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| Brunch Burger |
It's a tale of two menus and bad timing at Sette Osteria. Two menus, I'll explain later; but as for bad timing... Dance with who brought you, and don't get tempted into ordering a burger at an Italian restaurant.
I was all ready to order one of Sette's delicious pizze (I've had them before, they're really good) when I noticed Brunch at the top of page one of my menu. Sunday. 1:30 PM. Brunch. How can you argue with that trifecta? Better yet, they sell a Brunch Burger with fried egg and bacon. Score! It comes with your choice of Breakfast Potatoes or House Salad: Guess which one I ordered? Better still, it only cost $10.95, a lot cheaper than most of their mains. I couldn't wait to eat.
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| Outdoor patio |
As for the aforementioned two menus, it's really not that big of a deal. I've noticed a lot of restaurants that post different items and prices on their website; and Sette is no exception. Online, the Brunch Burger advertises grilled angus beef with a sunny side up egg and Canadian bacon on a bagel. Sounds interesting. At our table, the menu read (regular) bacon on a brioche bun. Why is there a difference in the first place? Just something to chew on.
A little more than 10 minutes passed, before my Brunch Burger was delivered (with regular bacon, on a brioche bun.) First impressions? The bottom of the egg was greasy (not clean, like TD Burger the other day) and there were no trimmings (lettuce, tomatoes, onions.) That's a lot of pressure to put on an egg... to keep the whole burger moist (evidently too much, it was rather dry.) I requested MEDIUM, and the second bite unveiled a slightly red interior; but that gave way to MEDIUM WELL-DONE (at the very least) each bite afterwards. My bacon was light in color, and even lighter on saltiness.
Potatoes were seasoned, but not with salt. I'm usually fine with herbs & spices (especially on fries) but these didn't taste very good at all: They were also getting cold. My meal didn't take long to finish... Oddly enough, a telltale sign of my not enjoying it. To be fair, I finished it all; but I was regretting my decision to skip Italian, less than a minute in.
I've had dinner here thrice, and both the pasta and pizza are top-notch. Service is attentive (at least two managers checked in on us) but we had to ask for basic stuff more than once (coffee, a soda... then cream & sugar.) A good server is on top of those type of details. It's also not cheap: $60 (which includes a generous tip) for a burger, Americano breakfast and a small portion of lasagna with two sodas and a coffee. I expected more.
Atmosphere: B (It's nice and spacious inside; and the outdoor patio is one of the better ones around Dupont Circle.)
Burger: C- (Overdone, and missing lettuce and tomato.)
Potatoes: C- (Not my kind of seasoning, cold.)
Service: C+ (They did some things well, others not so much.)
Value: D+ ($13.95 for a small portion of lasagna is steep. My burger was more than fair.)
Overall: C- (Serves me right for ordering the wrong food.)
