Osteria Ex Provinciali Udine — Restaurant in Udine

Just to be perfectly precise upfront - the owner and his wife (I suppose) are lovely, nice people. But it's not the core of this business. And since I usually don't mind prices in my opinions and can spend a fortune on good food, in this case I have to touch on it. Quality to price ratio is way over reality and you can eat in Udine Old Town area twice as good for twice as less without spending hours for research in google.

Skip starters - way overpiced for what you get. Plus an old Roman proverb says - if you cannot make asparagus properly - drop it and don't you even try to charge people over 10 EUR for it in season time.

In here they will charge you at least 12 EUR for thinnest green, cheapest ones which the chef still terribly overcooks. And which you can buy frozen all year long anyway.

I have to admit pasta is really well made and interesting. If you are so good in pasta why not to base you menu only on it and skip all those cheeses, asparagus and other weak points?

Another sad story is wine sold for glasses. Both red and white. Charging 5 EUR for "definitely not a generous pour" of something that tastes like from carton - in an area when you get far better house wine for 1-1,5 EUR in any bar or restaurant - makes you feel like somebody tries to scam you. For 5 EUR you get a really quality glass in tons of places around. If you want some wine in here - buy a bottle, skip the one served in glasses.

Would consider giving three stars but one star falls down for the music - your ears are begging for mercy after an hour of sitting surrounded by loud Ukrainian and French shanties with same drum banging continuously on a half note. It's an Italian, rustic restaurant and I don't expect f.i. techno from Amsterdam or shanties in here. Eventhough the owner may love it and think that everybody else also shares his love for such genre. Nope.

It can be a very nice place, has this potential and history, still you feel there's a need for some quality revolution in the kitchen and menu plus much more caring customer...

Our group of 4 had a ‘bellisma’ experience for lunch. The chef served us a mix of grilled, marinated, and pickled vegetables to start, along with a fresh cold vegetable soup, similar to gazpacho. The vegetables, grown locally around the town, were bursting with flavor. Also we had salami and delicious mountain sheep’s cheeses. We nearly filled up on this course alone. But doing so would have been a shame, because next we were served a local cheesy herb risotto with basil, mint, oregano, dill, dandelion, and more. For dessert we had apricot and watermelon sorbetto, which was pureed fresh fruit served in a glass with liqueur. All was with the nice house wine. The whole meal was simply the chef’s recommendation, not really on the menu, and just delicious. Also the value was incredible, at about €20 pp. I’ve saved a note to come back anytime I’m nearby. What a...

This location came as a surprise, a very positive surprise. We actually stumbled upon it on our tour through Udine. Evidently, this osteria is run by a family. We had no reservation but the owners arranged a nice table for us.

As a starter, we had a platter with local proscuttio, salami and lardo along with perfectly made antipasti. Accompanied by a bottle Merlot.

For the main course, we had freshly made pasta, one with porcini and one with beef (a sort of local Bolognese style). The pasta was perfectly cooked and the sauces were delicious. Nothing short of perfect. For a closing the owner invited us for Grappa.

Given the high quality of the food and beverages, the bill felt rather tiny. Which was another positive surprise. If you are in Udine, you should definitely pay this...