Osteria 166!! Absolutely the best food in Buffalo and our favorite hands down Italian restaurant with the best meatballs I ever had besides my grandma's, that I haven't had since she passed, so these are now the best I can get. The menu is great with something for everyone and whatever you're in the mood for from flatbread pizza to homemade pasta with the most amazing sauces, delicious salads, fantastic steak and the freshest Italian desserts. if you can save room. We have to get them to go home. It's so hard to decide that we get several things and go family style sharing and going around the menu. bravo Nani in the meatballs! they are a must! great friendly service and beautiful atmosphere. sometimes the acoustic music in the bar. what a gem we love walking distance to the theater district, we try to go before shows and park and enjoy the evening starting with the best meal and drinks before a show downtown. Don't think twice about trying this place! make reservations.
Kevin Zilliox
Food was not great, below average, Caesar salad had flavorless dressing and anchovies, yuk. Bolognaise had very little flavor and an odd flavor I can’t describe. Service was good though, atmosphere sucked.
Martin Becker
We reserve a table for 6.
Me, my wife and 4 kids.
The food, ok.
When I look at the check, they charge me with a "Party charge of 22%". Because we are so many.
This is my 6 time in the US, we have been in Canada, mexico, panama, brasil, peru, colombia, argentina, chile, spain, italy, holland, germany, etc, and we havent seen this before.
I can understand it, if I make a birthday party, but if so, they have got to tell it before, no after.
Samantha Deierlein
The Osteria restaurant is one of our favorites as a couple, so having Osteria cater the wedding was an absolute dream. The food choices all sounded fabulous (and tastes even better), making it exceptionally difficult to choose at our tasting, but we were so incredibly happy with our choices. Alyssa and Shannon promised they would take care of us to make sure the day went smoothly and they absolutely did. Alyssa answered every email, question, and phone call with clear answers and assured me continuously throughout the two-year process of planning our wedding. It was really important to us to have signature cocktails for our three kitties and a specific beer option from my groom’s hometown: Shannon promised us she would deliver and absolutely followed through. She personally bartended our wedding and gave us the dream experience. Most people told us “oh you won’t eat at your wedding”, which I told Osteria was unacceptable (I really wanted to eat the delicious food we selected!) and they made sure that we were able to enjoy our meal and even taste the appetizers we missed from taking photos during cocktail hour! Every staff member who arrived on site was exceptionally professional and so kind. They helped my day-of-coordinator set up tables, made sure we as the bride and groom were cared for, and paced the whole dinner service to perfection. I could tell that every single staff member genuinely cared about providing us a memorable experience, and everything was absolutely perfect to me. Considering how important food and beverage is to us in our daily lives (we’re big foodies), we really wanted to showcase that love on our wedding day and Osteria absolutely delivered.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
J B
Unfortunately this is tough because I would give their food 4 stars, but their bar 2 stars. Wedding food is wedding food at the end of the day to all of us. It was hot and flavorful enough, but for the price that they charge I expected more. They are more expensive than Rich’s but will never compare in terms of service and quality. For example, I expected their staff to check on us during dinner and grab us drinks but our DJ saw that we had only water to toast with for our speeches and went to the bar to grab us cocktails. We ordered the top shelf bar package and at the suggestion of the catering manager put menus on the bar that were supposed to reflect the inventory and help make it easier for guests to decide on their drinks. My husband ordered a crown and coke and our poor DJ had to break the news that crown wasn’t available and we had house whiskey. His signature cocktail was supposed to be made with makers mark and we then found out that wasn’t available either. So imagine in the middle of dinner when the bar has already been open for over an hour that we did not have the package that we paid for that we had to fend for ourselves to try and fix the situation. But it was already too late. The owner ran to the liquor store and replaced the missing bottles, but he didn’t display them properly and just threw them in the well so only people knew by word of mouth which was an absolutely poor decision on his part. I didn’t find this out until the day after or I would’ve made an announcement to the guests apologizing to them and acknowledged their mistake. Funnily enough, the week before the wedding I had a meeting with