La Viola Ovest

Came here for a work dinner. The food was okay, nothing extraordinary I had the gnocchi it was normal to expectations. However, it was green so I assume it had plant based ingredients also the portion was huge, about 20 gnocchi very decent sized dumplings. Service was good and everyone is authentic in that they spoke Italian very well. The place could use a facelift. While it look nice, it was a little dated. Also the La viola bistro is across the street while the restaurant is on the other side, so it was super confusing. The bistro also has a larger sign so make sure to see which one you want.

We had a very strange experience at this restaurant. We were told the fish special was barramundi which is a delicious fish that we had tasted in the past. When the dish arrived it looked like skate wing which was not even on the menu! My husband questioned the waiter who insisted that it was barramundi. After my husband insisted that the question be asked of the chef, the waiter finally came back and admitted it was skate wing. He said skate wing was a special offered by another waiter. That did not even make sense. He did replace our skate wing with another fish but I would never trust this place. By the way the skate wing dish was horrible. Has anyone else had a similar experience with this restaurant?

Tonight we attempted to have dinner here and it was one of the worst meals I have had In Philadelphia. We were a party of six and when we arrived the hostess simply pointed her thumb to the back of the restaurant where our 4 other friends had been seated. The salad speciial was prosciutto wrapped around string beans with Gorgonzola cheese. Sounds good, taste was ok, but the prosciutto was gray. It was downhill from there. I ordered the fish of the day, cod, could not eat it. It had the texture of grits without any flavor. They took it back and I ordered the pasta special shell fish over pasta. They forgot to cook the pasta, it had no flavor and I picked at the seafood and left the pasta. It gets worse. As a party of 6 they added a gratuity, 20%, ok a little higher than the 18% that is the normal tip for larger parties, however, the 20% was applied to dinner and the tax total, OUTRAGEOUS. Three couples and each used a credit card to pay the bill; I was informed they could only accept 2 cards, with a little persuasion on my part they took all three. Never, ever have a meal at this place.

We’re a fan of this restaurant for a LOT of reasons. First and foremost — its a BYOB Italian restaurant that can accommodate a LARGE party and takes reservations (think like 20-​something people, no problem). Secondly, they are super considerate and don’t rush you out/​through a meal.
We came here on Saturday for (my) birthday get-​together and had about 10 people; we had 8:30 reservations and were seated with 10 mins of showing up.
*Points off, there were 2 other LARGE parties in the same room, (including a bachelorette party behind us) and it was WAY too crowded. We sat down and I was so disappointed that we were squeezed back there and it was soo loud, despite having made reservations over a month ago. Once we started drinking however, it didn’t seem that big of a deal…
We had about 10 bottles of wine (yes…) and still had many opened by the time plates were cleared. The servers gave us our bill and were very kind about us staying to finish our bottles. We definitely overstayed our welcome, however because I don’t think we left until around midnight, and were being ushered out by vacuums.
*Bonus points for serving the entire table at the same time; it’s so bothersome when 1 – 2 people have to wait more than 5 minutes for food, once everyone else started eating.
The food never disappoints. This is definitely not an artisan Italian restaurant, or handmade pasta type-​deal, but the have a decent selection of pastas/​fish/​veal/​chicken/​vegetarian dishes and they’re all good. I usually stick with pasta (how can I not?!) and am always satisfied. I’ve tasted the chicken and fish dishes, and have always been impressed!

Acceptable but certainly no gourmet
Quantity but no quality
Saumon dry and tastless
Pasta soggy

Came here Saturday night with a large group for one of my girlfriend’s birthdays.
The restaurant is in a great location right by Rittenhouse Square. It’s a cute place, white tablecloths and all that jazz. The selling point is the fact that it’s BYOB —- and BYOB we did…: Drank a casual 10 bottles of wine, classy.
The food is fantastic, everything came out hot and fresh — great portion sizes — super tasty. The salmon was cooked to near perfection.
My only complaint is that we made a reservation and the table they gave us was way too small for the group. Literally had to play Tetris just to sit down. The other groups also seemed to be jam packed right in next to us.
Bottom line? The food was fantastic and don’t forget your wine!

