Umbria Rustic Italian

This place is truly terrible. It’s empty every night of the week which should have been a red flag. The pasta was not fresh or cooked properly. The sauce in the Umbrelli Pomodori tasted like it was made from cream that had expired– it was sour and did not taste right. The Lasgne had undercooked squash and a pasty too thick sauce that tasted old and amateurish. Save yourself the overpriced stomach ache and go to Babbos on the south side of town.

We went here for New Years eve and forgot to leave a review. The food was great and our server was awesome. We have also been here for the happy hour to grab a pizza and a bottle of wine for 20 bucks, add a couple salads and you have a great deal on a great meal. Their pizza is outstanding. Definitely one of the better restaurants we have been to in Columbia and we will be back.

It was Columbia good.
I ordered a glass of white wine to start with, and spent the entire time wondering how long the bottle had been open — the flavor was suspiciously flat and metallic. I didn’t get through the whole glass because ²⁄₃ of the way through it, the waiter came by and refilled my wine glass with water. Bad execution — wine glasses should be differently shaped than water glasses for just this reason. White wine looks like water!
To start, we ordered the goat cheese piadina (goat cheese bread) and the polpette di carne (meatballs with cheese sauce.)
The goat cheese piadini was probably the best thing of the night; the meatballs were somewhat flavorless, as was the sauce. All textures were pretty good. On the piadini, there was a generous amount of goat cheese and a light and crispy pizza crust.
As entrees, we ate the gnocci with steak tips and red peppers, and the cajun pasta with shrimp.
The meat in the gnocci was nicely cooked, the shrimp was somewhat overcooked. Restaurants commonly overcook shrimp, so I wasn’t too surprised.
Both sauces were surprisingly salty. I routinely enjoy very salty foods — pickles, capers, bacon, bloody mary mix, etc. These sauces were legitimately salty. I found myself puckering when I ate them in the restaurant, and when I ate the leftovers. Otherwise, the sauces were above average, but not what I had hoped for in a rustic italian place.
The Cajun pasta sauce was intensely spicy for a dish that did not mention how hot it was. As an aside — why would a rustic italian restaurant have a cajun dish? Seems a bit out of character for this place that makes «customary dishes of the Italian region.» For a frame of reference on how spicy this dish is: I frequent Vietnamese, Thai, and Indian restaurants. I would only expect to receive a dish this spicy from one of those restaurants if I ordered a ⁷⁄₁₀ on the spicy scale. Generally I order a ¹⁰⁄₁₀. It was too spicy for my wife — who has been building her affinity for spicy food, but normally orders a ⁵⁄₁₀ on the spicy scale.
The pasta itself was above average, but I was not blown away by it. The gnocci was about as good as the gnocci I make from scratch at home and freeze before boiling, but certainly nowhere near as good as other handmade gnocci I have eaten. The noodles in the cajun pasta were also better than average, but nothing to write home about. I have also made plenty of pasta from scratch at home, and the vast majority turned out better than this. Easily had better noodles at Basta in Iowa City and Lorenzo’s in St. Louis.
In the grand scheme of things, it was a little expensive and a little underwhelming for those picky people such as myself, but this place is probably in the running for best italian food in Columbia. The food scene in Columbia is often an exercise in expectation management. So it goes. If they execute a little better, they could really have something special here.

I’ll start by saying Umbria knows how to do pasta. The three pasta dishes our group ordered were all delicious and worth the money. I ordered the Gnocchi Quattro Fromaggio, and others ordered Umbracelli Pomidori and the special (a beef tenderloin over angel hair pasta). My gnocchi was delicious. It had the right amount of cheese and the tomato jam was the perfect thing to tie the dish together. The other pastas got rave reviews from all the members of our party (we took turns sampling). Plus the portions were large and reheated well.
The only complaint of the night was that the meat was cooked inconsistently. Two medium rare orders looked very different, one looked very rare and the other more on the medium end. We did get our order in after a very large party (37 people) so perhaps that had something to do with it. Because the meat dishes were the most expensive, it was a bit disappointing that they weren’t cooked perfectly.
The meat issue aside, the overall experience was positive. The décor lived up to the «rustic» adjective in the restaurant’s name, which I loved. The lighting was constructed out of wooden ladders and wheels, and the walls featured old barrels and other on-​theme details. The server was attentive and kept us updated on the status of our order. The staff worked as a team, which I think creates a more positive service experience.
If the meat had been cooked correctly, Umbria would easily get another star in my book. We will definitely go back, but stick to the pasta dishes next time around.

Food was sub par and way over priced. I had the filet and it was definitely not a real cut of filet mignon. My date had the shrimp scampi and it tasted like it was microwaved. I will never return to this Restraunt again. In addition they charged my credit card for someone else’s meal and my meal to. They didn’t reverse the charge and I had to call my credit card company. I do not recommend this restraint if you are seeking good. Italian as this was defiantly not the case for us.

Came here for a large party for a graduation dinner. The room was set up with dirty water glasses, the food was mediocre at best, the staff we had were nice but were not knowledgable about hardly anything on the menu and kept forgetting to bring drinks/​salads/​side dishes to the table too. I’ve been wanting to try this place since they opened because I love Italian food, but I was very disappointed by their quality of food and service. Food is overpriced for the low quality of it. I won’t be coming back unless I hear all that changes.
Edit: one friend’s bill was $ 158 (with gratuity added) and he handed the server $ 200. We’ve been waiting for his change for almost 20min, and once that server came back we asked her about the change and she goes «oh I had a feeling you were going to want that back.» Seriously? Uhm yes, the bill had a 20% ALREADY ADDED. Never coming back here ever again.

