Valter's Osteria — Restaurant in Salt Lake City

For this review I wanted specifically to compare Valter's with Grappa in Park City, which IMO are the two best Italian restaurants in Utah, both of which my wife and I have dined at recently. Let the throwdown begin!

Bread course Valter's started out by serving us with a complimentary small plate of bruschetta which was fantastic. Just the right balance of acidity, flavor, and crunch in a divine combination. They then followed it up with more bread with a most interesting, vinegary dipping sauce that we decided we had to take home with us. A great start to the meal.

Grappa's bread was all right but their dipping sauce was a little strange, thick and on the sweet side. So Valter's wins this round in a walk.

Soup/salad course At Valter's I got the Agnelli tomato salad which was a fabulous combination of flavors, especially the burrata cheese with the tomatoes and the house made croutons. My wife had the prix fixe option with a triple combination of gorgonzola romaine, prosciutto arugula, and shrimp romaine, which were all solid but not extraordinary.

At Grappa I had a simple tomato soup which is possibly the best I've ever had with perfectly balanced but subtle flavors. My wife had the Insalata Mista which was excellent. We'll call this course a draw between two very strong entries.

Entrees This was clearly the weakest course at Valter's. I had the veal with white truffle sauce while she had a chicken/salmon plate with multiple house made sauces. In all cases the flavors were a little too muted while the underlying meat preparation was fairly bland. The sauces and protein didn't seem to quite come together. Valter needs to up his game here.

At Grappa we had the veal Osso Buco and salmon with horseradish crust. The former was a dish for the ages, with deep, interesting flavors intermingling perfectly throughout. The salmon was also excellent with the horseradish perfectly balanced against the delicate fish flavor. A clear win for Grappa here.

Dessert Nice comeback for Valter's on this course. They served us a lemon/chocolate gelato with fresh, vibrant flavors, and then for our anniversary brought out biscotti with rich, creamy, deep dark hot chocolate. Grappa served us a nice chocolate pudding that was fine but not made in-house.

Service The waiters at Grappa are very nice and professional but nothing can compare to the vibrant personalities and friendliness of Valter's staff.

Ambiance Both restaurants are housed in interesting, older spaces but I give Grappa the edge on this one because of its Park City location in the mountains at the top of Main Street and their lovely patio seating.

Conclusion Well, you can't really call it a "throwdown" without declaring a winner, so I will give a slight edge overall to Valter's today. But they are both great restaurants and you won't go far wrong at...

I don't usually write reviews, but after wanting to try Valter's for years, I am in shock over the chaotic service and sloppy food. Not what I expected for the price and hype.

Walking in, you immediately feel the fevered pitch of the staff, the restaurant was completely packed with diners, and the waiters seemed frantic. The entry way next to the hostess stand was cluttered with dishes/cutlery/pepper mills/water pitchers/etc for service and cellophane wrapped "food" (I can only assume), and the staff would rush up to the front to dump or retrieve bits needed for service -- not what I expected entering an expensive restaurant. We probably should've left when we saw red sauce stains and realized that our tablecloth hadn't been changed from the previous group, but we pressed on, maybe they were having an off night?

Our spot at a corner booth gave us a great view of the many presentation tables constantly wheeled around and left in walkways, which would have been entertaining, except that it became clear these tables were seldom cleaned, and we saw a dropped cheese grater picked up off the floor and put right back onto the presentation table for the next service. Gross. The "presentations" given to the tables around us were sloppy and rushed, and the food wasn't served in an appetizing way -- the pasta samplers were taken from their pans and slapped onto dishes.

Our waiter was rushed and distracted. The six available specials were quickly given verbally, with no prices. When the complementary bruschetta and mystery creamy bread dip were brought over, he spoke so quickly, I don't know what was in that sauce. We were carded after our wines were brought to our table. When our waiter checked my ID, he miscalculated my age, and winked at me saying "so you're turning 21 in a few months?" I am 30, not offended, just concerned that he would've served me alcohol in spite of my age...

At this point, we were so freaked out we finished our wine, bruschetta, and salads and asked for the bill so we could bail to a different restaurant. Even then, they brought out a complementary hot chocolate (which was a gloppy syrupy mess) and some cookies which we didn't touch.

The worst part was the scene caused when the waiter realized we didn't want to stay for the full meal. Both the manager and general manager came over to ask why we were unhappy, and kept trying to loudly converse with us despite us repeatedly asking for the bill and stating that the confrontation was making things worse. In the end we were not charged for our meal.

Extremely disappointed, but had a laugh about it with the waiters at Matteo around the corner. Do yourself a favor and eat at Matteo or...

Our food at Valter's Osteria was fantastic! My husband and I were looking for a top tier restaurant for our last night in Salt Lake City and Valter's Osteria did not disappoint. The inside of the restaurant is gorgeous but still manages to feel like a family-owned establishment. It is an upscale restaurant even though they do not have a dress code. If you do not want to feel out of place, I suggest dressing up a little bit. It is a fairly small dining space for how busy they are. While I am not a fan of cramped dining, the waiters bus the tables regularly, so you do not typically have too much on your table at any time. The wait staff is also very serious, which I mistook at first. It seems to be the type of high-class atmosphere they are going for and not that they are looking down on you. It made me feel a little small at first but by the time we got our appetizer I was over it.

Our waiter, Gustavo, had a lot of good suggestions and we took him up on all of them. We ordered a porchetta, rucola e fontina for our appetizer. It was good and light. For our entrees we ordered veal albese and the nana in porchetta savinese (duck in cognac and grape sauce). I had the veal, and it was really good but the duck dish my husband had was absolutely delicious. It was very different from anything we have eaten before, and I am sure we will order it again if we ever go back to Valter's Osteria. We had to order dessert and the only time our waiter smiled at us was when we were bringing us the desserts. We knew it was going to be good! For dessert we ordered the tiramisu which was so good it almost made me cry. I know that is dramatic, but it was so good, and it made me so happy! We also ordered the lemon gelato with honey and lemon juice, and it was hands down the best dessert my husband and I have ever had at a restaurant. The waiter prepares the dessert table side, and it is really fun to watch. I could go back to Valter's Osteria just for the lemon gelato.

It is pretty rare that my husband and I enjoy everything we get at a restaurant, but here everything was absolutely delicious. If you are in the Salt Lake City area and are looking for an incredible Italian restaurant, look no further than...