Kids can get a personal pizza for $5 at Penelope’s.
ADVERTISEMENT
IF YOU GO
Where: First floor of The Pavilion, 403 Madison Ave. N., Bainbridge Island
When: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily
Cost: Single entrees range from $7 to $17, while “famiglia”-size pasta dishes that feed two or three people are priced in the mid-teens. Salads can also be had individually or family style and range from $5 to $10.
A Parent’s Review: Penelope’s on Bainbridge Island
By Dana Thompson
There’s a nice mix of rustic appeal and elegant ambience at Penelope’s, a new Italian restaurant on Bainbridge Island. With a basic yet varied menu, it has something for everybody, and portions and prices are reasonable.
For $5, kids can choose a pint-sized individual cheese or pepperoni pizza (my son’s choice), mac and smoky cheese, buttered noodles and cheese (my daughter’s favorite), or spaghetti and meatballs, while miniature raspberry or vanilla Italian sodas provide a little treat without the sugar overkill. My kids sucked down their sodas with great relish. My husband enjoyed the veal Marsala ($16). I had a spinach salad with salmon ($10).
It’s a family-friendly place, where crayons and a picture menu provide distraction for little fingers. Noise control is good, too. Private booths offer seclusion for an intimate meal, while the bare-bones ceiling, open kitchen and bustling wait staff provide a busy and comfortable dining backdrop, not to mention entertainment for little eyes.
The large Bellingham-built Woodstone pizza oven – the same type as those Wolfgang Puck and Mario Batali use for their pizza creations – sits at the center of the restaurant, adding to the cozy atmosphere.
“Having grown up in the restaurant business and worked at Wolfgang Puck’s ObaChine in Seattle, I’ve always loved the feel that an open kitchen brings to a restaurant,” says Will Lawrence-Grant, who owns and operates the restaurant with his mother, Marti, and his wife, Penelope (they opened it soon after he and “Penny” got married last year). “The activity in the kitchen is something you can share and show off to your customers instead of hiding it away in the back.” Lawrence-Grant’s family also has also owned and operated the restaurant That’s a Some Pizza on Bainbridge for more than 25 years.
Sitting near the kitchen is a good call. When my family dined there recently, we scored the unexpected gift of two mistake pizzas, in addition to our original orders. There’s also an open area in the back of the restaurant that can seat 20 to 30 people and can be reserved for birthday parties or end-of-the-season team parties.
Dana Thompson is a freelance writer and mother of two always-hungry children living on Bainbridge Island.
