Nonna

Food was pretty decent. Service was absolutely terrible. We went on a slow night, and it it took an hour and a half to get our food. Server rarely came to check on us. I was almost done with my food by the time the server brought my second beer that I had requested several minutes before our entrees even arrived. Also, the small salad we got before the meal (which was actually pretty terrible) was $ 9! She even asked us what kind of salad we wanted, so I assumed it was included with the entrees. $ 18 total for salads that were terrible! My girlfriend only ate a few bites of the salad before she pushed it to the side. Furthermore, the chair hurt my ass. Maybe it was just because we were sitting and waiting so long. Rest assure we will not be returning.

The best meatballs and chicken parmesan in Monroe. From the start to finish, would recommend it to anyone. Just awesome !! The dessert just killed it.

I ordered the Slow Cooked Lamb $ 16.00 (Gnocchi, tztaziki, fried chick peas and dill) to go. The best part of this dish was the lamb which was really tender and tasted great. Also the fried chick peas were surprisingly good. The staff was friendly.

A great atmosphere, fine dining meets down-​home cooking in a modern motif, I have never had a bad dish here, and each time I’m more impressed than the last. The drinks are also delicious and the service is excellent, well worth the money and the trip if you were to ask me.

Nonna is the sister restaurant of Chef Cory Bahr’s Cotton and focuses on Italian food fare. The menu consists of pizzas, homemade pastas, quality meat & seafood, paired with local veggies, and daily specialty appetizer & entrée. Nonna serves up Italian comfort food with lots of heart and soul. The ambiance is warm and inviting, making patrons want to enjoy dinner leisurely, along with good conversation and cocktails.
The watermelon mojito was a sweet treat on this hot summer day. It felt like I was drinking a real watermelon! For appetizer, I enjoyed the warm, roasted cauliflower, with olive oil, red pepper paste, radishes, mint & toasted pecans. The cauliflower was roasted to perfection and went very well with the red pepper, mint & pecan garnishes. The oysters carbonara was cooked al dente (as it should be) and the fried oysters were lightly breaded, moist and juicy. The meatballs with rigatoni pasta, tossed in roasted tomato sauce, was beyond amazing. The meatballs were the star of this dish– the right amount of seasoning and literally melts in your mouth. The chocolate budino cake dessert was the perfect dessert to end the meal. The budino cake is an Italian pudding cake. The buttermilk crisps on the cake bottom added a nice crunch texture. Nutella ice cream just added to the sweet and rich flavor of the budino.
Overall, the service and food were top notch and completely incredi-​mazing! I can’t wait to come back and try out the rest of the menu! Come treat yourself to an incredi-​mazing meal at Nonna!

This place was great: Ambiance, food and drink. Love the French 75, filet and lobster mashed potatoes.

Wasn’t bad, would be better if they served some type of bread with their meals. Kinda pricing for the portion size but what was served was delicious.

Cory Bahr’s second restaurant, and it shows. Chef Nick and the staff KNOW how to serve stunning food and first rate service. One of the best restaurants in the region, but with a humble, welcoming vibe. The family and I LOVE taking friends here.

Chef Nick’s lamb stew, was absolutely perfect on this cold Mardi Grad night! Loved the tzatziki sauce drizzled over and the addition of fried chick peas and gnocchi were wonderful. I had Chef Cassie’s wonderful cake and chocolate panna cotta with brandied cherries. Left warm, happy and extremely satiated with «love.»

I’d love to love this place, but twice now it has been a mediocre dining experience. Two of our dishes were limp and greasy, and another was served with bread so burnt and stale we couldn’t eat it. Price points are overly high given the quality issues. Service from our waiter was inconsistent. Staff sweeping and cleaning around us as we dined didn’t help matters. Some of the servers were very attentive and kind, but the overall experience just leaves
a lot to be desired.

Wonderful experience. My husband and myself love to eat at Cotton and were very pleased the first time we tried Nonnas this summer. It is now his favorite. Thanks for the quality food at both locations.

