I was looking forward to eating with my family at this new neighborhood restaurant, as we live in its proximity. Here's my quick impression:The space: very sleek, high ceilings and tasteful decor. It gets noisy when crowded, but overall it conveys a pleasant atmosphere.The food: I am amazed that it is branded as "Italian". I was born and raised in Italy, and this place is 100% Italian-American, which is a completely different cuisine. The meatballs were tasty, and made with good quality ingredients, however the sauce was en-par with a supermarket-bought one. The pizza wasn't terrible, but -- again -- no overlap at all with the Neapolitan pizza (which should be thin-crusted and slightly chew). This one was very doughy, with an absurd amount of mediocre cheese on top.The arancino was perhaps the best meal, although $10 for one seems really excessive.Terrible wine program, most wines are cheap bottles (at the wine store) with a x5 to x7 supercharge. A bottle of Sagrantino was $300.No sodas for the kids on the menu, you need to ask the server as an off-menu item. Home-made soda are priced around $8.Underwhelming cocktails -- they have Martini on draft, for $1 dollar less than the regular one, not sure what that means or accomplishes.I am sorry I sound bitter, as I understand all the challenges that restaurants have to deal with, but there is something really that bothered me in the overall management and approach of this place. Just not for me.Just got the owner's response. Just to clarify, mine is not a "bombing" review, I have no interest at all in the letting people down, and I am sorry, albeit not surprised -- given my experience -- that the owner does not seem to accept any form criticism. Again, I didn't mean to sound offensive, and was simply reporting my impressions. Yes, I feel (pretend? haha) I know a bit about good food and drinks. Google should definitely ban bombing review, but this is not one of those cases.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 2
Taylor Murphy
Was very excited to try out this restaurant tonight and we had a reservation for 7:30pm. Arrived on time and was told the wait was 15 minutes even with a reservation. At the 30 minute mark, I was told there’s still no update and the kitchen is backed up (of course this is understandable), but over a 30 minute wait with a reservation is ridiculous. The restaurant was very busy and there were several other people waiting for their table as well. We had to tell them we’d be leaving because we couldn’t wait any longer. The atmosphere looked great, although I’m really not sure I’d return.
Service: 1
The food was delicious but we received very poor service. Our waitress was extremely attentive to the booths seated less than a foot away on either side of us, yet ignored our attempts to get her attention for almost the entirety our meal. Even after the entire section had cleared and we received our check we still had to wait 20 minutes for her to come take our card, when none of her other tables had to wait even 5 minutes to pay when she was much busier. If our server was clearly just extremely busy and unable to check in on anyone frequently I wouldn't have held it against her, but watching her give excellent service to all of her tables other than us made it difficult to enjoy what was an otherwise pleasant meal.
Chad K
An absolute gem! Our dining experience was nothing short of exceptional. The ambience was delightful, setting the perfect tone for a memorable evening. The service was impeccable, with attentive staff ensuring every need was met promptly and courteously.As for the food, it was simply divine. We indulged in a feast of flavors, from the savory deep dish pizzas and succulent shrimp cocktail to the refreshing Caesar salad and flavorful meatballs. The hash browns were a delightful addition, adding a crispy texture to the meal. And let's not forget the cocktails and wine, expertly crafted and perfectly complementing our dishes.Overall, I cannot recommend this restaurant enough. Whether you're celebrating a special occasion or simply looking for an extraordinary dining experience, this place truly delivers on all fronts. A definite five-star destination!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Classic Deep Dish Pizza, Meatballs, Caesar Salad, Mozzarella Sticks
pickyeater
The Restaurant Week Lunch menu was superlative. It was light enough for lunch and flavorful. The shaved Ham Crostino with melon and the Classic Caesar made great appetizers. The Whole Wheat Bucatini was a generous portion and the chicken/peas/ with herb pesto was satisfying. But the dessert, Torta Caprese stole the show. The flourless chocolate cake with hazelnuts was so good.
EmmaC
We live down the street and can't believe it took us so long to get here. Good portions, good mocktails. A little bit tight in terms of space, we were two people wedged between two other couples dining, which is fine, but definitely would've liked a little more distance. Overall, great meal. We'll be back.
