Fontina Grille

the Steak salad is off the charts, hands down one of my favorites of all time. the atmosphere is nice but I’ve only been for lunch and I can’t speak of anything else on the menu but I would never cheat on my Steak salad.

Friendly staff, good food, great setting. It’s a perfect neighborhood spot. Had the spicy mussels (awesome, but the sauce is so good you have to use bread to sop it up and then get filled up). The veal piccata was nicely done with lots of lemon flavor and the fig/​prosciutto pizza was nice. Owners are always wandering and chipping in and the place feels like a nice, family-​run restaurant. If you have the right expectations and don’t expect the greatest meal you’ve ever had or Ritz-​level attention, you’ll have a fantastic time. I’d come back here for regular visits.

Their pizzas and pastas are okay. Nothing to write home about. I also tried their blackened chicken sandwich with fries which fulfilled my appetite.
This is the kind of place I’d bring my grandmother to. She rarely eats out, let alone Italian food, so maybe she’d enjoy it?

Maybe I’m spoiled having only lived in two of the world’s best food towns (New York and New Orleans), but this was really just no good. I got the spaghetti carbonara and a side of meatballs. The carbonara was dense and had an odd grainy texture. Not sure why it comes with nutmeg on it, it adds nothing to the dish and is certainly not traditional. It may have been responsible for the odd texture. I’m pretty sure the tomato sauce came out of a can. Not a jar, an actual metal can. It was worse than any sauce I’ve had on any fast food pizzas. And I’ve had Domino’s. There was no seasoning at all, no garlic, no herbs, it was just awful-​tasting tomato liquid poured straight out of a can and onto my (pretty bland) meatballs. Needless to say, I won’t be returning. Surely there must be better Italian food this close to DC…

Absolute hidden gem. Went on a date with my boyfriend and fell in love with the eggplant rollatini. My boyfriend is alright too haha.
Seriously though I found the menu to be super diverse for a neighborhood italian joint. Everything we ordered tasted homemade and perfect! Will be coming back again and again!

First time here !! Stopped by for quick bite. The grille is a nicely lit calm environment. The televisions are pretty small considering a grille. I pretty much seated myself at the bar. Barmaid was extremely nice. I order the meatballs for an appetizer and I was very disappointed. It had a frozen meatball taste to it. Not too mention an enormous amount of sauce in the plate. The bread that came with it was hard and essentially hard to eat. Therefore I give it a 3 stars !
I would give it another try however.

Pretty disappointed in Fontina as of late. This has always been a spot for us that I could consistently rely on, with fresh tasting food and good service — But after our last two experiences, my girlfriend and I won’t be frequenting the restaurant any longer.
Tonight’s experience was the end-​all for us (hence the negative Unilocal review). We arrived and were given a 15 minute wait time; no problem at all. We took a seat in the waiting area. Another party of two walks in and is given the same wait time. 5 minutes pass and they’re taken to their seats. Eek — irritating. About 10 additional minutes pass & an older couple walks in and requests a seat for two. No reservations whatsoever were mentioned or checked for on the host computer. They were seated right away.
Frustrated at this point, the host (and whom I’m assuming was also a restaurant manager) notices and apologies from a distance, «sorry for the wait folks you are next!» I shrugged it off and we were seated a minute or two later. After being seated, the manager/​host came over to our table and explained why we were seated after two couples; I hadn’t said anything to him, so I’m guessing he realized what had happened was wrong. His explanation — «Sorry folks, the reason that two couples were seated ahead of you was because they had reservations.» Did they? I know that couple #2 didn’t, so I knew that was just told a bold-​face lie.
Bottom line up front about the food — Mediocre and very disappointing tonight and the past couple of times. My crab bisque had the consistency of milk with more vegetable filler than crab; there was some kind of food floating in girlfriends wine; Was given a verbal list of beers on tap and then told that they didn’t have the one I ordered from that list; girlfriends house salad had several cherry tomatoes with rotten spots on them; she also had two hairs in her pasta, I had one in my salad.
No complaints about our server; he was very attentive and kind. However, I think that Fontina chefs have started cutting corners. When they get busy, they are overwhelmed. They seem to throw pizzas and other dishes together with no regard. You can tell when care hasn’t been put into the preparation of your plate. Also pretty gross to find multiple hairs in both of our meals. Always a pretty damn big vibe killer.
Two thumbs down — Sucks to know that Fontina Grille cares more about turning tables now than making sure their food is prepared and presented well.

