Mothers and Sons Trattoria

I have been back twice this summer and both times have been fabulous. Had the same waiter both times and he is excellent on recommendations. First time, had the roasted beet salad, bucatini, and lasagna. Would eat the salad everyday. Second time, had two bruschettas: the tomato conserva and the seafood one. Love the spice in the conserva. Decided to split the chicken, bucatini, the special ravioli, and seafood pasta ( recommended by our waiter). Everything was delicious, would eat the ravioli and seafood pasta again.

Mothers & Sons Trattoria is an OK Italian restaurant in downtown Durham.If you want great Italian in the Chapel Hill-Durham area, I suggest Tesoro in Carrboro (our favorite) followed by Osteria Georgi and 411 West Italian Cafe in Chapel Hill. In Durham, I think Cucciolo Osteria is better. Where Mothers and Sons has Tesoro beat is in space and ambiance -- it's bigger and more comfortable, and it's easier to get a reservation. I don't mean to put Mothers & Sons down. This is a neat spot and service is great too. It's just the food could be better.Mothers & Sons opened in June 2016 and is from the same folks behind Mateo Bar de Tapas next door (opened August 2012). As I wrote in my review for Mateo, both restaurants provide a fun, "elevated casual" night out. If I had to pick between the two, I'd go with Mateo. The food there is better.Mothers & Sons doesn't have dedicated parking. For this visit, we parked behind the restaurant in one of our go-to lots: 111 W Chapel Hill St. At the time, parking in this lot cost $2.25 per hour, Monday-Friday, 8am-7pm. We visited Mothers & Sons after 7, so our parking was free.This restaurant is popular. Book reservations in advance using OpenTable. Mothers & Sons awards dining points, which is a plus since not all OpenTable restaurants do.We had an 8:00pm reservation for three on a Thursday. When we showed up, the place was very busy. Almost every table was taken. Floor to ceiling, the restaurant has a simple, yet beautiful, design. This is a modern Italian restaurant with a rustic elegance to it. You can have a romantic candlelight dinner here.During our visit, the food menu was fairly streamlined - with various pastas and Italian entrees (secondi) - and the wine list was long. The drink menu had creative cocktails and several different types of vermouth and other aperitifs.Here's what we ordered:Vermut and Cocktails* Naturale Orange ($10) - rosato/arancia vermut; Ragusa, Sicilia, IT* Gold Sounds ($15) - turmeric-infused Lunazul tequila, Luxardo Bitter Bianco, ginger, lemon, black lava salt* Rabbit Heart ($14) - 1000 Piers Gin, Carpano Antica vermouth, Carpano Dry vermouth, housemade beet shrub, Scarborough bittersSpecials* Artichoke Salad ($16)* Burrata ($18)* Squash ($15)Antipasti* Fritto Misto ($17) - surf clams, squid, smelts, shrimp, lemon, zucchiniPrimi* Linguini alla Puttanesca x2 ($17 each)* Cavatelli Pugliesi ($15) - fennel sausage, rapini, chiles, PecorinoDessert* Gianduja Budino ($11) - hazelnut butter, dark chocolate, vanilla creme anglaise, hazelnut crumble* Tiramisu x2 ($13 each) - ladyfingers, espresso, mascarpone, cocoaThe Naturale Orange vermouth was excellent. It was more sweet than bitter with a strong and pleasant hint of orange. Mothers & Sons serves their vermouths with club soda and citrus. The Gold Sounds - their take on a margarita - was also excellent. It was tasty and tangy. The black lava salt on the rim and side of the glass was a unique touch.Food-wise, we ended up going with three of the specials. The Artichoke Salad was our least favorite dish. It was too vinegary and needed more salt. The three of us arrived hungry and "struggled" to finish this one (extra odd because my wife and I love salads and vegetables). The Burrata was fine. We order burrata often when we go to Italian restaurants. This burrata was nothing special, but not bad either. The Squash was also just OK. It was baked and served in an iron skillet with a tomato sauce (like a marinara sauce) with cheese. It was kind of like baked meatballs or baked spaghetti. Again, not bad, but not memorable.The Fritto Misto was good and I recommend it. I knew I had to order it after seeing pictures of it on Yelp. Hard to go wrong with fried seafood. This seafood was lightly battered and fried in olive oil. For a plate of fried food, it wasn't heavy at all, which I liked. My only gripe is I think the portion size could have been bigger (and I don't complain about portion sizes that much).In general, the pastas were too salty. The Linguini alla Puttanesca was the most flavorful dish that we had, but the noodle-to-sauce ratio was off. Too much sauce, not enough noodles. The Cavatelli Pugliesi was yummy, but watery. The Gianduja Budino (chocolate budino) was terrific. It was delicious. Very rich and smooth. Also, you have to try the Tiramisu here.Sylvan was our server and she was wonderful.

