I disliked it because the food is bland and salty. My wife ordered a fish dish and it was undercooked. If I want Italian food, I’ll either make it myself or go somewhere better. DC is a hard market for reasonably priced good Italian food, but even then there are a few places that are pretty good as well as a few chains that are much better than OG. It takes a certain level of skill to botch Italian food but they managed it.
Where are you in the DC area? I know of a few good places.
Primi include pastas, of course, but also risotto, polenta, and soup. My favorite primi I’ve eaten in Tuscany, Piedmont and Liguria were not, in fact, pasta dishes. Pappa al pomodoro, squid ink risotto, gnocchi, etc. There are many “authentic Italian” meals that see nary a whisper of pasta.
We live near Capitol Hill. I’ve found a few places that I like. Pasta Mia in Adams Morgan is great but the line can be a royal pain in the ass. We gave up going there after the baby was born.
In that neck of the woods I’d go to Trattoria Alberto - a relatively undiscovered gem on 8th Street SE near the Marine Barracks. They’ve been around for years, helped pin down the area’s redevelopment, and they have very nice food.
The nice thing, too, is that after dinner there are more things to do in that area than there used to be - Banana Cafe has a good bar with live entertainment and Finn MacCools is a decent Irish/sports bar.
My favorite was always baccala. My family served it cold with a vinaigrette with celery and other vegetables (they cooked it other ways, but this was the first course recipe). In Sicily I would see it with potatoes, olives, raisins and capers.
Oh yum - I always forget about baccala!