Buzo Osteria Italiana — Restaurant in Port of Spain

You pay all that money for the ambience which is just alright, cause the food is subpar. The service isn't consistent. The first time I went there in early December we order two pizzas both were alright, decent enough. We ordered ravioli which was honestly horrible. It was so bad no one wanted to eat it. It was far too tough. I said I would not return because overall the experience was not worth the cost. The second time I went it was for my birthday (Dec 23rd) and it really happened on a whim, it was just a tragic experience. The waiter spilled water on my head, unprovoked, yup. My father, a Muslim, asked what was Halal on their menu. They said only two types of meat and that the cheese was not Halal (which means a Muslim can't eat here cause what doesn't have cheese on it in an Italian restuarant?). He settled on ordering the soup, can't go wrong with split pea soup right? Wrong, they added cheese to it. Then tried to convince him that this particular cheese (parmesan) was halal...they eventually took it back and made him a new soup without cheese. The waitress said that the persons we asked about the Halal options were not well informed they're trainees must two days new 🤷‍♀️ We ordered pizza, I decided to stick with what I knew and order the same pizza I had had during my first visit. It was horrible, they left it in too long and it was burnt and dry...but it took so long for the food the arrive and we had so many issues up to this point I didn't want to send it back...but I should have, that pizza was trash, I wonder if the chefs in the kitchen were trainees two days news too 😖 we ordered two pasta dishes, one in cheese and one in tomato sauce with chicken and fish as sides. Not even the pasta was done right, it was under cooked, the chicken was over cooked, and the fish was too fresh for my liking. What should've been a great birthday lunch really was just s disaster. It hurt me to pay that bill. If you really want to eat in a nice uppity restaurant, just go somewhere else where the food is at least consistently good and the menu isn't...

Came here for dinner on the last night of our visit to Trinidad. The ambiance was nice, and service was decent making it potentially worthy of 4 stars, however, I go to a restaurant billed as providing 'upscale cuisine' for good food and that unfortunately is what warrants only 2 stars. Starting even with the drinks, I ordered a 'specialty' cocktail, the "Rionole" which was very sweet and tasted like it was missing the various liquors (I should have ordered straight rum on ice like my husband); next we ordered Long Island Ice Teas, thinking no one could mess that up, but we were wrong, they were awful.

Then, getting to the food which we so wanted to like, we ordered their "Lasagna al Ragu" (Meat Lasagna) and "Bistecca ai Ferri" (Ribeye steak), with their "Pure' di patate" (Truffle Mashed Potatoes) and "Maccheroni formaggio e pancetta" (Italian Bacon mac and cheese) as our sides. I think they believe that by listing all the dishes in Italian it's actually authentic Italian food. The only thing that was edible was the steak but it was visually unappealing, very grey with no char. A skilled chef knows how to char a steak on the outside and still keep the inside temperature medium. The seasoning in all of the other dishes was extremely heavy handed starting with the mashed potatoes it was overwhelmed with garlic, the meat lasagna was so salty it was completely inedible, and as others have commented, the pasta used in the Mac and Cheese tasted very undercooked but slathered with a ton of butter. We ended up sharing the steak and boxing up the other dishes because we felt awkward leaving the full dishes there. We gave the food to one of the many homeless people sleeping outside of the park so it didn't go completely to waste. So in the end, we spent $130.00 (US$$) for a steak. Like I said the ambiance was lovely so I'm hoping these notes are heeded and improvements are made if we visit again...

Hospitality was very noticeable as well as the decor. The dimmed lights and the seating and floral arrangements as well as the many bottles of wines lining the wall contributed to the atmosphere. There was parking available at a walking distance from the restaurant but security was available to assist you securely to the door. Our seating arrangement was near to the kitchen area which I personally was not too fond off because it did not feel private enough. The bread served at the beginning was very delicious and enjoyable with just a dash of balsamic vinegar or olive oil. There were six different meats chosen....with chicken.. lobster... fish....seafood and pork ...the best was undoubtedly the pork ..it had a nice flavour and was very soft and easy to cut through....the sides chosen were the roasted potatoes....mash sweet potato...broccoli and veggies..all tasted good but it was disappointing to get a slice of cucumber..2 slices of eggplant...half an onion and half a sweet pepper for approx $70....we were asked if we wanted dessert but we chose not to have at the time. A complimentary dessert was given since we were celebrating a bday which was very thoughtful and appreciative of the customer. The experience reminded me of the krave experience with a northern take. It was...