Lunch with the in-laws last Sat. Â Lunch selections were excellent. Considering they are still in shake down phase with a new kitchen and staff, it's remarkable.
A good lunch crowd since this is such a new place. The bar and wine selections are considerable given the suburban location.
Great ambiance. Good service. Delicious food. This place is fairly new, and it shows. Lots of empty tables, yet we waited over a half hour to be seated. Hostess informed us that the kitchen was very backed up, so we opted for pizza. Two 10" pizzas cooked in a huge, centrally located wood-fired pizza oven, the Bufalina and the Bianca Neve. Both were tasty. Fresh ingredients. They also have a Pistachio pizza that seemed interesting. We will definitely return. However, we will probably wait a while to let them get their act together.
Review Source:Don't waste your time or money...with far to few restaurants in Howard County, people will continue to put up with poor food and  poor service....Don't assume because it's crowded it's good. Trendy, well appointed new location on the surface, all just show,,,slow service, untrained servers /food delivery runners. wrong dish delivered...with additional long wait. Declined and sent back "corrected" order due to awful taste (the worst risotto dish I have ever had). Manager brought my same dish back to me, put it in front of me asked what was wrong?...WHAT...just take it away and off my bill...Great restaurants offer something without asking...Manager did not care he was clueless and unapologetic. we were stunned. If you go, stick to happy hour drinks and a pizza,,,the only thing you can be confident of...not impressed!
Review Source:I hope the service and food kinks are being worked out here. Â Was looking forward to the opening of Facci in this new location, as there are few choices for anything new or innovative in this area.
We went on a Friday night after the Thursday opening. Â I know they also had a soft opening prior as well. Â
We didn't have to wait long (about 15 minutes) for a table at around 6 pm .. Â the layout of the kitchen-side sit-down tables (not the higher chairs that sit directly in front of the kitchen prep area) are a little close together and also there is not much room in the aisle between these tables and the pillars in the aisle and the seats facing the kitchen ... it was a bit busy, and countless servers and guests bumped the back of my chair trying to squeeze through the aisle.
#1. Server had never set foot in the restaurant until 30 minutes before .. apparently they called in some of the servers from the Laurel location.  Server was friendly, but seemed sort of green.  Did not know the answer to my question about what the "dry pasta" listing  on the menu meant ... I realized as soon as I asked that this referred to the pasta dishes that were made with "dried" pasta (I suppose pasta not made fresh in-house) versus the fresh pasta being made in the visible pasta prep area in the front of the kitchen (interesting touch).  He just said :I'm not sure what "dry" pasta means, but don't worry, there's sauce on the pasta".
#2. Bread was dropped off at our table by a passing server, cold focaccia ... fresh, but when it is not even a little warm, it comes across as sort of greasy because of the layer of olive oil brushed on top. We had a little bowl on the table that appeared to be for olive oil dipping, but we were not offered any. Â After about 10 minutes, a roving server that seemed to be watching over many tables came by and asked us if anyone had offered to pour olive oil for dipping .. he went and got the olive oil and poured some in the dipping bowl.
#3. Our original server had taken our drink order, but was nowhere to be found.  My wife ordered a glass of wine .. she had asked if she could taste a sample since the server was not really that familiar with the wines ... did we say this was a wine bar??  What wine bar runs out of wine glasses? The server hesitated when asked about the sample and told us that they had run out of  wine glasses. Long story short, it took 45 minutes for said glass of wine to appear. We were well into our meals by then.  A manager was cruising around the restaurant asking diners who had ordered wine and trying to get a handle on the situation, which had gotten to the point of diners talking amongst themselves about how long it was taking to get wine or drinks in general. It took 20 minutes for the draft beer I ordered to show up.  The manager was placing empty wine glasses at tables sort of like markers for who was waiting for wine ... this was one of the most ridiculous experiences I have ever seen in a restaurant.
#4. All along, our server was rarely within sight; when we did see him and asked about the drinks, he apologized and said they were working on it. The 45 min wait for a glass of wine (in a wine bar) was not his fault .. the management was ill-prepared for what should have been a great night for business .. looking around the tables, I saw very few tables with wine ... but a lot of long faces.