every single vendor except them. I asked the catering manager if one was necessary and she said no everything is going to be perfect. I trusted her because our communication had been so impeccable during the planning process, but they dropped the ball hard for me. I have no idea how it’s possible to make these mistakes when there was literally a banquet order and a timeline available through them that we set up together. If you’re considering them, proceed with caution because I would hate for another bride to feel the embarrassment that I feel about printing menus for a top shelf bar and the mixers and then not delivering it. They gave us a marginally small refund for the troubles. Truly no amount of money could replace the shame and disappointment. And what an easy fix it could’ve been if it was noticed before we had to notice it ourselves. It is absolutely baffling that the manager and owner were both on site with a copy of the banquet order and saw the menus on the bar and just didn’t correct their mistake. Truly shady and just an absolute embarrassment. My final complaint was that they told us it was time to cut the cake and we did but then I looked down and that there was no fork or plate on the dessert table whatsoever so we fed each other with our hands which was not the look I was going for. They were understaffed and underprepared and I could see it on the staff members faces the entire evening. It was very apparent they were in the weeds at almost all times. Before cocktail hour even began they called my maid of honor multiple times and it was obvious from that moment that they didn’t have it together. This hits hard when your food and bar is your biggest investment of the entire day. All of these mistakes added up to be a myriad of failures and I am sorely disappointed. I will never recommend them and working with them is my only regret of my entire wedding. Every other detail about our wedding was absolutely perfect. Things go wrong at weddings and I completely understand that but when it’s apparent that you don’t care enough to make an easy fix it is truly is mind blowing. Osteria please do better and provide your customers with what they paid for.
Douglas Lawson
Food was decent. Nothing spectacular. Staff was friendly and the ambiance is nice.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Laura Paolucci
a large party with 5 of 9 orders served poorly prepared (busses sprout app, kids mac&cheese, clam & scallop entree and a burnt chicken parm). server poor, atmosphere loud & restroom dirty. Will not be back
Eddy Fangman
Classy place, reasonable and good food.I would recommend more salt and spices on the steak sandwich. Needs a bit of a crust. Bur it was great.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Dmd1231
Visiting my daughter at UB for family weekend, she wanted ‘good’ Italian food. This place certainly did not disappoint! The decor and feel was welcoming. Big portions (which means leftovers for college students) and great service. We’ll definitely be back!
Skipfishy
The restaurant is tucked away in a corner of a huge bldg in the middle of downtown. Once you enter you are greeted warmly by the staff. The bar is nice with a friendly bartender who supplied us with our preferred drinks. The staff was friendly and efficient and the food was wonderful! The brussel sprouts and meatballs were delicious. The oysters were clean and fresh. The Chilean Sea Bass was cooked perfectly and the sauce was delicious! Definitely a must do when in downtown Buffalo!
We were seated in a two person table in the middle of the dining room and it was quite loud. But the food and service were excellent and overall it was a very good dining experience. Probably would have got 5 stars had we lucked out a bit and had a table with a bit more privacy. Would go again which is always a good sign!
Tony Avino
The food is amazing, service was incredible and the atmosphere was great!! one of the best Buffalo has to offer!!!!
Renee M
We had reservations but ended up getting two seats at the bar and we had a wonderful time. The bartenders were so welcoming and the other customers were having such a great time that we decided to stay there. The food, drinks, music and company was excellent. We'll be back!
Eve Alexandria
My boyfriend and I went here on Saturday for an early Valentine’s Day dinner and it was perfect! We wanted to go somewhere we could dress up but wasn’t overly priced and had food we would actually like. We came across Osteria 166 by chance and decided to give it a try. So glad we did! I definitely recommend this place!
Bradtrytis
Amazing meal and experience. What a little gem in downtown Buffalo. Place was hopping for a Tuesday night. Started the meal with the Meatball and focaccia appetizers. Both were excellent. Dinner was amazing. Wife has parsnip and pancetta agnolotti. It was so unique and delicious. I enjoyed the bucatini carbonara. The teenagers ate chicken Milanese and chicken parm (gluten free). Everyone was very happy. Will recommend to any friends coming to Buffalo.
