Bethesda. Search for other restaurants . Use the Back button to return to your last search. It might have been a disaster except for the irresistible camp of the decor. By the end of the evening, even the staff was laughing with us, riotous as a '40s movie scene.
Sheer excellence is no guarantee of longevity, nor is celebrity.
In fact, if Washington does have a soft spot in its collective heart, it seems to be for the homier hangouts, places where the transplanted and homesick can get back in touch with small-town style. And, paradoxically, where grumpy waiters are often part of the charm. A.V.'s, Marrocco's Italian Restaurant and Famous Luigi's in midtown D.C., Geranio in Alexandria, the Pines of Rome and Positano in Bethesda and Petitto's Ristorante D'Italia in Woodley Park. A.V.'s is still the place to take newcomers, and to make, at least, sentimental visits. In 1950, when Edward Marrocco opened the original Marrocco's, it was on Pennsylvania Avenue in the heart of Foggy Bottom, a regular hangout for both George Washington University students and pre-platinum card era feds.