East 12th Osteria

Very good food with a broad range of special menu items. Cute atmosphere with personable employees.
The service, however, was extraordinarily slow. For example, it took more than an hour for us to get our meals from the time we ordered.
Bread — very good!
Octopus — delicious and tender
Pasta with truffles — good but over priced
Overall, good but I would not come back or go out of my way to come here.

The food here has improved considerably. Our party of four wonderful and starters and entrees. My only complaint was the service which is slow. Staff chatted and were not attentive. Given the fact that there were only two tables with guests, was unacceptable.

Disclaimer: I’m Italian. I’m definitely biased about Italian food.
My Family ate here few times, we invited friends some time. We always had a great experience.
Tonight I decided to order a delivery, which is always tricky when you order fresh, high-​end food that is supposed to be eaten within seconds of being ready.
That said this delivery was the best food delivery our family had (wife is American) in my 12 years in America. The bread basket filled of 4 different rolls and bread sticks (still warm and fragrant. how did they do it??). The tonnarelli, fresh homemade noodles with the most tasty mussels I ever had in nyc and beautiful scampi, Octopus sweet and tender, Wild Branzino with the capital B with farro and vegetables julienne. Everything tasted fresh, vibrant, perfectly cooked and seasoned. This was perfection! My daughter (6) slurping the Maltagliati with bolognese while eyeing the best burrata I had in a long time, said: «Papa’ it feels we are in Italy». And with wet eyes I have to say that it really did. If food makes you happy come here and you will find happiness.

My BF and I went here on a Tuesday night for restaurant week, and we were both very impressed. I ordered off the restaurant week menu, while he ordered off the regular menu, and the nightly specials.
Food:
I started with Capessanta Scottata — Seared Sea Scallop, Potato Mille-​feuille, Black Norcia Truffles. This apparently is one of the chef’s signature dishes, and I can see why! The scallop was perfectly cooked, with a nice brown sear and amazing flavor. I love truffles, so if you don’t prefer them, this is not your dish as there was shaved black truffle generously scattered on the plate. My entrée was the Ravioli all’ Uovo di Quaglia e Petali di Tartufo — again another signature dish. Also delicious! Very creamy, buttery and truffly (is that a word?). In the center of the ravioli is a quail egg, and it was cooked in a way so that a little yolk ran on your plate when you cut into the pasta. It was heavenly. Finally for dessert I had the Gelati assortment — one scoop Pistachio and one Vanilla. Really well made, creamy and amazing flavor.
BF had the grilled octopus as an app. Again, perfectly grilled and had amazing flavor. For his main, he had the lobster risotto, which was a special. Also delicious, in a more hearty savory way.
Overall, we had nothing bad here! Nothing even just ok! Everything was spectacularly done, and presented in a beautiful appealing way. My mouth is watering just thinking about it…
Service:
Excellent service! The waiter was friendly but very professional. Food was delivered to our table in a very timely fashion, and the staff was always attentive to our needs. A+ on service
We had wine with our food, and the server was great with making suggestions that fit our meal.
Atmosphere: Modern, but intimate — great date spot or anniversary restaurant.
Overall– I can’t wait to go back!

Oh my god. Is this place for real? Not only did it take them 45 minutes just to give us our dinner menus (no apology), but the entire experience start to finish took more than 3 hours. For no reason. Food was cold and tasteless anyway. For the last hour we were the only guests left in the restaurant and the staff still made no effort to move our table along. After about 30 more minutes of waiting we had to ask for our dessert to go since we could not take it any more and it was now past 11pm. My party of 4 spent almost $ 300 and it was a complete was of time, money, and energy.

I am normally not one to write bad reviews because I understand that things don’t always go well. However, after waiting 45 minutes I was approached by a manager who clearly saw my frustration. I said, «can you check on our food it’s been 45 minutes for ravioli!» She responded by saying «no it hasn’t you ordered at 9:30» I showed her my watch showing the time of 10:11 to which she responded, «like I said it hasn’t been 45 minutes.» I have run sales departments for the past 10 years that generate hundreds of millions in revenue annually and wouldn’t expect my most incompetent sales rep to be so incapable of speaking to customers when our company is clearly not performing to standard. It is a shame because the food is quite good and reasonably priced. However, unless ownership recognizes the terrible incompetence of their manager they’re restaurant will continue to have multiple empty tables on a Friday night.

