Osteria Lupo — Restaurant in New Orleans

Osteria Lupo – More Like Osteria Nope-o

⭐️⭐️ (2/5)

Alright, y’all, let’s talk about Osteria Lupo—a spot that had promise but ended up fizzling out harder than a flat LaCroix. My fiancé recommended this place, and since I don’t get to see this particular school friend often, I figured, why not try somewhere new? So we rolled up to Osteria Lupo on Magazine Street, ready to feast.

First impressions? Fine, I guess. The décor didn’t wow me, but your eyes do get pulled to the bar as soon as you walk in. Nice backdrop for a picture if that’s your thing, but otherwise, the atmosphere was just… there. Nothing offensive, nothing special.

The Food: 🔹 Prosciutto Pizza – Off to a decent start. They didn’t skimp on the prosciutto, which I respect. The saltiness balanced well with the rest of the pizza, and honestly, it was a safe but solid pick. If you’re gonna eat here, this is one of the safer bets.

🔹 Mushroom Campanella – Ehh. You ever eat something and immediately think, yeah, I could see myself getting real bored of this halfway through? That was this dish. Mushroomy, earthy, and straightforward—like the culinary equivalent of a monotone lecture. Also, pasta leaned a little too al dente for my taste. Not a dealbreaker, but I wasn’t exactly thrilled either.

🔹 Brussels Sprouts – Crispy. Fine. You’ve had crispy Brussels before? Then you’ve had these. They exist. Moving on.

🔹 Hangar Steak (AKA The Crime Scene on a Plate) – Now this was where the meal took a nosedive into hell no territory. My friend ordered it medium rare. What came out? A steak with a burnt-to-hell crust and a salt content rivaling the Dead Sea—yet somehow, the inside was still practically mooing. The color transition was wild—like it went from "cooked" to "uh-oh" in the blink of an eye. You could see the raw, unrendered fat in the middle, meaning it either hit the pan straight from the fridge, or they cranked the heat up to volcanic levels and just let it sear into oblivion. Either way, absolutely not.

Server asked if everything was good, and I straight-up said NOPE. They offered to reheat it, but at that point, I wasn’t in the mood for the steak-salvaging Olympics. Just told them to pass the word along so the next table wouldn’t have to experience this disasterpiece. Took it home, but honestly, my air fryer deserved better than to have to fix their mistake.

Final Verdict: Listen, I’m not out here expecting life-changing Italian food every time I go out, but this was mid at best and straight-up bad at worst. The only thing keeping this from a 1-star is that the pizza was passable, and the staff wasn’t rude—just, unfortunately, serving up some L’s from the kitchen.

Would I come back? Absolutely not. There’s too much good food in NOLA to waste a meal here. Save your time, save your money, and go somewhere that actually knows how to...

My partner and I went here with a couple of friends for the Coolinary menu. There were some hits and some misses. The service was great and the restaurant is very pretty. I wouldn't call it particularly "romantic" because it's very big and open, but it's not as loud as some restaurants this size, which was a plus.

The hits-- Tuna crudo--delicious and interesting, nice little bits of mild pepper that added a crunch and a good spice/acid balance. Probably my favorite dish. Quick-pickle mushrooms--tasted a lot like a chimichurri with mushrooms. Tasty! Unexpected! Truffle arancini--too truffly but otherwise good. Burrata with herbs/sauce--pretty good! Came with 2 slices of bread for 4 people. I was shut down (after a long process--thank you kind/terrified food runner for even asking) when I asked for one more piece of bread to soak up all the burrata and sauce we had left. I was told I could order a side of bread. Four people spent $100/pp for dinner but we had to scrape these wet ingredients in a spoon that we all shared and do the best we could. Good luck with this.

Pastas--vodka and mushroom were both delicious, A+.

THE MAINS were odd. We got a steak and a tuna filet, both incredible quality, but the steak was rare. I think this was odd and a bit of a bold move. We all ate it, but I'm not gonna lie, I would have appreciated 2 more minutes on the grill (after the bread fiasco there was no way I was asking). The steak was served with big lumps of a fresh herb sauce that they seem to kind of throw on everything, including the tuna that we got. The tuna was a beautiful cut but the flavor didn't hit. The herb sauce overwhelmed it, it needed salt, and overall the fleshiness of the steak and tuna just sort of blended together and made for a single note, raw meat blobs that all just tasted like the herb sauce. The sides for these dishes were some crispy potatoes (great!), zucchini medallions sitting in ricotta, some lemon and pine nuts (also very good) and some broccoli with charred radicchio and some kind of fish accent (sardines?) that was mushy and just didn't hit.

Desserts were a peanut butter semifredo sitting in jam, a sort of nod to a PBJ that was out of nowhere and not something I would have chosen, and a fruit-adorned pavlova that had potential but overall came out too fruity/floral and left me with the feeling of having inhaled air freshener.

Like some others have mentioned, nothing particularly northern Italian about this place.

Overall if I were going back, I would do the pasta and the crudo again, they were the standouts. This city is an almost endless feast and there were, in my opinion, some arrogant kitchen choices made during this dinner that will send...

My girlfriend and I had seen this place a few times when we drove down magazine but didn’t pay much attention to it because it wasn’t clear what kind of food they served. We then saw a reel on instagram showing the food and the menu. Being fans of Italian and having recently been to Tana we decided to try it. Reservations were not easy to get for our desired time and date but we managed to find one. After seeing the prices on the menu, we expected it to be a more fine dining kind of experience that was more low key and quiet. Upon arrival, the first thing you notice is how loud it is. They sat us at a half booth table, which we hate as you’re shoulder to shoulder with other tables and you have no real privacy. We had intended on taking our time that evening as we typically do and when the waitress came over to take our order we ordered a bottle of wine and and appetizer. She said she would get our wine but because “the kitchen requires us to place our full order so that they can plan” she could not put in our appetizer order until we knew exactly what we wanted to eat. So we told her we would think it over while she was getting the wine. When she returned we ordered the food. As an appetizer we got the burata and I ordered the hanger steak while she had pasta. We were both amazed as soon as the burata arrived not 5 minutes later. We were under the impression that the kitchen needed to plan our meal and so we expected to have to wait for the burrata a lot longer. The burrata came with two small pieces of toasted ciabatta which were excellent but the burrata was not as fresh as we were expecting because again, it came so quickly implying it was lying around in the kitchen. We went through the bread rapidly as there wasn’t enough bread for all the cheese that came with the burrata and the waitress came to ask if we wanted more bread which we of course said yes. About 5 minutes later the bread arrived, fresh and toasted which was great except when the waitress dropped it off she said “one side of bread”. I immediately looked at my girlfriend and said, “I think we just paid for bread.” Spoiler alert, we did. I had no idea we would be charged for it. It wasn’t a lot but for me it was the principle of it. The entrees arrived and the food was excellent. I really can’t complain. The food was up there, not quite as good as Tana but...