We were having a fancy night out with the kids and they wanted to go downtown, so we decided to go to Osteria Pronto. Neither hubby nor my daughter had been before and it had been quite awhile for me. It’s interesting because you heard a lot about it when it first opened, but not much since. Honestly, I think the menu has become less adventurous if anything since it opened. Maybe they are mainly catering to out of town travelers or something.
We started with the carpaccio ($11) and the fried calamari ($10). I had had the Carpaccio before and will say that this time it was a little more dressed, but we didn’t particularly care for the dressing on this—it was a little sweet. The whole dish needed some salt in some form as well. There were a few capers and some Parmesan, but it needed a little more. It was just kind of flat. We liked the calamari better. It was not just fried calamari, but had ribbons of fried zucchini and other squash. When you got a really crisp one of these ribbons, they were really good. There were also some fried pepperoncini. The calamari looked a little undercooked, but tasted okay. It was tender even if the crust could have been a little crisper. The aioli was drizzled on top and I am not sure how I feel about this. It tended to make the things it was on get soft a little fast. I liked the flavor of it (as well as a squeeze of lemon that they served alongside) but I would have preferred it on the side.
I ordered a small portion of the fettuccine with mushrooms ($10) and wasn’t exactly sure what to expect, but I quite liked this. It was an olive oil and garlic-based sauce rather than a cream sauce (which is sort of what I was expecting) and it had really nice flavor. It had freshness from basil as well as some wine or lemon as well. The mushrooms were simply sautéed. The dish was topped with a little Parmesan. Hubby and I both enjoyed it. I also appreciate that they offer small portions of their pasta dishes because I often don’t order pasta just because portions are too big.
My daughter ordered a small portion of the gnocchi (except she asked for it plain—normally it comes with marinara). She is a bit of a gnocchi connoisseur and has some amazing gnocchi in her travels. This wasn’t one of them. This was very dense and kind of grainy. Now it is possible it would have been better with more of a heavy sauce, which she didn’t want. But she didn’t even finish a half order ($12).
Hubby and my son split the lamb chop meal ($29). First of all, the 2 lamb chops were perfect. They were perfectly seasoned and cooked and pretty meaty. Too bad there were only two. There was some lamb sausage served alongside, but it was pretty forgettable (and pretty dry). Neither of them seemed overly excited about it. The vegetable medley and potatoes that were served alongside were pretty standard-roasted potatoes and some zucchini and peppers. Again one of those kinds of sides that I am sure came along with every protein-based dish.
We also had the tortelli for dessert ($7). I quite liked these. Doughnut/beignets seem to be very popular these days and I have no problem with it at all. You can’t really go too wrong, as I have said before, with fried dough dipped in chocolate. There was one that was maybe fried a bit too crunchy, but other than that one, we really liked these.
Overall, we had fun, and we had some good things and quite a few just okay things… Not sure we’ll be rushing back though.
Osteria Pronto
JW Mariott
10 S. West Street
Indy 46204
317/860-5777
http://www.osteriapronto.com/
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