Great place to take a group without spending a lot of money. The food was surprisingly good– definitely no frills but great flavor and portion sizes. The servers and bussers run around like madmen and the noise level was quite high.

Oh La Viola, the quintessential BYOB of college students and medical students alike. I came with a group of 10, and with our reservation, we were able to be seated right away. With unlimited fresh warm bread to tide us over until our food came, the conversation and drinks flowed effortlessly. The food was decent; I split the gnocchi and lobster ravioli, both of which were reasonably portioned. For dessert, I got the cannoli cake, which is a MUST; highlight of the meal for sure. The service was fine, nothing to write home about, and my group was FINALLY able to determine that the staff is Russian!!! The mystery has finally been solved. Overall, great BYOB with decent food. Bring wine, lots of it, for a great time!

Average. Went last night with a party of 8. Sat downstairs. Very loud but I didn’t mind that. Food quality was average. Waiters messed up wife’s order twice. Charged $ 9 for side of pasta instead of mashed potatoes and vegetables. $ 9? Really?! Mashed potatoes that came with the dishes were barely visible.
Used to love it here. Seems like they’ve slipped. Nothing to write home about.

I went here the other night for a friend’s birthday and it was incredible! I got a salad as an appetizer, salmon for dinner, and a canoli cake for dessert. Everything was to die for! My friend ordered the spinach gnocchi and was in love with that as well.

I was torn about what score to give to La Viola Ovest. I had made a very large reservation (party of 18) during a busy weekend. I made the dinner reservation for 8:30, knowing that it would be rude to reserve a table for 18 during the dinner rush hour. When we arrived at the restaurant, there was a huge crowd of people waiting around, some with reservations and some without. I knew the weekend was going to be busy, but was still surprised to see such a large crowd waiting to be seated. I squeezed past the crowd and tried to check in for our reservation. Long story short, we were told that our table was being cleared and that we would be seated immediately for more than 20 minutes. Clearly, that was not the truth, and they were actually waiting for a table to free up. We continued to wait and check in, but were told the same thing each time. Finally, we thought we were being shown to our table, but instead, were told to wait again in a basement waiting area instead of the outside waiting area. We waited here for another 20 minutes, at least. By the time we were finally seated, it was close to 9:30. I was very very displeased with the service and the way they handled things. La Viola Ovest is not a new restaurant– they should have experience handling situations like this. When I make a reservation for 8:30, I expect to be seated within 10 minutes. Not within an hour.
The food was great. We ordered off the prix fixe menu. The portions were small, though. The main reason I decided on La Viola was because of the BYOB policy. After moving away from Philly, I really missed the BYOB sans corking fee that Philly is known for. La Viola would be a great place for a date. At the same time, if you have a large party, they have a whole basement dining area, which we shared with 2 other large parties.
Because the food didn’t blow my mind, I don’t think I’ll be returning because of the terrible way we were treated that night. I really hope La Viola gets it together and figures out a way to handle situations like this in the future.

Came here for a friends birthday and this place can definitely fit up to 50 – 60 people downstairs. I’ve been to this place a few times and first time reviewing it. It’s a nice place BYOB without a corking fee and it’s pretty inexpensive.
We recently came back from Italy and have been on a search to find meals close to what we ate on our trip. We ordrered:
— Zuppetta Di Cozze — mussels in white wine sauce. Flavor was good, but the sauce was a little watery.
— Mozzarella Al Basilico — fresh mozzarella — very good starter
— Risotto Al Gamberi — it was okay — wasn’t too special and slightly bland.
— Ravioli Alla Viola — good — cooked al dente and the vodka sauce was tasty
Overall, I wasn’t too impressed with the flavors, but good deal and great for large groups.

