Oliver's Osteria
853 Laguna Canyon Road
Laguna Beach, CA 92651
I'm usually overly polite when I am out in public and dealing with people that are on the clock. It's probably my 30 plus years in the grocery business and seeing how awful a lot of people can be that is the reason for this. I do have my limit though. My politeness goes away when I'm hungry and I feel like I'm not being treated right. This was the way I felt at the start of our evening at Oliver's Osteria in Laguna Beach.
Let's start at the beginning. Oliver's opened in late October of 2018. There is no Oliver here, it's actually the name of Chef and Owner Erik De Marchi's son, who just happened to be born on the same day this restaurant opened. Talk about doing double duty. Chef De Marchi was born and raised in Italy, graduated from culinary school, moved to LA in 2002, and worked at the well known and respected Angelini Osteria in the Fairfax area of Los Angeles.
Oliver's is the culmination of all of his hard work. It's his first restaurant, and although it's not located in the heart of downtown Laguna, it's gotten some very positive press. Three stars and a glowing review from Orange Coast Magazine, numerous mentions in the OC Register, including Restaurant Critic Brad A. Johnson exclaiming that this is the best Italian restaurant to open in OC in many years. Oliver's gets 4 and a half stars on Yelp with close to 200 reviews and many OC based food journalists that I look up to and admire have cited Oliver's Osteria as the best Italian they have had outside of Italy. Big time praise indeed.
That brings us to our visit. We were going to be dining with our good friends Tom and Daniele, who had tried Oliver's food at the Taste of Laguna a few months ago, and were very eager to try this place. Anticipating a busy restaurant on a Friday evening, I made reservations for 8pm. We arrived five minutes prior to our time and were told that our table would be available in 15 minutes, which is not such a big deal, as it gave us time to catch up, and there's never any shortage of conversation between the four of us.
Around half-past 8 we inquired about our table and were told that our table would be ready soon, and they offered us each a glass of champagne. Nice touch, but I was getting hungry. As 8:50 rolled around we started to think about bolting for one of the other nearby Laguna restaurants. I imposed a 9pm cutoff time, but we were sat at a very small table right at the front entrance of the restaurant right before my arbitrary deadline time, which was an hour past our reservation time. My stomach was doing summersaults by this time.
This table was clearly meant for 2 people only, as both Tom and I were a big obstacle for the staff to get around each time one of them had to get by this high traffic area. Within five minutes we were on the move again to a much more comfortable table on the patio in the front of the restaurant. Truth be told, I was kind of over Oliver's by this time, thinking that no restaurant could be worth all of this hassle and wondering how I was going to write a fair and impartial review about the food we were going to have here. That was until I tasted the food here.
To make up for the long delay and switching tables they made us a Charcutturie Platter for the four of us to share. I did not see this on any of their menus, so I'm not really sure this is offered on a regular basis at Oliver's. This helped smooth things over in my mind, as it was a nice gesture and an even better charcuterie board. I really enjoyed all the meats It was a little light on the cheeses, but the blue cheese was a favorite.
Instead of just a boring bread basket, at Oliver's you get this elongated plate with homemade Foccacia and a little bowl of diced tomatoes to start out with. A kind of build your own bruschetta. Truth be told, I'm not really a big fan of chopped tomatoes so I let the three of them share this. They all remarked how fresh the tomatoes were and were marinated nicely. I did try the bread, which I found to be light and spongy.
Entree time and Tom was very excited about trying one of their dinner specials, the Spaghetti Scoglio ($32). This seafood-centric dish had a whole cavalcade of seafood in it; mussels, calamari rings, clams, and I believe lobster pieces. Tom was as exuberant as I've ever seen him with this meal, and I've enjoyed many meals with him over the years. The seafood was fresh, they did not try to do too much with it, and the pasta, which I spied some black squid pasta included here was some of the best he has had outside of Italy. Very high praise from Tom, who definitely knows good food when he has it.
I was a little surprised that Katie went with the Strozzapreti Alla Norcini ($28) on this evening. She was sure glad she did. This utilized the hand-rolled twist pasta and included ground sausage, a black truffle for richness, and a touch of cream to the sauce. A very balanced dish, it hit high notes of richness, without being too overbearing. Katie cleared her plate rather quickly, as she exclaimed that this was the best pasta dish she has consumed in a very long time.
This Ravioli Burro Salvia ($24) did what I thought would be impossible. It kept our good friend Daniele quiet for almost five minutes straight. A new personal best, and some much-needed relief to her dear husband, Tom I'm sure. All kidding aside, this spinach and ricotta ravioli was nicely executed and finished off with a very nice butter sage sauce. Daniele, who practices portion control when we eat out, was having a hard time stopping herself from eating all of this. Another winning entree for our table.
I was hoping that the winning streak would continue with my pick on this late evening, the Lasagna Classico ($26). It did. This was one of the lightest, but best lasagnas I have had. It had both a bechamel sauce and a meat ragu, which is always a great combo. I was a little skeptical that this was going to fill me up, but it did. Not like any Americanized lasagna I have had. This made me very excited to come back and try more of their menu very soon.
Truth be told, I'm not really a big fan of Italian desserts, but everyone else wanted to give them a try. We settled on Tiramisu ($12) and the Semifreddo Zabaione ($12). The tiramisu was a little too heavy on the coffee flavor for my tastes, but the others really seemed to like it. I'm just weird and am not a fan of tiramisu normally. The zabaione was better, as it seemed kind of like a scoop of french vanilla ice cream, but not as sweet and not as structured. It was fine, but I'd probably skip this next time we visited Oliver's.
This is my new favorite authentic Italian restaurant in OC. Even with the hour wait with a reservation, the switching of the tables, and the desserts that were not too much to my liking, I eagerly look forward to coming back to Oliver's to experience more of their authentic Italian cuisine. Be advised that the menu is seasonal, so it does change every so often, but based on this visit, I don't think you will have trouble finding something delicious to consume at Oliver's. Our server Marco had the difficult task of serving four very hungry people who were not in the best of moods when we sat down, but he did a wonderful job of making us converts. Prices are a tad on the high side, but I'd argue that you are paying for heightened Italian food, which is always worth it in the end. It's also worth the minor hiccups that we experienced from the front of the house staff.
Out of five Ferrari's, (because Chef De Marchi is from Imola, Italy, which used to host the San Marino Grand Prix, and that car brand won the race more than any other), five being best to zero being worst, Oliver's Osteria gets 4 Ferrari's.
For more information about Oliver's Osteria, head to their website here: https://oliversosteria.com/
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