Volterra

About a month or so ago I assisted for a phenomenal cooking class taught by Chef Don Curtiss owner of Volterra (http://www.volterrarestaurant.com/) featuring imports selected by Ritrovo (http://www.ritrovo.com/index.php), a great company that takes care in selecting fine Italian products to bring to the Seattle market. Highlights of the class included ribolitta, a hearty Italian bread soup with lots of veggies and cannellini beans, and the largest lamb shanks I've ever seen (organic from Oregon) braised in chianti and a beautiful dark, rich demi glace. Don's comment was that he couldn't sleep at night unless he knew there was a gallon of demi glace ready at the restaurant. All of it was sumptuous both that day and two days later as I served up the leftovers.
So after much hinting, KC finally suggested we go there. After much anticipation, dinner was a let down. We started off with their pate appetizer which included a mushroom, chicken, 2 kinds of rabbit and a veal pate. My favorite one was the mushroom while KC's was the chicken. I ordered the crispy herb chicken which had the warning of a 25 min wait time - I was willing to wait for a freshly done moist chicken. KC had the meat ravioli stuffed with braised beef. Even with the warning of a wait time, our entrees arrived just as we were finishing with the appetizer. My chicken arrived a tad overdone and covered in sauce which pretty much eliminated the crispy factor by the time it arrived at table. KC seemed unenthused with his ravioli's. I tried one expecting the soft delicateness of a freshly made pasta, but the edges were decidedly firm. As for service, our server was courteous enough, but after dropping off our food he only came back once to drop off a dessert menu after the busboy had cleared our plates and didn't once ask how our meal was. He had meticulously listed the specials of the day with all their myriad of ingredients, but seemed to care little about our experience of the final product. I may give Volterra another try since I did take Don Curtiss' class and know they care about their ingredients, but if it had been another restaurant I probably wouldn't be back.