Volterra

Yesterday (Sunday), Carrie and I met two of our friends, Alex and Ed, in Ballard and went to brunch at Volterra.

First, the pluses. The place has a ton of atmosphere, and never got that crowded. All of the servers wore bright smiles, and we got excellent service throughout the meal; our server knew just when to come and ask us if we wanted more water / coffee.

Now, the minuses. I ordered a dish that consisted of two over-easy eggs atop a duck confit with spinach and hashed potatoes. For me, the portion size was a bit on the light side, and all of the flavors seemed to run together. Carrie ordered a truffle-based dish with hash browns in which the truffle flavor seemed to overpower everything else. The fare that my friends had - the Volterra Breakfast and Francesco's eggs - seemed to fit them just fine.

We may or may not go back to Volterra to give the place another chance; it's not that high up on our list of places to brunch at, however.

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