Restaurant Review: Potenza

Potenza is a fairly new spot that opened mid-April on the corners of 15th and H Streets in Northwest Washington, DC. It's very convenient to where I work so after walking past it a few times I decided to stop by for lunch. Another great feature of Potenza is it's not only a restaurant, but it's flanked with a cafe (grab & go) on one side and a wine shop on the other.

At the end of June they added sidewalk seating which is what I love because one of my favorite past times is sitting outside and observing the sights and sounds of the city and the people walking by.

I arrived there with a co-worker on a Friday for lunch at around 12:15. It was crowded so we ended up having to wait for about 20 minutes to have a seat outside, eventhough I walked outside a few times and there were several empty tables.

We were finally seated at our table outside to enjoy the beautiful weather. The waitress comes over shortly and takes a few moments to familiarize us with the menu. We take a few minutes to look over their 3-course lunch menu, it's $15 for an appetizer, entree, and a cookie bag to eat there or take with) but decide to both just order the Margherita pizza, it was $13. I ordered lemonade to drink and was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. It wasn't too sweet and made with sparkling water, was light and refreshing.

At first I thought the pizza was a little pricey for lunch but then I realized they don't have lunch portions for their pizzas, the only lunch-size portions are a part of the $15 menu I mentioned earlier. When the pizzas came out, we were shocked by the size. If we would've known how big they'd be, we would've shared one. Needless to say, I ate as much as I could and still had over half of it left, enough for dinner and a midnight snack.

Overall, I would highly recommend Potenza.

Location: Lots of parking garages nearby, some street parking, and about 1 block away from McPherson Square Metro .
Atmosphere: Outdoor Seating is always a plus. Has a large bar inside with lots of seating, will have to check out happy hour one day.
Price: Large portions make it easy to share. Dinner ranges from $17-$27 and alcoholic beverages start at $9.00. Very reasonable.

SPECIAL EVENT LISTED ON THEIR WEBSITE
JOIN US EVERY THURSDAY FROM 5 - 7 PM AT POTENZA WINE, MEET THE REPS, AND TASTE SOME NATIVE ITALIAN VARIETALS, AND ARTISANAL CHEESES.


Potenza
15th & H Street NW.
Washington DC. 20005
202.638.4444
http://www.potenzadc.com