Bartolino's Osteria

Good Italian in a surprising location (lobby of a Drury Inn?!).

Nothing fancy. Nothing too special. Big portions. A little pricey for the pretty straightforward food.

Probably three star food -- nothing to write home about -- but our server, who was absolutely fabulous, earned the extra. In fact I'd say in general, everyone we came across at the restaurant was welcoming and upbeat.

Bread and bread sticks with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and grated Parmesan came to the table to get us started.

Three of us shared the appetizer sampler, which was fun -- a little bit of everything from stuffed mushrooms to fried mozzarella sticks, fried ravioli, and a cannoli -- all of which were predictably good for these hungry diners.

One spinach salad with fried artichoke -- perfectly good. One short rib pasta that was delicious and HUGE. And one halibut special that was tasty, if way too heavy on the cream sauce for this diner.

I enjoyed my cocktail and the red by the glass recommended by our server; my companion was less impressed by the Pinot Grigio and Sauvignon Blanc.

It's a perfectly good family kind of meal: simple, ample, nothing too fancy, served in a buzzy room that made us forget we were in a hotel lobby. Probably not a destination restaurant, but certainly worth a stop if you have the desire for big Italian.

Night out planned with some friends to celebrate my birthday. I studied the menus well and looked at pictures on yelp. The two things that swayed me here was a cocktail on their website menu that sounded absolutely delicious, the Raspberry Bourbon Smash, and the pictures on Yelp of the Tiramisu. When you book online to make reservations you actually have to give your charge card as they could charge you $15 a person for a no-show or late cancellation. On the reservation it asked if we were celebrating anything so we indicated a birthday celebration. Normally the ambience is great here, but we were sat at the very last booth right by the door where the hotel guest come and leave from. Honestly didn't see much of the restaurant back there.
Our waiter introduced himself and asked us if we had been here before and if we were celebrating anything. My friend told him that we were celebrating my birthday. I was looking at the cocktail menu and to my disappointment I did not see the Raspberry Bourbon Smash. It was a different menu than the cocktails on their website. I asked if they had it. He checked and said they didn't have the ingredients anymore so we settled for sangria.
We ordered the sampler appetizer platter. When it arrived to the table, it had 1 cannelloni that we could split 4 ways, 4 stuffed mushrooms, 4 fried cheese sticks, 4 toasted raviolis, and only 3 broiled shrimp. Why would you only get 3 shrimp? It seems like it should've been 4 for $26. I forfeited my shrimp so the others could try it. My husband said the stuffed mushrooms was the best he ever had. So I traded him mine for his cheese stick so he could enjoy another. The others said the same thing about the mushrooms. The cheese sticks and cannelloni were really good. The shrimp they said was just OK so I guess I didn't miss out. The toasted raviolis were hit and miss. Two of them were stuffed full and two were pretty hollow.
Onto the main course. My husband ordered the Tortellini Con Piselli. It is always delicious (rich and creamy) and always a very large serving. The other two ordered the special of the day, a fish dish which they said was very tasty and the Salmon Carsiofi which they said was cooked perfect and a very large serving. I ordered the Chicken Spiedini. I had high hopes for it, but honestly it was just OK. We all thought it should've been cooked a little bit more. It was very pale and soggy. I actually only ate one of them and took the other one home so I could reheat it and make it crispy. For my side I was torn between a baked potato or pasta. The waiter said you're at an Italian restaurant so you should probably get the pasta so I went with that. I ordered the pasta with pink sauce. When my meal came, I took a couple bites of it and I knew it was incorrect. He came back to the table and I asked him if this was the pink sauce. He looked at it and said oh no that's the marinara sauce. He took it back to the kitchen and came out with the pink. This was way better, very delicious and creamy.
Now onto the desert, the one thing I was waiting for. I saw the pictures of their delicious tiramisu on Yelp so I knew that this is what I wanted to order. When they brought our desserts and she put it in front of me I said, oh no, I ordered the tiramisu. She said this is the tiramisu. I was like no that's not what it looked like on Yelp it's square and... She said oh we serve it like this sometimes. I was so disappointed it basically looked like pudding in a cup. No ladyfingers in it and half the size of the pictures on Yelp, but it still cost $13. Considering that this was the one factor why I chose this restaurant you can just imagine my disappointment. I honestly can't even tell you how it tasted because when I was eating it all I could think of was this is not a tiramisu from a fine Italian restaurant. It was something you would get off of a buffet. All I have to say is if you come here and you want tiramisu ask them before you order if it's the good homemade tiramisu that comes in a square slice with ladyfingers or if it's like pudding in a cup. We were so confused why they kept asking us if we were celebrating anything because they never did anything for my birthday. I'm not sure if they normally do and the waiter just forgot. My friends ordered the strawberry cheesecake which looked absolutely delicious and a dessert drink called the brown squirrel, which they said was very rich, creamy and wonderful.
All and all we had a good time and good conversation throughout the dinner. We were there for a couple of hours. Our bill, including tip for the four of us was $335. That was for four cocktails, one combination appetizer, four entrées, two desserts, and one dessert cocktail. I guess I wouldn't have minded paying that if I had been able to get what I really wanted. I think the tiramisu was just a big disappointment at the end.