Our third trip here. The eggplant rollatini was superb. The spouse’s seafood pesto was solid. Cannoli? Perfection. Not sure why we didn’t come back sooner.

Great menu with a ton of unique options including some amazing veal and chicken dishes and pizza options. Service was outstanding and extra kudos to our server Claire for ensuring our kids got their food quickly so they were occupied and content.

I do tend to judge Italian places by the Calamari, and I am spoiled by really great Bethesda Italian like Olazzo, Poisitano, etc, but we were in Rockville and drove into Kings Farm to find dinner. Fried calamari was reminiscent of Burger King onion rings. Just yuck. Entrees were better but nothing stood out. The waiter was horrible, though may have bern someone’s Uncle Vito, grouchy and with no personality. .hint wait staff, when your serving a table with a cranky 2 year old, ask if you should bring the kids spaghetti ASAP. Spaghetti, with butter and cheese. 3 minute kitchen prep… big reason to tip. Next time I’ll head back down the road for Italian.

This place is passable. The pizzas are okay and the steak with asparagus is actually really good. Overall it’s overpriced but convenient for those in King Farm.

Two days after the blizzard we took my sister home to Rockville, looking for a place to eat, this place was open. We really need food after the 2.5 hour drive, and I’m glad we got in here. To be very specific, they were short handed (roads are still un-​plowed, so understandable) The lady serving us was the actual bar tender, she gave us a friendly warning, she was by herself and will try to accommodate everyone as fast as she can. She did a fantastic job! VERY GOOD JOB! We ordered 3 types of pizza (whole) there were 5 of us. We were almost going to finish everything but we got full! I live in NJ where a lot of great pizza places are located, I’ll be honest this place has great pizza selection and the taste is great! Will definitely come back again when we visit Rockville

Glad we found this place. It was delicious and our server was attentive. We started with the calamari and it was so delicious. My husband had the ribeye, daughter had pizza and I had the eggplants rollatini. I loved it and the portion was good. Leftovers were delicious. When my daughter was done with her meal, he brought her a sundae. Great service and I look forward to coming back!

Boyfriend and I went to check out this place shortly after he moved to the area. First big issue: the whole restaurant smelled intensely like a wood fire grill. Like as if the entire restaurant was just a huge open fire pit. For an Italian restaurant, this was a bit overwhelming.
The food we had was ok. The waiter seemed to be super busy, as he came by to greet us and then didn’t come back for a while. I don’t necessarily blame him, it seemed like he was waiting for the entire restaurant. However I would note that couples who were seated after us ended up getting food and leaving before we did. We’re not slow eaters either, which leads me to feel like the timing was definitely an issue here. The waiter never came back to check on us after we got our food and our water glasses remained sadly unfilled.
After the super slow service, we were considering dessert and politely waited probably about 15 minutes for our server to come back. But instead of asking if we wanted anything else or dessert, he says, «So should I get you guys the check?» Jaw drop! So yes, we asked for the check instead of dessert. Because after waiting 15 minutes and then feeling like we were being pushed out, no way was I going to want to sit there longer.
Since the food is not something I’d ever write home about, I would say this is probably a place I wouldn’t come back to. Too bad, I was really looking forward to dessert!

