La Medusa

Had a great meal at La Medusa! The paccheri with mushrooms, leeks, and ricotta was delicious. The service was great but the meal cost a pretty penny

amazing food and experience❤️ the staff were attentive and friendly luca and Zar were both exceptional, would definitely reccomend!

Wonderful European-inspired, local restaurant with a seasonal menu in a quaint setting. This is the perfect place for a special occasion or a romantic evening.

A very warm and cozy place. Amazing food and service.

I can't believe it took us two years living close by to finally try this place. SO good. Very authentic recipes. Delicious good quality ingredients and interesting dishes. Definitely not dishes you can easily detect ingredients of and think you can make at home. It's a little pricey, $25 per plate. My husband and I each got a meal and we shared an appetizer - no alcoholic beverages. Cost after tip and all was about $90. No regrets here!

One of our favorite restaurants in the city for special occasions. The food and service is always superb. We always have such memorable, lovely evenings here. We love the ambiance and the fresh, updated menu on the wall. We have gotten takeout twice during COVID, and the menu and food is always great. I like picking up little things from their sidewalk market as well while I wait. Thanks for all that you do!

We decided to eat here while staying nearby. Although they couldn't get us a table because we didn't have reservations, and they were fully booked for the night, they offered to seat us along the window at a counter. The seating provided a nice view of the street and even the table across the entrance. We ordered a ragu pasta dish that was excellent. Homemade pasta cooked perfectly. So flavorful! For dessert we tried their chocolate chunk ice cream. Amazing! All I can say is that although there are other choices in Columbia City, we will be back before we leave for home. It was that good!!

When my partner and I have a rare date night and want to stay close to home, we head to La Medusa. The menu often rotates with seasonal items, and we always find a new dish or two to try. It's a snug and intimate interior that's great for people watching if you get a window seat, and we've even brought the kids here a few times, but I'd say it's more ideal for date night. And because it's close to home, we often sneak in a sweet treat at Molly Moon's, and/or adult beverages at Lottie's or Flying Lion after dinner.

We are visiting Montreal from California ( SF bay area) and were looking for some Italian food and we are walking down the street and spotted this gem of the place, we have some dietary restrictions so we were looking at the menu posted on the window and we liked what we saw so decided to go inside and got seated right away, Nino who is the owner helped make us feel comfortable, had conversation about the weather and how hot it was in Montreal vs where we live, brought us cold water, started out with dietary needs for one of us so he suggest great meal, Wonderful pasta for my wife and risotto for me and salad and all three times were wonderful, being vegetarian and gluten free free makes hard selection for food at most places, he was very gracious and wonderful host catted, Joked and shared some stories, Other two gentleman David and Paulo who help us during the meal were wonderful as fun to interact with as the Nino, This was by the best experience with food and service we had in Montreal! loved it! Thank you, Nino and Team

Everything about La Medusa was fantastic. From the atmosphere to the service to the food. Any questions we had were answered knowledgeably and quickly. When asked about wine pairings with our food items, Meredith was spot on. Service was timely and friendly. When we asked about a drink our friends had when they visited Italy last year, their bartender made it special for them. I am not joking when I say everything we had was delicious. If you’re coming here for heavy comfort food that is full of salt, you won’t find it here. If you want to share in a family style meal, with delicious drinks light and delicious foods that have multiple layers of flavor cooked with seasonal, simple ingredients THIS IS YOUR NEW SPOT. And then dessert. WOW! Everything was delicious but the Olive Oil Cake with lemon curd was the table’s favorite. Thank you for a lovely evening, we will be back.

Absolutely delicious and authentic Italian. Loved the tiramisu! Really fun for a cozy and enjoyable date night.

Overall: 4.5. Consistently excellent during all 6 of our experiences. As my fussy partner said: "always good!" SERVICE: 5.0. From the moment we walked in the door every person who took care of us was efficient and friendly, and they cooperated well among themselves. AMBIANCE: 4.5. Floor-to-ceiling windows facing sidewalk. Homey atmosphere. Subdued noise level: easy to have a conversation. DRINKS: 4.5. Glasses of an Italian white wine. FOOD: 5.0. Pasta is house-made. - 5.0: Octopus salad appetizer. - 4.5: Carrot salad appetizer. - 5.0: Bread with olive oil. Lovely olive oil. - 5.0: Whole Branzino (Sea Bass). My partner loved it. A chef brought it to the table and separated the bones from the meat. Note that it is served without pasta. - 5.0: Pasta with Taleggio Fonduta. Chanterelle and ? mushrooms served in a melted cheese sauce with pine nuts and corn kernals. Wonderful taste and texture. - 4.5: Olive oil cake FOOD FROM OUR PREVIOUS VISITS: - 5.0: Grilled Sardines appetizer. Three large sardines. - 5.0: Cauliflower gratin. Outstanding - 4.5: Mafaldine with Pork Coppa. Very good. - 5.0: (from our previous visit) Mafaldine with Lamb Ragu. Even better than the very good Rigatoni with Lamb Ragu I had during a previous visit. - 5.0: Dessert of Chocolate Espresso Torte, with cream: moist chocolaty texture and perfectly not-to-sweet. Served with fig slices.

