Venturo Osteria & Wine Bar

I live in Sunnyside and this is my favorite restaurant in the area. I used to live in Astoria and the sister restaurant there, Vesta, was my favorite restaurant in that neighborhood. :-)
My go-to’s at Venturo’s are their pasta, fish, pizza, soups and vegetable sides (ie: brussels sprouts and asparagus). They usually start you off with some delicious bread and also have great wine and beer options. They usually have a good music playlist rockin’ in the background too.

I’ve been to Venturos twice. The last time was around the time they first opened. My second visit was quite recent, about a month ago and I am happy to say most of what I remember is still at the same standards initially set. I tried the butternut squash pasta and the lasagna last time. Both were good, but the lasagna was definitely very heavy for my preference as I prefer lighter foods.
The second time I tried the butternut squash and margarita pizza. These were really yummy! I love thin crust pizza, and these had a nice crisp crust. Butternut squash is a surprisingly tasty topping that went will with the pizza, and it brought a light, gourmet touch.
I’ve had the Brussels sprouts both times. Some places make it differently, either more on the charred end or just right. I would’ve preferred it on the less charred side but was still flavorful. For dessert, they had the holiday cookies on my first visit but it’s no longer on the menu. I didn’t have much interest in it. The baby Jesus cake is very good. Moist and not as sweet as I was expecting. Very good!
We also got a bottle of wine both times. Our bartender on the first trip and waitress on the second trip was super nice and friendly. They didn’t rush us out at all, we were able to take our time.
Overall, this place is not overpriced and very affordable. Service is very good and I can’t complain! Great addition to the neighborhood.

I’ve lived in the area and prefer going afar to wine and dine, but this place always caught my attention.
After long thought, I decided to check it out with a friend and we both loved it!
Their venue looks like a mixture of a vintage-​look and a hipster type of environment. The only reason I was always unsure about entering was the banner/​display of the outside wasn’t appealing and looked kind of low-​scale (no offense).
But however this book shouldnt be judged by it’s cover!
Their drinks are very affordably priced, especially during happy hour.
The staff is very friendly and knowledge-​able on their menu and can recommend you from their options.
I wouldn’t say I’d come here again, NOT because it was bad, but because these are the kinds of places that I just want to try once in a LONG while just because it’s in the neighborhood.

Quick service. Great small menu for Happy Hour. Never had a bad plate or drink here. We’ve had the pizzas, pastas, restaurant week, focaccia to start is amazing enough! Neighborhood favorite! A way to have classy, good quality ingredients and keep it cheap at Happy Hour. Regular menu is amazing as well. Perfect for a date night! My girlfriend and I stop here every time we need a timeout from life and just to slow it down a bit. Feels good to step away from the intensity of NYC and relax here.

They have a good selection of wines. The place is small but feels like you’re at home. Service is wonderful. I was tempted to try off their menu but I had already had lunch, however will be back to try their food!

The pasta dishes are excellent. Nice décor and decent service. Nice addition to Sunnyside’s dining scene.

Come here for pizza and wine. Food is very very good but extremely salty. The Brussel sprouts are insanely delicious and come with a sauce that you must order bread for to dip in. Mussels were ok– I wasn’t the biggest fan of the sauce the steamed mussels came with. The best part was the pizza — it was super duper tasty!!! I think everyone should try their speck and brussel sprout pizza with a glass of their Mendoza wine! You won’t be disappointed. Just be careful of the salt!!! Order lots of water

AMazing DElicious food! Great menu of local products. Portions are small for the neighborhood, so order more than you may think (which makes it more than the menu states.) The restaurant is delicious, but slightly pretentious for its Sunnyside neighborhood. I will always take a visisting guest, if they’re paying! ;)

They have really unique dishes here. Everything is great! The atmosphere is really nice and cute too.

Every time I come it gets better and better. Delicious pasta, interesting menu, and great cocktails. Highly recommend.

I used to like Vesta in Astoria, so I finally went to try the chef’s third restaurant.
I’m really struggling whether to give it 3 or 4
I’d say the food I had was between 3 and 4, but not 4 for sure.
heard the group next to me talking about they saw the chef was in the day we came, so I was really looking forward to the meal.
their pizza is still good, although the crust is thinner, crunchier than vesta. In vesta, you still feel it’s a pizza crust although it’s super thin, but here it almost feels like cracker.
considering the fact that I’m not a big fan for the chef’s ragu/​red sauce pastas in Vesta (prefer the chef’s simple /​light pasta dishes much better) I decided to skip it and went for the entrée — Cod, but unfortunately it wasn’t very impressive. the fish is cooked well, but the sauce is monotonous and not complimenting the fish too much either.
I’d really hope to come back to try other dishes to be able to upgrade my review.