#5. The food .. I ordered a very simple dish .. pappardelle with meat sauce. Â These are very wide egg noodles, about a third as wide as a lasagna noodle. Â The noodles were unevenly cooked ... some of the noodles were hard on the ends, others were fine. Â Also, many of the noodles were sticking together, which resulted in the need for pasta-management in the plate! So, either the noodles were cooked in too little water (doubt it) or they were left a bit too long after coming out of the water and stuck together before the Bolognese sauce was added (probably). Â The taste of the sauce was actually good, but the noodles sticking together sort of reminded me of having a giant gnocchi on my fork from time to time.
#6 My wife ordered a chicken dish that was supposed to have three kinds of mushrooms. She said there was a noticeable lack of mushrooms (maybe the kitchen was having to stretch their ingredients). She had ordered this dish before at the Laurel location, and said that the taste was similar, but that the mushroom situation was sort of disappointing. As far as presentation, there were also some mashed potatoes and sautéed vegetables on the plate. You know how mashed potatoes look when they are plopped onto a dish with a little oomph (imagine the proverbial cafeteria server plopping a large spoonful of potatoes onto a plate .. these mashed potatoes looked just like that, which caused me to look at them and chuckle.
Management: Get it together ... folks deserve better when spending their hard-earned money. Â This is not a charity. Will try again in future.
Beautiful restaurant; good food & drink, bad service. Our serverwas very green. My 2 companions and I agreed she had no idea what she was doing so I blame management for putting her on the side patio on a beautiful, early, Saturday night(before 5pm). She wasn't the only server out there, but when she left the patio, she was GONE. We waited on drinks, we waited on getting the correct drinks (when I pointed out it was not the wine I ordered, she took the wine she had originally brought me (she should have left it for me, with an apology, until the correction was made since it was just going to be dumped.) We put in our appetizer order (meats & cheeses, very good) but 2 of us ran out of our drinks before she checked on us again.
Once we ordered our meals, we didn't have to wait - the meals were served by other staff. The plates were nice and hot, the servers attentive with cracked pepper and fresh parm cheese. Seems the kitchen "gets it" - and we all agreed the meals were very good.
We were going to order wine as soon as our server returned - which took some time. We got the wine order in, ate as slowly as we could, and she returned with the wine and 3 glasses when our meal was finished. She couldn't believe we didn't want the wine anymore, and told us we were lucky it hadn't been opened. She wasn't rude - just clueless.
This happened all before 7pm - can't imagine how she was going to handle "the rush",
We will all go back again, we want this place to succeed, but they need better servers, or more managers supporting their green-horned staff.
I went for lunch with co-workers during the first week it was open. What a beautiful atmosphere, modern look, and friendly staff! We also met the owner, Gino, who was very nice and welcoming.
My only complaint was about the grilled octopus; it was very fishy and left a bad flavor in our mouths. All of the other food was fantastic, including bufalina pizza, eggplant appetizer, and pesto ravioli.
We will definitely be returning! Hopefully to try out the outdoor bar area.
This location has the same menu as the Laurel location but the restaurant itself is much bigger, more open, and bright. Â They really did a great job with the decor and set up and I'm sure the bar opening to the outside will be a great time in the summer.
They have decent happy hour specials (half price appetizers) and 5$ specialty house drinks on Mondays (well worth the price). Â From my experience at both locations, the service has been better when I sit at the bar.
Overall the food ranges from average, good, to great, depending on the dish. Â My favorites have been the stuffed eggplant, seafood marebella, and any of their pizzas.
They have an extensive wine list but are somewhat lacking in the beer department. Â My only suggestion is they start carrying more craft brews (especially local brews like Heavy Seas and Flying Dog) and east coast wines.
Overall, I think this is one of the best options for drinks and food within a 5 mile radius.
Having been to the APL location, we knew what to expect but were excited about it opening closer to home. The food was expectedly good, as well as the atmosphere.
The service hasn't hit its stride yet, but it'll get there. They took our food orders before our drink orders, then didn't refill drinks, and our appetizer came after we'd finished our entrees. The owner/manager came around though and was very cordial, and the staff was friendly. All is forgiven.
What this location has that the other doesn't is the indoor/outdoor bar similar to that of Ale House Columbia. It's not cheap enough to be a regular eatery, but easily a place to meet up with friends.
Atmosphere is great, food is great... It's about time some good food came to western Ellicott City. Â I had the mushroom pizza which was very good. Â They also have Peroni on tap!
UPDATE They need to get their carryout figured out. Having the pickup area right next to the kitchen is very clunky.
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