Sauces, including a robust tomato sauce, are house-made. More-ambitious offerings were good, too. Clams with linguine and white or red sauce featured a dozen clams in the shell along with the expected seasonings. Main courses continue the quality. The osso buco was traditionally prepared and had plenty of marrow in the bone.
Daily specials are more expensive than menu items but a treat.
A broiled whole rockfish nearly filled the plate and could not have been improved on. A half roasted chicken was moist and assertively seasoned. Diners who live north of Rockville can try Il Pinito's sibling, Italian Pines, in the Lake Forest Off-Price Shopping Center in Gaithersburg. 2001 by Washington Magazine Inc.