Lindsay F.
Yelp
Darnit it, I Nonni! I wanted to so soo badly to like you! Walking in, the decor was adorable. Almost felt like I was leaving wintery Minnesota for an Osteria near a vineyard in Italy. The inside decor is just as lovely. High arched ceilings, warm off-white walls, and clean white linen table cloths. We were seated and attended to promptly by a very knowledgeable server. Took us a bit to get the wine ordered, because they are all Italian wines, and cannot simply order "a cabernet sauvignon!" The server brought out some tasters for my two companions and genuinely wanted to find something that each of us enjoyed.
Here the dinner begins to go downhill...
I came during Restaurant Week with two fellow foodies after perusing yelp and menus at participating Italian restaurants. The bread basket had warm, crusty baguette and cold butter (pet peeve: why serve butter not at room temperature with bread? They did this all of the time in NYC and it just made no sense to not serve butter in a spreadable form!). I ordered the radicchio with prosciutto and balsamic vinaigrette. Salad was WAY OVER DRESSED. Swimming in vinegar, and it was nothing to write home about, definitely a reduced balsamic vinaigrette that I could (and have) made at home. The prosciutto was placed as a big chunk on the plate. Good ingredients, miss on the execution. Furthermore, there was a slice of baguette underneath the salad- it was the color of black since it was just SOAKED in balsamic. And stale, so if the dish concept was for the salad to be eaten with the bread cut through, the bread was chewy and difficult to cut with fork. I would have had more greens and no bread and much less dressing.
Next came the entrees, and this was by far the most disgustingly negative portion of the meal for my two companions. They ordered the braised lamb with saffron risotto. The portion was just...pathetic. Itty bitty. Less than 1/2 cup of risotto, and the "braised lamb" was more like a few tiny, thin and shredded meat. It looked like a pile of risotto (overcooked and dried, my eating companions stated) with the left overs of the bottom of a crock pot of beef stew. The meat was chewy and saffron did not come through the dish. Both of my friends finished eating in less than 5 minutes and were still hungry.
My entree was a bit more filling, with about 4 pieces of already sliced flank steak. The steak was good quality, cooked rare as I had asked, but the broccolini was NOT broccolini. It was just broccoli. The crispy polenta cake tasted as if it came from a frozen state and was over-processed. Had a sort of...detergent flavor to it...
Dessert was just okay. I got the chocolate hazelnut tart and my companions the cheesecake. Tart had a chalky and crumbly texture, not at all the smooth and creamy custard like texture I was hoping to enjoy.
The only reason this is a 2 star review and not a 1 star is because the service was great. They were very knowledgeable and attentive.