Scalini Osteria — Restaurant in Town of Eastchester

Everything on the menu sounded delicious, I wish we could have tried more but I’ll definitely be back with the same group of friends, or different ones! Wish I took some pictures but everything we had was delicious. The Parmesan encrusted chicken, braised short ribs, the two different types of pastas, both tasted extremely fresh and authentic. I had the braised short ribs and they were perfect and something I’ve tried to make at home before but these were so delicious! They came with mashed potatoes and asparagus and the asparagus were cooked perfectly. We dined outside on a cooler night and even that was great. The ambiance was wonderful and the staff was kind. For starters we had the burrata with beets, a radicchio and pear salad, and the fried meatballs, which were the perfect amount of spicy! All three were great, I especially enjoyed the salad, and I haven’t been really enjoying salads lately but this one hit the spot. Dessert was the crème brûlée, chocolate mousse cake, and the almond tiramisu. I loved all three, even though I did feel that the tiramisu had maybe a little too much almond extract, it was still delicious and better than any almond cake I’ve had anywhere. My friend didn’t like her Negroni too much which could have just been personal preference, and I just had a glass of Sauvignon blanc which tasted great. I didn’t pay much attention to the wine list or where their wines were from but it looked like they had a good selection and the Sauvignon my sister and I had, we both enjoyed. I’ve always heard good things about this place and so glad I finally came to enjoy it, especially in their outdoor seating, before the temperatures really dropped! This place is definitely Italy in your own backyard, and I would assume very good exposure even before you ever take a trip to Italy yourself one day! Can’t wait...

A few positive reviews brought us to Scalini Osteria, but our experience last night, on Sat., did not match those reviews.

A good waiter can enhance or detract from a dining experience, and ours did the latter. First, when first pouring from the bottle of Sicilian red wine we had ordered, he left a big red splotch on the white tablecloth. We expected a profuse apology; he gave us a terse, "Sorry."

Although the restaurant had many vacant tables on a Sat. night after 7 p.m.,the waiter did not return frequently to inquire about our food; did not ask if we' d like black pepper or later, more coffee. He was also not particularly pleasant. When my husband asked if the coffee would be strong and hot, the waiter responded, "It' s American coffee. Would you like espresso?" That was not the response we wanted.

Now, the food. The salad of arugula, beets, almonds, and parmesan cheese consisted of a generous mound of beets and three decent sized thinly shaved cheese triangles, but only three or four almonds, and perhaps, three or four very tiny, scroungy pieces of arugula: we had to hunt for the arugula.

The margharita pizza appetizer was decent. The crust was very scanty, but the sauce had good tomato flavor, enhanced by a generous amount of basil.

The cod special had minimal seasoning. It tasted bland and poached, rather than pan seared, as listed.

The gnocci was mushy, rather than al dente, but the pomodoro sauce was flavorful.

After our coffee was served, we were not offered a refill, and we had a very long wait before we caught a bus boy's eye, so we could request our check.

I would assign two-and one-half stars and would be...

This place seems well-intentioned, but missed all the marks.

Food — pretty much everything we had was terrible. The gnochetti was so bland and inedible we had to send it back. The pollo tasted like it came off a conveyer belt and was honestly hard to eat. The poached peaches were very meh. The only thing that was good was the arugula salad. Nothing had any salt or really any seasoning. Not sure what was going on in the kitchen, but…not good.

Service — everyone was very nice, but the whole thing was inconsistent. The server had a hard time speaking in detail about the dishes or wine and there was a very long stretch of time where he completely disappeared. Everyone’s disposition (host, server, buser) was lovely, but it was hard to get a sense of what was going on.

Ambiance — the inside is sweet, but not special. The back courtyard is nice but was loud and rather chilly with fans going on an already-cool night. We ended up on the front porch, which was in relative terms quieter and pleasant.

We’ve been fans of Underhill for years and decided to try something different. We’ll be sticking...