Osteria Mario — Restaurant in Dubai

I ate dinner here with my friends last night, and for a mall restaurant, it’s not a bad spot.

So Osteria Mario and Shivli are sister restaurants, I guess? We were presented with a Georgian and an Italian menu. We wanted an Italian dinner, though, so we stuck with Italian food.

It’s not exactly authentic, but that’s not bad. The salad was good, my friends demolished their crispy shrimp. Their bruschetta is not traditional, but delicious nonetheless. If you’re a big group, I’d definitely ask about the size of the bruschetta, lol. We got one slice for 3 people. It was a bit funny to see, but our fault for not asking.

We also tried their mushroom and truffle pizza. It’s thin crust, but not crispy. Delicious.

For mains, we got their Italian meatballs, baked with cheese. My goodness, despite being baked, the meatballs were so tender and delicious! We also tried their Beef Cheeks with bulgur risotto. It was a delicious take on risotto, cooked perfectly. It was creamy, cheesy, heaven in a bite. And the cheek was so tender, my friend teased me for using a knife when all I needed was a fork.

Their dessert was a bit of a hit and miss. We got the carrot cake and apple tart. Apple tart was delicious, but they douse the carrot cake in a sour sauce, that was a bit strange to eat because it was probably an orange bitter sauce? And there were chunks of ginger inside. Not a pleasant bite at all.

I give them 4* not because of the dessert, but because the server kept trying to get us to eat from the Georgian menu. Don’t get me wrong, I like Georgian food. But I wasn’t there for Georgian food? And despite us saying repeatedly, he kept pushing the Georgian menu on us. A bit strange.

The place is definitely worth a visit, and the interior is so cute too!

I’m just sad I didn’t get pictures because their presentation of their dishes...

I’ve visited this restaurant three times now, and I want to be very transparent in my feedback. The food is truly excellent — especially the pizza. It’s consistently hot, fresh, and among the best in Dubai Hills. The prices are reasonable, and the staff are polite, kind, and genuinely welcoming.

However, what continues to disappoint me — and now makes me hesitate to return — is the service speed and attention, particularly on the terrace. On each of my visits, I’ve had to wait over thirty minutes for a simple pizza order. Even after informing the hostess that I was ready to order, no one came for several minutes, and I eventually had to walk back inside to get someone’s attention.

When my order finally arrived after thirty-plus minutes, I had barely three minutes to eat before needing to leave. The assistant manager was kind and offered to compensate, but I wasn’t looking for that — I only wanted timely service. What bothers me most is that no one informed me there was a delay in the pizza section. Had I known, I would’ve chosen a quicker dish like pasta or lasagna, or even gone somewhere else.

This feedback isn’t a complaint for free food — it’s a call for better communication and time management. When customers love your food and keep returning, it’s disappointing to see them lose patience over something preventable.

I truly hope management takes this seriously. I’d love to come back again, but only if...

We went for lunch at the Georgian restaurant 2 weeks ago, the decoartion and ambiance of the restaurant gives you good vibes, but unfortunately we did not have a very pleasant experience. We ordered the set menu for georgian food as it presents a nice experience for a variety of georgian dishes and before ordering we asked the waitress if it was enough for two beacuse if not we would take other options, she said it was enough, so after ordering it wasn't that much and they serve small portions given it's a set menu for two it should be two pcs or plates of each dish, but it was not the case, also we were disappointed by the taste of some dishes as it was not the level of food expected given the looks of the place. The khinkali, Khachapuri and bread were good. We ordered as well, a recommended by the waitress fish dish for our baby from kids menu and it was horrible you should really work on that, I couldn't even smell it and my baby did not like it. It's a shame we had this bad experience because the place is nice and even has a nice, small playing area for kids. The service was average, the waiters seemed a bit distracted and many go to the playpen where kids are to take a break even when kids are there playing and stay there for a long time which did not seem so...