Centrolina
Italian restaurant · Downtown ·
Seasonal Italian fare, handmade pastas, sleek market digs
![Centrolina by Centrolina [official]](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/66646259/1175194_202003241857.0.jpg "Centrolina by Centrolina [official]")
![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 site]](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/63265494/centrolinapasta.0.jpg "Centrolina by Centrolina [official site]")
Seasonal Italian fare, handmade pastas, sleek market digs
"I attended a collaboration dinner featuring dishes from chef Amy Brandwein and Lapis chef Shamim Popal, including Italian–Afghan fusion courses—I’m still thinking about an eggplant Parm layered with thick yogurt and ginger tomato sauce. Popal’s take on mantu swaps in sautéed shrimp: thin dough wrapped around simple shrimp that tastes refreshing, yet paired with a saffron cream sauce it keeps the hearty quality of the original beef dumplings. The evening left me excited for more of the restaurant’s crossover dinners on the horizon." - Eater Staff
"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