Osteria 166!! Absolutely the best food in Buffalo and our favorite hands down Italian restaurant with the best meatballs I ever had besides my grandma's, that I haven't had since she passed, so these are now the best I can get. The menu is great with something for everyone and whatever you're in the mood for from flatbread pizza to homemade pasta with the most amazing sauces, delicious salads, fantastic steak and the freshest Italian desserts. if you can save room. We have to get them to go home. It's so hard to decide that we get several things and go family style sharing and going around the menu. bravo Nani in the meatballs! they are a must! great friendly service and beautiful atmosphere. sometimes the acoustic music in the bar. what a gem we love walking distance to the theater district, we try to go before shows and park and enjoy the evening starting with the best meal and drinks before a show downtown. Don't think twice about trying this place! make reservations.
Food was not great, below average, Caesar salad had flavorless dressing and anchovies, yuk. Bolognaise had very little flavor and an odd flavor I can’t describe. Service was good though, atmosphere sucked.
We reserve a table for 6. Me, my wife and 4 kids. The food, ok. When I look at the check, they charge me with a "Party charge of 22%". Because we are so many. This is my 6 time in the US, we have been in Canada, mexico, panama, brasil, peru, colombia, argentina, chile, spain, italy, holland, germany, etc, and we havent seen this before. I can understand it, if I make a birthday party, but if so, they have got to tell it before, no after.
The Osteria restaurant is one of our favorites as a couple, so having Osteria cater the wedding was an absolute dream. The food choices all sounded fabulous (and tastes even better), making it exceptionally difficult to choose at our tasting, but we were so incredibly happy with our choices. Alyssa and Shannon promised they would take care of us to make sure the day went smoothly and they absolutely did. Alyssa answered every email, question, and phone call with clear answers and assured me continuously throughout the two-year process of planning our wedding. It was really important to us to have signature cocktails for our three kitties and a specific beer option from my groom’s hometown: Shannon promised us she would deliver and absolutely followed through. She personally bartended our wedding and gave us the dream experience. Most people told us “oh you won’t eat at your wedding”, which I told Osteria was unacceptable (I really wanted to eat the delicious food we selected!) and they made sure that we were able to enjoy our meal and even taste the appetizers we missed from taking photos during cocktail hour! Every staff member who arrived on site was exceptionally professional and so kind. They helped my day-of-coordinator set up tables, made sure we as the bride and groom were cared for, and paced the whole dinner service to perfection. I could tell that every single staff member genuinely cared about providing us a memorable experience, and everything was absolutely perfect to me. Considering how important food and beverage is to us in our daily lives (we’re big foodies), we really wanted to showcase that love on our wedding day and Osteria absolutely delivered.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Unfortunately this is tough because I would give their food 4 stars, but their bar 2 stars. Wedding food is wedding food at the end of the day to all of us. It was hot and flavorful enough, but for the price that they charge I expected more. They are more expensive than Rich’s but will never compare in terms of service and quality.
For example, I expected their staff to check on us during dinner and grab us drinks but our DJ saw that we had only water to toast with for our speeches and went to the bar to grab us cocktails. We ordered the top shelf bar package and at the suggestion of the catering manager put menus on the bar that were supposed to reflect the inventory and help make it easier for guests to decide on their drinks. My husband ordered a crown and coke and our poor DJ had to break the news that crown wasn’t available and we had house whiskey. His signature cocktail was supposed to be made with makers mark and we then found out that wasn’t available either. So imagine in the middle of dinner when the bar has already been open for over an hour that we did not have the package that we paid for that we had to fend for ourselves to try and fix the situation. But it was already too late. The owner ran to the liquor store and replaced the missing bottles, but he didn’t display them properly and just threw them in the well so only people knew by word of mouth which was an absolutely poor decision on his part. I didn’t find this out until the day after or I would’ve made an announcement to the guests apologizing to them and acknowledged their mistake.