Amazing, classy place. I actually traveled to Italy and this is as close as it gets. The food is wonderful and the service is pretty good. You might have to wait a while depending on what day it is. Go early if it’s around graduation or homecoming season. Also, right outside the restaurant is a gorgeous view of the lake. If you go in the evening, the sunset is the best part. It’s a bit expensive but you are really paying for the experience. I highly recommend this place for any celebration.

In town for family weekend and thought we would try this great sounding place. SO glad we did, fabulous food and wonderful service, very friendly and welcoming as soon as we stepped in. We will be back!

Went here with a party of four. It took an hour to receive our food and one dish was missing. They were out of many items but our waitress didn’t bother telling us until she brought out the replacement items (French toast instead of waffles). We then waited another 30 minutes for the final dish to be prepared. Overall a terrible experience. The manager flat out said the staff was horrible. It’s also way over priced for the lack of service and cold food. Luckily, they didn’t end up charging us for our meal. We did end up having a different waitress step in. She seemed to be the only competent one in the restaurant. Not sure it was worth the hassle though. Would not recommend to anyone.

I ate here with my friend twice now and we have been completely amazed every time! I am Italian and I am used to eating good and flavorful food. It’s been hard to find a good Italian restaurant but now I have found one! The ingredients are top quality and always fresh and this is a restaurant that even my mom or grandmother would appreciate (and that’s rare!). Keep up the good work guys, we will be back! Oh also the portions are huge and the décor is really nice blend of vintage and modern!

The soup and chicken carciofo were delicious! The restaurant has large portions, so it’s great for sharing or taking home for later.

My friend and I went here on a whim-​and we will definitely be going back. The wine list had all of the classic choices-​nothing really out of the box, but had something for everyone. I had the gnocchi and was very impressed. The portion size was large and I ended up taking half of it home. I liked the white sauce that they paired with it-​classic in taste but not too heavy.
The best part is that they have cannolis! I have been unable to find anywhere that sells cannolis in the entire city! And they were amazing! The filling was perfection.
We found the staff to also be very nice and that chef was accommodating. My friend requested something off menu and they did it for her without any issues.
I will be going back. This is an excellent place to go with out of town guests as well.

This place is one of the best restaurants in Columbia. Probably in the top 10. You can never go wrong with anything in the menu. The service is great too, everybody there is so nice. You get your food in timely manner so don’t worry if you go there starving. There’s daily special dishes. You should definitely give it a try. Plus, they have outdoor seating & you can bring your dog there.

Tried to give this place a second chance. I arrived at 12:15 noon and waited for literally five minutes+ with my party but no one ever showed up to seat us so we left. As we were leaving a kitchen staff was coming out for break and no one ever came? I said no and we continued out the door. Maybe just bad coincidence but it seems systematic.

I’d probably put it closer to 3.5, but it was a solid experience at a decent price with an intriguing menu. The house salad was tasty (especially the olives!), but the artichokes could have used a little more peeling. My wife’s pasta was a bit al dente, and my red sauce was a bit spicier than I expected. And the tiramisu was delicious. The ambiance was contemporary and the service solid. We would probably try it again.

Pasta, chicken special. Pasta was not done and hard. Got it right the second time. Only payed for one dish because of this and the wait. Beef tips and pasta very good. Large portions. Great waiter. Benches outside a bit odd. One set the bench was way high and the other set of benches way low. People getting Icecream from around the corner came to eat Icecream on their benches. They might want to put a chain around their area or something.

Went in on a Monday afternoon for their happy hour specials. We were the only ones in the place, so naturally had good service (though my water was empty longer than it should have been). Nonetheless, service was friendly and knowledgable. The deal was great! We had a market board (forte– originally about $ 17) and an entire bottle of wine for $ 20. I would have preferred a pizza (also included in the happy hour special), but we were told dough was being made (at 4pm) and a pizza would take approximately 30 minutes until service. Our market board was tasty and enough for two to share. Overall, a decent experience. Nothing to run back for, but the deal was good enough for a return visit sometime. Next time I’ll probably bring a date though.

We went during Spring Break (yes when most of the town is elsewhere) and could tell right away the restaurant would rather be closed than open. Many items were simply not available and what we had to eat was barely palatable.
We will not be returning after that visit. Would rather go to a local restaurant that appreciates the business vs. rolling theirs eyes with the hope we leave in short order.

The problem with this restaurant is execution and staff. The ingredients are excellent. The restaurant itself is adorable. I really wanted to like it. But from the moment we walked in there were problems.
My husband and I specifically chose this place because 1. We hadn’t been there yet and 2. It wasn’t busy. However, when we walked in there was nobody there to greet or seat us for about 10 minutes. When we were seated, it was another 15 before we were asked about drinks. The business maybe had four other tables, so I was confused and frustrated. They weren’t busy at all.
My husband was never given utensils, so I had to nab them off another table. Our server was so rarely in our area that there wasn’t really any time to give our complaints. My pizza looked beautiful, but it was so doughy and soggy in the middle that I pretty much mangled it and ate the crusts and toppings.
I really want to like this place, the staff just didn’t seem to try. They weren’t interested in taking care of customers, and they were following recipe/​cooking instructions (my husband’s pasta was a bit overcooked as well.) We might give it another shot, because you can tell that whoever created the menus had vision. Just maybe go at a different time with different staff.

I have been here twice now, and both times it was good, but seemed a bit quite expensive. If you go during happy hour, it is one of the best deals in Columbia, outside of happy hour, not so much.
The pizza was quite amazing, I love that they have gnocchi (a personal favorite) and the service has been adequate.
If you are looking for a low-​key place to take your family, this is a great option.