Wine and Dine

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

518 West

This Italian Restaurant is probably my favorite place to eat in downtown Raleigh. I love the atmosphere and the cozy feeling it gives you as soon as you walk through the door.

The restaurant is located at 518 W. Jones St. - Raleigh, NC 27603. This place is great for any occasion. Whether it is for celebrations, lunch and dinner or maybe even a place for a little romance, 518 is the place to go!

I celebrated my 21st birthday here with great friends and family and when selecting my topic for my blog, 518 West was the only place on my mind for some fantastic Italian food. Their wine/beer list is very reasonable and comes with a variety of selections.

Just like my last two blogs, my mother has tagged along once again. Not that I can complain, because I get a free meal, great company and also great advice when choosing my meals.

We started off by sitting at the bar and having a nice soothing glass of wine called Reich Graf von Kesselstat - Josephhofer - Riesling Kabinett '10 Germany. For just two glasses of wine, it was a little less than 20 dollars, which I thought was not bad considering the bottle itself was $37.00.

Since I forgot to take pictures, compliments of their Facebook page, this is just a little glance of the bar.

While waiting for our table to get ready, I interviewed a lady who was sitting next to us at the bar and she said, "518 is amazing, period. Just amazing. There isn't too many places where you can find an Italian restaurant for cheap and with great service. I try and come here about once a week and the food and company never gets old" and she was absolutely correct!

  

After our glass of wine, we went upstairs and ate dinner looking over the lower level scenery. It was so peaceful and romantic because they had the lights dim that reflected on our table. I even wished my boyfriend was there with me, but mother will just have to do!

How amazing does that look? And it only gets better from here....

For my meal, I had The Crab which is red pepper papardelle pasta tossed with a dill cream sauce along with mixed of wild mushrooms, with scallions and bacon topped with fresh crab meat.

It was heaven to my mouth. The spices brought out the cream sauce and the bacon was crispy. As for the fresh crab meat, I could have just eaten it by itself and would have been perfectly okay.

Not only was this meal incredible, but also if you come during their lunchtime from 11:30 a.m. till 4:00 p.m. you will not walk away disappointed and the price for this delicious meal was only $10.95.

I am starting to enjoy these free, cheap meals once a week and everything going to my thins, but thankfully 518 West did not let me down like last weeks spot at Vic's did.

Read on as the journey continues....