Osteria Chef's Table — Restaurant in Calgary

I cannot speak highly enough about the folks and food at Osteria. What an incredible experience it was. We started with the smoked salmon and everything blini. My out-of-town friend loved the home made dressing drizzled over the melody sauce. Next was the bocconcini salad. The texture was refreshing and the mild flavor balanced so nicely with the tomato on the brusscetta that comes complimentary . Wow -- that was so delicious. My friend and I were hoping that nobody was looking his direction as we put used our hnds . So warm, smooth, and yummy. I was served two different arancini, back to back. The first was with mushrooms.. Those shaved mushrooms were outrageous. I was very impressed with the complexity of the mushrooms and surprised that they contributed such an intense flavor without being cooked. (I think they were raw.) The second arancini was with meat. The rice was seared this time around and it seemed to be a completely different variety than what was served with the mushroom and beef. The sticky texture of the rice and the contribution of the beef was incredible. Oh ... so ... yum. And then I was completely blown away by the potato millie fog lie. I forget what made up the compote that surrounded the potato but oh my wowsers, that was delicious. And I think that it was served over crème fraîche which just made things even more heavenly. I was brought a short rigatoni with smokey fairytale eggplant. The red sauce was thick in order to take advantage of the rigate surface of the pasta (I guess it was more of a pipe rigate than a rigatoni after all,) and I've never had grilled eggplant quite like that. MMMMmmmmm. With each bite, it's as if I was breathing in a long history of a well-seasoned grill. Oh yeah. I was marveling at the perfect texture of the next course: tortellini. It had such a distinct feel compared to tortellini I've been served anywhere in the past. It was very clear that these little beauties were prepared by a delicate hand, and with tons of love. And then, BHAM! Butternut. My palate was slammed with the bright sweetness of the butternut filling which was balanced nicely with the broth which had a slight seafood flavor to it. I'm assuming that it was a mushroom broth, perhaps porcini or oyster. Just a guess. I also liked the difference in texture of the butternut as the filling and the finely diced butternut in the broth. And I don't think I've ever floated pasta in a broth like that. It was reminiscent of wonton soup. The pasta was thin almost more like a wonton wrapper than a traditional tortellini wrapper. Very cool twist. And the star of the show: Polenta! The creamy polenta blended nicely with the toothy mushrooms. The dish brought my thoughts to Thanksgiving; there was a precise undertone of sweetness to the polenta which was reminiscent of an old Pennsylvania Dutch recipe for corn soufflé which is at my family's table every year. And the greens were quite sweet themselves as well. Perhaps there was some sort of maple flavoring. I initially assumed that the sweetness from the butternut tortellini and the sweetness from the greens would be too much but there was an inherent bitterness to the dark leafy greens which balanced things impeccably. The presentation was phenomenal. I'm glad that the servers were there to guide us through, revealing the true identities of the incognito fare. Very cool and contemporary. This was mimicked by not only the ambiance but by the music selection as well. And the motif of the old-to-new convergence was even represented in the huge, ancient ledger propped on a pillar by the front door. The Maître d' flipped through the pages to an iPad which displayed all of the pertinent reservation information. I liked that touch. Be warned if you're up for a culinary adventure, you're in...

Arriving fifteen minutes early with reservations for 7:30 being greeted by a mumbling woman in a red shall. We told her we had reservations and she said it would be a few minutes. Being early we didn't mind waiting a bit. 7:30 rolls around and we get ushered to the bar where we stand there to wait patiently. After twenty minutes more waiting, standing there, coats still on and it's getting fairly warm they offered us complimented glasses of wine, which lightened the the mood a little. About 45 minutes after we arrived, another couple entered this place and was difected to the bar where we were and was immediately asked if they wanted a drink and also asked to take their coats. I was upset in the first place and that proceeded to escalate after seeing that the newcomers had received better service right off the bat. Very upsetting!!!

Just about two hours after arriving we receive our starter of spaghetti and wine pair. The only thing that made our stay the least bit enjoyable was the company of my partner and our waiter (glasses, mustach, flamboyant and smoothed out our night.)

The wine pairings were a bit off but other wise good. We had Cesar salad to start which had a white wine pair. (I am completely against white wine) The white wine enhanced the cheese on the Cesar salad. As a white wine drinker, Davin liked the wine and salad pairing much more than I. Overall, pretty good so far.

The next course was spaghetti and a meatball. Our waiter said something about Nera or Nero for the wine and explained verbally and physically on the bottle what it was and how to tell if it was authentic. I was much appreciated on how elaborate an explanation.

After that was the chicken. It was chicken with ham on top and cheese on top of that, baked to mere perfection. It was delicious!!

One thing for sure is that our waiter made the outcome much more enjoyable than when we had arrived. I wouldn't go there again just for the hassle and it wasn't what I expected out of...

Three of us went to Osteria last night. The food was all good, albeit overpriced for what it was. If we hadn't gone with a groupon, the bill would have come to $170, and I wouldn't have been happy with it. But it was worth the $100 I paid.

The food all came out very quickly, which was nice, although there was a bit of a rushed feel. Buns were stale, which was strange for a fancy restaurant, but the rest of the food was really well prepared.

The end of the evening left a lot to be desired though. We didn't have a chance to order dessert. They just brought out a couple plates of tiramisu that were 'okay.'

The service was really good until that point, but the evening was a bit soured by the waiter writing himself a 20% tip of $35. A reasonable tip for the service and quality of dining was ~$22, so that's what I paid. It might be customary to write your own inflated tip in some parts of the world, but that's pretty presumptuous in Alberta, and just comes off as a cash grab.

We were at Osteria for lunch a year ago, and it was a fantastic experience with great food quality and value. By reading some of the other reviews, it looks like you have a 50% chance of having a good experience, and a 50% change of having a bad experience.

Bottom line, if you want a dining experience that is worth a high dollar value and doesn't come with nasty surprises, just cross the river and go to Q Haute Cuisine.

If you want a high quality groupon option, I would recommend Jacqueline & Suzanne's...