Volterra

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5411 Ballard Ave NW (at 22nd Avenue NW)
Seattle, WA 98107

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(206) 789-5100
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Volterra - Seattle, WA
Volterra - Seattle, WA
Volterra - Seattle, WA
Volterra - Seattle, WA
Volterra - Seattle, WA
Volterra - Seattle, WA
Volterra - Seattle, WA
Volterra - Seattle, WA
Volterra - Seattle, WA
Volterra - Seattle, WA
Volterra - Seattle, WA
Volterra - Seattle, WA
Volterra - Seattle, WA
Volterra - Seattle, WA
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Reviews
( 151 )
( 26 )
( 18 )
( 9 )
( 25 )

Best

I recently attended a big birthday bash for a close friend of mine at Volterra and I was very impressed with the restaurant, food, and service. I started with the Oil soup which ...

Worst

I found this place in the top ten places for brunch in Seattle and was excited to take my friends. The location was great and the place has a wonderful environment. The menu was...

I recently attended a big birthday bash 5/3/2012

I recently attended a big birthday bash for a close friend of mine at Volterra and I was very impressed with the restaurant, food, and service. I started with the Oil soup which I really enjoyed and then I ordered the Wild Boar even though I was a bit skeptical but it was absolutely amazing! Hats off to the staff and the chef for creating such a great dining experience. We plan on trying their brunch very soon. more
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Nice for a special evening 9/6/2011

You can do no wrong here. Eveyrthing is very delicious and they have a nice selection of wines to go with your meal. I dont even think its too expensive for what you get. When I came back from the dentist once, I treated myself to a very nice meal with some friends, but I had to get pasta only because my teeth hurt too much (at the time). more
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WOW!! 6/22/2011

Went to this place on a friday night with a few friends. The food was amazing we ordered a couple bottles of wine with was great. The service was very attentive and very friendly. All in all had the best time!! more
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Volterra, the food is bad but at least the service is worse 9/16/2010

We arrived excited to try yummy Tuscan food. We had made our reservation telling them we were celebrating our anniversary and yet in an empty dining room they sat us literally right next to other people, explaining ""they were so booked up"". more
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Evening to rememeber 8/9/2009

We had my friends' graduation dinner here. The food was great and the service was attentive but not pretentious. We had a couple bottles of wine, one of them tasted funny and they gladly exchanged it for a new bottle. Pros: Attentive Service Cons: Parking more
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The Bar Outshines the Restaurant 5/23/2009

I had relatively high expectations. Just as another reviewer noted, I too have been to Volterra, and this is not that food. That said; we were built up very well at the bar for our mild disappointment in the food. It has been about two years since I have been back, but the signature cocktails and the cheese plate we had still gave me lasting impressions. They also make an incredible cappuccino. Pros: Good drinks and appetizers. Cons: The food was decent but not worth the price. more
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I went on a date there and it was fab 5/21/2009

I was there last night for dinner and had a great time. The waiter tended to our needs as my date and I sat and chatted taking our sweet time.. He never once made us feel rushed and the food was great. Two cocktails and i was feeling a nice little buzz so thanks to the bar tender... i would recommend Volterra Pros: old seattle feel more
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About as Italian as a Shamrock 3/27/2009

