Fresco the Italian Gourmet At Watergate

same old stromboli (yum!), same old interior (stark), same prices (yay!). so it stays at three stars in my book.

Walked in and was hit by the smell of institutional cleaner, that should of been the sign to run far.
Ordered a chicken parm sub which was simply put awful. The chicken was poorly breaded and poor chicken. I’m not even sure what they breaded it with. The sauce and cheese weren’t good either. I really struggled to finish it.
So let’s see:
*poor food
*high prices
*no décor
*smells.
Yea, I know I’ll never be back

The prices are ridiculously high for the food and the portions are too small. I wouldn’t say it’s bad but few people would wanna spend their money here while they can get a meal of the same level at a much cheaper price.

Pizza review: decent pie. Closer to cafeteria style than real thrown pie, but they are obviously using good fresh ingredients. Crust tastes fresh with a nice hint of olive oil, though they appear to have let it rise to long and get bready. Too much cheese, but tasty cheese at least. Nice sauce — concentrated enough to pack some flavor.
A bit pricy at $ 2.99 a slice, but with the cosmo crowd hanging out in the court of the Watergate, they’re smart to jack things up a bit. Good people watching. Nice to see a very diverse crowd, especially Mediterraneans, Kennedy Center types, not overwhelmed by bureaucrats.

The best thing here is the «Grand Slam», its pizza with crust on the top and bottom with cheese, pepperoni, sausage, and onions. They top it with marinara if you want (and you want). The other pizzas taste and look different, like the dough was frozen or machine-​made, but the Grand Slam is made completely different and always satisfies.

Fresco reminds me of junior high. Your main choice of what to eat is pizza, there is salad and a decent fruit bar, but everyone seems to order the pizza. The crowd is pretty diverse and also very segregated. The people who work in Watergate sit in one section, those who work for Watergate in another, the Saudis from the embassy are a pretty tight knit group and then there are the occasional 19-​year-​old GWU students trying to be ironic (I hope) by wearing Hannah Montana t-​shirts. Everyone is sitting in their sections and listening to the hits from the 80s. Just within today’s lunch I heard ‘Footloose” and «Conga» as well as «Locomotion» which I’m not sure should ever be played again…
Despite the flashback to my youth, this is a decent food place. I wouldn’t really recommend going out of your way to eat here, but if you are in the area it’s a good choice. Actually, it’s one of your only choices seeing as how little is going on around Watergate. It’s good if you have to go regularly because they try to mix up selection so it’s not the same thing every day. As a person who works nearby, that’s fantastic!

A halal pizza place!
The food here is probably three stars, but I’m giving it four because it’s a halal pizza place, which I’ve never encountered before or since. They serve no pork, so even the pepperoni is made of beef. The food quality is decent, but it’s a good enough lunch place, and the people working there are really nice. They have pizza, pasta, paninis, a salad bar, and other stuff along those lines.