A. Litteri

A. Litteri has been serving Washington D.C. and area since 1926. Walk through the doors and enter into a small piece of Italy right here in Washington, D.C. Purveyors of fine Italian products for over 75 years in a friendly, neighborhood atmosphere, Litteri's shop features Italian pasta, olive oil, canned tomatoes, imported cheeses, meats, wines, and more.  Italian subs and party platters are also available, hidden in the back of the shop.  Closest Metro is NoMA-Gallaudet University.

Located next to various ethnic store suppliers and warehouses, A Litteri's is a hidden gem of imported Italian delicacies.  Look for the red, green, and white painted door.  As soon as you step inside, feel claustrophobic with high shelves packed with goods.

Our main mission was to find the deli counter and order Italian subs to go.  Keith waited in line and placed his order, while I perused the aisles for other treats to pick up.  One can easily get lost in the maze of wines, olive oils, and Italian cookies.  But not for long, as you are bound to run into someone in the tiny pathways.  For being located in a discreet location, the shop was packed with patrons - all stocking up on goodies for the holidays, I presume. 

Back to the deli - it seems they offer a few hot sandwiches too like meatball and eggplant parm as well as hot lasagna to go. For our first try, we stuck to the Classic Italian Sub (minus Mortadella, onions, peppers for me) - it came with capicola, Genoa salami, prosciuttini, provolone, lettuce, tomato, Italian dressing on your choice of a 6" or 12" soft roll or a 9" hard roll.  For $4.95, this sandwich was a steal!  We ate it later on for dinner, and the bread held up extremely well - no sogginess at all!  The meats were accented by the Italian seasoning and overall making a mighty tasty sandwich.  It was just shy of receiving the highest score, as we wanted to try the hot sandwich options as well and I felt the meat/filling to bread ratio was a tad sparse.  We'll see if I amend the score after our next visit, but for now A. Literri's is on par with the Italian Store, in terms of sandwiches but may not surpass due to a lack of good pizza.

Total Rating: 4.23
Food: 4.5, Price: 5, Service: 3, Ambience: 3, Accessibility: 3

What I ate:

Classic Italian Sub (minus Mortadella, onions, peppers)

capicola, Genoa salami, prosciuttini, provolone, 

lettuce, tomato, Italian dressing on a 9" hard roll

Plus Keith ate:

Classic Italian Sub (minus onions)

capicola, Genoa salami, Mortadella, prosciuttini, provolone, 

lettuce, tomato, hot peppers, Italian dressing on a 9" hard roll