OSTERIA 832

She says:
Osteria 832 is the type of place I would go back to again and again. It’s not that the food is amazing – we’ve certainly eaten at restaurants of higher caliber – but the Italian fare is good enough, and much more affordable than the usual suspects. The setting is pleasant and low-key… the type of place that you feel comfortable ordering a glass of wine while wearing sneakers. From my experience, it’s pretty hard to find a dinner spot in Atlanta that meets these criteria (good food, casual neighborhood setting, and affordable) that isn’t a burger joint, BBQ shack, or Thai restaurant.

Be warned: part of that casualness is a no-reservations policy, which makes for long lines on weekends. We arrived at Osteria around 6:00 pm with the kid-toting crowd, and only had to wait about 15 minutes. But by 7:00, the bar was packed with hungry people eyeing our table.

He says:
We wanted some Italian comfort food, so we started dinner off with fried calamari. The squid was perfectly fried, chewy but not too rubbery. For my entrée, I went with the Bascaiola – shell pasta in a cream sauce with pancetta, mushrooms, peas, and plenty of parmigiano. I was hoping for the pancetta to come through more strongly, as it is one of my favorite cured meats, but it was barely indistinguishable from regular ham. The creaminess of the sauce also overwhelmed the mushrooms and peas, but for a filling $9 platter, it’s not bad.

She says:
My dish, Melanzane alla Parmigiana, was comprised of enormous slices of eggplant covered with mozarrella, along with a bed of spaghetti covered with Osteria’s delicious pomodoro sauce. It’s perfect for the eggplant lover, and with slivers of sautéed garlic sprinkled throughout the dish, for the garlic lover as well.

For dessert I had the special – a crepe filled with caramelized banana and drizzled with nutella. It was ok, but I found the banana filling to be too sweet and the nutella on the sparse side.

He says:
The mascarpone cheesecake was both less sweet and denser than regular cheesecake, which I appreciated, but overall I would say the dessert was just average.

We say:
Judging from the crowds, we’re pretty sure everyone in the Highlands has figured out Osteria’s secret – good eats without a lot of fuss. We’re happy that we did too.




Update:
Uptown Girl wrote in our initial review of Osteria 832 that she would go back again and again. So we did, and now we’ve changed our minds. On our second visit, the pomodoro and ricotta appetizer had the sophistication of Pizza Hut breadsticks. In fact, that’s exactly what it was: a few sticks of cold bread to dip into tomato sauce. The pomodoro entrée (spaghetti in a basic tomato sauce) was so salty as to be nearly inedible. Before we labeled Osteria 832 as “Good eats without a lot of fuss.” Our recommendation to the kitchen: a little more fuss may be in order when it comes to the food.




Osteria 832
832 North Highland Avenue, Atlanta, GA 30306
http://www.osteria832.com/