absolutely outstanding. i can't believe that in all the time i've lived in kansas city, i had not tried osteria il centro until my birthday last night! we had a fantastic time and every aspect of the dining experience was excellent. i was a little worried because it's small and they don't take reservations but we got there around 5 pm and were able to be seated easily. loved the corner table closest to the kitchen because it was away from the door and had a divider behind the part facing the walkway to the kitchen. service was absolutely outstanding - from bobby, who was great. checked on us frequently but not intrusively at all. food was amazing. i've long been complaining about the overall general lack of quality italian restaurants in kc and i will complain no more before i've found my spot. now, sure i'm hard to please but come on i think you'll agre we don't have all that many quality italian restaurants in kc.
we started out with two appetizers - which, by the way were apparently half price until 6 pm (on saturday, that's great!) - the shrimp on artichoke bottoms, and the goat cheese spread with toast points. both were excellent but i have to say the shrimp on artichoke was out of this world. artichoke bottoms perfectly shaped to house the shrimp sitting atop them. delicious drizzle of olive oil and some fresh diced red pepper to garnish them. goat cheese spread was really nice, too, smooth and tasty. at the last minute, we also ordered the caprese and it was one of the tastiest fresh mozzarellas i’ve had, on top of delicious tomatoes. another hit. i couldn’t decide what to order for my entrée, though. i’m a big eggplant parm fan and everyone who reviewed oic seemed to love the chicken walnut pasta as well, and my third consideration was the orrechiette carbonara. i told bobby our server that i was torn and he said “okay i’ve eaten here many times, of course, and i’ve got a lot of experience with our menu, so i’ll surprise you.” and i loved that approach! so i put my trust in bobby and he delivered the orecchiette carbonara. and i was so glad he did because it was amazing. sometimes carbonara is too heavy on the cream, or too liquidy, or too pancetta-y. nope, this was right on the mark. creamy, delicious sauce, not too heavy on the pancetta but you could definitely taste thegreatpancetta flavor. and not too eggy either. extremely happy with that dish! my wife had pasta romagna and i tasted it and thought it was great, a light sauce, really very little sauce, which is fine. whole wheat penne, fresh, delicious spinach, freshly grated parmeggiano reggiano on top, garlic and olive oil. i loved it, my wife liked it not quite as much as i did, she’s not as big a garlic fan as i am. but still definitely agreatdish. for dessert, i again put my trust in bobby because i was torn between the tiramisu i’d heard so much about and the chocolate crème brulee. he said he’d surprise me, brought out the tiramisu and it was everything everyone said. unbelieveable. we’ve traveled a lot and eaten at a lot of excellent italian restaurants in ny, sf, chicago and this tiramisu met or exceeded all of the best ones i’ve ever had. could be the best. coffee was delicious, too, by the way.
bobby was really personable and an outstanding server, the ambience was excellent, cozy, and the food was absolutely top notch. this was our first but by no means will it be our last visit to oic.