I hate for the first review I write, after moving here and signing up with citysearch, to be a one-star business but that's the way it goes, I guess. As it happens, this is the first restaurant my new neighbors took me to. They all raved about the food but they also knew that I spent thirty+ years as a chef, so they were kinda holding their breath. I don't want to waste a lot of words on this because A) I don't speak unkindly about other chefs easily and B) what I ate wasn't worth a lot of analysis. Let me just say that this restaurant is named after a real place in Italy; a beautiful hilltop town that sits next to the under-appreciated (by Americans) wine town of San Gimignano. I've been there several times, eaten the food, made the food for years, and still have friends there. This is NOT that food. This is over-thought, weird, artsy, pretentious faux-Italian food, no matter what Wine Spectator says. I've loved this food for decades and have found the occasional restaurant in which the chef was from there; one in St. Louis is among my favorite eateries in the country. But what was on my plate here had some extremely silly and wild liberties taken with it. Everything from the appetizers to the desserts showed a hand that takes itself way too seriously and the staff, while polite, treats this stuff as though it had come down from The Mount on a platter carried by Moses. I tasted nothing that had any real skill or thought attached. I was told that Seattle is not a great restaurant town like New Orleans, NYC, or San Francisco. Judging from some of the reviews I've read of this place, I can see why. Pros: Nice part of Ballard Cons: Food, service, BATHROOMS!!! more
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Great service and even better food 2/6/2009

I am surprised at the recent posts regarding bad service and food because I just had a great experience last weekend. I had been wanting to try this restaurant for quite some time and think it's one of the better restaurants in town. The tables are close together and it was noisy at times but I liked that it wasn't another pretentious wannabe hip restaurant. Our server was very knowledgeable, pointed out her favorite items and suggested wine pairings based on my preferences. I had the lamb chop which the server recommended be cooked medium (she said the chef tends to undercook the meats). Although, I would have preferred something a little more rare it was still delicious. My friend had the wild boar cooked medium rare and it was rare but very good. I would order that again! The portions were on the larger side so I had plenty to take home and overall I thought for the quality of food and experience, it's a very good value. I can't wait to go back again. Pros: Great service, good value, wine list, cocktails Cons: Parking more
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Lovely restaurant; 5 stars w/o the wine list 1/22/2009

I highly recommend this restaurant. It was cozy, the food was excellent, the service was attentive. In fact the food exceeded my expectations -- the menu descriptions don't do it justice! For a ""fine dining"" establishment, the prices were reasonable. Pros: food, service, ambiance Cons: wine list more
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Oustanding All Around 10/23/2008

Best meal I've had in Seattle. Outstanding food, service, ambiance. The real highlight was the Wild Boar Tenderloin with Gorgonzola sauce. But, we were greeted warmly at the door by 2 cute hostesses, our server was well informed about the menu and led us down a very tasty path, and the room is really beautiful and sophisticated. I am in love with the alabaster light fixtures which the server told me came from the city of Volterra and were designed by the owner. WIll be back soon. more
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Insulting attitude 10/18/2008

I asked if the sturgeon on the menu was the endangered kind. The waitress asked the chef and returned with the message that it was and that I should read ""The Zen of Fish"" to get over my concerns about endangered fish. I ordered the wild boar. The waitress asked how I wanted it cooked, saying they served it medium rare. I requested medium well. She said it was served with a lot of sauce so that I would not see the bloody juices if it were cooked medium rare, which is in fact how it came. Though the food was excellent the overall impression was that the guest was not what mattered to them (exception being the hostesses who were very warm and helpful). We will not eat there again. Pros: good food, nice hostesses Cons: insulting attitude more
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Ordinary Food and Overcharged Bill 10/6/2008

This place was not as I imagined. The decoration is pretty general, no special at all. The food is pretty good, but just regular. The service is not bad but they charged for cake cutting (I brought birthday cake from outside). I have never get any charge for cutting cake at any restaurants, even the cheap restaurant. If the charge is 5 dollar for one table, it is fine. But they charged $3 each person. Crazy. I will never ever come back here. There is much better italian food in Seattle. I do not recommend to come here, especially for birthday!!! more
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What's not to like? 9/20/2008

We love this place! One of the best places anywhere for a special occasion or celebration. It is utterly reliable. Never had a bad meal or a ""kitchen nightmare"" at Volterra. I love everything they do AND the way they do it. Their Chestnut Pancakes from the brunch menu -- ummmm! Their original cocktails (by Kathy Casey) are fresh and fine. Pros: Consistently Excellent, street parking usually available; good for business dinner Cons: Housecleaner wanted; reserved for special occasions due to cost more
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Rude service and nasty bathroom 9/14/2008

