#2377 #S1200 - La Romanza, Seattle - 12/22/2013

La Romanza, West Seattle

Update: La Romanza closed in August 2014 and was eventually replaced by Mark Fuller's Supreme.

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West Seattle's California Avenue is happy jumble of styles and eras. It's ability to preserve old mom and pop places and easy mix of downscale with upscale makes me think of the stretch as Seattle's bit of Portland. So it seemed perfectly sensible to me that here, a block from the divey Poggie Tavern and Corner Pocket, across the street from a junky "antique" store, near the casual hipster West 5, a yoga studio, and a cupcake store, someone would create a delicate "Tuscan Tea Room" that looked like a break room in the Palace of Versaille.

La Romanza, West Seattle

Aimee Pellegrini, whose parents run the Italian Bistro "La Rustica," started a flower shop here catering to weddings. This she gradually expanded to an ornate, white clothed tea room and bistro on certain evenings of the week, adding a cocktail bar in April 2012 and eventually growing into a full-time Italian restaurant with live acoustic music. It closed in August 2014, and with it we lost a bit of the variety of this avenue, still one of the better bar walks in the city.

La Romanza web site 2014 (Wayback Machine)

4521 California Ave SW, Seattle, WA 98116 - (206) 906-9914
Est. April 26, 2012 (Nov 9, 2010 as Tuscan Tea Room) - Closed Aug 2014 - Building constructed: 1946
Previous bars in this location: None known
Web site: laromanza.com (wayback machine)
Reviews: seattletimes - westseattleblog - thestranger - yelp