The food was unique and delicious, though I was not as impressed with the seating/ambiance and service. The seating is mostly an open room jammed with lots of tables close to one another. I will say, the food was excellent and the tiramisu was the best I have ever had.

Been wanting to try Mothers and Sons for a while but was ultimately a bit disappointed. First, I want to call out my waitress, Sarah G. I told her I was on a bit of a time crunch and she was very quick taking my order and bringing me the check. Things that could have been better:It was just me dining and the host was a bit awkward. I could see many open two top tables and he kept looking around the restaurant trying to figure out where to seat me. Maybe the tables were reserved, not sure. He then asked "You want a table, right?". I said I could eat at the bar if necessary, but it was full of people already and the host said he didn't know when those people would go sit at their table. Eventually, I was seated at one of the open two top tables.I ordered the cacio e pepe entree and it was sooooo salty. The pasta was also a bit undercooked. There was lots of cheese on the meal which likely contributed to the saltiness, but to me it tasted like there was too much added salt to the dish.I got the tiramisu for dessert and the cocoa layer on top was too thick. It kind of coated the roof of my mouth with each bite. The wine by the glass options are pretty pricy, with the lowest being $14. I ordered the sangiovese, and it was more than both the cacio e pepe and tiramisu. Nice ambiance for the restaurant, but I can't say I will rush to return.

We've eaten here twice in the past week. We enjoyed both meals. I definitely recommend making a reservation. The service was prompt and good. The restaurant has a great ambiance. Food was excellent. We tried the arancini, the beet salad, and the bruschetta for apps. All were excellent. The eggplant parm is quite a large dish, so an excellent choice if you're hungry. Tuna was excellent as well.

I had a nice time but I think it could be even better! I really loved the food. There was so much flavor. I even loved the free bread they serve (and that's rare). It was warm and dense and crumby, which I love. I'd buy that bread. I also loved the frito misto. So flavorful and so fresh.However, I thought the food portions could be bigger. Even the pasta dishes were not that big. I love big portions! And I didn't find them here.The ambiance is fine, but I think it would be a little better. I was a little confused about the design of the entrance (why is there a fake balcony thing that no one is using?). But I love the hard wood floors.I thought they had really good (and fast!) service, but it wasn't super memorable for me.

Atmosphere: Mothers and Sons has a dark, romantic interior. We'd encourage making a reservation for dinner, as the space can fill up quickly. Service: Our server was friendly and happy to provide us with menu recommendations. Our food also came out quickly. Food: We started off our meal with the Arancini, which had a nice crisp on the outside. For our main dish, we ordered the Cavatelli Pugliesi, made with fennel sausage, rapini, chiles, and pecorino. The texture of the pasta was great, but it was difficult to appreciate the flavors of the dish because it was so overpowered by saltiness. Overall: Mothers and Sons is a Durham favorite, but we unfortunately were not impressed with our meal there. Though seemingly a great spot for a nice date, given the price and quality of our meal, we would likely head elsewhere for an Italian meal.

The food was great! Really enjoyed meeting in a group setting. The service was great.

Amazing service!! Had a large group and they bent over backwards to seat us all! Food was great as always

Food AND service were amazing! The house made pasta is always a fav. One of my favorite restaurants in Durham!