Good News

Sometimes when you go to a restaurant, you wonder if your experience there is all about mindset. The first time I went to News Café in Georgetown, I had spent the day traipsing around Georgetown during the blizzard. My friends and I were starving and just looking for anything edible – with the less-than-authentic name, we expected serviceable Italian at best. We ended up with a delicious dining experience in a beautiful space (my love of wrought iron and maroon definitely endeared me to the decor).

Somehow the night has been mythologized in our minds since then, and the same group of friends who hit it the first time decided to join me there again when in town for my birthday. And this time, our irrationally high expectations resulted in merely competent results.

Our first trip featured a delicious Pinot Grigio recommended by the restaurant, perfectly light calamari, and three entrees we gobbled up eagerly. I enjoyed my crabmeat stuffed shrimp, accented with lemon; my sister gave raves to her prosciutto-topped veal, and we all were wowed by my friend Becky's creamy pesto spinach fettucini with salmon, which was one of the night's specials. In fact, I'd hoped that same special would be available this time around.

News Café seems super-eager to keep its customers. They sent me a $10 gift certificate for my birthday (I neglected to read the weeknights-only fine print, so it will have to be used another time). They awarded my sister a coupon for free dessert for recommending the place to her friends, one of whom sat at our table with her own coupon for free chocolate covered strawberries.

Celebrating my birthday and armed with our many coupons, the night was starting to feel like an event. And it still ended up an enjoyable one, if not as amazing as we'd expected.

The $25 bottle of Pinot Grigio we ordered wasn't as tasty as we'd remembered (inflated memories?), but that didn't stop us from ordering two bottles of it. Our waitress wasn't the cheerful, accommodating woman full of suggestions we'd had the last time, but she was certainly fine (though we were denied the use of one of our dessert coupons for no real reason). Fresh mozzarella and tomato was nothing overwhelming, but hit the spot. And man, that calamari was still tasty.

But the entrees seemed a bit more mediocre. No complaints from my sister about her veal, but my tortellini with prosciutto was definitely too salty. A friend's shrimp pesto pizza was a bit more bland and congealed than I'd like to see, though she enjoyed it. And sadly, no salmon pesto special available.

But to be honest, if we hadn't been expecting the moon, we probably would have been more than satisfied with our visit. So give News Cafe a shot - just don't expect the meal of a lifetime.