dining out: district of pi

When the St. Louis pizza operation Pi opened its first shop in D.C. last year, my St. Louis friend Jennifer said I must try it. So when Tony and I sat down with Mike and Jen for my birthday dinner Saturday, I told everyone I was ready to be impressed and for this to become my new favorite pizza place in D.C. It didn't quite go as well as I'd hoped, although the food itself was good.

My biggest complaint is that it was uncomfortably warm in the front room, where we were seated. It was downright unpleasant. And I don't generally mind noisy restaurants, but this place was SO LOUD that we could hardly hear the waitress. Also, when the waitress went to box up the leftovers, she apparently had to throw two pieces away because she dropped them on the floor, and of course accidents happen, but then she gave us the check and charged us for the pizza she dropped. So ... it was kind of awkward, exasperated by the aforementioned sound issues ... but she ended up bringing a new check and only charging us for half of that pizza.

The food itself was quite tasty, though. I worked at a pizza place in high school, and we served deep dish pizzas with the sauce on top. Since then, I've been a big fan of sauce-on-top pizzas, but you hardly ever see that on menus, so I was happy that's how District of Pi serves its deep dish pies.

Pi also serves more traditional, thin-crust pizzas. I didn't have any, but Tony gave it an 8.5 out of 10.

So, we had good food -- but a less-than-good restaurant experience. Maybe I'll give District of Pi another shot someday, after enough time has passed and I've forgotten how unpleasant it is to eat hot pizza in an 84-degree restaurant.