John Roland Elliott
Looking for relaxed casual lunch on an unlimited budget and no schedule? Look no further.Crostino - beautiful, tasty but tiny.Caeser - huge, delicious, served without anchovies but available with $4 upcharge.Pizza (roasted tomato, burrata) - good choice, thin crust, generously toppedBucatini, whole wheat, chicken - disappointment.Olive oil cake - a hit. Should have ordered one for two people.Cocktail - "Spuma Nera"(?) Good tart foil for the OO cake.Very pleasant dining room - open, airy, widely-spaced seating but would probably be noisy when busy. There were only four tables occupied but they were all bunched together and when laughter erupted, it was LOUD.Service was gracious but unattentive and the delivery of dishes was poorly-paced and unsuitable. (All courses delivered separately, Caesar arrived first, anhcovies we requested for it arrived AFTER everything else but the cake.)We're don't often spend $80 for lunch for two and were expecting a more memorable experience.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Olive Oil Cake, Caesar Salad
Kimberly Carlile
Elegant, light-filled restaurant but they squander their gifts and menu ideas with sub-par execution. Josephine might make the best crust of any pizza anywhere, but they burden it with an excess of cheese. There's a tipping point, people, at which a thick layer of oily, rubbery mozzerella simply overwhelms superb crust and inventive toppings. If you go to Josephine, which I generally recommend, tell the waiter to tell the cooks to be judicious with the cheese. Otherwise, you'll have the gloppy specimens we had last night.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 2
Service: 5
Tables too densely packed together to be able to comfortably converse and eat plus lots of hard surfaces made for very loud experience. Overall food was too salty, not just the salad but also the tuna app, which was dry. Deep dish pizza was intense, yummy but a cheese bomb. Portions are huge which is a plus in some ways though we could have ordered half the amount we did had we known. Chicken parm seemed like four chicken breasts on one plate.
Rob Gant
Deep dish pizza in Somerville finally! Excellent drinks menu, draft vodka martinis were quite good! Made a mistake of ordering three salty dishes, but next time I'll know better!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Crispy Rice Suppli, Caesar Salad
Went here about 2 weeks ago with some friends and unfortunately was disappointed with the experience. The atmosphere is excellent. Very cool place and we were all really excited for some good food when we entered. Parking can be tough, but it's Somerville so can't hold that over them.Service was ok. It took A LONG time to get my drink while the other 3 people had there's for awhile. The waitress kept coming back asking if I had gotten my drink and I had to keep telling her no. No apology, just told me it should be there soon. It was decent when I received it (Old Fashioned), but nothing spectacular.Apps were good! We got the warm focaccia. A little heavy on the olive oil, but overall solid.I got the "Go Ask Alice" deep dish (this is mushroom, onions, peppers). Now I may not be from New York, but I can tell when a pizza lacks flavor. The sauce needed a lot of spices. The whole thing was oily. It also arrived UNCUT. A giant pizza that I had to cut and serve myself with a serrated knife. It is large and if it had been better flavor and consistency, it would have been worth the $32 price tag.Maybe pizza isn't their strong suit. My friends didn't like there's either unfortunately. If I decide to go back, I would try a different menu option. But do I feel the need to return? Unfortunately, no.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 4
Pete Cassin
Josephine is an underrated restaurant for brunch, also very good for dinner. For brunch, the mortazza is basically a monstrous calzone/sandwich, every bit as big as one of their personal pizzas but folded in half. They offer a few non-egg versions (caesar salad, meatball parm), but the one I got was the pecorino soft scramble - packed with a HUGE amount of incredibly soft scrambled eggs and cheese, hash browns (IN the sandwich, not on the side), and pancetta. One mortazza is more than enough for two hungry people to split, especially if you get one of the nice side dishes. Speaking of which - their blueberry coffee cake side is one of my my favorite "sweet" brunch dishes in Boston, equal even to the Baklava Pancakes from Brookline Lunch (sacrilege I know).For pizzas, the deep dish is pretty good, but the cacio-nara is my favorite - egg yolk, black pepper, cheese. The black pepper is incredibly mild on it (actually wouldn't mind if it had more a kick in the dish, but still good as-is), and it ends up just tasting like a REALLY NICE garlicky white pie. The crust on the regular (non deep dish) pizza is really soft and flakey, one of my favorites in the area.Since it's a pretty new restaurant, Brunch is still pretty accessible even without reservations. Given how crazy most Cambridge, Boston and Somerville restaurants get around that time, it's a great option if you don't feel like waiting 45 minutes to get into one of the more traditional well-loved spots in the area.
The food was incredible, the drinks were great and the overall experience was very good. Only hang up was how slow things moved, our reservation was at 7 and we were sat until around 730, and drinks took quite a bit to make it to the table after ordering. It did seem like maybe they were a little understaffed for a Saturday night but honestly the host and waiter were very friendly and apologetic and overall the experience was great! Would highly recommend going, we would definitely go again!
SophieG
Delicious menu perfect for hearty meal with family or friends. Something delicious for everyone. Deep dish pizza is to die for and the salads achieve the perfect balance of flavors. You
AnnR
We always have the greatest time at Josephine. Drinks and food are fantastic and we really enjoyed the new spring menu. Chanel was a lovely server and really enhanced the overall experience. We'd love to gatekeep this gem, but cannot stop talking about it.
