Italian Osteria

Location

4671 Culver Road Rochester, NY 14622

Hours (as of July 2014)

Tuesday - Thursday: 4:00PM to 9:00PM

Friday - Saturday: 4:00PM to 10:00PM

Phone

585 338 7440

Wheelchair Accessible

Info Needed

Alcohol

Wine and beer

Website

http://ItalianOsteriaRistaurante.com

Italian Osteria is an Italian restaurant in Irondequoit.

Comments:

Note: You must be logged in to add comments

2010-03-27 21:02:03   Nice to have another option for Italian food. Tried for the first time on a recent Friday and was very happy with our visit. Both my wife and I had seafood pasta dishes that were very impressive. Each came with so much seafood that we really didn't eat much of the pasta which was very good. Service was quick and efficient. Looking forward to a return trip to try some of the red sauce as well as other menu selections. —almorinelli

2010-06-15 17:36:02   They do appetizers very well here. Stick to the calamari, they are heavenly and come in huge portions. Otherwise, the entrees are typical Italian American fare. The ambiance is non-existent (stackable metal and vinyl chairs, vinyl tablecloths, wood paneling...something from my childhood in the 70's), so not a place for a first date, but rather a good place for family eating. —StellaRegulus

2011-11-21 15:50:43   This is a review I originally posted on Yelp:

I really had high hopes for this place, considering all the people who said it was great, but unfortunately, it really wasn't.

To start with, the decor looks like a lunch room. There is no bar. The help is haphazard at best (the water boy reached across the table to fill glasses rather than go to that end), and the food was bland at best. In the end, I can't imagine one good reason to go here rather than the other Italian place up the street (which is hardly stellar, but at least it has a bar).

—Alex-C

2014-07-06 09:55:49   We tried this place for the first time recently on a recommendation from a friend and the fact that we had a discount coupon. After waiting at the door a few minutes we were shown to a rear table in the 2/3 full dining room - since we wern't a reservation or a regular - which turned out to be near the "staff table". Service was prompt and "casual". The wine was drinkable, the mostly iceberg lettuce salad was passable, and the entrees were average. My linguine with white clam sauce was tasty, but the pasta a bit overcooked. My wife's chicken French - a Rochester standby - was also nicely sauteed and sauced but it was loaded with lemon seeds. (The good news is that I guess the lemon in the sauce was fresh - the bad news was that she had to sift through everything to try and get the seeds out, or it was a bitter experience when she bit down on one she missed.)

The "drama" came gradually. When we were seated we were informed that they were out of gorgonzola cheese and sausage because "the truck didn't come in" - a bit unusual but nothing that really affected our dinner plans. Then we realized we were next to the "staff table" which meant we heard all the commentary from the servers, bussers, and their boyfriends and girlfriends who were constantly up and down to the kitchen getting more for themselves to eat/drink. We heard when a server had been stiffed a tip from another table, a server doing home meal planning with her significant other, commentary about the "boss" not being there on a holiday Saturday evening, etc. Then things started to get unglued as the servers were having to tell patrons that the restaurant had also now run out of bread and Marinara sauce (which comes from a purveyor instead of being house-made). One server wanted to close early, another wanted to go to the store to pick up supplies, while another was apparently on the phone with the "boss". All this as they were marching around the dining room talking loudly with each other.

So a 1960's decor, mediocre food, and more drama than we wanted. There are plenty of better Italian dining experiences in Rochester for us to go ever back to the Italian Osteria. —jgerek