Pienza Italian Market

photo credit: developerimplode.com

Pienza Italian Market at the Gaylord National Harbor Hotel offers an enormous smörgåsbord of food for their Sunday Brunch, and definitely not geared towards the casual, light fare eater.  I’ve been here on numerous occasions, and have richly enjoyed every visit.  The restaurant is a giant biosphere-like enclosed atrium of the hotel, with a riverside view that looks out towards Old Town Alexandria, and intermittent planes passing through the sky en route to land at Reagan National Airport.  One of the best parts of having brunch here for me is catching the after church Sunday crowd, because the entertainment alone is worth the admission of the buffet.  Giant, ridiculous hats that could pass for proper headwear at the Kentucky Derby, and dresses to match.

And boy do I love me some hats.

But enough about the plentiful entertainment, how about some photos of the buffet?

Several large bread baskets offer up almost every kind of baked good you could want, such as croissants, muffins, rolls, and pastries.  My favorite here?  Go for the chocolate chip pastry, which I always tend to eat half a dozen of.

There’s a cold bar, with fresh fruit, vegetable salads, seafood salads, cocktail scrimp, and smoked salmon, which I raided on my first foray…

A hot bar with fish, roasted chicken, lasagna, bacon, snausages, scrambled egg, and cheese tortellini…

…All part of a very nutritious and “this is gonna make me Fatty McFat Fat” meal.

There’s also another station serving up pizzas, freshly made-to-order omelets, and carved roast beef for you to stuff your gullet with…

Or you can have at the waffle station that comes armed with all fixin’s, like whipped butter, whipped cream, strawberry sauce, syrup, and the like.  Note that the bacon here is a little on the weak side, so be prepared to have an extra helping of snausages.

Just make sure you save some room for dessert.

Besides the various types of cakes (and sometimes éclairs, on a good day), they also have cherry cobbler, peach cobbler, and both chocolate and vanilla ice cream on hand.  Sprinkles? Check. Crushed Oreo cookies? Check. Insulin syringes?  Better bring some in your jacket.

I love the fact that all the plates are so vibrant and rich in color.  Each table has a cup filled with forks, knives, and spoons, which lends a casual and unique touch.  The service here is pretty good, with dirty plates being cleared every time I went to get another round of food.

At around $40 with tip, it’s hard to say whether this is the right place for the average buffet diner.  It’s definitely an experience, and the atmosphere here is top notch, but the cost is a detriment from making this as regular of an occurrence as I’d like it to be.  Parking in the adjacent garage can be validated by the hostess for up to 3 hours, which gives you enough time to walk around the surrounding National Harbor area to check out the various art shows and boats down at the dock.

See Pienza Italian Market on a map here.

Recommended For:

• Competitive Eater Training Sessions
• Brunch Buffet Buffs
• Sunday Celebrations
• Out of town family visits

Not Recommended For:

• Zone Dieters
• Paleo heads
• Nitpicky Noshers