Decent BYOB without a corking fee.
The prices listed on Unilocal and on the restaurant’s website menu were not accurate. Everything is about $ 3 more expensive than listed, therefore a plate of pasta averages around $ 17 and the veal is about $ 21. Another unusual thing was that there was no music playing so it was a completely silent meal.
It was a decent italian meal but I would have priced it more within the $ 10-​$ 15 per entrée range.

La Viola is one of my favorite date-​night restaurants in Philly. It is a reasonably-​priced and delicious BYOB with options for everyone. They also have a wonderful Valentine’s Day price fixe menu, which is hard to find for a night where most restaurants jack up the prices. They have two locations right across the street from each other to accommodate how busy they get. I would highly recommend going here either on a date, with friends, or with family — it really is appropriate for any occasion!

I’ve been here before and always enjoyed my experience, but I went here with a bachelorette party this past weekend and was compelled to review. These people know how to handle groups! They informed me upon making the reservation that we would have two hours for dinner, since we were a larger group. They didn’t pressure us to leave earlier and let us sit and drink our wine for 30 minutes after we had finished our meal. The service was wonderful. We got our food fast and it was delish. They were also open to making changes to dishes and dealt with several dietary restrictions. Can’t wait to go back. :)

Great service but the pasta I had was honestly ok. It’s a large space though and BYOB is definitely a plus for big group gatherings.

This place sucked. Got the over cooked shrunken mussels, asked the water for the heartiest dish and he pointed out the seafood pasta which was nothing more jan two clams, two shrimp and 5 small ass over cooked mussels over some undercooked pasta watery sauced pasta.
On top of that there are a bunch of under aged rich spoiled brats drinking shots of fireball from a bottle due to their BYOB policy and lack of carding

I’ve only been here once, but I thought the food was solid, and the prices were for the most part decent, especially for appetizers. BYOB is nice as well (though that’s not uncommon in Philadelphia, unlike NYC).
In the middle of our meal, though, in the early evening on a Saturday with a half-​full restaurant, something strange occurred — a man walked in (presumably the owner or manager) and called all the wait staff over to him, and proceeded to berate them all in Russian for 10 minutes in front of the entire front room of the restaurant. They all stared at the ground or looked at the customers sheepishly as he yelled at them. People were waiting for food or to order, but no one wanted to say anything and interrupt him. He then went into the kitchen, and we could hear him yelling and throwing things. Truly bizarre behavior, and I felt bad for the staff.
It may have been a pep talk for the impending rush, because by the time we were leaving the place was 100% full, and there was a huge mass of people waiting in the entry… but if so, his motivational style was lacking. Like I said, the food is fine, but the crazy outburst really ruined the meal.

I can’t believe I’ve never wrote a review! I’ve been coming here for nearly ten years! It is always a solid meal. Always a winner! A great first date, friends in town, or you’ve exhausted almost all your go-​to restaurants that you take your out of town man to.
I’ve always been a fan of the fusili estiva with canelli and sausage. It is hearty yet light. The sauce is just perfect. My beau had the skate special which was divine. He had never had skate before and really enjoyed it. They filleted and fanned out the skate on a bed of sautéed cabbage/​raddichio and had two wood grilled shrimp on top. He doesn’t even like shrimp and he was raving about them. We also shared a fantastic caesar salad. It was perfectly dressed and perfectly on-​point.
Dominic is also such a charmer! Also it’s BYOB so that helps with the price!

I’m an even bigger fan of La Viola after dining there with 8 girlfriends for a birthday celebration on a Tuesday at 8pm. I had the Penne AL’ Oriolo, essentially penne alla vodka and it was fantastic. The sauce was creamy and flavorful and portion size was just right to fill me up without leftovers. Sometimes Italian places give you huge portions and lessen quality, that is not the case at La Viola. We all very much enjoyed our food and even though we were the last people in the restaurant at 10:15pm, we were not rushed at all. Great food, staff, and service!