Vinny’s Ristorante

Complete dump. Has roaches. Won’t take credit card. Rudest employees I’ve ever encountered. Walk in, say hello, nobody acknowledges us. They finally tell us to sit where we want and when we do they rudely beside at us to move. No words spoken. Then on the way it we saw a roach. Garbage.

This place is a diamond in the rough. Delicious Italian grinders. Fresh ingredients and never disappoints. I have eaten here twice and both times the servers were friendly and the food was fresh and popping with flavor. We took our food home both times but next time I would like to eat in the restaurant and order a full dinner from the menu. Cannot wait !!!

I’ve lived in the neighborhood for 14 years and gone to Vinny’s often, starting from when they didn’t have the bar, the full liquor, before they had lots of positive publicity.
Vinny’s has gone down hill in the last few years. They got the full liquor, they put granite on the new bar, they increased the prices and decreased the portions, many times their signature wonderful dishes such as the homemade pasta are not available.
The last few years, service has been wonderful at times (can’t remember her name, she is great), sultry (a guy who has been there for years), and downright dismissive. And at non peak times, no service at all.
We got there about 5:50 and they open at 5… two tables were occupied. We decided to sit at the bar as we were only going to share an appetizer and get some food to go. There was no hostess during the time we were there and no one to ask if it was ok to sit at the bar.
One server saw us at the bar and did not acknowledge us at all. After 10 minutes, we picked up our menus from the entrance to the dining room. The same server saw us again and did not acknowledge us. I said to my companion, let’s give them 10 more minutes then we are out of here. After 5 more minutes, I stood up and saw that there were still only two tables occupied (no one came in while we were at the bar). The sultry guy saw me standing there and made no move whatsoever to acknowledge us. We waited another 10 minutes. Our meter had expired so we left.
I said on the way out, we wanted to eat here but no one helped us. We were there 30 minutes with nothing… no water, no menu, no request for drink orders, etc.
We won’t be back. It’s sad.

This has got to be the best Italian food I have ever tasted. No, really. You don’t have to go to the north end, just go to Vinny’s in Somerville.

There are so few places to get good Italian food in Somerville, and Vinnie’s is a real gem. It is unpretentious, family friendly, and the food is delicious. I usually get the eggplant parm or the gnocchi, and it is always fresh and well made. The staff is nice and local, and they’re pretty quick too. The décor is out of another era, but that’s part of its charm. Highly recommend!

Our experience at Vinny’s last night prompted me to write my first review on Unilocal.We had ordered takeout before and I was excited to have their delicious food in the restaurant. Prior to visiting, I did read a few negative reviews stating that guests had seen cockroaches but I couldn’t believe this problem still persisted at such an established, scrumptious restaurant. I was wrong.
After eating our chicken sausage appetizer and in the midst of eating my homemade fusilli, I noticed a winged cockroach, antenna moving about, climbing a wine bottle right next to my father-​in-​law. It moved its way down to the brick right next to him, where my FIL proceeded to kill it with his dinner napkin because I was so horrified. Let’s just say, I was done eating. This establishment needs to address this problem immediately. I would recommend others avoid at all costs until this is remedied. This is a shame, as their food is amazing but their health and safety standards cannot be trusted if they let a problem like this go on for months.

Went to Vinny’s with a few girlfriends on a weeknight. We had a reservation and they were e super flexible when we asked to make changes last minute. Super casual restaurant in the back of what looks like a deli area. Service was good. Wine tasty. And I inhaled the enormous piece of lasagna I was served. Would definitely go back!

The food was ok but the uninvited guest was a bit hard to take. A large cockroach say behind us on a shelf when he wasn’t walking the ledge.
Saw a few other reviews regarding the same issue, maybe the board of health needs to take notice…

Quite honestly I have never been so prompted to write a review. Please don’t get me wrong with the minimal 1 star rating, the food is deliciously crafted (I had been here a few months prior to this and it was an ideal Italian gem that prompted us to question every Friday night to come back) But what really made this particular experience absolutely dismal was the tiny pals that invited themselves to our table.
Cockroaches.
Not just one or two. But a conga line assortment of the whole German cockroach family. The whole roach lineage made an appearance. Mama roach equipped with leathery wings oversaw our pasta slurping from the strategic vantage point of the wine case at out backs. Papa roach crept around the nooks and crannies of the brick wall at our little table. Not to forget at the end of the evening, the two nymph creepycrawly babies casually trotting out of my jacket sleeve.
1/​5-​please inspect your olives to ensure they are what you think they are.

My wife and I always come here on Valentine’s. Great food and atmosphere. Vinny’s feels like it’s been in Somerville forever and I hope it never leaves.

This place is not good. They treated a customer poorly and very disrespectfully due to the color of his skin.
I will not be patronizing this place again.

If you’re looking for an authentic Italian dining experience, come to Vinny’s and stay a while.
They converted the back part of a convenience store into a restaurant specializing in Sicilian fare. Where some notorious Somerville gangsters have had their birthday parties. And it’s been around for nearly 40 years. Now that’s saying something.
My group of 5 sat at the bar, and we were delighted for 3 hours with 3 courses. Everything we had was amazing! Order the arancini as an appetizer. These piping hot balls of rice and peas with marinara are heaven. You’ll want to order extra of Vinny’s special sauce to slather on top. You’ll even enjoy salad after trying their delightful version with shrimp, mozzarella, artichokes, olives & antipasto!
As for entrees, you can’t go wrong. The lamb osso bucco, veal piccata, eggplant special, and beef braciola were all incredible. And filling! You can definitely make a meal or 2 out of the leftovers. I suggest upgrading to the homemade pasta whenever possible to take the experience up another notch.
Don’t forget to get an expertly-​made cocktail (or three) from the bartender (Hi, Scott!) and have a few pieces of the warm, complimentary bread which is flown in every other day from a bakery in Toronto!
From the ingredients to the care in preparation and service, Vinny’s doesn’t skimp on quality. I’ll be back pronto. Ciao!

I love the beef braciole. This place has delicious food. It is like going to a good restaurant in the North End but in Somerville.

This place is a local gem. I stop here many mornings (they open early!) for an inexpensive, fast, top-​notch breakfast sandwich. I’m yet to be disappointed by one of these.
Portions seem to be large for the price, and the quality of food is very good. Tried out their gnocchi today for the first time, and I was impressed: D.

I went to Vinny’s probably 10+ years ago with some friends. I remembered it as being decent enough but not someplace I’d go out of my way to revisit. Last Monday, though, I decided to give it another try, so I went there with a friend. We walked in and saw probably 4 – 6 occupied tables plus a bunch of seemingly open tables. There was no server or other employee in sight. Several minutes later, a server walked out. She said, «Two of you? It’ll be 5 minutes.» We then stood there for well over 5 minutes, watching the server take orders, staring at open tables, and really just wanting to sit down. It was odd because none of the diners at the occupied tables looked like they were finishing anytime soon.
While we were waiting for those 5 geological minutes to expire, I decided to pull up the Unilocal reviews of Vinny’s. I was reading through the reviews and saw the following, which was written recently by another Unilocal reviewer:
«My only dislike was the speed of seating. My party of two waited almost 20 minutes to sit, even though the hostess initially told us five minutes and there were multiple 2-​person tables unoccupied. We also had to wait a few minutes for anyone to even approach us and ask whether we’d like to sit.»
Upon reading that aloud, my friend and I looked at each other and said, «This is exactly the experience we’re living right now — the ghost of Christmas Future!»
We left and drove a short distance to Tu Y Yo, where we were seated immediately and dined on their always spectacular food.
Vinny’s, ALL we wanted to do was sit down at one of your open tables and eat some supposedly good Italian food — no special treatment — just normal-​quality restaurant service!

Worst service ever. Called in an order for pickup. They had done nothing when we turned up to the restaurant and expected us to wait another 30 minutes for them to finally cook the original order. No apology. Nothing.
You can get better Italian anywhere else.

Tasted their food during an East Somerville Foodie Crawl, and finally got a chance to come back for dinner. Warning in advance: «reservation» is a soft concept here. Show up at your reserved time and there may be a table, or it may just be that you’re first in line for the next available. I am not sure I think it’s reasonable to wait 15 minutes for said alleged reservation.
The food, however, was good. Not the best Italian I’ve had in my life, but really solid. Basic specialties, lots of red sauce, and worth the $ 1 up charge for the housemade pasta. Pretty reasonable wine list, too. It’s hard to find red bottles under $ 30 back home in West Somerville, and while not 96-​pointers, these were firmly drinkable. Overall menu price wasn’t bad neither, especially since we walked out with basically another dinner in our boxes. (Fair warning: they’re competing with Olive Garden et al on portion size. Better eat like big Anthony, not Strega Nona.)
It definitely has rough spots, hence the four stars, but I’d come back.

