The Espositos
9917 Lee Highway
Fairfax, VA 22030
703.385.5812
Lunch and Dinner – hours vary
The Espositos Italian restaurant has been around in Fairfax since ’82. Some dear friends, the hubs, and I came here to have lunch, and we were all pleasantly surprised!
The menu offers items such as Panini al Forno (subs), Frittate (omelettes), soups, salads pizza (in piccola or in grande sizes), antipasti, pasta, main entrees, as well as desserts.
We started off with some antipasti/appetizer plates: the Mozzarella in Carrozza (fried mozzarella with anchovies, these were large block patties of lightly breaded mozzarella cheese with a light olive oil/butter sauce – I really liked the salty bits of anchovies that comes with!) and the Zucchini Fritti (fried zucchini; these were super lightly battered, and I personally was not a fan of these; the light marinara sauce it came with was a great complement for the fried mozzarella, though!).
For our entrees, I tried their Spaghetti Carbonara (spaghetti with onions, eggs, and pancetta ham – the pasta was cooked perfectly al dente, and the dish was pretty overwhelming in terms of the amount of pancetta! It was a good, slightly salty dish!); the hubs had the Fettuccine Romana (homemade flat pasta in cream sauce; this could have been more creamier and cheesier, as it was a bit too bland for me) and the Gnocchi Bolognese (potato dumplings in meat sauce – this was literally one of the best gnocchi dishes we’ve had! The dumplings were pillowy-soft, cooked wonderfully, and it had some cheeses in there (but, not too much) that made it perfectly melty and yummy – this dish was delicious!); the friends had the Spaghetti alla Polpetta (spaghetti with meatballs) and the Linguine Vongole (linguine with clams in tomato sauce).
The complimentary bread was soft with a nice little crust, and the salads that came with the pasta dishes were super fresh and tasty! Those marinated sliced carrots are out of this world (I kept stealing the hubs’) AHAHA
At the end, we enjoyed a delicious tiramisu, that was of perfect temperature – it was creamy, light, fluffy, airy, and had a great balance of the creaminess and the espresso flavors!
Our server, Ms. Esposito, was super awesome – she was friendly, welcoming, and made sure that our beverages were always refilled and our dishes were great.
This restaurant is definitely a little gem, and I would love to go back and try out their subs, pizzas, and their other pasta dishes. Check this place out!
+yummy salad with marinated sliced carrots!!!
+Gnocchi Bolognese!!!
+Tiramisu!!!
+ask for Ms. Esposito!
+friendly service!
hannah's hype 