Since it was a cold windy night and I had had a king grueling day at work, I needed some Italian comfort food, so I went with a glass of valpolicella and the bolognese.
Absolutely perfect — good portion, and the meat is warmly spiced just enough, and the noodles are buttery and soft but tender to the tooth.
The chef even surprised me with a complimentary bowl of the best soup I’ve ever had. Velvety bean soup of some kind mixed with olive oil and pepper.
Nicest overall was the service. I tend to experience very rushed or rude or resentful waitstaff in the east village for some reason, but here I was greeted by very sincere and warm smiles.
There was a large noisy party ordering a very expensive amount of food, but they still paid a great deal of attention to me. The hostess even took my packages and jacket as I walked through the door! Server was knowledgable and friendly and made me feel totally comfortable though I was stressed and dining alone.
Great experience overall and I highly recommend.

Great choice for a date night!
My girlfriend and I came here for dinner one weekend night before grabbing some drinks in the East Village. We were able to make a 9:15 pm reservation via OpenTable at 7:30 pm, which worked out well since the restaurant was busy when we arrived.
The atmosphere was enjoyable. The restaurant was nicely decorated and conversations occurred at a quieter volume, which provided an intimate setting. Our servers were polite and attentive, and they demonstrated good knowledge of the wine and dinner menus.
The food was excellent. We started with the carpaccio (Carpaccio di Manzo) based off our server’s recommendation, and it was delicious! I ordered the pounded veal chop (Costolletta alla Milanese), while my girlfriend went with one of their seafood pasta specials for entrees. The veal chop was massive, but that did not stop me from finishing every tasteful bite. The pasta was also very good, though I cannot remember its exact name.
I recommend coming here if you find yourself in the area. We will be back for another dinner, but we are also interested in trying their brunch one day!

I always come to Osteria for dinner and love/​highly recommend the vitello tonnato, the tagliolini and the duck. I don’t get tired of having the same over and over again. The semifreddo is absolutely amazing and the tiramisu is a must have. They always start with an excellent seasonal soup and a variety of warm bread with olive oil and balsamic! :)
I have been there for brunch twice and I’ve also had a great experience. The cestino di pane dolce, the French toast and the pancakes are delicious (I liked the pancake better than the French toast, but my husband thought the French toast was better) you don’t go wrong either way. The second time we had the duck meatballs –those were good-​, and then we had the spinach salad and the risotto (super delicious!!!).
The service is awesome, they all are really nice and during winter time the atmosphere is very homey.

This is our favorite neighborhood gem. It’s warm and cozy and literally just across the street. Chef Roberto take great care with the ingredients. Everything is made fresh.
We regularly go for dinner and often go with our favorite dishes such as the «Tagliolini ai Finferli» (Egg Tagliolini with Chanterelles, Crispy Speck, over Parsley Root Purée), the Duck two ways and the Vitello Tonnato.
We just started going for brunch yesterday and it was delightful. Freshly baked bread basket and a ‘pumpkin capuchino’ aperitief. Loved the Brioche French Toast and saffron risotto with Veal Cheek in a deep savory vegetable reduction.
The staff is always courteous and kind and Giselle Deiaco is warm and welcoming.
Almost forgot the deserts rock too! The Tiramisu and Semifreddo are heavenly.

Meeting up friends and colleagues and wanted to try a new place. East 12 Osteria popped up, and read something about one of the top 5 Italian restaurants in the city. So thought we would give it a go.
And it was amazing. Maître d’ with a big smile as we walked in. Friendly staffs explaining everything with details.
The food was great. We were full from the shared antipasti and main courses but still insisted on desserts.
Am so glad I wanted to try a new place and found this one. Definitely be going back.

Everything was phenomenal, including the service. The place itself is lovely, and it was pleasantly not crowded at primetime for dinner on Friday. The level of detail they put into everything makes this one of my favorite new places!
Our server helped us avoid over ordering, as everything on the menu looked good. We got the octopus, the crudo and the prosciutto as appetizers — all incredible. Next we had the spinach salad with pear, pistachio, ricotta salata, which was painstakingly assembled layer by layer… For the entrée we each had the squid ink fettuccini with langoustine, uni, and squid… YUM!!!
Somehow I managed to avoid overdoing it with the bread basket, but that is one serious assortment — including these super thin rosemary cracker things. We washed all of that down with some great white wine, and capped it off with the tiramisu. Even after all of that food, I felt light and amazing afterward.

