Osteria Olio — Restaurant in Athens-Clarke County Unified Government

My friends and I had a fantastic experience on their opening night. The waitstaff was very attentive, responsive, and patient, and the hospitality is unmatched anywhere I've been in Athens, hands down. The atmosphere feels like true fine dining, and while Athens has some fine dining establishments, none of them LOOK the part as Osteria Olio does. This would be a great anniversary, date, or place to take family to get a great meal and enjoy it. 5 stars for that!

The dishes we had were as follows, star rating at the end 1-4:

Appetizers: Burrata: Very fresh, with a large portion of cheese, tomatoes, and excellent seasoned. Only complaint was that it was messy to cut and distribute. ** Calamari: The verde aioli sauce was delicious, the calamari was a little bready, but overall good, and well portioned. * Arancini: the hidden gem of the evening: a risotto hushpuppy shape with corn, with a verdant marinara sauce and cheese. **

Entrees: Funghi Pizza: thin crusted, crisp, but with excellent, fresh ingredients. Topped with rosemary, garlic, and mushrooms. Delicious. ** Mafalde Cacio e Pepe: my favorite entree, slight peppery kick with each bite, wonderfully rich garlicy, olive oil sauce without drowning the pasta, and cooked to perfection. Decent portion size as well. ** Ravioli All'aragosta (lobster): The lobster ravioli was similarly flavorful, and lay in a great tomato butter sauce. It was a little on the al dente side, but very enjoyable.** Ziti alla Vodka: I enjoyed the creaminess of the ziti, but I found it to be a little spicy to my taste. It was not what I would describe as hot, but just spicy. Had I eaten only this dish with the other appetizers, I probably would have enjoyed it more. *

Sides: Crispy Potatoes: they had a great aioli sauce to go with them, lightly crisp, but not too waxy- very well prepared and seasoned fingerling potatoes. ** Summer Squash: these were well seasoned, but I think they could have been sauteed a little more to my taste. *

Drinks: Where the heart isn’t: similar to an aviation, but fruitier. Espresso martini: excellent, rich, chocolatey

All around a great experience, a quality establishment, and five star service. It truly feels like a premium experience, while not being extravagantly pricey. I will be...

First experience at Osteria Olio after much interest in dining there, 8:15 res. Will be back, but not completely amazed. Much room for improvement. We enjoyed the moody, intimate atmosphere and superb wine collection. Free valet parking is a nice perk. However, we did not enjoy all of our food, and though our server stated chef requests the entire dinner order at once and despite requesting particular, paced coursing, food arrived FAR too quickly.

Our table was not ready, so we ordered drinks at the bar. Wonderfully tasty Negroni!

Incredible starter courses, the raddichio salad and the warm marinated olives with parmesan were highlights of the meal. But the pasta course and main dish arrived together before we had even started our salad. (We ordered them as separate courses.) Our server apologized and claimed they would be remade. (Though I suspect it simply waited under a heat lamp.)

Our $30 pasta course, the duck tortellini, was a waste of money. The pasta is clearly made fresh in house, but the plating over a weak chicken consommé with a random scattering of whole parsley leaves left much to be desired. Overall bland and unappetizing, we did not finish it.

The lamb shank was tender and unctuous, though lacking salt and acidity to round out the dish. The added broccolini was lackluster, not fully cooked and somewhat shriveled. (Again, I suspect a heat lamp was involved.)

The chocolate mousse cake was excellent, a favorite. The tiramisu was passable, though dusted with so much cocoa powder we were coughing and struggling over it— we didn’t finish it.

Our bottle of Barbaresco and after dinner wines (Vin Santo and Brachetto) were beyond delicious. We savored every drop.

Overall, we will return, if only for the wine offerings and atmosphere. But I suggest a brief, tapas style meal rather than a leisurely coursed dinner. Hoping to see continued improvement from...

Went earlier tonight with a friend for his belated birthday. As I am writing this review, I am literally having to put down my phone to vomit. It is almost 1am and I know I will be awake all night sick to my stomach from being served the raw/undercooked lobster by this establishment.

This restaurant had a very nice atmosphere and I was very excited to try it, as I love Italian food. My server was very helpful and excellent and I am only taking a star away from the service because our meal should have been completely free after all the egregious mistakes from the kitchen, not just discounted.

Our appetizer (meatballs) came after a long wait, complete with a long, thick, wiry black hair sticking through one of the meatballs. We sent it back to the kitchen and the manager and our server were both very apologetic and offered us free dessert, which I took to go and could not eat later due to vomiting so I can’t leave a review of it.

The pizzas we ordered both tasted fine and were of good quality for the price. Then, 2/3 of our pasta dishes arrived. I tried one of the lobster ravioli which tasted lukewarm and undercooked. The lobster also appeared undercooked when I cut a second one open.

My friend took a bite of his squash ravioli which he said was cold. We sent both the dishes back. Then, we waited for them to make the food again. We took the rest of our food to go, as I was starting to feel a little queasy and it was getting late.

Our server was extremely understanding and helpful, they did try to make it right, but with the quality of preparation of the food we were served, combined with me getting sick afterwards, I sincerely hope I never again have to return to this establishment. I was told that nothing like this had ever happened before at this restaurant, and I hope for the other patrons’ sake that is true. I really wanted to like it and it had...