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What a nice way to start off the new year: dinner with a great friend at a new restaurant!  That’s right – you read it here – this mommy was granted another night out, so my friend and I decided to try out a new Italian restaurant in Cambridge called Giulia.  It opened about five weeks ago and replaced Rafiki Bistro.

The first thing that impressed me about this place is the layout and decor.  It’s very open with plenty of dining space (including a full bar) and has this rustic elegance at the same time.  And can you guess what my most favorite part of the decor was?  Wait for it … !

If you guessed the sewn table runner, you guessed right!  Each table had a different fabric and I just thought it was such a nice touch.  I also liked the layout of the salt and pepper dishes (complete with the tiniest little spoon!) along with the glasses and candle.  I tell you, it’s the smallest attention to detail that can make a good dining experience memorable.

We were given freshly baked Italian bread and olive oil to munch on while we waited for our dishes to arrive.   I could’ve eaten four or five plates of the bread alone.  Nom nom nom.

And now onto the food!  My friend had the spelt fusilli with roasted mushrooms, fresh herbs, butter and grana padano.  She said it was very good but did require a few sprinkles of salt and pepper.  I enjoyed the linguine with seafood (bay scallops, shrimp, calamari, mussels) which was served in an herb pesto sauce.  The pesto was unlike a traditional pesto with pine nuts so it was very smooth and had a stronger herb flavor, which was really nice with the seafood.  I guess the best way to describe how we felt about the pasta dishes would be the two empty plates a few minutes later.

And to accompany our dishes, she enjoyed the Primitivo and I had the Montepulciano red wine from their by-the-glass menu.

We shared the panna cotta dessert.  It was deliciously made with Madagascar vanilla beans and poached quince.  That disappeared from our table, too.  🙂

Overall I would highly recommend this restaurant to anyone.  It has a great atmosphere and coziness to it.  Our waiter, Andreas, was super sweet and has such a beautiful Spanish accent.  He was very attentive to my food allergies, too.  We had a 6:00 pm reservation and by the time we left around 7:45 pm the place was packed with people waiting by the door to be seated, so be sure to make a reservation.  I can see this place being a new regular hang out for locals, and can’t wait to take my husband there for a date night out.

Giulia
1682 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
617.441.2800
http://www.giuliarestaurant.com