There is a particular kind of dinner that stays with you — not because it was the most elaborate meal you have ever eaten, but because everything about it felt exactly right. The lighting was warm, the pasta was perfectly salted, and the person across the table from you looked genuinely happy. That is the kind of dinner I had at Principe di Piemonte, a quietly excellent Italian restaurant tucked into the residential heart of Del Ray, one of Alexandria’s most beloved and underrated neighborhoods.
Del Ray has always charmed visitors who stumble past Old Town’s more obvious tourist trail. Mount Vernon Avenue is its main artery — a walkable, tree-lined stretch of indie bookshops, coffee spots, and mom-and-pop restaurants that feels nothing like a curated tourist district, because it isn’t one. It is a real neighborhood where real people live and eat. Principe di Piemonte fits that ethos perfectly. There is no velvet rope, no clipboard at the door. Just a warm room, great smells drifting from the kitchen, and staff who treat you like a regular even on your first visit.
The menu draws from the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy — a part of the country that doesn’t always get its due in American Italian dining, which tends to favor the bold tomato-forward flavors of the south. Piedmontese cooking is quieter and richer: butter where you might expect olive oil, braised meats that take the better part of a day to prepare, handmade pastas built for autumn and winter. The tajarin — a thin egg-yolk pasta traditional to the region — arrives in a brown butter and sage sauce that is so simple it borders on audacious. It is exceptional.
The wine list leans predictably and correctly toward Piedmont: Barolo, Barbaresco, Barbera d’Asti. The staff know these bottles well and will not steer you wrong if you ask for a recommendation. On the evening I visited, the sommelier suggested a mid-priced Barbera that paired beautifully with a braised short rib that had clearly spent many hours becoming what it was: tender, deeply flavored, and finished with a reduction that tasted like the best parts of a very good red wine.
Dessert is worth saving room for. The panna cotta is set just barely — it trembles when the plate arrives — and the seasonal fruit compote on top manages to feel both simple and considered. It is the kind of dessert that makes you realize how rarely dessert is done this well.
What strikes me most about Principe di Piemonte is the lack of pretension. This is a serious restaurant — the technique is real, the sourcing is thoughtful — but it wears all of that lightly. You never feel like you are being lectured about your food. You just feel taken care of.
Del Ray is about a ten-minute drive from Old Town, or an easy ride-share from the King Street Metro. If you are planning a trip to Alexandria and building your itinerary around waterfront views and Colonial history, I completely understand. But save one evening for the neighborhood that the locals actually love. Find a table at Principe di Piemonte. Order the pasta. Let the Barbera breathe. You will not be thinking about your sightseeing itinerary for the rest of the night, and that is entirely the point.