Our dinner for 4 was lovely. On Wednesday evening a table was immediately available (not likely common). Tasty cocktails. Excellent baked bread from two blocks away. Attentive service. The kicker is the menu. Sicilian leaning dishes with distinctive flavors - not over powering. An assortment of appetizers could make up the entire meal. The pastas in our entrees were marvelous. Don't expect a family-sized portion like some franchise Italian restaurants. Don't expect some pasta with a pint of sauce. The portions are filling and the pasta is foremost - and fresh. If you want a bit more sauce, ask. We each had an entree and shared them around the table - not one bite was left. So good!

Friendly local neighborhood cafe/restaurant specializing in local, sustainable ingredients and homemade pasta.

Amazing food. We found few vegetarian options. Great service. Donna was amazing in explaining us each and every menu item in detail.

Everything was exceptional. It's really difficult to find quality, authentic Italian food in the PNW but this is IT. The food is exquisite - simple but masterfully created with quality ingredients. Possibly the best olives I've ever eaten. Get a cocktail, order multiple dishes, and definitely get dessert. Plus they just opened the fabulous vermouth bar/market next door. I almost teared up from the pure pleasure of the entire experience. I live in Chehalis and it is 100% worth the trip. I look forward to my next visit!

Started at Persephone next door. Had a recommended Amaro drink (it's there specialty) and the fried smelts. It was wonderful. Next door we had couple of their seasonal apps and two pastas. The food and service were great. Both places had a nice casual vibe. Persephone had the record player going with old school jazz.

I always have a good experience here. The service is wonderful, the food is incredible, and the atmosphere is relaxed. It's a cozy place where reservations are always a good idea. Get the spaghetti and meatballs: so simply delicious. The squid ink pasta is amazing, we usually get one to share for the table. Don't skip dessert and coffee! They serve locally roasted Herkimer coffee and those in our party who ordered dessert said they loved it. Only good things to say about this place! Again, the service here is really remarkable. They are extremely kind and helpful.

One of the best places for the real made in house Italian style pasta restaurants in Seattle. Service is usually extremely friendly and great. Food is great. It’s a small place. Make sure you call them first for the reservation

Best Sicilian restaurant in Seattle! La Medusa never misses with their ever changing menu and consistent quality. The staff is always incredibly kind and accommodating and the atmosphere is great. One of my favorite places to grab dinner.

EDITED REVIEW: initial post is below. I went for the second time after many months, and did not have the same experience that I did over the summer. The people themselves were incredibly nice as always, but the quality of food just felt different. The appetizers of arancino, grandma’s greens, and the olives were all pretty good. However, they brought them out individually one by one and each at least 10 to 15 minutes apart. Given that our reservation was on the later side and app portions are small , we were pretty hungry for the first hour due to the pace of the meal. After the appetizers, it took quite a bit for the main course to come out. We ordered three pastas, the malfadine, the spaghetti, and the Campanelle. They were pretty good, but not nearly the quality that they were when I came here over the summer. They also did not come out until almost 9 PM (our reservation was 730 )The sauces did not feel like they had as much depth as before, although still yummy. I hope that this is a one off experience, because I really liked it the first time. But for the price and distance to get there from the city, I will put more thought into my decision next time. ORIGINAL REVIEW: This is one of new favorite restaurants in seattle! I have tried several Italian spots in the city and this is certainly one of my top five! (Other notable spots I love are Il Nido, Spinasse, Machiavelli, tavolata ) First off, the service was incredible. Our waitress was so sweet and knowledgeable of the menu. We got grandmas greens, the croquette, bread, and mafaldine pasta with braised beef shank. Everything was stellar!! Particularly the croquette. They have a rotating menu and all the other dishes I saw also looked good. I need to come back and try everything! The ambience is quaint and definitely has a local feel. I loved it. I felt like I was in Italy. There are no bells and whistles, just good food, good service, and warm energy. A true neighborhood gem.

Had a very delicious dinner at La Medusa. Loved the ambiance, service was excellent. Ordered a bunch of appetizers and pastas - everything was awesome. The only downfall of the meal was none of our Canadian credit cards worked on their machine. My parents are still there working off the meal in kitchen.

