Osteria Ester offers warm Italian-American hospitality in Orlando's Thornton Park. It's known for its cozy neighborhood ambiance, beautiful and elegant decor with warm lighting, and a focus on handmade Italian cuisine using seasonal flavors. The restaurant also features a selection of Italian wines and classic cocktails.
Customer Perception
Customer feedback for Osteria Ester is generally positive, highlighting excellent service, a great ambiance, and delicious food, particularly the meatballs, lasagna rotolo, hearth-roasted chicken, and gnocchi. Many appreciate the fresh ingredients and well-portioned dishes for the quality. However, some reviews mention that appetizers can be small and not ideal for sharing. There are mixed opinions on desserts, with some praising the tiramisu and others finding it disappointing. A few customers felt the overall value for the price was not always met, leading to a mixed experience despite good individual dishes.
Vegetarian options likely available (e.g., pasta without meat)Mocktails available
Best Times to Visit
Osteria Ester is open for dinner Tuesday through Saturday from 5:00 PM to 10:00 PM, and for Sunday Brunch from 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Reservations are recommended, especially for dinner, as the restaurant can fill up quickly.
3
So we saw this place on TikTok and we decided to go check them out yesterday, It was a special occasion as my son is leaving for the Navy so we wanted to do something really nice and his favorite food is Italian. So my mom is born and raising Italy and I lived in Italy for two decades before moving back to the states so needless to say my pallet is definitely exquisite in finding good Italian Kimmy challenging. With that said, the restaurant is beautiful. The food looked amazing when it came out when it came out fast service was excellent. The server also went out of her way to give my son a free dessert to congratulate him for his enlistment, but Not everything that is gold sparkles. We ordered three appetizers for entrées and four desserts, The appetizers were OK. They had very good taste of them, but they were very small. Definitely not shareable., Then came our main course my son is by far Pita). He’s very adventurous and likes to try various different things and what he chose off the menu as soon as he took a bite it was not to his liking so I tried to just to make sure if he was right or wrong and I would have to cook her it was not good. My dish was excellent. My husband and daughter’s dish were OK, nothing to Rave about. The worst part of the dinner had to be dessert, I am a huge tiramisu gal, and this is by far the worst I’ve ever had. So my total check was $300 and this is the first time in a long time that I’m feeling regretful of spending this kind of money, Are we gonna return probably not so it’s kind of a mixed bag for us it was good to appoint but nothing grand. A tester photos of what we ordered it’s a very small menu so pretty much this is half of the menu right here Lol
We had an amazing experience tonight! Our waitress Paige was fantastic. She was so kind, attentive, and really helpful when walking us through the menu.
Everything we tried was delicious, and we definitely went a little overboard ordering for just the two of us. We started with the focaccia and meatballs, and for our main dishes we split the lasagna rotolo, gnocchi sardo, and the hearth roasted half chicken.
Every dish was packed with flavor. The meatballs were honestly some of the best I’ve had. I wish I would have asked for some Parmesan for the meatballs, but it didn’t take away from the dish. The chicken was thick, juicy, and cooked perfectly. The Marsala sauce with it was excellent! The gnocchi was creamy and super filling, and the lasagna portion was huge, which makes for good leftovers!
We were so full we grabbed the house made tiramisu to go. Overall, such a great meal and we’ll absolutely be back!
We had a great experience last night. We had no reservations and luckily there was two open bar seats. A few minutes later it was all filled. Page and Becka were both great mixologists and servers, friendly and professional. Both food and drink were amazing. Come find out for yourself. We had Bolognese and a la vodka. We started with Crostini bread, Esther salad and finished with gelato. Yum.
We had a really nice experience at Ester. The restaurant itself is beautiful, with perfectly warm lighting that creates a very cozy and elegant atmosphere. The service was genuinely very good throughout the evening, and the bar drinks were excellent.
Our appetizers were overall okay. The charcuterie board definitely stood out and was very enjoyable. However, the fried polenta was not particularly memorable, and the carpaccio, with its new smaller portion size, felt a bit underwhelming
For the main courses, the lasagna was very good, flavorful and well prepared. My Wagyu steak was also good and cooked properly. Overall, it was a pleasant dining experience with a great ambiance and excellent service
It’s rare to find a place that truly lives up to the hype, but this one exceeded our expectations. We stopped in for a last-minute dinner and were blown away. We sat at the bar, and Samantha provided outstanding service from start to finish.
The food was incredibly fresh, delicious, and well-portioned for the quality and price.
We tried both mocktails and each was a 10/10: earthy, refreshing, and not overly sweet. The focaccia came out warm and crispy, perfectly paired with balsamic and oil. The lasagna was easily an 11/10 absolutely delicious. For dessert, the tiramisu stood out with its rich espresso taste while still being very light. The boudin dessert was a bit sweeter and also so good!
Overall, an amazing experience & we’ll definitely be back.
