Facci

A few weekends ago, in between two weeks of work in DC, I spent the weekend at my parents’ house in Maryland and spent Saturday night out with my girlfriends and my best friend’s husband.  My best friend Alison is a hair stylist and had recently received a recommendation for a relatively new restaurant in Laurel, Maryland called Facci.  She knew that it had pizza and wine so we knew it would be a good choice!

When I arrived around 6:30, the rest of the group was running late.  It was okay, however, as there was about a half hour wait.  It’s important to note that Facci does not take reservations since they have so many walk ins.  The wait wasn’t bad and if my friends had been there, we may have hung out in the bar area and started on some wine.

I enjoyed the view, though, of the restaurant from the small waiting area.

My friend Carolyn was the first to arrive, moments after I was seated, so we decided to get drinks while we waited for Alison and her husband Chris.  I ordered a glass of Chardonnay and she had a Birra Morette (an Italian beer).

Our waitress, Rose, let us know that they had happy hour specials until 7pm and if we ordered before then, appetizers were half off!  First, we were way impressed that there were happy hour specials even on the weekend (they have them 7 days a week)! Second, we really appreciated the notice, with only 10 minutes till 7pm.  We quickly perused the menu and found two items we thought we would like.

Shortly after we ordered the apps, Alison and Chris arrived 🙂 Alison ordered a Margarita on the rocks and Chris ordered a Sam Adams.

While we waited for the appetizers, a basket of warm crusty bread and a plate of olive oil was brought out.  Yum!

Then came the appetizers 🙂  First out was the Stuffed Eggplant.  It was stuffed with spinach, topped with marinara sauce, and a blend of three cheeses.  I can never remember if I like eggplant and I was pleased to find that I do.  This was flavorful.

Our second appetizer was the Panzarotti. It was potato croquettes stuffed with salamino, parmigiano, and fontina cheese. So yum!

You can find the menu online so I didn’t include it here.  However, I liked that they noted what body type of wines would go well with the different dishes.  These little glass symbols were found next to the the menu items and then the wines were divided accordingly on their menu.

On to the entrees!  I originally planned on pizza (it was to be a pizza and wine night!) but debated having pasta as I love italian food! However, once I really looked at the options, the pizzas looked amazing.  I went with the Bianca Neve.  It was a white pizza with ricotta, fresh mozzarella, fresh tomatoes, arugula, prosciutto, and shaved Parmigiano.  So good!  The pizza was a good size for sharing so since the Husband wasn’t with me, I had leftovers to take home 🙂

Alison ordered the Rizzo Flatbread. It included a lombardo marsala wine sauce, fresh mozarella, carmelized onions, mignon tips, and gorgonzola cheese.  She really enjoyed this dish.

Carolyn ordered the Salsiccia e Rapini.  It was a white pizza with fresh mozarella, parmigiano, italian sausage, broccoli rabe, and smoked mozarella. And then Chris decided to be different than us girls and went with pasta.  He ordered the lasagna.

Overall, we were impressed and glad Alison had received the recommendation to check out Facci.  The food was good, the prices were reasonable, and the service was friendly, personable, and timely.  Although I won’t be around to check out this restaurant again any time soon, I imagine my friends will!

Facci

7530 Montpelier Road (near Rt 29 and Johns Hopkins Rd)

Laurel, MD 20723

301.604.5555