Bummed
Booked for our anniversary. Mentioned it on open table. Mentioned it during the confirmation phone call. They said «oh yes, I see on open table. 2 years wedding anniversary and window table. I will take care of you.»
Cut to our arrival. No window table no acknowledgement. Places our orders and then we were ignored rest of evening.
Our wine glasses are left empty for the ½ hour between our appetizers and our main courses. Servers busy hanging out at the 6 and 8 tops. Food was good but we felt neglected and very UN-​SPECIAL on our special night. Kinda ruined our evening.
Just disappointed. It’s just wrong. Shame we spent 250 on being treated like crap. Will go to Hearth across the street in the future.

I would give the food 4 stars. Most of the dishes we tried were excellent. Highlights: Fritto di Mare, Risotto dell’Orto and Carciofini salad. Our only complaint, in regards to the food specifically, was the tuna tartar «special,» which was extremely salty and basically inedible. My Branzino was overly salted as well, but still pretty tasty. After reading the reviews, it seems like there «specials» go unchanged, which is kind of strange. Why call them a special if you offer them daily?
My biggest complaint and reason for this low-​star review was the time it took for us to get our entrees. A party of 6 of us came in on a Tuesday night and all in all the experience took almost 3 hours. This doesn’t sound like that big of a deal, but when the restaurant is basically empty and you have people seated AFTER you eating before you, it makes you second guess what’s going on in the kitchen.
The restaurant is small and we were all pretty impatient for our meals. Seeing people be served, who came in an hour after you, just makes you feel slighted.
No apologies were said. Nothing comped. The wife of the chef, who is the proprietor, did not pay attention to our table at all, she was focused on a lone diner, perhaps a critic or friend?
I won’t come back because of the service.

Delicious Northern Italian fare that is the right combination of casual and culinary. This is a small East Village gem with cute décor (antique mirrors, nice airy big windows!) and warm service. One of the best things about sitting on the floor is that you get to watch the chefs work in the corner kitchen, which is always fun. The restaurant is on the smaller side so I’d recommend making a reservation, and I would say it’s a great fit for couples and groups both. You can also sit and dine at the bar. Came here with one other:
Onto the food:
— East 12^th is known for an artisanal and delicious warm bread basket, which such a rarity these days. The basket comes with panninetti, breadsticks, and rosemary bread crisps. Dip it up with balsamic and EVOO as traditional goes– Major yum.
–We had the signature scallop appetizer with seasonal truffles, crispy potato medallion — a signature not to be missed. It was really, really flavorful (thanks to the truffles!) and seared perfectly.
— For pasta (arguably the BEST dishes of the restaurant and they are all house made), we had the Egg Ravioli which was filling and wonderfully oozy with quail egg and again truffles (!), and ricotta. Very rich and decadent. We also sampled the tagliolini which had super flavorful ingredients– crispy speck, chanterelle mushrooms in a parsley root purée. Filling and fun to eat
–For secondis, we had the maiolino special roast pork which came with on-​point broccoli rabe, and, the seafood guazzetto which was light and hearty at the same time. It came with mussels, clams, langostine (the best!), in a saffron seafood jus and REALLY flavorful vegetables (julienned carrots and greens).
–For dessert, we shared an interesting green apple semi freddo which was tart and light– just the way I enjoy dessert.
I also think they serve non run of the mill Italian wines here, so that’s a plus
I would recommend and will be back to try the brunch menu.

Came here for brunch one sunday early afternoon with a friens. He said it was pretty good so we said why not. Upon entering it wasnt that packed at all. There were only 2 tables being occupied and soon enough we were the only ones there.
I ordered the burger cooked medium and my friend ordered the poached eggs with speck. While waiting for our food we were given different assortments of italian bread served with olive oil and a very thick balsamic vinegar. Very good. Thier orange juice is freshes squeezed and very good. Then our meals came. I had to send my burger back immediately. I ordered medium and came out rare, gross. By ths time mine came back out my friend was pretty much finished so ruined the fun. The chips served with itt are amazing though. My friend loved his meal by the way. Dont know if I would come back for brunch.

Came here for Brunch last Sunday. We were the first table in at 11am. The restaurant is absolutely beautiful and serene. The sun was shining in through their pretty windows. It was lovely.
Service — 3 stars. Could have been faster or the waiter could have at least communicated with us that some things would take time.
Food — We ordered the sharing plate of croissants and the duck meatballs to start. The balls were salty. My friends got the Eggs Norwegian and I got the Pesce Di Mare. The eggs looked phenomenal. My friends loved it. My seafood plate was nice but sort of bland.
I am not sure if I would come back again. It is one of those places that you would give a 2^nd chance though.

