes the Italian flag. Brandwein says she grew up going to her local bakery, Brenners in Arlington, Virginia, and that the "smells inside the store were always unbelievable," which fed her love for traditional bakery cookies and inspired the festive, Italian-centric cookie at Centrolina." - Eater Staff
"Nearly a decade in, seven-time James Beard nominee chef Amy Brandwein’s polished osteria continues to shine in CityCenter DC. The five-time James Beard Award finalist goes all in on seasonal ingredients to construct a frequently changing Italian menu; that could mean melon-flanked snapper sashimi; peachy gazpacho; pristine pastas pumped up with purple broccoli and eggplant ragu; wood-fired mains like halibut and chanterelle mushrooms, lamb rib-eye, and pancetta-wrapped rabbit. Memorable desserts like an almond cake with fresh citrus, yuzu, and white chocolate come from Tonari alum and talented pastry chef Mary Mendoza. For something a little more casual (and affordable), consider Brandwein’s all-day sibling cafe Piccolina across the street. If you drive: Don’t — there are plenty of nearby Metro stops and little parking" - Tierney Plumb
"Smack dab in the hyperluxury of CityCenter, Centrolina delivers Italian cooking with enough polish to fit in with its well-heeled neighbors. With a fireplace and buttery light surrounded by lots of marble and right angles, it manages to feel luxurious yet welcoming. Come here dressed to the nines for a five-course dinner, or post up at the bar in your best blue jeans for a cocktail and focaccia so light it might float off the table. There’s lots of loveliness across the seasonally-rotating menu, like the roasted porcini mushrooms drenched in rosemary-infused butter broth, but the real reason to come to Centrolina are the pastas. Springy squid ink bucatini arrives coated in a lush tomato-eggplant ragu that demands you pause your dinner conversation, no matter how lively, in order to close your eyes and sigh contentedly." - omnia saed, allison robicelli, mekita rivas
"Centrolina’s memorable Italian dessert menu includes a honey buckwheat cake with candied and poached rhubarb, kiwi, strawberry, basil, and white balsamic pearls or a delicious dark chocolate molten cake with Italian meringue, coffee chai-red wine, poached pear, and cream. Across the street at all-day sibling Piccolina, find fabulous cannoli, tea cakes, and cookies (try the lemon ricotta variety). Tonari alum Mary Mendoza stepped in last year as pastry chef at the CityCenter DC staples." - Tierney Plumb