This was a lovely little spot for a date night or to bring out-of-town family. We enjoyed their in-house pasta and cocktails as well as the seasonal variety on the menu. The waiter made excellent recommendations for menu options and cocktail pairings. The waitstaff were very friendly but the service was a little bit slow - it was a Friday night but the restaurant was also not full - maybe they were shortstaffed? The chalkboard menu was delightful but hard to read - paper menus to augment would be helpful.

The food was great and the service was impeccable. Jackson checked on us frequently to ensure we were able to proceed at the right pace. Definitely allow yourself enough time to do their food justice. Their pasta menu is fairly limited each night, to a few (four?) dishes. The two we had were very good, but if you've someone in the group who wants a specific Italian taste, they may be disappointed.

Cannot recommend this place enough. We made a reservation but it's a small restaurant and our table was still being sat at still so they advised us to go next door to grab a drink and they would come grab us. It was a great experience trying new drinks and they came and got us 10 minutes later. The food was excellent and our waiter was lively, friendly and full of good advice on what we should get and paired our wine up beautifully with our dishes. Excellent experience, and a plan to return!

Spaghetti with meatballs has been offered me nowhere in Italy, but it is available here, where the expectations of Americans collide with southern Italian food. Arancini are available almost nowhere, but they have them here, and they are delicious. Only occasionally is the part of an Italian meal called a secondo, a second course, usually meat or fish, on offer, but antipasti, and primi, appetizers and first courses often but not always pasta, abound. I like this place, but do not come here expecting the sort of Italian meal one might eat in Italy. Come here and enjoy Columbia City's quaint notions of such a meal.

Went here for dinner during the weekend. We were seated right away, which was nice. As we walked in you can hear EVERY SINGLE CONVERSATION. Everyone was talking all at once. I was uncomfortable close to the tables next to me. Waiter comes to take our order and we get our food relatively fast. For $30/plate we got about 3 mouths full of food. It was very well executed. The pasta is of perfect consistency, got a nice chew and nice structure. They the sauce was tomato sauce with some olives and capers with a hint of anchovies. Slightly too salty and acidic but again, a well executed plate. It’s about three mouth fulls with of food. Luckily we weren’t too hungry but man was it expensive. It was absolutely not worth the money IMO. Add that to the poor loud environment, I just did not have that great of a time there. Would not come back given the price. Keep in mind they also charge 18% service by default. Don’t feel pressured to tip more.

This is a cute place where all the pasta is handmade. It's menu is always changing and the atmosphere is very warm. Rustic style interior. The service is adequate and they charge an auto 18.5% tip. The food is about a 5/10. Sauce is okay for the Spaghetti I ordered and average taste meatballs. The chicken liver my friend ordered in her pasta was a bit strong tasting. My paste tasted good, as it should. If you happen to be in Columbia City and are hungry it would be fine to stop here, but don't expect amazing Italian fare!

Walked here from our place to give this local place a try since it won some awards and looked promising, however we left disappointed. They have a rotating menu, so we ordered the cavatappi with goat ragu and ink spaghetti. The cavatappi was very good as well as the spaghetti noodles. Even the spaghetti sauce was delicious. However, the dishes are quite small and simple. Didn't get a whole lot of meat and they ran out of protein for the spaghetti so it was just tomatoes and olives. It feels like something was missing from the dish to bring the ingredients together. I don't rate based on the price but for a full entree we expected more. It is also very loud and cramped inside. We could barely hear each other and could hear everyone else at the same time. Overall I wouldn't recommend it unless you really want fresh made pasta.

Underwhelming, small plates of ~$30 pasta. Tried 4 different ones and all were too salty, 2 of them sitting in a ladleful of pasta water. If you’re charging this much for a small plate of pasta it’d better be flawless. Sharing one drinks menu between 6 is inconvenient, as is reading the food menu off a board across the room.

Great atmosphere and simple but elegant presentation. Service is quite good. Though a little bit pushy,staff members are experienced and polite. Somehow, surprisingly, the food is not tasty. Arancini - saffron risotto croquettes , quite weak some sort of emptiness. Braised cabbage- nicely grilled but again the sauce it is laying on does not do the job to complement the taste of it. It tasted like it is not braised adequately. Fried smelt- It had that certain bitterness usually happens when small fish is not cleaned properly. Almost not edible. Pasta with wild mushrooms, great ingredients, but lack of taste again. We decided not to order more than one main dish, since all three of us were disappointed with the starters and pasta. I do not like leaving bad reviews, but I really expected La Medusa to reflect the juicy rich tastes of Southern Italy. It was not even close.

