Osteria Brooklyn ★9.3

Osteria Brooklyn: A Sardinian’s Life Story, Served in Clinton Hill

Most Italian restaurants borrow from the boot; this one answers to an island. Osteria Brooklyn is the Clinton Hill home of chef Raffaele Solinas of Alghero, Sardinia — a dining room where handmade malloreddus and honey-drenched seadas share the menu with tableside pasta finished in a parmigiano wheel.

The Concept

Solinas has spent more than thirty years in New York’s kitchens: he started at sixteen, trained professionally, cooked on Princess Cruises and in Manhattan dining rooms, presented a James Beard Foundation luncheon, and paid tribute to his island with Greenwich Village’s Osteria del Sole before opening this osteria in 2020. Everything is cooked a la minute; a wood-fired oven, an oyster-and-crudo bar and house-made gelato round out an old-school chef-owner’s complete vision.

What to Order

Begin with burrata and prosciutto, Blue Point oysters or the polpo al carbone. The Fettuccine Osteria — wine-infused ribbons with fresh truffles, swirled in the cheese wheel at your table — is the celebration dish; the Sardinian soul lives in malloreddus and, at dessert, seadas al miele. Between them: bolognese lasagna, crab ravioli with sweet peas, bucatini cacio e pepe, branzino al forno and a tagliata of rib eye. Pizzas from the wood oven — tartufo, diavola, speck and gorgonzola — make the casual nights easy. Finish with crema catalana or Nutella panna cotta and a glass of amaro.

The Space

Romantic and understated — dim lighting, elegant simplicity, soft music low enough for conversation. The theater is on the plates, not the walls.

Who It’s For

Anniversaries and slow Sunday dinners, families marking occasions over lasagna and pizza, and diners who collect regional Italy one island at a time.

Good to Know

What makes it Sardinian? The chef’s birthplace shapes the menu — malloreddus, carasau flatbread, seadas — and the wine list’s Vermentino and Cannonau section.

Is brunch served? Yes — an Italian-leaning brunch with uova in camicia, omelets, Italian toast and pancakes.

Can it host a holiday table? Yes, seasonal prix-fixe menus appear for Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Eve and Valentine’s Day.

What about events at home? The team offers catering and a book-a-private-chef service alongside the restaurant.

Is there something sweet to take away? House-made artisanal gelato — the kitchen’s quiet pride — plus a small retail selection.

Opening hours