I was looking forward to eating with my family at this new neighborhood restaurant, as we live in its proximity. Here's my quick impression:The space: very sleek, high ceilings and tasteful decor. It gets noisy when crowded, but overall it conveys a pleasant atmosphere.The food: I am amazed that it is branded as "Italian". I was born and raised in Italy, and this place is 100% Italian-American, which is a completely different cuisine. The meatballs were tasty, and made with good quality ingredients, however the sauce was en-par with a supermarket-bought one. The pizza wasn't terrible, but -- again -- no overlap at all with the Neapolitan pizza (which should be thin-crusted and slightly chew). This one was very doughy, with an absurd amount of mediocre cheese on top.The arancino was perhaps the best meal, although $10 for one seems really excessive.Terrible wine program, most wines are cheap bottles (at the wine store) with a x5 to x7 supercharge. A bottle of Sagrantino was $300.No sodas for the kids on the menu, you need to ask the server as an off-menu item. Home-made soda are priced around $8.Underwhelming cocktails -- they have Martini on draft, for $1 dollar less than the regular one, not sure what that means or accomplishes.I am sorry I sound bitter, as I understand all the challenges that restaurants have to deal with, but there is something really that bothered me in the overall management and approach of this place. Just not for me.Just got the owner's response. Just to clarify, mine is not a "bombing" review, I have no interest at all in the letting people down, and I am sorry, albeit not surprised -- given my experience -- that the owner does not seem to accept any form criticism. Again, I didn't mean to sound offensive, and was simply reporting my impressions. Yes, I feel (pretend? haha) I know a bit about good food and drinks. Google should definitely ban bombing review, but this is not one of those cases.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 2
Was very excited to try out this restaurant tonight and we had a reservation for 7:30pm. Arrived on time and was told the wait was 15 minutes even with a reservation. At the 30 minute mark, I was told there’s still no update and the kitchen is backed up (of course this is understandable), but over a 30 minute wait with a reservation is ridiculous. The restaurant was very busy and there were several other people waiting for their table as well. We had to tell them we’d be leaving because we couldn’t wait any longer. The atmosphere looked great, although I’m really not sure I’d return.
Service: 1
The food was delicious but we received very poor service. Our waitress was extremely attentive to the booths seated less than a foot away on either side of us, yet ignored our attempts to get her attention for almost the entirety our meal. Even after the entire section had cleared and we received our check we still had to wait 20 minutes for her to come take our card, when none of her other tables had to wait even 5 minutes to pay when she was much busier. If our server was clearly just extremely busy and unable to check in on anyone frequently I wouldn't have held it against her, but watching her give excellent service to all of her tables other than us made it difficult to enjoy what was an otherwise pleasant meal.
An absolute gem! Our dining experience was nothing short of exceptional. The ambience was delightful, setting the perfect tone for a memorable evening. The service was impeccable, with attentive staff ensuring every need was met promptly and courteously.As for the food, it was simply divine. We indulged in a feast of flavors, from the savory deep dish pizzas and succulent shrimp cocktail to the refreshing Caesar salad and flavorful meatballs. The hash browns were a delightful addition, adding a crispy texture to the meal. And let's not forget the cocktails and wine, expertly crafted and perfectly complementing our dishes.Overall, I cannot recommend this restaurant enough. Whether you're celebrating a special occasion or simply looking for an extraordinary dining experience, this place truly delivers on all fronts. A definite five-star destination!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Classic Deep Dish Pizza, Meatballs, Caesar Salad, Mozzarella Sticks
The Restaurant Week Lunch menu was superlative. It was light enough for lunch and flavorful. The shaved Ham Crostino with melon and the Classic Caesar made great appetizers. The Whole Wheat Bucatini was a generous portion and the chicken/peas/ with herb pesto was satisfying. But the dessert, Torta Caprese stole the show. The flourless chocolate cake with hazelnuts was so good.
We live down the street and can't believe it took us so long to get here. Good portions, good mocktails. A little bit tight in terms of space, we were two people wedged between two other couples dining, which is fine, but definitely would've liked a little more distance. Overall, great meal. We'll be back.
