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In today’s review… we’ll cover Caruso’s Grocery, your Italian-American ‘red sauce’ joint, with dim lights, a family-friendly environment, and classic staples.

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The Ratings

Our simple & honest checklist covers a restaurant’s key ingredients:
Ambiance, Service, and Food.

7/10

Caruso’s Grocery is nestled between Navy Yard and Hill East on a little, tiny foodie street corner in a residential neighborhood. The venue is unassuming and feels quite homey and family-friendly. In fact, every wall in the restaurant is covered with more pictures and paintings than you can count. This definitely emphasizes the “Italian grandmother makes you a home-cooked meal” vibes. Factor in the standard red booths filling out the venue’s outermost seating arrangements and the slightly dimmer lighting, and you’ve got yourself your typical mafia mealtime meeting… errr, your good ol’ Italian-American ‘red sauce’ joint.

8.5/10

Super helpful and kind! Caruso’s Grocery’s staff get it. While not a completely new addition to the DC food scene (established in 2021), Caruso’s Grocery has been rising in popularity recently and receiving some well-deserved accolades.

At such a popular restaurant with a trendy buzz, reservations are hard to come by. Yet, when we accidentally made reservations at their other location in Maryland (oops) and had to call (last minute!) to see if they could swap us over to the DC venue… the hostess helped us out without even hesitating! Mind you, the restaurant had no availability on any online booking systems (even the prioritized special access ones). Now that is great service!

After being seated, our waiter promptly showed up and guided us through the menu, both food and drinks. He then offered to let us sample some wines so we could make a decision between a few tempting options. While at times, it may have been slightly difficult to hear our waiter, the overall experience was on point and we were well taken care of. Water was always quickly refilled and done before we even considered asking for another bottle. Our courses never overlapped, nor did we feel pressured to wrap up a course when conversation extended, allowing us to enjoy those last few bites.

7/10

Craving a good bowl of pasta or some yummy Italian breaded chicken? Look no further. Caruso’s Grocery has you covered with the staples that’ll put a smile on your face.

While other Italian restaurants overdo it with greasiness or excessive unhealthy ingredients, Caruso’s Grocery delivers balanced, perfectly sized, and tasty meals without all the extra ‘mamma mia’ on your plate.

Now, you shouldn’t expect to be eating the most revolutionary bowl of pasta. Nor, should you be anticipating to be blown away by the creative flavors mixing on your palate. No.

However, what you should be excited about is the pure satisfaction of clean, yummy, and straightforward dishes.

Start off your meal with a light antipasti, such as the Creamy Burrata, plopped on top of a bed of basil pesto and sprinkled with toasted pine nuts. Enjoy the bite as you spread the burrata on some well flavored and crunchy baguette.

For the pastas or entrées, you can’t go wrong — except maybe by opting for one over another and not sharing a little bit of both. Then again, this place is about comfort food, so we get it if you want to guard your dish and not share.

We recommend you try the Spicy Neapolitan Ragu and the Chicken Parmigiana. After all, these are the chef’s classics and the most popular items.

When it comes to desserts, do go for the Classic Tiramisu. It’s not too shabby, but the layering and espresso levels are a bit off. The top mascarpone layer is fluffy and creamy, but then our mouths are met with the first, and then bam, second layers of the over soaked espresso ladyfingers. Rookie mistake. One should spend ample time adding in thick layers of mascarpone between each row of ladyfingers and only gently dipping them into the espresso for the most scrumptious bite. I mean, come on. A tiramisu is a work of art!

Also, Caruso’s Grocery should work on adding a few other Italian desserts… think: panna cotta rather than the two cheesecake options.

Reservation & Menu: