Ventuno

Lauren could possibly be the BEST bartender on this planet. She’s the most helpful/​thoughtful lady here. Couldn’t say enough grateful things about her. Thank you! Also the food was lovely.

Had dinner at the bar last night. Great local crowd. The roasted chicken was one of the best I’ve ever had, and I dine out a lot… vegetable sides were also delicious. Sicilian red by the glass paired well with all our food. Splurge and get the donut with the coffee gelato. Holy cow. My only wish is that the portion size for those addictive fried olives was larger.

The food and service was very good. Friendly staff.
Quality of food good also the wine list!

Very very rarely do I give 5 stars. However, this is a fine establishment. Great atmosphere and food as well as service to match. A very excellent and complete dining experience. Do not miss it.

My wife and I went to Ventuno on our recent first trip to Nantucket. We loved it — great staff, delicious food, tasty cocktails and cozy ambience. We couldn’t be happier with our experience at Ventuno!

We had dinner here and absolutely loved it. The food was perfect, staff were so nice and knowledgeable. The tomahawk was the best piece of meat I’ve had in forever. The red pepper sauce was a great addition. Can’t wait to go back!

Pappardelle Con Sugo Di Maialino, absolutely divine. The food here is consistently delicious although rather expensive. Impressive wine list and superb service. I love the romantic intimate setting.

The good: appetizers including the fried olives, the crostini with liver, the ricotta and the meatballs were all enjoyed by the table. The bad: the steaks were small and gristly and cooked randomly. The ugly: the bill — I understand that nantucket is a summer holiday place but doubling the cost of a pasta dish to make it an entrée is plain distasteful, 35 dollars for a plate of pasta with broccoli and sausage is not right. Good luck to you

For the past 4 years, we have been dining at Ventuno a number of times each season. We love the ambience downstairs. The first 2 years, every aspect of our dinner was exceptional. However, the last 2 years, our dining experience was disappointing. This year, when we were seated at our table, we noticed that 3 of the 4 glasses on the table were very dirty. This was pointed out to the waitress who picked one up, looked at it, and quickly took away the 3 dirty glasses. Never once did she apologize.
When the drinks were served, the beer was brought in a can and set on the table. No glass was offered– we had to ask for one.
When the specials were announced, the waitress spoke very quickly, mispronouncing a few of the ingredients along the way– we had to ask her to repeat. No prices were given.
The olive oil for dipping bread was quickly poured. However, the bread did not arrive until the appetizers were already at the table.
Two of the three appetizers were truly phenomenal, however, the Chicken Liver Crostini was very disappointing. The chef should revisit that recipe as well as how it is presented.
Our bread plates were removed along with the appetizers– with bread still on the bread plates.
The one pasta entrée ordered was delicious, however, neither fresh pepper nor cheese was offered. The Sea Bass special was delicious, however, the majority of the vegetables it was served upon were too raw to be eaten. The Tuna special was presented in an unappetizing way. To begin with, it was improperly sliced in uneven, jagged pieces. Underneath half of it was a bed of delicious stewed tomatoes and on the other part were small chunks of eggplant. A few of the pieces were properly cooked, but the rest were inedible, and the seasoning on the eggplant was non-​existent.
When asked if we would like another round of drinks, we replied «no-​thank you» and the waitress began to take away a wine glass– which still had wine in it. She had to be asked to leave it on the table so that it could be finished. And by the way, our water glasses were never refilled and we were never asked how we enjoyed our meal.
We have decided not to go back again this season and, in all probability, will give it a rest next season as well.
Ventuno, you have a lot of work which needs to be done, with both your service and kitchen.

Consistently my favorite meal on nantucket year over year 3 years running. Oysters are some of the best I have ever tasted. Sophisticated subtle flavorings accompany any main course. Pricy, yes, but worth it. Extremely satisfying every time.

Excellent!!! The menu is serious and you might feel overwhelmed but stick with it! The food is sooooooo good. I’ll dream about those goat cheese and honey crostinis! The owner and staff could not have been more welcoming and we were dining with kids!!! Will add this to my list for a return trip each time we visit! Loved it!!!

Ate at Ventunos and was extremely disappointed
Food has nice presentation but taste is poor
Preparations not great
Would not return nor recommend this restaurant
They are very impressed with themselves but this restaurant has a lot of hard work upping their food preparations to be exceptional
Left very empty feeling and dissatisfied

I dined there last night with my husband expecting a great dining experience. What we found was anything but. While the food was good, but not anything spectacular, the service was terrible. Our waitress never greeted us, had an attitude like we were bothering her and her lowest priority and ignored us every time she came in the room to check on the other tables. When I asked her about a bottle of wine she didn’t offer to have the sommelier come to the table. Our meal took an unnecessarily long time and all throughout she checked on us once. Took our wine glasses away without asking if we wanted anything else to drink. Her loss, not ours. We went down the street for a nightcap as opposed to staying. Will not Return.

Dinner on Thurs ⁶⁄₂₅ at Ventuno was very good but not great. They were crazy busy so service was not as attentive as usual and it was very noisy. Also did not like the fact that the «sommelier» was very aggressive in pushing the most expensive red & white on the wine list.
Food was awesome though and we had a great time with out friends.