Great food but I did wait over an hour to get my food (after ordering). The staff was friendly and nice. I typically don't like waiting that long for food especially since it was a bit cramped. But if you love good pasta and don't mind waiting, then this place is a great option! They probably make their pasta from scratch which might be why it's so long. Also fair warning there is an automatic 18% gratuity so keep that in mind when budgeting.

Really wanted to love this place. Tried to walk-in in the past but they were booked til late, this place must be good! Made a reservation for tonight only to be greeted with page flipping and confusion upon entry - did we book the wrong day? Make a mistake? Not a great first impression. Excited to see Lambrusco on the menu! Unlucky, they were fresh out. Ordered a squid pasta described to have capers and anchovies - both of which we love.. pasta was undercooked (pre-al dente) without a caper or anchovy to be found. The special entree was an olive oil poached tuna with escarole, capers and Calabrian tomatoes. This entree was more of a cold salad with quality but seemingly canned tuna and maybe 2 sundried tomatoes. Radicchio and frisée were fresh and crisp. No escarole.. Oh if only there were a caper… Flavors were good. Service was kind and friendly. Prices are exorbitant for what you get and menu is oversold and under delivered. Maybe our experience was a fluke. The atmosphere and menu were charming and did remind us of Italy. Will try again another time once we’ve eaten through a jar of capers at home.

Ordered a couple of appetizers that took a little long to cook: pork sausage with lentils and arancino-saffron risotto croquettes. Croquettes definitely did not have risotto and rather had the consistency of rice-a-roni. Marinara sauce was not great. The sausage tasted like breakfast sausage however lentils were decent. Both of our cocktails (a Manhattan and a dirty gin martini) were very odd tasting. Overall not a great Italian restaurant but service and staff is good.

The food was very expensive esp given the portions; Mozzarella Caprese did not come with bread, that had to be purchased separately. The clams and pasta dish I had was bland and needing to tweeze bits of meat out of tiny clams didn’t help, but it was still better than the pasta that was too short to twirl on a fork and too thin to spear with the fork so every piece had to be balanced across the tines in order to raise it to my mouth, not exactly easy to eat. I had to go get fast food after we left, despite the bill coming to $120 for 2 (my friend had one glass of wine, I had no alcohol.) As others have said it was noisy with little privacy for conversation. While the servers were friendly It took a long time for the food to arrive and my drink was empty for a good portion of the meal. This made the mandatory service fee on the bill more frustrating, and then even more so when there was an additional line for a “gratuity”. It was a disappointing meal and I can’t imagine ever going back.

Italian pasta served with British blandness and French rudeness. They do not acknowledge your presence when you enter. It is polite to make eye contact with customer when they enter and simply say," I be with you in a moment." The food was prepared fairly well but they were not esthetically pleasing, the flavors was less than memorable and was blopped on our table without bothering to see if the plates went to the right person. I brought this up with one of the servers and recieved canned responses. They have an impressive wine list but, if you plan on being sober, eat elsewhere.

Good service, but terrible pasta but the arancini was good

I went to this restaurant when it first opened, under different ownership and a different female chef, whom I loved. Was supposed to be Sicilian, not benign "Italian" with Spaghetti. I made a reservation, for my birthday. and the host was extremely rude when I asked for an ADA accommodation to sit away from the door. You see, when I get very cold, I have. a great deal of pain. The host was inaccommodating. I wanted to enjoy my dinner, not shiver and try to stay out of pain. I miss the lovely, welcoming and completely accommodating hosts, staff and chefs from before. Wonder where "Sicilian" went as the theme?

This place used to be one of my favorite restaurants for special occasions, like my birthday. Last night was my first time back since Covid, and yikes. The service is garbage, the food is sparse, and I guess this place no longer serves any cheese or balsamic vinegar. The pasta dishes are a strange hodgepodge of noodles that do not belong with the sauces, maybe they are trying to clean out their pantry? But don’t worry, the prices are super high, just so you can be really disappointed and also feel taken advantage of. I would not return for free food.

Service left much to be desired. Food came out 45min late and was only made after we went up to ask the waitress why it was taking so long. Clearly the chef(s) have never had Sicilian food because of instead of an explosion of flavor from fresh ingredients the pasta we got tasted like soggy wet slop. The pasta we ordered was undercooked and lacked flavor. The sauce was thin, watery and tasted like nothing. For the price point this was an extremely dissatisfying and disappointing experience. Save yourself the time and buy some fresh pasta instead and cook at home. Even some microwaved easy mac is an order of magnitude better than any pasta dish you’ll get here.