4 stars for food, but knocking one off for some major service oversights.
We had a reservation for five people on a Saturday night. My husband and I err the first to arrive and told the waitress. She smiled at us, but then disappeared. We could see our table, but didn’t know if we should sit? They left us in the front. It was FREEEEEZING in the front room, where the door kept opening to that lovely Nov 1 snow we were experiencing. I really wish we could have been seated so we weren’t so cold while we waited.
The waiter did not seem like he got our whole order, and unsurprisingly, it got fairly mangled. In spite of different pastas we had ordered, everyone received fusilli. We ordered two mesculen salads and a caprese salad, which never arrived, but found their way onto the bill.
The food we did get was very tasty. The homemade pasta was awesome and the bread was also to die for. I’m not sure it beats my north end favorites, but it’s close competition for reasonable prices.
Alas, it’s super difficult to get there without a car– and I didn’t think the food was so compelling that I’d take a cab to experience it again.

We ate here for a family gathering recently, and Vinny’s was exactly what this Boston-​girl-​transplanted-​to-​Seattle was looking for: solid, old-​school, red-​sauce Italian food. Yes, the restaurant is behind a sub shop, and it is a bit cramped. The atmosphere is more bustling than relaxing, so it was great for our loud family, but would be less ideal for say, a date night.
My brother chose an excellent Sicilian red wine for us that was just fruity enough, not at all dry, and seemed to be low in alcohol as well. It was an excellent drinking wine, and also went well with the food.
After digging into the excellent bread and olive oil, we started with some appetizers for the table: large house salad, antipasto plate, and the arancini. The salad and antipasto plate were just fine, very good quality and quantity, and enjoyed by all. The arancini, however, were AMAZING. We found ourselves fighting over the last bits. What I liked about the arancini was that they weren’t traditional risotto-​based arancini, but they were still absolutely delicious. They were made with regular rice, possibly medium-​grained, but maybe long-​grained. The rice was held together with a bit of tomato sauce, and maybe cheese, and the rice mix included peas as well. The crust appeared to be panko-​based (I think, it was so crispy and delicious, it was hard to imagine that it was just bread crumbs). The whole ball was then fried and served on a bed of tomato sauce. Heaven!
I have mixed reviews of the entrées, only because I wasn’t that crazy about my eggplant parm. It wasn’t bad, just a bit drier than I prefer. The other thing was that they were out of their homemade pasta, which I had really wanted to try. The angel hair that I got, though, was cooked perfectly, and their marinara sauce is truly delicious. My brother seemed to really enjoy his rabbit dish. The most popular entrée at the table, though, was my sister-in-law’s bresaola. This restaurant bills itself as a Sicilian restaurant, and we are Sicilian, but my sister-​in-​law is not, so I urged her to try this classic Sicilian dish. Let me tell you, Vinny’s version was spot-​on! I wished I had ordered it!
In the dessert department, I would recommend the sorbets. They serve them in a natural bowl, i.e. orange shell for orange, peach shell for peach. They are excellent. Tiramisu and limoncello desserts were also very good.
All, in all, Vinny’s was great, and I will return the next time I’m in the Boston area. I’m already craving the arancini and bresaola!

After considerable review, I have to give Vinny’s 5 stars. To be honest, this review is based 80% in the food alone, which I know isn’t the entire reason why people choose a restaurant, but let’s be serious — the food is at least 80% of the reason why you choose a restaurant. So this is fair, right?
To the (very small) credit of negative reviews of this place, the outside makes it look like strictly a sub joint. Even the «lobby» gives off the same vibe. But, alas, the back portion of the Ristorante is exactly that. A cramped, North End feel. Once you sit down, you’re in another world.
My girlfriend and I started with the fried calamari appetizer, which was delicious. We ordered a bottle of Chianti and relaxed. The waiter initially made us feel rushed to order our entrées, but then warned us that each entrée takes between 25 and 30 minutes to prepare, which caused us to put in the order before we normally would. And true to his word, about 27 minutes later, our plates came out hot off the stove.
We both got the Beef Bracciola (picture attached), over the homemade gnocchi, which was out of this world. They truly make the pasta in house, which comes through 110%. It was delicious from the first bite until the last (yes, I cleaned the plate). I actually had to stop using the knife, because the beef was tender enough that it required cutting with your fork edge. The whole dish was melt-​in-​your-​mouth delectable. And for just $ 21.95, the portion size was well worth it.
The service was on point. Non-​intrusive and polite. Which when you’re on a date with your person, you learn to respect.
Conclusion: for those looking for a full-​on fine dining experience, with waiters wiping your mouth and massaging your feet, look elsewhere. Otherwise, visit Vinny’s and walk out 100% satisfied with an authentic, homemade Italian meal, with plenty leftover for lunch the next day, at below North End prices and wait times.