If you believe you'll learn all you need to know about a restaurant by visiting its restrooms, stay away from Volterra! The ladies' room was nasty and unhygienic. 'Nuff said. Plus our server was snotty and had the ""I'm doing you a favor by doing my job"" attitude I see all too often in Seattle. The food is very yummy, but for the price, there are plenty of other places in Seattle that will treat you with more respect, dignity, and kindness. more
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Impressive all around 9/10/2008

This is a real Italian restaurant. Not an Americanized version. The menu is what you would find if you were in Italy. It's very well rounded and the meat dishes are outstanding. I loved the rabbit leg wrapped in prosciutto and my friends Veal Chop had me drooling. Service was good and the ambiance was hip. more
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Revolterra 9/4/2008

This has got to be one of the biggest jokes in town. I went after reading all these great reviews. the service is flat out terrible. The food is hardly better and parking is impossible!!!! No reason to go back. Just an all around horrible experience. Cons: everything more
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You can't go wrong with Volterra 8/30/2008

My family and I went to Volterra?s to celebrate my husband?s birthday after being away for a year and a half, and the food and service was just as great as ever. We have been going to Volterra?s since the beginning and have never had a bad meal or service. It is consistently way above the norm and that is the reason we have been steady customers. Our cordial server, Stephen, instinctively knew when we needed him and has been our server for as long as I can remember. Additionally, David, the wine steward, is so pleasant and knowledgeable of how the wines compliment the food, that you know you will always get a good recommendation for the wines. It will always be our special place and we will continue to recommend it highly. Thank you Volterra for another fabulous and unforgettable evening. more
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Bad service, claustrophobic dining and food bad 8/28/2008

I went here once with friends and sat outside on a day that wasn't too busy and my experience was ok - not remarkable but OK. Pros: It was ok first time I went, second time sucked though Cons: Really Bad service, tables too close, food not good more
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Best in town 5/15/2008

Volterra has been on my list of places to try for ages. My friends rave about this place and so we went for my boyfriends birthday and it was the perfect choice. I asked the hostess for a romantic table and I think they gave us the best table in the house. It was in the corner of the banqette and so we were able to sit side by side and watch the hustle and bustle of the dining room and Ballard Ave. The place was hopping and filled with great energy. more
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Menu for Volterra


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Top Italian restaurant on Historic Ballard Avenue

Owner Message

  • Inspired by the warm, traditional Tuscan hilltop town by the same name, Volterra features the bold-flavored, Tuscan-inspired menu of award-winning Chef Don Curtiss.\nChef Curtiss has a long history and following in the Northwest. He received acclaim as "One of America's Most Innovative Chefs", from Wine Spectator while serving as the opening chef of Andaluca. He was also named "One of America's Top 26 Chefs" by Italian Cooking and Living.\n\nVolterra's dining room is inviting with rich red walls; chocolate-brown leather and textiles; and dark woods offset by alabaster light fixtures hand-carved in Volterra, Italy. \n\n"Don Curtiss' lush, imaganitive eats bring a breath of fresh air to the local Italian restaurant scene." Zagat America's Top Restaurants 2006\n\n"That fine tuned quality is part of the welcome suprise that is Volterra." Nancy Leson, Seattle Times

Editorial

  • The Scene
    Named after the Tuscan hill town where the owners were married in 2004, this upscale trattoria re-creates the town's atmosphere through framed photos, Italianate wall sconces...

  • 9/22/2006 Provided by Citysearch
Additional information
  • Hours: Mon-Thu 5pm-12am Fri 5pm-1am Sat 9am-2pm, 5pm-1am Sun 9am-2pm, 5pm-9pm
  • Payments: Visa, American Express, Discover, Master Card
  • Neighborhoods: Ballard, Adams
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