Osteria La Traviata

A wonderful meal in Bologna. The woman I think may be an owner was one of the nicest people I’ve met in Bologna. She helped us with everything we ordered and made sure we had an incredible experience!

My husband and friends had a delightful dining experience at Osteria La Traviata. There was a good selection of local dishes and the food was delicious. The owner was so welcoming and offered us samples of the evening special dishes and took the time to try to teach us how to make a tortellini, The ravioli with pumpkin was scrumptious.
This was one of my favorite dinners during our three week visit to Italy. delizioso!

A very nice meal. Personalized service with the owner/​matriarch who will make sure you have what you like.
Each dish so lovely. Ricotta tortellini with speck and fig. Small grilled filet. And for desert: recommended over the pana cotta, marscapone. Truly a sure thing in a town of sure things.
Bön appetitto!

Absolutely wonderful! My friend took me here our first night in Bologna and we went back for lunch almost immediately. The woman who runs it is a marvel. She is so rich and full of life! We had the tortellini with prosciutto and figs as well as macaroni with sausage and artichokes, when we returned we again ordered the tortellini and also the tagliatelle ragu. All dishes were to die for. Hands down, an amazing experience.

We went to this place led by the few reviews on Unilocal.The food we tried in this trattoria was ok, but not spectacular. However, I should acknowledge that we didn’t order meat or pasta, something the trattoria specializes on, according to the previous reviews. We had an antipasto of fried vegetables, also fish and a platter of cheese. Being not impressed by the food, we decided to leave without ordering a dessert.

my husband took me to osteria la traviata for my birthday and he did good! we made reservation weeks in advance before our travels to italy. when we arrived we were welcomed by a friendly host. once seated we see the place is super cozy and rustico with the meats and slicer in the corner of the room for made to order charcuteries. there were a couple of wait staff but we could see the lady of house mainly taking the orders. we started with lambrusco (a recommendation from our rome host), tasty. the lady came to our table. we were ready to order something from the menu but she started with her recommedations and we were hooked. we started with the sliced meats, mortadella, italian ham, prosciutto, and salami with these homemade ravioli sized puff bread. our homemade ravioli arrived a few minutes after we finished the meats. i had the cheese-​like ravioli with truffled mushrooms and my husband ordered the mortadella ravioli. simply out of this world! there is nothing like real homemade pasta. we wanted more so we ordered the lamb with potatoes. it was very good. we were full but the lady didn’t want us to leave without dolci so she gave us a little marscarpone cheese with chocolate sauce. mmm, mmm fabrisimo! i wish we weren’t across the pond away from this place. i would be here every week. it is my hope to someday return here again. you will not be disappointed.

Fantastic, fresh homemade pasta will leave you wondering why it’s so easy to eat such amazing pasta in Bologna — but such a challenge back home. It’s not an exaggeration to say that pasta in the States, even when it’s fresh, just isn’t as flavorful and complex as it is in many Italian trattorie. Now, back to our story: I had the pappardelle ai funghi (mushrooms that, the owner told and showed me, were picked that day — see the picture I’ve posted for proof of fungus life); the pasta was perfectly cooked, seasoned and managed to stay on my plate for about 3 – 4 minutes. Sigh.
As I’ve found in other restaurants in Bologna, the follow-​through dishes weren’t nearly as spectacular. The melanzane alla parmigiana (eggplant parm) and patate arrostite (roasted potatoes) were good but nothing special. Then again, I was still distracted by the previously inhaled pasta to care all that much.
To cap of the evening, a dish of mascarpone and fresh strawberries was placed in front of me. But like the pasta, it too vanished before I knew what happened.
Oh, and a great, family-​run atmosphere.

Manuela is a hurricane, making sure you are truly satisfied. Let her pick your menu, you will not be disappointed. We had the zucchini flower that had a lovely light batter with cheese, fried and served in paper. Entrée was a sampling of 3 pasta dishes. One with mushrooms, one with Sausage and one with beef. Fabulous!