This place is nice, and it really improves on the options for the neighborhood.
The problem is that the menu has mainly heavy and carb intensive options. It would be great if they could offer salad entres, or more veggies.
Also as other have pointed out, the place used to be great. When they first opened, they had really good music and they paid attentions to many small details that make a difference (like offering chocolate truffles at the end of the meal).

i wanted this place to be good. i really did. and i gave it a try more than once to be fair. but there’s no denying it, this place just doesn’t cut it. the first time we ate there the place was crowded and was loud and noisy. the food was overly salty and no other flavor.
the second time, i ordered the thin crust pizza thinking it be safe because it seemed popular. i bit right into an olive pit and almost cracked my tooth. and before u ask, no there were no olives on the pizza. so the disturbing question is where did it come from? the restaurant didn’t charge me for the pizza but i was still very disturbed by my experience.
today i ordered take out because i felt like some homemade italian pasta. i waited an hour and a half for my order before i called the resturant. the staffer at the line couldn’t find my order and said someone must have threw it out. um. excuse me? why would anyone do that? do you guys even want to stay in business? he promised me a delivery in 10 minutes. i was hungry so i agreed. i just tasted it and this pasta tastes like something Chef Boyardee made. but at least he wouldnt have the nerve to charge me $ 15 for it!
I wash my hands of this place. save your money and go buy a microwavable can of ravioli instead. you won’t run the risk of cracking your tooth.

I’ve been coming here since it first opened. It was so popular in the beginning that you couldn’t even get a table there on a Tuesday night.
The atmosphere was perfect: a welcoming staff, really good music, and amazing food – with the promise of seasonal organic ingredients. They even use to go the extra step, offering free mini-​desserts after each meal with some yummy hazelnut-​chocolate-​balls or a piece of breakfast pastry for an after brunch sweet.
These days however, something is definitely different at Venturo: first the staff turn-​over is quite a big change. Unfortunately, none of the really good servers work there anymore. Now, the atmosphere is no longer welcoming: the servers don’t really look like they want to work there. They almost make me feel like they are doing us a favor by taking our order, which needless to say is quite bad, if you’re in the service industry.
And the food: some of it is still good, but finally, it lacks consistency. The menu is no longer seasonal really, it’s pretty much the same most of the time, particularly this past year. The pizzas can be good, but some have very strange topping combinations that just don’t work and the consistency of the crust is strange – not doughy but way too crunchy – making it hard to eat. Also, and this is a big ALSO, I’ve never really seen any healthy items in the menu to date, which is quite disappointing: no one can eat rich food all the time.
However, I would say the saddest part of Venturo’s decline this past year: is the staff. They’re just not friendly anymore, which just can’t make up for whatever is lacking on the menu at times or extra giveaways that are no longer.
And it shows: this place use to be booming at any time of the week – setting the standards high in the neighborhood once. These days it’s rare that I see it with a full house. And who can blame us? I know I don’t want my meal-​service served cold, so I really have to be in the mood for something in their menu to end up going there. It’s too bad: I use to love going to Venturo, eating there multiple times a week a-​time-​ago, and now I have to convince myself to go there.
What’s still good: their cocktails, desserts, the chicken with couscous (when made consistently) the fish entrée as well as, and some brunch items.

Went here for brunch. Ordered the Il Siciliano. The dish was really nice and well presented. Their house fries are really good too.
Also ordered the Bloody Mary. Was really weak.
To finish, we also got a Chocolate French Toast which was quite nice.
Overall, quite happy with the experience and service.

Since my last review (three stars for Valentine’s Day 2014), I am totally converted to this place for two reasons:
1) AMAZING Happy Hour special
2) Baby Jesus Cake

I have lived in Sunnyside for over 8 months now and it is only until a month ago that I was made aware of its existence; I have been going every weekend since.
Venturo has a GREAT ambiance, GREAT food at GREAT prices. They have a great service, one night the restaurant was extremely busy, we were waiting a while for our main course, however, this we did not mind as we prefer to relax, drink wine in a slow paced setting as opposed to being rushed out the door. Although we did not mind the wait, the waiter gave us a free appetizer of Pork Belly, and a free dessert — toffee pudding, I was VERY pleased with this service, and there generosity. It showed they valued their customers, and are looking to build regulars, and they will.
The food is fantastic, I have tried the lamb shank, I LOVE lamb, it’s hard to get good lamb shank, however, the flavors and the sides worked really well. Delicious — I have had it 3 times so far! On another occasion, they were out of the lamb dish, so I said I would go for the Steak, however I did notice when people asked for ‘medium-​rare’ — it was served more medium, so I ordered it ‘medium-​rare but more rare’. This dish also came out delicious; I could not fault the dish. The sides with this dish also worked really well, butternut squash, and fried potatoes were yummy! Lastly, the dessert sticky toffee pudding was unreaaalll… however, I am not really in to the ice-​cream, it was more creamy that ice-​cream, but that’s just my preference, oh if you do order this, asked for extra sauce as it so delish, you want more… and more.
Sunnysiders, get your asses over and try this place!

