Osteria Morini

218 Lafayette Street
New York, NY  10012
212.965.8777
www.osteriamorini.com


So for my birthday, a bunch of us went to Osteria Morini for dinner.  We had made a reservation for 8 people and got a family style dinner.  The restaurant lives up to its billing as a casual Italian restaurant with an emphasis on a home-style family meal.  The furnishings were eclectic, mismatched and you really did feel like you were sitting in someone's dining room just off the kitchen.  Even the serving plates and dishes had that floral pattern that everyone associates with your grandparents or something you grew up with.

I was excited to come and eat at Osteria Morini since its reputation is pretty impeccable.  I wish I could say that I remember more about the meal but due to my afternoon adventures, I could barely discern the dishes we had a chance to enjoy.  On top of that, we had ordered an inordinate amount of food, so much so that I think they thought we had a table for 15 rather than just eight people.  I do have pictures of the food but I would only be guessing at the names of the dish much less writing about how they tasted.  They're also not of the best quality.  I will say that from what I remember tasting, the food was spot on and what you expect if you wanted a cozy, homemade Italian meal.  The restaurant does not pretend to be anything else but that and if you expect more cutting edge cuisine then you would be disappointed but you shouldn't be there in the first place.

Now, you're probably wondering why I even wrote a review since I obscured my viewpoint from my afternoon at The Wren, Stanton Social, and Freemans.  While I enjoyed sampling the various drinks from those places, it probably wasn't my best judgement call to sample too much before such a great dinner.  But, like I've always said, enjoying a restaurant is much more than just the food.  This dinner was a bunch of great friends sitting around enjoying each other's company over a wonderful spread of a meal.  The setting was perfect and the idea of sharing food family style along with free flowing conversation was something anyone would want for their birthday.  I found the experience to be extremely memorable and just goes to show you that eating and food is a sum of the people you eat with and the setting that you eat in.