Actually came here for Thanksgiving with a group as I was stuck in the city due to work.
The surrounding area was pretty dead (as expected), but when we entered we were greeted with a bustling room filled to the brim with diners. Although we had a reservation, we were unfortunately seated right next to the door which was constantly opening and closing, allowing the somewhat brisk weather to hit us every few minutes. Luckily, the room was pretty warm so we didn’t care much.
As for the food, there was a pre fixe Thanksgiving menu with a bunch of choices available. I had a black truffle risotto, the turkey with stuffing, and pumpkin pie for dessert. Everything was good. Not great, but good. Beer is expensive, but quality. I think the cheapest beer they has was $ 10 – 11. A bit much for me as I do not typically have a discerning palate as far as my alcohol is concerned.
Maybe it was this particular night, but service was very slow and inefficient. Two diners at our table ordered steak for their main course and both diners stated the meat was not cooked to their liking despite ordering two different temperatures. I got a different dessert than I ordered. It took our check more then twenty minutes to get back to us.
I don’t want to completely write this place off as it was on Thanksgiving and I would guess things could get hectic on such a busy night, but I can only judge from my experience. Would I go again? Sure. I still think the menu has some nice options and the décor is certainly a draw. I’ll be sure to update this review if I end up going a 2^nd time.

I stumbled upon Osteria after shopping one day. I lived right across the street at the time and quickly fell in love. On my first visit, the manager or owner or whomever she is walked around flaunting a black truffle. I LOVE truffle, nice to see it in the flesh. Even then, I thought she seemed annoying — pretentious, perhaps.
Fast forward a few months, my boyfriend and I go a few times and when my family flies in from the West Coast, I am dying to take them here.
I want to mention that I have never seen more than one person on the floor at a time. We have had the same server every time we have gone, and as mentioned below, by the time he gets around to reciting the specials (all the same each time I’ve been, by the way), it is so memorized that you can’t ask questions throughout or he gets thrown off and has to remember where he left off.
The worst part of this experience, however, was the lackluster service. It took over an hour for our food to arrive. We had to request a bread basket. We were never refilled on water or asked if we wanted anything else to drink once our glasses were empty. My favorite dish was the Ravioli and after I told my sister how much I loved it, she ordered it for herself, as well.
Once our entrees came — over 90 minutes later (yes I’m serious) — everything is luke warm at best. My sister tried her dish and didn’t like it. Fine, it happens, I’m a server in a super busy, super high quality restaurant. You can have the best ingredients from anywhere, sometimes things just don’t sit right on the palette. However, we were not checked on ONCE. Nobody came over at any point ever. After the rest of us finished our dishes, we were being cleared and my sister asked the bus boy for our server. She told him she wasn’t into the dish and he basically told her unless there was something WRONG with it, tough shit. She asked to speak to the manager. She had just walked someone out, cheery as can be, and what happened next is NOT a dramatization.
She waltzed to our table, told my sister that they cook a PARTICULAR kind of food and if she doesn’t like it, don’t come back. DON’T COME BACK??? I didn’t realize that was how restaurants worked these days. By the way, this is verbatim, you can’t make this shit up. Sister told her she would have gladly liked to try something else on the menu but we were never checked on. Bitch assures us we were checked on. I called her out for being the opposite of pleasant and hospitable, politely told her how the service industry works, and assured her that despite being REGULARS to this point, I most definitely wouldn’t be back per her request and disgusting attitude.
She felt really guilty, sent us a dessert which we refused to eat, didn’t take anything off the check — including the uneaten meal because there was nothing WRONG with it. We got the fuck out of there and went to the Gemma for some dessert and drinks. Much better decision.
This woman is a disgrace to the service industry and she needs a serious reality check. I would avoid this places at all costs, for the price you’re paying the service is not up to par and New York has so many better options. Get it together, not even a whole truffle can save face at this point.

Just had a fabulous dinner at this sexy little restaurant with its Northern Italian flair. By far best meal we’ve had while in NYC. You won’t be disappointed!
We started with one of our favorites, which is often hard to find at an Italian restaurant, Vitello Tonnato. Unique presentation (see photo) and absolutely delectable! I had one of the specials as an entrée, Dover Sole layered between thin apple slices with a delicious curry sauce. We topped off this enjoyable experience with a decadent La Millefoglie Vaniglia dessert. Service was great and ambiance is quite special with its corner location. A+++