Venturo’s a fantastic addition to the Sunnyside food scene. The ambiance is great and quaint. Perfect for a date or a nice evening out with friends. The customer service is always friendly and informative, dishing out info left and right on all those fancy menu items. The food itself is good. Sometimes it can be a bit heavy handed on the salt, but it’s good quality at a fair price. This place is not a bargain, nor is it a splurge.
An added bonus is it’s menu accomodates most food diets: gluten-​free, vegetarian, etc.
House made cheeses are a plus!

To be honest, my experience here was about 4 stars — but I’ll explain why I had to go with «Meh, I’ve experienced better» at 2 stars…
I came here awhile back to catch up with some friends in Sunnyside. One of them recommended this place and I was excited to try a new place in a neighborhood that I rarely frequent. Upon entering we were greeted warmly and given a table with minimal wait time.
Their dinner menu isn’t the largest selection of entrees, but what they do have uses very high-​quality ingredients and everything sounds pretty darn delicious. We all ordered different things.
One of my friends ordered their Black & Green Lasagna which is a «pasta free» dish featuring bechamel, parmigiano and gremolata. Another friend ordered their Tomato and Cannellini Bean Soup which came with a poached egg, arugula and ricotta salata. The guy in our group ordered the Sirloin Tip Steak which came with roasted butternut squash, fried potatoes and pecorino crema. I went with the Roasted Bone in Murrays Chicken Breast which came served with a warm cous cous salad, pistachios and a house made yogurt & olive oil sauce.
My friend absolutely loved her «pasta» free Black & Green Lasagna and it looked very decadent. My other friend thoroughly enjoyed her Tomato and Cannellini Bean soup which also looked and smelled fantastic. My friend’s Sirloin Tip Steak was cooked perfectly medium rare as he requested and I got to try a small piece and it was super juicy and flavorful. My chicken was delicious and the cous cous and in-​house made sauce was absolutely divine.
Now, this restaurant is very dimly lit and has a romantical vibe going to it. There was also a candle on our table which reflected a bit of pinkness onto my white meat chicken breast. I wasn’t concerned since this is such a nice looking restaurant so I gobbled up my chicken with no concern and assumed any slight discolorations were due to the candlelight reflecting off of a bottle of red wine that we ordered and were sharing at the table. I left here feeling peachy…
Until we walked to another restaurant to have a nightcap and grab dessert. I began to feel nauseous and worked up quite a sweat despite it being very cold out. I’ll spare you guys the gory details, but let’s just say that my delicious meal at Venturo Osteria didn’t stay in my digestive system for very long. When I got home I also got chills, sweats, ran a fever and… regurgitated…again.
Nothing I had eaten throughout the day (Special K cereal for breakfast, a bagel with cream cheese for lunch) was going to cause me to feel this way. How I felt that night came out of nowhere about 10 minutes after finishing my meal here and caused me to wonder whether or not I should have inspected my chicken breast better… I’m confident that my symptoms were synonymous with those of food poisoning.
My fever and chills lasted hours into the early morning and I was afraid to keep anything down so I drank a lot of water and wrapped myself up in my boyfriend’s comforter, burrito style.
This isn’t, by any means, a cheap restaurant and what I ordered was a simple dish that should not have resulted in how I felt. This is why I have to rate my experience here 2 stars because my digestive system has apparently had better.

It took us forever to get to Venturo tonight because all the subway issues on the 7 line as well as the orange line. Finally, we got here and its a walking distance from the train station which is convenient. I choose a table towards the back since it wasn’t crowded on a Thursday night. First time here and my boss frequent this spot a lot to celebrate our Christmas Holiday Dinner. There were two guys for the front of the house and a small open kitchen from my view at our table with a Chef and helper.
Food: Broccolo Pizza and forgot the name of our pasta dish of delicious pork belly with ragu. (shared)
Hubba, hubba the pizza was so delicious with all the vegetables toppings and especially love the crunchy crust. I was embarrassed to take the little portion of the pasta home but I was stuffed like a turkey on Thanksgiving dinner LOL.