Upperclassmen will fondly remember 1063 31st Street NW as the location of The Alamo, a terrible Mexican-ish restaurant that did not card, where freshmen without fake IDs could order expensive margaritas and run into hallmates from Darnall who were drunk on Coronas and stuffed with mediocre tortilla chips. But we are seniors now, and it’s time to grow up. Similarly, 1063 31st Street NW has transformed itself into an upscale Italian restaurant, Il Canale.
Newly opened, Il Canale seems uncertain about what it wants to be. The restaurant is basically a pizza and pasta place with a very expensive wine list and $16 buffalo mozzarella appetizers. Walking in, you’re greeted by a desperately friendly wait staff, a big pizza oven with a roaring fire, and a hideous interpretation of “modern industrial design.” The floor is corrugated metal, as is the staircase that remains directly in your line of sight, no matter where you sit. The bar is lit by a glaring blue light, which only adds to the coldness of the place.
Max Blodgett
The food at Il Canale is hit or miss, as well. The tomato stew was delicious, but a fancy-named vegetable dish (Melanzane alla Parmigiana) turned out to be a barely passable eggplant parmesan. The pizzas themselves had delicious, entrancing crusts—soft but flaky, salty, and just burnt enough—but neither the white nor red pizzas quite held together, with flavors that didn’t quite blend. The endless table bread almost makes up for the lackluster main courses—warm, chewy, and thick, served with olive oil suffused with roasted garlic and rosemary. My table went through several servings, and the friendly, if occasionally slow, wait staff kept bringing us more. The bread alone was almost worth the whole trip.
Almost. With pizzas about $14 each, pasta and meat dishes significantly more than that, and wine starting at $9 a glass, Il Canale is a little too grown-up for most college kids. While the consistency of the food may firm up as the restaurant gets its legs, there is still nowhere for that awful staircase to go. Bread aside, Il Canale doesn’t do enough to distinguish itself from the plethora of high-scale pizzerias in the area. It’s a more expensive Pizzeria Paradiso, a Paparazzi with worse lighting, a 2Amys that’s significantly closer but significantly worse. It would be nice if Il Canale would live up to its prices, but, for now, all we can do is remember the Alamo.
Brought my girlfriend there for dinner (we are both young professionals living in Georgetown). From the drop of the menus (which are cheap, flimsy plastic!) I knew we had made a poor choice. I could not agree more with your review.
My girlfriend loved the wine, although the prices are absurd (unless you are a Partner at a DC lawfirm!) and the cocktail list nonexistent. I had a beer (what an odd assortment they serve!)–asked what they had on draft and was astonished to find out that the two drafts they carry were “out of order!” In my years of living/working in NYC and DC, that has never happened to me before!
Overall, the service was below average–we both saw right through our waiter who was clearly NOT Italian (my girlfriend’s father is 100% Italian and would have been thoroughly insulted!) but gave a mediocre impression. Food was subpar and overpriced. Will I return or tell others to make it a destination?? You be the judge.
Two Amys it is!