L'osteria

Doesn't Recommend

CJFritz12

Joined 2 years ago

Not Impressed. Went with my wife for our anniversary. Do yourselves a favor and try another restaurant. Ordered the Chicken Parm. Sauce was runny and watery, chicken was overcooked. Our waitress was quite rude. Never cracked a smile the entire time, the few times she checked on us. Only positive was a good bottle of wine and there was no wait for a table...now I know why.

Doesn't Recommend

esser

Joined 7 years ago

don't bother. The first time it was ok. The mussels appetizer with tomato

sauce was pretty good. I had linguine with clams in a white wine sauce which was pretty good but they give you

much too much. My friend liked his spaghetti and meatballs. The second time the mussels were not as

good and I had linguine with calamari as the entree. The

calamari were overcooked and again the portions are

much too large. I was disappointed in the quality of the

food and have no wish to return.

Doesn't Recommend

scava

Joined 5 years ago

Truly disappointing. Despite a reservation we had to wait 45 minutes, and when we did sit down and they took our orders, they forgot to bring out bread or salads, didn't give us water and the entrees we got would have been easily shown up by Olive Garden.

Doesn't Recommend

Smartykat

Joined 5 years ago

Simply average. Was recently there for dinner during St Anthong's feast. Though it was a busy night, we only had to wait for 5 minutes for a table which I though was pretty good considering it was a busy evening. Was immediatley taken back however by the rude waitstaff. Seemed to be some fighting amongst the staff of who should be clearing the tables ect. Had to ask twice for water and clean silverware. Ordered lasagna and it was basic at that. Even the salad was plain and I can get a better one out of the bag at the grocery store! My dinner companion had raved that this place was the best in the North End and frequently dines there. Well, obviously his tastes are not that sophisticated! Went there another time during the week to give it one more try and the food and service was still subpar.

Doesn't Recommend

Bunny85

Joined 5 years ago

Extremely Rude Staff. I walked by this place today to witness one of the staff cursing out a young girl for using their outdoor garbage cans. She was alone and had a small dog with her (so I'm guessing what she was throwing out). Anyhow, I would much rather she clean it up than me step in it and if this man really didn't want her using that particular trash receptacle he could have asked/told her politely that it is for the businesses use only. Instead he decided to get in her face and yell at her (lovely). She looked on the verge of tears and I was absolutely disgusted at the way he though it was appropriate to address her. This is someplace I would have considered patronizing before I witnessed this exchange - however this is not the case anymore. I will take my money elsewhere - a place where the male portion of the staff have enough class and character to know that it is in no circumstance appropriate to swear and yell at a woman.

Doesn't Recommend

joeluvsfood

Joined 6 years ago

Are they serious?. We had a reservation. Despite the fact that we arrived 15 minutes early they informed us there would be a wait. 45 minutes later, (1 hour counting our early 15 minutes) we were finally seated. Our waitress was very nice but she clearly had to many tables as we only saw her when she took the order and when she dropped the check. The food wasn't that good, bland and warm as if it was sitting in a plate and then heated.

The worst part of all is the attitude in this place. They make you feel as if they are doing you a favor by letting you come in. Be assured I won't trouble them again. With all the great restaurants in the North End LOsteria is one that will be avoided.

I really wanted to share my experience with all of you. From the other comments posted here I can see we were not alone.

Recommends

ginaregina

Joined 7 years ago

Family Run is not always a good thing.. L'Osteria has been one of our favorite restaurants for years. We've put up with long waits and inconsistent service for years because the food in very good "red sauce" Italian. But lately the service and management has crossed the line from mediocre to absolutely terrible. Last time we went, we got our food and one of the entrees was cold. It was nearly impossible to get our waitress' attention, we waved at her and thought we'd gotten her attention, but she continued talking on her cell phone and even turned and went into the kitchen. We asked another server to ask our waitress to come over, she took another tables order and by the time she came over, my companion had already finished his entire dinner. When we asked to speak to a manager, she said she was the manager!! Family-run is not always a good thing. Enough is enough -- there are too many good restaurants in the North End to put up with this abuse!! And this was on a Thursday -- the weekends are worse!

Recommends

christopher03

Joined 7 years ago

Delicious classic italian entrees. This is a great place to go for a casual, fun North End dinner with family or friends. It is also my favorite for delicious, classic italian entrees. I have been there on several weeknights, and found the service to be very good. I have had the chicken saltimbocca and marsala, and found that both of these dishes were perfect!! The atmosphere is very nice and simple, with white tableclothes and candles. The noise level is fairly loud, but in a happy way. It sounds like a lot of families and close friends having a great time. It is a fairly good place to bring kids, as well.

Recommends

krbolen

Joined 7 years ago

Great food, terrible service. We recently moved to the Boston area and couldn't wait to get to the North End having visited many times. We chose L'Osteria to start based on recommendations and they were right. The food was terrific. Meat, fish and pasta were all ordered and all done well. The service, however, was poor.

We had made a reservation but that didn't seem to matter as we were kept waiting 45 minutes. We considered leaving but everywhere around us had equally long lines (that's kind of the point of a reservation isn't it). Very little updates were provided, no apologies, and no consideration during the meal (like a free app or drink on the house for the inconvenience of waiting outside in the drizzling rain since there is no interior waiting space). I got the impression that taking reservations was a new process for them as many around us were experiencing similar delays. I just don't think they know how to plan for the turnover between dining parties and overbook themselves.

Once seated, the service was tolerable if not pleasant. Waitress seemed like it had been a long day and she was just trying to get through it. We've had more enthusiasm and better advice from the wait staff at a diner in NJ than from this woman. Specials were said so fast with such a thick accent that after repeated attempts to hear them we simply gave up knowing about 50% of what was available.

The food was good but not worth the hassle. When you only get out every few weeks without the kids, you want things to go smoothly.

Recommends

axlrosen

Joined 8 years ago

Terrible, inconsiderate service. Maybe the service is OK on a weeknight, but don't go on a weekend. In the cramped little entryway, the staff had very little interest in taking names, resulting in a lot of jostling amongst the guests. When we finally got seated, the service was disinterested at best.

About the food: The Veal Bolognese was amazing. The Shrimp Diavolo was good, very spicy. The squid salad wasn't very interesting.