Tesoro

A great little Italian spot in the heart of Van Ness. Tesoro serves nice sized portions and standard Italian fare. I wouldn’t say the offerings were anything special, but the service was amazing. The décor is a bit lacking inside, and at first glance, it seems a bit run down. But, one comes for the food, not the ambiance.

The staff in this restaurant are so nice, I would almost come just for that! I couldn’t resist ordering crab cake sliders because I am so seldom in real Maryland crab cake land. Crab is not in season but they were still good crab cake sliders — not the best I have had but very respectable. The French fries were crisp and did not have that frozen, processes taste. The Spumone did not contain candied fruits and nuts but was a delicious layering of ice cream flavored covered in a hard chocolate shell. I hope to get back and try a pasta or pizza to see how this Italian restaurant does Italian food. When I was there, they spoke both Italian and English.

We came with expectations this would be a nice neighborhood spot with decent Italian food. Unfortunately, the food was really subpar. My spinach side looked like it came from a can. My veal saltimbocca had nary a whiff of fresh sage. Sadly, we will not be back.

When a restaurant decides to put out a salad with wilted greens in it, that’s a big problem! The bread wasn’t fresh too. The pasta was very mediocre and under seasoned. They don’t even give you freshly grated Parmesan (only the cheap dry kind in a plastic container) or fresh ground pepper. The cannoli was not fresh at all. It tasted weird and soggy. The dining room is smelly and dark. I should have known this wasn’t going to be a good meal when they handed me a dirty laminated menu. On the plus side, the service is good.

The food in house is YUM! It just doesn’t hold up for delivery. And strangely enough, the 4 ingredients on my pizza were separated into their own quadrant. Weird.

Good dinner. I had the lasagna while she had soup. We ate on the patio. Four different people came to see about us in the course of our meal. The server was prompt and friendly, and dinner was brought to us within fifteen minutes. Reasonable prices, food was hot and tasty.

We had a great family style meal with delicious pasta bolognese, and fettucine con scampi. The pasta was al dente and delicious. A plate of Veal
Saltimbocca and lamb shank was more than we could finish. It was a real value too and not over priced like most Italian places. The owner Ignacio was gracious and checked on us often. The patio is very nice. We are already planning our return visit. It was nice to find a simple place with good food and nice people.

Amazing food, lovely and friendly service. The veal was exceptional, as well as the cheesecake dessert!

I used to look forward to eating at Tesoro but it has gone downhill dramatically. The calamari was dry and rubbery. The bread that used to be warm and soft was dry and hard. Two in our party got shrimp and it had not been deveined.
I won’t go back unless there are big changes. Sad to see it deteriorate so.

Service was great, but the food was forgettable. Calamari was subpar – undercooked, almost thought it came from a frozen bag considering how pale it was. Caesar salad was lovely. Meat ravioli was pretty run of the mill.

Had a blast! The soup, and bread and wine was all amazing. Our server, Giovanna was humorous and checked up in our table often!

Excellent authentic Italian pizza, friendly and prompt waitstaff, very nice and owner who also does most of the work in the kitchen. Friendly atmosphere and a great place to grab a nice craft beer and watch the game.

Went here through a groupon deal.
Its just OK. The food wasn’t bad but I’ve had some great Italian before. The prices are a little high considering the quality.
The place has a strange atmosphere. The dining room is quiet and more formal. But when I went there was drunk Australian guys singing at the bar for hh. The bar has a very different vibe.

Dropped by last night with a few co-​workers. We all had individual pizzas. All three of us thought the pizza was great! Bartender was nice. The owner even came by to check up on us. Spent some time at the table and spoke with us.
Overall a great night, great food, beer and service!

Tesoro is the most schizophrenic restaurant in Van Ness, if not DC.
After eating here about 10 times, I still don’t understand the place, though I have some suggestions.
Décor is fancy looking old-​world Italian, waiters and bussers are dressed up – but they offer small pizzas for $ 10 (competitive with the fast-​casual pizza place down the street in price… but also comparable in quality). With the incredible dearth of good lunch places, I think the décor hurts them, as it scares off the crowd looking to spend less than $ 12 on lunch.
They have fancy, traditional Italian-​sounding dishes that are sometimes near-​excellent and sometimes an insult to Italy.
After a couple serviceable Chicken Parms, a few good Pizzas, and the odd salad or two, I decided to try something new and go for the Chicken Marsala. Boy was it a howler!
–obviously canned mushrooms that had not been cooked enough. Semi-​raw mushrooms are nasty, actually removing flavor from the dish due to high water content.
–mystery sauce that did not taste like wine
–chicken that had ZERO salt.
The reason this is so mystifying is that the complimentary bread/​tomato is LOADED with salt… like heaping teaspoonsful of it, every time I’ve had it (except oddly the Chicken Marsala night).
I also find the Chicken Parms to be a little bit undersalted and the salads with grilled chicken to be rather oversalted (especially the chicken).
See what I mean about schizophrenia? It’s like the guy working the appetizer station in the kitchen doubles the salt content and the guy doing the entrees halves it to compensate. Do either of them ever taste their food?

Just came from a fantastic dinner! Our waitress, Maja, was friendly and made great recommendations. I had the Chicken Tesoro and my friend had fettuccini with seafood. Both were served in delicious sauces and left us too full for dessert. Will definitely be back.

If you are from the Northeast you know how tough it is to find good pizza in DC, Go here you will thank me later… They just did a small refurbish of the interior and did a great job. take a night out and go the food is top notch, the owner is almost always there also and he is very friendly.
I have also had benefit’s here they could not have been any more helpful also.

My boyfriend and I stopped in here the other night for dinner because we wanted to try a different Italian place in the area. Unfortunately it was a big bust. The servers were nice enough and the décor was fine, but the food was horrible. I tried the soup special which was a potato soup with pancetta which was just okay. It came out incredibly hot and I burned my mouth even after stirring and blowing on it for a couple minutes. My boyfriend had the house salad which was standard but nothing special. For dinner I had the veal parmigiana which was bad. The meat was very tough and dry and tasted frozen, not fresh or homemade. Parts were burnt from being under the broiler to melt the cheese. The marinara sauce was too sweet for my taste. My boyfriend got a chicken pasta dish which he heavily salt and peppered. At least his chicken was edible though. Our bill was $ 60 plus tip. We could have spent $ 20 less at Olive Garden and gotten a better meal.

I will be going back for the complimentary bruschetta alone. Incredibly delicious.
My husband had the straciatella soup which he loved, accompanied by a perfectly dressed Caesar salad.
I had the fettuccine with shrimp, asparagus, and mushrooms. It was served with a rose cream sauce, and that sauce combined with homemade pasta and generous portions of shrimp and veggies created one perfect meal. So delicious, I don’t think I’d ever order anything else.
We had an early dinner on the patio. Service was fast and friendly. We live right across the street, and this will likely become a neighborhood favorite for us!

Best staff in DC; excellent food and portions for the price.
I tested the staff at lunch (don’t ask). I got a HUGE portion of gnocchi, excellent service, and a $ 20 tab (for one meal and a coke).
This place is underrated. The wait staff is as amazing as the generous portions of good food (each meal will feed 2).
I’ll be back for the service alone. They graciously put up with a difficult party. Bless them.