Looking for relaxed casual lunch on an unlimited budget and no schedule? Look no further.Crostino - beautiful, tasty but tiny.Caeser - huge, delicious, served without anchovies but available with $4 upcharge.Pizza (roasted tomato, burrata) - good choice, thin crust, generously toppedBucatini, whole wheat, chicken - disappointment.Olive oil cake - a hit. Should have ordered one for two people.Cocktail - "Spuma Nera"(?) Good tart foil for the OO cake.Very pleasant dining room - open, airy, widely-spaced seating but would probably be noisy when busy. There were only four tables occupied but they were all bunched together and when laughter erupted, it was LOUD.Service was gracious but unattentive and the delivery of dishes was poorly-paced and unsuitable. (All courses delivered separately, Caesar arrived first, anhcovies we requested for it arrived AFTER everything else but the cake.)We're don't often spend $80 for lunch for two and were expecting a more memorable experience.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Olive Oil Cake, Caesar Salad
Elegant, light-filled restaurant but they squander their gifts and menu ideas with sub-par execution. Josephine might make the best crust of any pizza anywhere, but they burden it with an excess of cheese. There's a tipping point, people, at which a thick layer of oily, rubbery mozzerella simply overwhelms superb crust and inventive toppings. If you go to Josephine, which I generally recommend, tell the waiter to tell the cooks to be judicious with the cheese. Otherwise, you'll have the gloppy specimens we had last night.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 2
Service: 5
Tables too densely packed together to be able to comfortably converse and eat plus lots of hard surfaces made for very loud experience. Overall food was too salty, not just the salad but also the tuna app, which was dry. Deep dish pizza was intense, yummy but a cheese bomb. Portions are huge which is a plus in some ways though we could have ordered half the amount we did had we known. Chicken parm seemed like four chicken breasts on one plate.
Deep dish pizza in Somerville finally! Excellent drinks menu, draft vodka martinis were quite good! Made a mistake of ordering three salty dishes, but next time I'll know better!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Crispy Rice Suppli, Caesar Salad
Restaurantji Recommends
Went here about 2 weeks ago with some friends and unfortunately was disappointed with the experience. The atmosphere is excellent. Very cool place and we were all really excited for some good food when we entered. Parking can be tough, but it's Somerville so can't hold that over them.Service was ok. It took A LONG time to get my drink while the other 3 people had there's for awhile. The waitress kept coming back asking if I had gotten my drink and I had to keep telling her no. No apology, just told me it should be there soon. It was decent when I received it (Old Fashioned), but nothing spectacular.Apps were good! We got the warm focaccia. A little heavy on the olive oil, but overall solid.I got the "Go Ask Alice" deep dish (this is mushroom, onions, peppers). Now I may not be from New York, but I can tell when a pizza lacks flavor. The sauce needed a lot of spices. The whole thing was oily. It also arrived UNCUT. A giant pizza that I had to cut and serve myself with a serrated knife. It is large and if it had been better flavor and consistency, it would have been worth the $32 price tag.Maybe pizza isn't their strong suit. My friends didn't like there's either unfortunately. If I decide to go back, I would try a different menu option. But do I feel the need to return? Unfortunately, no.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 4
Josephine is an underrated restaurant for brunch, also very good for dinner. For brunch, the mortazza is basically a monstrous calzone/sandwich, every bit as big as one of their personal pizzas but folded in half. They offer a few non-egg versions (caesar salad, meatball parm), but the one I got was the pecorino soft scramble - packed with a HUGE amount of incredibly soft scrambled eggs and cheese, hash browns (IN the sandwich, not on the side), and pancetta. One mortazza is more than enough for two hungry people to split, especially if you get one of the nice side dishes. Speaking of which - their blueberry coffee cake side is one of my my favorite "sweet" brunch dishes in Boston, equal even to the Baklava Pancakes from Brookline Lunch (sacrilege I know).For pizzas, the deep dish is pretty good, but the cacio-nara is my favorite - egg yolk, black pepper, cheese. The black pepper is incredibly mild on it (actually wouldn't mind if it had more a kick in the dish, but still good as-is), and it ends up just tasting like a REALLY NICE garlicky white pie. The crust on the regular (non deep dish) pizza is really soft and flakey, one of my favorites in the area.Since it's a pretty new restaurant, Brunch is still pretty accessible even without reservations. Given how crazy most Cambridge, Boston and Somerville restaurants get around that time, it's a great option if you don't feel like waiting 45 minutes to get into one of the more traditional well-loved spots in the area.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Cacio Pizza, Crispy Rice Suppli
The food was incredible, the drinks were great and the overall experience was very good. Only hang up was how slow things moved, our reservation was at 7 and we were sat until around 730, and drinks took quite a bit to make it to the table after ordering. It did seem like maybe they were a little understaffed for a Saturday night but honestly the host and waiter were very friendly and apologetic and overall the experience was great! Would highly recommend going, we would definitely go again!
Delicious menu perfect for hearty meal with family or friends. Something delicious for everyone. Deep dish pizza is to die for and the salads achieve the perfect balance of flavors. You
We always have the greatest time at Josephine. Drinks and food are fantastic and we really enjoyed the new spring menu. Chanel was a lovely server and really enhanced the overall experience. We'd love to gatekeep this gem, but cannot stop talking about it.