A Voce Columbus

I love good Italian food. But, there seem to be a high number of “okay” Italian places and very few amazing ones. In other words, an Italian restaurant really has to wow me to receive anything close to a rave review. Frankly, there are far too many Italian restaurants around to be okay with dining at a mediocre one. In my pre-dining research on A Voce, I heard very mixed reviews about various people’s experience dining there. Some people told me that they had a fabulous dish there, while others said they were underwhelmed. Nevertheless, I went in with an open mind and hopes that I would find a “wow”-worthy Italian restaurant.

A Voce Columbus is in the Time Warner Center, which lays claim to three restaurants with Michelin stars. The restaurant overlooks Central Park and as such most tables offer beautiful park views. The kitchen has windows that are a bit higher than eye level when you’re seated, but on your way to your seat these windows offer nice views into the pristine kitchen. Honestly, I have no idea how any of the chefs get anything done as they also have windows overlooking the park.

The space is very sleek and the weeknight we were there it was populated with a large number of couples with their teenage kids and a few tables of businessmen that matched the sleek design. We were seated by the big window in a booth overlooking the park. The view alone makes a trip to the restaurant worthwhile (did I say that already? Sorry, but we went there on a gorgeous summer evening just as the sun was setting and it was an “I love New York” type view).

The housemade cocktails were quite interesting sounding so my friend opted for one of those, while I went with a delightful glass of Nebbiolo. After we placed our order, a plate of focaccia with ricotta with mint, olive oil and fresh cracked black pepper arrived. The focaccia had a gorgeous texture and the ricotta and mint was lovely smeared on top of it.

We had two appetizers, Cassoncini and Pancetta. The Cassoncini are listed on the menu as swiss chard and crescenza cheese filled fried dough, prosciutto de parma. I thought the prosciutto would be in the pockets and warm but it was actually cold and layered on top. I would have preferred that the prosciutto be inside the pockets because the way they were made the overall flavor of the dish was overwhelmed by the swiss chard. Basically, these were just a disappointment in a way that fried dough pockets should never be. The pancetta was a long strip of pork belly with figs, balsamic vinegar, and pistachios. This was okay but also a bit underwhelming. The pork flavor was mild and it just didn’t have the salty smoke flavor of pork belly that I adore nor did it have the texture that I prefer in pork belly.

For her entrée, my friend decided on the special ravioli with goat cheese and pistachios. I had the trofie with clams, ramps, lemon, and taggiasca olives. Both of these were good pasta dishes but neither of them knocked my socks off. The ravioli had a mild goat cheese flavor and was in a nice butter sauce. The texture was very good, and the dish won best entrée of the table. The trofie looked like little devils and the clams in them were cooked perfectly, but there weren’t enough clams or ramps and the lemon flavor was far too mild. It tasted more of butter than anything else. In other words, I agreed with my friends that had only okay experiences with A Voce. This experience made me wonder whether the other A Voce would disappoint me equally or whether it is superior to this location. I’m willing to give it a chance and have hopes it will win a “wow”.

My friend had a number of raviolis left, so she decided to take them to go. The waiter cleared our plates away and then instead of returning with the doggie bag, he returned with a coat check ticket and told her she could pick up her leftovers at the coat check on the way out. This was definitely one of the classiest ways to handle doggie bags that I’ve ever seen. I kind of loved it…maybe even more then the food I had that night.

For dessert, it’s difficult to resist doughnuts with bittersweet chocolate dipping sauce so we didn’t even try. These were pretty good, but sadly not the best doughnuts I’ve ever had. The bittersweet chocolate was awesome though.

All in all, I think A Voce has scene/atmosphere going for it. Sadly, the food just doesn’t live up to the view.