La Piazza

We were skeptical with such mixed reviews but we really enjoyed our lunch. We ordered lasagna, chicken Madeira and eggplant parmesan. Large portions, you could definitely share. Most entrees were $20+ but the sandwiches were closer to $10.
With several dishes you will receive a side of delicious thin buttery noodles!

Our party of three ate lunch at La Piazza and felt it a great choice. We took advantage of the early happy hour of $4 Bellinis (chose peach, cranberry and mango-I felt peach best with a small amount of purée at the bottom) and the arancini which had a small amount of marinara in the bottom (next time I would request extra sauce on the side),
the huge and visually satisfying Mediterranean salad (shrimp perfectly cooked w maybe a touch of tarragon?) and light lemon vinaigrette and ciabatta sandwich which was thin grilled chicken breast on a light ciabatta roll and very pleasing. We shared the limoncello cake which had just the right amount of lemon frosting with a lemon custard in between the layers of light, moist sponge cake and a nice cappuccino to end. A good stop if in the area!

First of all, I would disagree with their tagline that it is casual Italian. This leans more towards the nicer side. I would say it is in the middle between fine dining and casual dining.

That being said we had a great dinner.

For an appetizer we got the fried risotto balls. I am normally a risotto lover as well as an all things fried lover. But this did not do anything for me. The risotto was too bland for the batter they fried the balls in. it just tasted like a fried cheese ball, while that wouldn’t normally be a problem it may as well have been a mozzarella stick due to the mild flavor of the risotto. For dinner, I had the cacio e pepe and the pasta was exactly how i wanted it. My wife didn’t love it but that was because she likes pasta to be way overcooked. If you don’t like al dente be aware that’s how the noodles come out. Her mushroom pasta was also good if not a bit saucy for my taste.

We got the tiramisu for dessert. The actual tiramisu was a pretty standard tiramisu the only complaint I had was that the cacao seemed wet, like it had been placed on the mascarpone earlier and then a little fresh cacao was put onto the plate to make it seem as if it was made to order.

Our server was very polite and we never waited too long between visits for water refills or checkups. My only complaint, and this is mostly my fault is that I asked for a pinot (thinking I would get a pinot noir) when she came out with the Pinot Grigio I was a little disappointed. I should have clarified then or even when I put in the order but that was the only mistake through the night. We also had a nice view of the walkway onto downtown Williamsburg which was very pretty, especially with the sun setting behind the restaurants. All in all the ambiance was very pleasant and relaxed.

I visited LA Piazza for lunch, for the first time while visiting Colonial Williamsburg this weekend. Is located in the merchant square right between the Colonial Williamsburg streets and William and Mary.

There are quite a few mixed reviews about this place, so I wasn't sure exactly what to expect. To start, the staff was super nice and very attentive. Our waitress was awesome!!

I ordered the meatballs as an appetizer and a ham/turkey panini sandwich. The meatball appetizer came with three meatballs and a couple slices of bread for just under $10. I thought they were very delicious. For about $13/$14 the panini came with chips. This I also thought was a very good panini.

I'd definitely stop again

We had the fritto misto, lasagna and the eggplant sandwich. All were good. The lasagna portion was huge. Our server was friendly. We would dine here again. Photo of eggplant sandwich was taken after a few bites were eaten -it didn’t come out this way (lol).