If I was only rating the food, this place would get 4 or 5 stars… but once service was factored in, I cannot give it more than 2 stars b/​c to me, service makes or breaks a restaurant. I am NOT a high maintenance person and I do not expect much but this was absolutely bare minimum when it comes to service.
I went there on a busy Friday at about 1pm for lunch with 3 colleagues and a potential new colleague (lunch interview). I think everyone enjoyed their food, but after we ordered and our food was delivered, our waitress did not come back to check on us until we were all done and she wanted to know if we wanted dessert. Now, I don’t like when a waiter/​waitress is CONSTANTLY stopping by to check in, but at least check in once or twice after the food is delivered b/​c who knows if we needed something else… My food itself was very good and I was happy with my choice, a Salmon salad. I do not really know if people enjoyed their food because she never asked us so I don’t know what they would have said!
Another thing I found strange was we were given bread plates but never given any bread. All of the tables around us had bread, but we never got any. I sure would have liked a piece of bread with my salad. I was trying to look for our waitress or get the attention of one of the bussers but since our waitress never came to check on us, I could never ask her.
The people who greeted and seated us were very pleasant. The restaurant was a moderate noise level but not too bad considering how many tables were full and how many people were there.
I might go back to give them another shot… it could have just been an understaffed day or the waitress was overwhelmed, idk. Whatever it was, it was very bad service with very good food… such a shame… Hopefully, if I go back, the service will be better so I can give a higher star rating!

Great place if your looking for good Italian food. The staff all take care of you and go the extra mile to make your dining experience enjoyable. Very well kept and outside dining area are what brings so many back here.
As a bonus this place is awesome for NFL games. Many Eagles Fans here — may need to paint it green :)

We came here for dinner with my husband’s relatives. We started with pelligrino and calamari. The calamari was below average and tasted rubbery. We also ordered artichoke spinach crab dip. I didn’t try it but my husband did and he said it was very good. For my main meal I had the sea bass which was excellent! It had capers, lemony sauce with roasted veggies. The sea bass itself was crispy on the edges and tasted so so good.
The service is top notch! I would say the food is average (not all but the calamari for sure) but the service makes this place stand out.
There’s plenty of parking outside so don’t worry. It is a fairly large restaurant with a full bar. The dessert was also average but there were multiple choices. We had the tiramisu, chocolate cake and a large ice cream. It was good but like I said, average.
I could see myself coming back here because of the excellent service.

OMG the Rosemary Foccaccia with the dipping sauce!!! I could just eat this ALLLLLLLLLLLL Day.
I was struggling between ordering the Spaghetti with Marinara and meatballs or the Spaghetti Carbonara… i chose the earlier. My meal came with a Caesar salad.
Spaghetti was okay… nothing special about it or stood out about it. Caesar Salad is your average salad… i also had the crème brûlée which again was okay, and average.
i shouldve ordered the pizza since that what everyone is raving about… but i wanted pasta.
My server was friendly and tended to me well.
At the end of the day would i remember this place with all the places i travel to and eat? — No.
But when i eat foccaccia from here on out, i will flash back to that one place in Maryland where i cant really remember what I ate, but that Rosemary bread they had was off the chain.

Pizza is pretty amazing. I am a huge fan of thin crust pizza and it’s pretty hard to find a good one in Maryland. The pizza is ALMOST like the New York style ones. I got the vodka pizza which I haven’t seen anywhere except in NYC. It’s pretty similar. The crust isn’t oily at all, which is a blessing considering how Pizza Hut and Domino’s treats their crusts. Everything else is okay.
The atmosphere is really clean. The waiters are all extremely nice. Floors and tables have a very clean feel to it. The rest of the food is okay. The pasta is just average as well as the sandwiches. Mixed drinks could be a bit better, but that’s only according to my dad.
Basically, just get the pizza. It’s delicious!

Solid 4 stars for their delicious lunch buffet. $ 10.98 per person plus soda (unlimited refills) $ 1.98.
They will always have in the lunch buffet the following: a big crock of soup, two kinds of pizza (cheese and white pizza), cheese ravioli, mussels, beef tips, rice, steamed veggies, various salads, and my favorite chicken dish.
The server does take your dirty plates pretty fast and refills your drinks in a timely manner. It’s not too loud do you can have a good meal and conversation with your dining guests.
I wish the parking was a bit better though. You have to park near the Safeway and walk over to Fontina Grille. It’s one of the few places in King Farm worth going too. Nicks Chophouse is the other place I can think of that has table service in King Farm.