Check It Out: Vapiano

Picture in you mind’s eye if you will, an Italian restaurant. A really good Italian restaurant. Now imagine, if instead of your traditional sit-down Italian joint, this one served you cafeteria style, and you could customize your dishes any way you pleased. If that scenario strikes you as a pleasant culinary fantasy, than It’s probably time you made it over to Vapiano

Located near the intersection of 18th and M in Foggy Bottom, Vapiano offers a delightful dining experience not only in the sense that it’s unconventional layout offers an ambiance that is at the same time intimate and accessible, but more importantly in that it serves up a broad spectrum of high-quality Italian dishes.

Unlike most restraints where communication between the customer and the kitchen is kept to a minimum, Vapiano allows you to order directly from the cooks themselves and as a result you get to put whatever you fancy on the dish in question, get it quickly, and see the entire cooking process played out right in front of you. Think Mongolian Barbeque meets Italian Kitchen. It’s not the largest dining room and it shares it’s space with the centrally located kitchen and as well as a bar on the far side, so it can fill up quickly around dinner time. They also don’t take reservations, so I would recommend that you head over earlier rather than later if you want to be able to find a good seat.


As far as the food itself goes, I tend to stick with my trusty standby of pesto vermicelli with pine nuts and grilled chicken, but have also enjoyed some terrific salads and pizzas there as well. Dining at Vapiano is for the most part a can’t-miss situation, so the only real limitation is your own creativity. Get out there and mix it up, you won’t be disappointed.

(also don’t miss the bowl of gummy bears by the door on your way out.)