Angolo

The Italian restaurant at 2934 M Street NW takes its name from the Italian word for corner, which describes the M Street position that places it at one of the street’s corners in the lower M Street commercial area. The Italian restaurant format at this end of M Street serves the dining population of the surrounding residential Georgetown neighborhood as well as the visitors to the commercial corridor.

Italian restaurant cooking at the level Georgetown’s dining market supports involves fresh pasta made in-house, which provides the texture and flavor that fresh egg pasta has over dried pasta of equivalent quality. The difference between handmade and dried is most evident in the fresh pasta shapes: a fresh fettuccine or tagliatelle has a surface texture that sauces adhere to differently, an interior softness that dried pasta does not replicate regardless of cooking time, and a freshness of flavor that is specific to the egg and semolina that fresh pasta doughs are made from.

The pizza program at an Italian restaurant like Angolo operates in the Italian pizza tradition rather than the American format. Italian pizza, particularly in the Neapolitan and Roman traditions, uses thinner dough cooked at higher temperatures and a more restrained topping approach than American pizza typically employs. The result is a pizza where the crust’s character is as important as the toppings, because the cooking process produces a crust that has flavor on its own rather than serving primarily as a delivery vehicle for what is placed on top.

Georgetown’s M Street dining corridor at 2934 places Angolo in the section of M Street that has a mix of dining options from the quick-service end through the mid-range sit-down format. The Italian restaurant occupies the casual dinner category, appropriate for weeknight dinners and weekend meals without the formality that Georgetown’s more elaborate Italian restaurants require.

Hours run from dinner service on weekdays and from lunch through dinner on Saturday and Sunday, with Friday and Saturday extending to 11pm. The Italian restaurant market in Georgetown is competitive across the price spectrum, from the casual quick-service formats to the white-tablecloth establishments that the neighborhood’s professional dining culture supports. Angolo occupies the mid-range position at 2934 M Street, providing the sit-down Italian dinner experience without the price point of Georgetown’s most formal Italian restaurants. The weekend lunch service adds a dimension that the dinner-only Italian restaurant cannot provide: the Italian lunch tradition, particularly the pasta al pomodoro or a simple risotto with the right accompaniment, is as satisfying a meal as dinner and serves the Georgetown visitor who wants a full Italian meal in the afternoon before an evening activity. The M Street location is accessible from the Georgetown Circulator’s M Street route and from the upper M Street retail parking.