{"id":21694,"date":"2013-02-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-02-08T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/21694\/our-top-5-favorite-things-about-villagio"},"modified":"2013-02-08T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-02-08T00:00:00","slug":"our-top-5-favorite-things-about-villagio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/21694\/our-top-5-favorite-things-about-villagio\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Top 5 Favorite Things About Villagio"},"content":{"rendered":"If you&#8217;re craving some affordable Italian-style dishes, then look no further than Villagio. A quaint and cozy restaurant conveniently located in Kantari, Villagio offers the fine dining experience worthy of any date, elegant family outing, or classy rendezvous\u2014all without the hefty price tag.<br \/>  <br \/>  Now before we begin talking about the food, what makes Villagio truly worth your time is its breathtaking atmosphere. Light pine makes up the floors, walls, and bar, giving the restaurant and open and inviting aura from the get-go. The music is a culmination of the sweetest jazz tunes, and the people, a collection of well-dressed (think business casual) class. Even the seating boasts comfort\u2014including the bar\u2014as no place is too crowded or inconvenient. It&#8217;s like a glass-encased cozy wooden cabin with superb lighting and inexhaustible Italian food. <br \/>  <br \/>  Did I say food? <br \/>  <br \/>  Beirut.com was able to interview Villagio&#8217;s Head Chef, Tarek Hamadeh, who spoke of his extensive cooking experience\u2014 chronicling a 20 year career in the United States, all of which began in New Orleans. In fact, if you&#8217;re familiar with New Orleans style cooking, you might even be able to detect unique textures and flavors in Villagio&#8217;s otherwise orthodox dishes. The two disciples combine to create a heartily spiced meal, echoing the pallets of what seems to be a collection of countries\u2014albeit in a very satisfying way. &#8220;I love the Italian people,&#8221; explained Hamadeh, &#8220;Being Lebanese, we tend to pick food that is close to our own culture.&#8221; <br \/>  <br \/>  Indeed, Villagio&#8217;s cuisine is much like our own\u2014yet with notable differences, which I&#8217;ll leave you to figure out. Sahtein peeps\u2014err, I mean\u2014buon appetito!    <figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"250\" height=\"188\" data-id=\"453719\" src=\"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/21694-250x188.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-453719\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/21694-250x188.png 250w, https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/21694-600x450.png 600w, https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/21694-1024x768.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/21694-768x576.png 768w, https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/21694-1536x1152.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/21694.png 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/><\/figure><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"250\" height=\"188\" data-id=\"453721\" src=\"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/21694-1-250x188.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-453721\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/21694-1-250x188.png 250w, https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/21694-1-600x450.png 600w, https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/21694-1-1024x768.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/21694-1-768x576.png 768w, https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/21694-1-1536x1152.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/21694-1.png 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/><\/figure><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"250\" height=\"242\" data-id=\"453723\" src=\"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/21694-2-250x242.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-453723\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/21694-2-250x242.png 250w, https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/21694-2-600x580.png 600w, https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/21694-2-1024x991.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/21694-2-768x743.png 768w, https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/21694-2.png 1227w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/><\/figure><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"250\" height=\"153\" data-id=\"453725\" src=\"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/21694-3-250x153.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-453725\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/21694-3-250x153.png 250w, https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/21694-3.png 489w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/><\/figure><\/figure>    ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you&#8217;re craving some affordable Italian-style dishes, then look no further than Villagio.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":453727,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ai_generated_summary":"","_preview_accessed":0,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"media-embed-type":[209],"class_list":["post-21694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crave","media-embed-type-slideshow"],"authorship":[176],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.7 (Yoast SEO v27.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Our Top 5 Favorite Things About Villagio<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" 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