Last night, March 26th, 5 family members and myself sat for a 5:30 pm reservation. Five of six meals, appetizers and salads were very good. I ordered Cavatelli Con Broccoli which came looking like a soup! The pasta was so watery and I was so disappointed as it is my favorite pasta! The fork I was given was hardly ample to pick up much more than 2-3 pasta noodles. I asked our server for a spoon, which offered ample space to pick up more pasta noodles and some broccolini. But the pasta was absolutely tasteless!
For a restaurant that brags about having the best St. Louis Italian restaurants, they fell short on my meal!

Let's just start with the amazing service that Rose provided. From my initial contact with get she was welcoming and helpful. You would have never known it but I was sitting right next to the owner at the bar but he was so casual and helpful in recommending a dish that I didn't know he was the owner until Rose told me. The restaurants strong and decor is casual yet classy. Now, the food...the Cavatelli Alla Vodka..AMAZING. Fried Calamari has fried spinach that I will be willing to fly back from California just to have again! Really recommend this restaurant. Authentic to a T.

The waiter hardly came to our table. Our chicken was so hard that we ate less than half of it. The pasta noodles were hard and bland. They charged us for a Caesar salad when they said the salad comes with it and we asked for Caesar dressing. We were also not informed that there was a splitting charge. It just said our chicken was $31 without any explanation. I've been here many times and it continues to get worse and worse.

4 guest 6pm reservation Wednesday March 27. Melissa our server was very attentive and personable. We started with drinks and wine and a combination appetizer consisting of shrimp scampi,toasted ravioli,fried cheese,cannelloni, and seafood stuffed mushrooms, all fabulous. Salads next with house made creamy Italian dressing(yum). Dinner consisted of Chicken modiga, Chicken Ferri, Steak Modiga, and Angel hair Roseanne with shrimp and scallops and added blackened Salmon to it.(extraordinar). Intirely to stuffed for dessert, but had a great selection. The lighting and entire atmosphere was very relaxing and great for conversation. Wednesday night is great for bottles of wine under 50.00 dollars are half price

Solid Italian food with lots of choices. We decided to go beyond the core pasta and had shrimp pasta and a scallops dish. Lots of choices including veal dishes, chicken dishes, calamari, and great eggplant parmigiana. Service was on the slow side. Desserts were phenomenal. Great for the price.

Tasty Italian. I've been here a few times and it has never disappointed. Service is always very good. Love the angel hair pasta. Very fresh. Restaurant is always very clean. Connected to a Drury hotel. If you are staying there... you don't have to go far for great food!

Lovely place for our large group meeting (20+). for lunch. I ate way too much. The sole was fantastic ! Large servings. Loved the salad. Broccoli was very good, but the stem a bit black as if it had not been trimmed before preparing. It was easy just to cut that part off.

Waiter was excellent. Managed all our orders effortlessly and efficiently.

Sat at a table in the bar so we could hear music. Waitress/bartender was great. How she remembered 4 orders with all the sides was beyond me. Food was very good although I did to send mine back bc it was raw (Shrimp stuffed with crab). This actually made me doubt that the food was made from scratch. A bit disappointing but once my food was fully cooked it was good. We got the bruschetta appetizer which was a surprise bc there were 3 different types, 2 of each. They have a huge menu and several options sounded great.