Had an absolutely fantastic dinner here Memorial Day weekend. The restaurant and bar are beautiful, I love the layout. We sat in the back dining room, plenty of space between tables. The food was incredible and the staff were so warm and helpful (offering to decant our half bottle of amarone is always a nice touch). The grilled salad that came with our steak is one of the most delicious dishes I’ve ever had, I don’t know how they get such an intense char aroma on lettuce.

Do you know the saying «save the best for last»…well that didn’t happen…
Let’s take it from the top. The ambience was fine… I don’t really care for that sort of stuff though. Fortunately they sat us on the second floor where we could hear each other over the boisterous figawi riff raff at the bar.
The appetizers… meatballs, chickpea fries, mushrooms and polenta were all enjoyable. I got pissed that they didn’t bring our highly sought after fried olives until I learned that one of our dining partners at the end of the table… in all his eagnerness, polished off the olives before I even knew they brought them… so apparently those were good too.
Entrees…I can’t speak for other people I was with since they didn’t leave any scraps for me to pluck off their plates but my «Bisteca» (steak) was off the chain. Beautifully cooked, nice moustardardy parmigana crema sauce and a nice side salad (I couldn’t figure out what it was since I was too busy devouring it) the reports on the pastas and Halibut were all very good. Good to know they offer an entrée size portions for the pastas. No complaints yet, we were all psyched for desert… except for me (not a sweets guy despite my doughy exterior).
Desert…the anticipation killed us… because we waited for what some at the table described as an eternity. In real time it was about 20 minutes as a conservative estimate. As the excitement for desert wore off they finally brought them. The cheesecake appeared to have been set to burn under a blow torch while the panacotta sat right beside it melting from the residual heat. We ate it all out of poor self-​control and having nothing better to do rather than out of enjoyment. The waitress asked how it was… yet she didn’t seem to care when we broke the news that it was less than good. O well.
Overall it was a good experience minus our one star desert. Would recommend… just don’t forget your checkbook.

How was your meal? That’s the best question the waitstaff should ask, but they should be prepared with a genuine response.
We have been to Ventuno a few times a year for the last few seasons and each time we come back, hoping for a bit different and improved experience. We almost achieved 5 star status, but we’re left disappointed at the end.
We sat on the second floor as a group of 6 in a nice sized booth/​table. The appetizers and entrees were tremendous– savory and just the right portion. We were disappointed however by the follow up service to provide salt, pepper, or cheese. And our desserts were underwhelming — the cheesecake burnt and the panna cotta liquid. These must have been sitting under the warmer for 20 minutes. They also provided a Baileys that was clearly a knock off more nutty version.
At the end of the meal we were asked how the experience was, for the first time. Our response was similar the the sentiments above. Our waitress responded ok and walked away. Keep trying Ventuno– we’ll be back.

Oustanding meal at Ventuno last night. Even though it was restaurant week, we splurged on about 8 different items.
Standouts were…
Crustini w/​local goat cheese & honey
Fristo Misto (I rarely rave about calamari but this was awesome. Peppers were a nice surprise).
Strozzapretti w/​the house made chicken sausage had a great lingering spice/​heat note. I kept thinking the heat would build and overpower the dish but it was incredlby balanced.
Dry-​aged sirloin — at this point I was stuffed to the gills but couldn’t resist this steak. Superb cut of meat.
Bomboloncini — again, thought I was going to be too full but kept eating anyway. A+
Bonus points for having Jack’s Abby on tap!

Completely surprised that what we expected to be a sophisticated dining experience was an example of restaurant ‘what not to dos’ in almost every way.
Seated right next to the extremely noisy bar area that was blasting a range of music including Michael Jackson and hard rock. No real identity for ambiance.
Patrons were drunk, and downright obnoxious. There was no denying it even by staff. Management solution was to turn up the volume on the crap play list so everyone was screaming even louder. A group of cackling hyenas enjoying their alimony payments amongst round after round of martinis kept us from hearing each other and left me with a migraine.
We asked to move, but were only offered a table between two huge, drunk and loud groups. Appreciated the effort but didn’t really solve our problem.
Primi dropped on the table and my wine glass sat empty for ten minutes. I like wine with my pasta, is that weird? Pasta went cold while I flagged a food runner for a refill.
Secondi was scallops. I specifically asked how many came with entrée so we could plan around ordering additional items. Told 3 or 4 depending on size. We received 2 medium sized (not diver) scallops. Before receiving them, runner realized we had no silverware and walked back to kitchen with our food. Then came out with another runner who came bearing forks. Totally weird. No apology.
Where was the manager that was so nice when we first arrived? Avoided us like the plague. Our waitress was really sweet and probably the only pleasant part of our experience… When she was there to take care of us anyway.
This place needs a sophisticated area for sophisticated patrons. I get that drinks are key to margin, and you have to cater to what makes money. I just wish we had known this was a bar more importantly than a restaurant.

My wife and I went to the Ventuno last night. It was off-​season already, but the place was still crowded and I was glad I made a reservation before.
The restaurant is a beautiful old house and very nicely restored from the inside.
The food was just exceptional. We had oysters as an appetizer, pasta as a starter and a fluke and grilled swordfish as entrees. All of it was very fresh, perfectly cooked and nicely presented.
The wine list was small but very well selected.
We just had a wonderful night and would certainly return!