Rolf and Daughters

"Rolf & Daughters won’t readily admit that it’s an Italian restaurant, but if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and has spaghetti, ravioli, and rigatoni on the menu, well—quack, quack. Restaurant genres aside, they sure know how to throw down when it comes to Italian food. The sourdough with seaweed butter is always a mainstay (and for good reason), but you really can’t go wrong with any of the pastas on the rotating menu, especially the always-al dente mafalde iterations with a few bottles from the thought-provoking wine list. The vibe here, though, is utterly unpretentious and unaffected—brick walls, moody lighting, long wood tables—perfect for celebrating a birthday for that friend who always wants to “keep it small,” but deserves something special. " - jackie gutierrez jones 2

"Along with City House, Rolf & Daughters was another one of those places to put the city on people’s culinary radars. That’s because they served mind-bending riffs on Italian dishes and had an extensive wine list with lots of rare bottles. Twelve years after opening, it’s still holding it down as one of the city’s greats by keeping people on their toes with an ever-changing menu that also keeps some tried-and-true favorites (there will be riots if the sourdough with seaweed butter ever disappears). Share plates of sprightly greens like cucumber with peaches and pine nuts, hearty pastas like mafalde with zucchini, and that aforementioned sourdough to sop up any lingering sauce. Even though the menu switches things up frequently, the warm ambiance and service remain a constant.   " - jackie gutierrez jones 2

"Rolf + Daughters is a staple restaurant in Germantown serving New American cuisine, which is code for “we do whatever the hell we want.” They can keep doing whatever they want because the food consistently delivers. Come for dinner with a group to share some tonnarelli with crab and Jimmy Nardello peppers and an order of their talk-of-the-town pastured chicken. Finish the meal with a cozy dose of chocolate mousse with chopped pears and grated candy cap mushroom, or the kombu ice cream, a salty concoction that tastes like a day at the beach." - Ann Walczak

"Small. Fun. Focused. Seasonal. No, it’s not a Tinder bio. It’s Rolf & Daughters. Located in the Werthan Factory building, this industrial-chic hotspot is high-end in look, but in experience, it’s everything welcoming and down-to-earth. Pull up a seat at a family-style table and get cozy with a Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy (it’s one of their many inventive cocktails, duh). Up for a bite? Their New American fare is inspired by Italian and Mediterranean dishes and peppered with seasonal flavor. 10/10. Would swipe right." - redpepper

"While it technically doesn’t bill itself as an Italian restaurant, Philip Krajeck’s Rolf and Daughters has been consistently putting out some of the best pasta plates in the city for years. The award-winning Germantown spot is known for its perfectly chewy sourdough with seaweed butter and its seasonally rotating pasta menu that currently includes tonnarelli with octopus and rigatoni in a heritage pork ragu." - Jackie Gutierrez-Jones, Eater Staff