Funnily enough, the week before the wedding I had a meeting with every single vendor except them. I asked the catering manager if one was necessary and she said no everything is going to be perfect. I trusted her because our communication had been so impeccable during the planning process, but they dropped the ball hard for me. I have no idea how it’s possible to make these mistakes when there was literally a banquet order and a timeline available through them that we set up together.
If you’re considering them, proceed with caution because I would hate for another bride to feel the embarrassment that I feel about printing menus for a top shelf bar and the mixers and then not delivering it. They gave us a marginally small refund for the troubles. Truly no amount of money could replace the shame and disappointment. And what an easy fix it could’ve been if it was noticed before we had to notice it ourselves. It is absolutely baffling that the manager and owner were both on site with a copy of the banquet order and saw the menus on the bar and just didn’t correct their mistake. Truly shady and just an absolute embarrassment. My final complaint was that they told us it was time to cut the cake and we did but then I looked down and that there was no fork or plate on the dessert table whatsoever so we fed each other with our hands which was not the look I was going for.
They were understaffed and underprepared and I could see it on the staff members faces the entire evening. It was very apparent they were in the weeds at almost all times. Before cocktail hour even began they called my maid of honor multiple times and it was obvious from that moment that they didn’t have it together. This hits hard when your food and bar is your biggest investment of the entire day. All of these mistakes added up to be a myriad of failures and I am sorely disappointed. I will never recommend them and working with them is my only regret of my entire wedding. Every other detail about our wedding was absolutely perfect. Things go wrong at weddings and I completely understand that but when it’s apparent that you don’t care enough to make an easy fix it is truly is mind blowing. Osteria please do better and provide your customers with what they paid for.
Food was decent. Nothing spectacular. Staff was friendly and the ambiance is nice.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
a large party with 5 of 9 orders served poorly prepared (busses sprout app, kids mac&cheese, clam & scallop entree and a burnt chicken parm). server poor, atmosphere loud & restroom dirty. Will not be back
Classy place, reasonable and good food.I would recommend more salt and spices on the steak sandwich. Needs a bit of a crust. Bur it was great.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Visiting my daughter at UB for family weekend, she wanted ‘good’ Italian food. This place certainly did not disappoint! The decor and feel was welcoming. Big portions (which means leftovers for college students) and great service. We’ll definitely be back!
The restaurant is tucked away in a corner of a huge bldg in the middle of downtown. Once you enter you are greeted warmly by the staff. The bar is nice with a friendly bartender who supplied us with our preferred drinks. The staff was friendly and efficient and the food was wonderful! The brussel sprouts and meatballs were delicious. The oysters were clean and fresh. The Chilean Sea Bass was cooked perfectly and the sauce was delicious! Definitely a must do when in downtown Buffalo!
Restaurantji Recommends
We were seated in a two person table in the middle of the dining room and it was quite loud. But the food and service were excellent and overall it was a very good dining experience. Probably would have got 5 stars had we lucked out a bit and had a table with a bit more privacy. Would go again which is always a good sign!
The food is amazing, service was incredible and the atmosphere was great!! one of the best Buffalo has to offer!!!!
We had reservations but ended up getting two seats at the bar and we had a wonderful time. The bartenders were so welcoming and the other customers were having such a great time that we decided to stay there. The food, drinks, music and company was excellent. We'll be back!
My boyfriend and I went here on Saturday for an early Valentine’s Day dinner and it was perfect! We wanted to go somewhere we could dress up but wasn’t overly priced and had food we would actually like. We came across Osteria 166 by chance and decided to give it a try. So glad we did! I definitely recommend this place!
Amazing meal and experience. What a little gem in downtown Buffalo. Place was hopping for a Tuesday night. Started the meal with the Meatball and focaccia appetizers. Both were excellent. Dinner was amazing. Wife has parsnip and pancetta agnolotti. It was so unique and delicious. I enjoyed the bucatini carbonara. The teenagers ate chicken Milanese and chicken parm (gluten free). Everyone was very happy. Will recommend to any friends coming to Buffalo.
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