Bici Trattoria - downtown St Petersburg, FL

I was very excited to see the menu for the new restaurant in St Pete, the Bici Trattoria.  The menu had a number of choices, but my eyes were drawn to the ravioli section, which is one of my favorites in any form.  But as always, before trying any new restaurant, the question in the back of my head is will it taste as good as it all sounds?  With that in mind, the family and I went to check it out.

The restaurant is located in downtown St Pete on Central Avenue between 4th and 5th Streets. When you first walk in the door, you can't miss the bikes hanging from the ceiling, which we all thought was pretty cool.  The front of the restaurant is narrow with one side occupying a very long bar, behind which you can watch your food being cooked, and the other side has tables for two.  As you get towards the back of the restaurant, it opens up, and there are tables for larger parties.  We always love to sit at the bar, so that is what we did on that particular day.  Also cool, we loved the mason jar lighting overhead and the lights at the bar that looked like they were made out of pipes.

The next order of business was to order drinks.  I was only expecting a choice of wine or beer, but they do have a full bar.  I ordered  a house Pinot Grigio, which was okay, pretty much the standard stuff that you find in any restaurant house wine.  I knew even before I got there what I was going to be ordering, which was the porcini and white truffle ravioli served with olive oil, garlic, spinach, and pine nuts.  My husband ordered the pizza margherita and my son the spaghetti pomodoro.  We could see the cooking going on out of the corner of our eyes as we were seated at the bar and it was all done in quick order.  Oh...my....gosh, the ravioli was so good.  The pine nuts were toasted to perfection, the garlic hit just the right balance, the spinach was bright green, and the ravioli... perfect!  The pizza was very good, with a delicately crispy crust.  My son's spaghetti pomodoro was excellent.  We learned from owner Allen Galleano that all of their pasta is made fresh, in-house.  He is very passionate about his restaurant and that is reflected in the food we ate there.  I had wanted to check out the dessert, but we were all stuffed after that.  I guess we will just have to make it back to work our way through the menu.  This is a definite must try when visiting downtown St Pete.

Bici Trattoria
437 Central Avenue
St Petersburg, FL  33701
727-828-9900