Osteria Pizzeria Ristorante — Restaurant in Garfield

Osteria Italiana Ristorante Pizzeria is serving up tasty Sicilian specialties, my favorite was the cannoli!

I found Osteria Italiana Ristorante on social media and was touched by the pictures. Sicilian specialties made with love. All those close relatives that were making these items for me at Sunday family dinner has passed. So for me to cross two bridges to Garfield NJ, its something I'm really looking forward to.

My wife is driving with me to the restaurant. Last month, we staying in Atlantic City and know the New Jersey dining laws are different than New York. I wanted to bring my in laws as well but last minute plans changed up our dining party.

We arrive and are seated outside. There is a large group celebrating a birthday. They sing happy birthday and we join in as well. They were so nice, they even offered us their wine!? (Italians, we share everything)

No wine is being served here so we order a bottle of sparkling water. The waiter brings out freshly made bread. The bread is incredible, very rustic and soft.

I remember my family making Spiedini so that's a must. My wife and I split Spiedini as well as Polipo alla Griglia. A simple grilled octopus with arugula salad. Spiedini are meat rolls stuffed with fresh bread crumbs, Italian cheeses, small chopped onions & tomato. The starter dishes come to us. The Spiedini, just like my family made. What's not listed are the small pignoli nuts that are also in the mix. Amazing. The octopus? My mom was 1/2 Greek and my greek granny would make these dishes for the family. (I'm craving Greek Olive Oil but that's a personal preference) The Octopus was cooked perfectly. It was a thick cut in some spots with a great charr. I'm in the zone for what's to come.

My favorite spaghetti is coming to me. I ordered the Bucatini Carretieri, tossed in Garlic, EVOO, Chilli flakes, Anchovies and toasted bread crumbs. Simple yet, this is another dish that brings me back to Sundays in Brooklyn.

My wife picked the Boscaiola pizza. Osteria Italiana is also a pizzeria! The dough has a nice charr along with the perfect chew. Topped with mozzarella, mushrooms and truffle oil, this is not something I grew up with but enjoy when I go out.

I finished the meal with an espresso and a cannoli. A cannoli sounds so simple, their cannoli was a masterpiece of cream and crunchy shell. A true sicilian dessert.

There are good sicilian restaurants in New York. I wanted to go somewhere unpretentious, where the entrees are served with some love.

I thank you Osteria Italiana Ristorante for the trip down memory lane. It was a pleasure to dine in your restaurant...

After almost 2 years of being a customer and spending ove $300 A WEEK between me and my 2 daughters I asked to make my bread XXXX WELL DONE the same way I get it ALL THE TIME. However this time I got the sandwich and it was so soggy I couldn’t even eat it like a sandwich. So I called and I questioned why it wasn’t well sone and the OWNER ASKED ME “We’ll why don’t u make it yourself?” and when I said excuse me what did I just say to me he hung up on me. So I paid $15 for the sandwich and a $5 tip to go 1 short block and couldn’t eat the sandwich bc it was so soggy and mushy. I HAVE NEVER EVER had a business owner talk to me like that just like I have NEVER EVER TALKED TO ONE OF MY CLIENTS LIKE THAT. Even when they are not the nicest people I STILL WOULD NEVER GO TELL MY CLIENT TO GO DO HER OWN NAILS if she wasn’t happy with her service. That’s just horrible and mean and totally unacceptable. HORRIBLE I AM WRITING MY REVIEW ON ALL SM PLATFORMS I own a small business right down the street from them and I am going to let everyone know how rude and disrespectful that man was to me just because I said I wanted my bread XXX well done. Me and my family and my staff will NEVER EAT THERE AGAIN OR RECOMMEND THEM TO ANYONE ELSE AGAIN. I must have sent 6-7 people there just in the past 3 weeks. Horrible idk how they can talk to someone like that. Just comes to show u his being successful turns some people into straight up u...

Went here with my Sicilian husband hoping for excellent Sicilian/Italian food based on the reviews. I was unfortunately disappointed. We ordered meatballs, arancini and octopus for apps. Meatballs were good (baked, with more bread filler then meat) arancini was very good, but the octopus was so overcooked it was extremely chewy and almost hard to swallow - very disappointing. For dinner we ordered Spaghettone Cacio & Pepe - which had far too much ‘cheese’ sauce making it more like an alfredo sauce - way too heavy; the Bucatini Amatriciana was okay but the taste of anchovy in it was very overpowering; lastly, the Gnocchi Bolognese was just good - I know it wasnt, but the sauce tasted like bottle sauce. All in all, it was just okay - definitely not excellent and did not stand up to the hype of being a great Sicilian food restaurant. We didnt order dessert - why chance getting something mediocre again. Unfortunately, we wont be back as there are so many better Italian restaurants in Bergen Cty, but I’m sure they’ll do well since many think the...