Nonna was classically delicious, and a welcomed addition of fine dining to the Monroe and North Louisiana area. What it soars in and the most memorable part of this meal, was definitely the ambiance. This renovated little house allows patrons to feel as though they are dining in their grandmothers fancy dining room. The bill was quite memorable as well but now how I wanted to remember it. I was surprised it was more expensive than our meals had been at Cotton and the food unfortunately not as delicious.
In contrast though, Nonna is unlike Cotton in that yes the chefs are different but the fare differs too. Here it’s on the Italian Amerivan side rather than Southern like Cotton. We got a sampling of appetizers and entrees, and none of which I can recall. I believe it was something with marinara sauce and margherita pizza and so forth. I remember the gelato trio being amazing, and the lemon blueberry cake was definitely a winner. I don’t know if I’ll go back as I’ve found other local places I love much more and the menu was limited for the seafood and vegetarian options. It’s worth a try and nice for a date night but not something I’d add to my frequent favorites club.

We ate here Saturday night to celebrate my wife’s birthday. The food and service were both great. We dined on the patio and the atmosphere was very inviting. We had the fried eggplant appetizer, crab gnocchi pasta, and lasagna. All were cooked perfectly and had a great flavor. Our waiter even gave my wife a complimentary dessert, which was the blueberry olive oil cake. We enjoyed our visit and will be back very soon.

I almost hate to post this review, because I like Nonna and breaking their perfect streak seems cruel. But on the other hand, I honestly don’t believe that this place deserves 5 stars. It’s excellent… by Monroe, LA standards, but compared to places outside of Monroe, it’s just mediocre. This review is based on two meals here, one a full meal and the other composed of two appetizers. I’ve also drank copiously inside and out.
Both times I came, I had the meatballs with polenta. The meatballs are pretty good. Not anything so amazing that it blew my mind, but better than average. The polenta was also cooked extremely well. The consistency was perfect, it was creamy and not gritty. Unfortunately, after cooking perfect polenta, someone decided to dump so much salt on it that it effectively hid any other flavor in the dish. This was actually a problem with all of the dishes — they would be cooked competently, and then over-​salted and over-​seasoned into oblivion. I had the same issue with the fried eggplant appetizer and the pappardelle with rabbit.
The sad thing is that this over-​seasoning is intentional. I spoke to several bartenders about it, just trying to see if maybe there was a new chef or someone in the kitchen who may have messed up, and was told that Cory Bahr specifically told the kitchen to put more seasoning than required on the dishes. This was because, apparently, «the people of Monroe are used to things being way more seasoned, so we have to really do more than the chefs would normally want to.» This just makes me sad. Not only does Chef Cory Bahr think the people of Monroe are incapable of enjoying a well-​prepared dish (which should be a huge insult to anyone who lives here), but also that the kitchen staff is willing to sacrifice their art in order to get broader mass appeal. It’s the culinary equivalent of Picasso painting countryside landscapes because his work is too depressing. This one thing almost makes me want to give this place two stars instead of three.
Moving on — the space is nice. Very clean on the inside, sort of a Mediterranean vibe going on. I would strongly suggest they do something for the acoustics. The place is LOUD. The volume would have been too much in a family restaurant, but in an upscale casual place it goes a long way to ruining the atmosphere. I could barely hear my fiancé from across the table, and could hear bits of every conversation going on around me. It’s not as visually impressive as Bahr’s other project, Cotton, but is charming enough. What really makes this one of the best spots to relax in Monroe is the outdoors area in back. They have a garden with fountains, lounge areas, a full bar, and some patio tables. It’s incredibly relaxing, and just a pleasant place to spend an hour or two over drinks.
Now on to the drinks. The bartenders are fantastic, although on my first visit, the bartender was not aware that the proper garnish for a Hendrick’s and tonic is a cucumber slice. Still, that’s not a huge deal — a lot of people don’t know that, and most are happy to learn. The beer selection is quite good, although I would love it if they had some beer on tap instead of everything coming in cans or bottles. The specialty cocktails are good, and creative enough without going overboard. Drink prices are about what you would expect in an upscale casual place in Monroe, LA. The liquor selection is a little light, though. There were only three scotch whiskeys available as of 08÷28÷14 — Macallan 12, Lagavulin 12, and Lagavulin 16. The 16 is great, though at $ 20 a shot it’s perhaps a little bit overpriced.
Overall, for Monroe, this place is great. Would I recommend Nonna if it were in a major city? Absolutely not. Would I recommend it in Monroe? Absolutely. Especially if what you’re looking for is a beautiful outdoor area to go and have a few drinks. But come on, chefs — there is no need for so much salt. The people of Monroe can handle a well-​seasoned dish. Trust them, and cut back on the white death.

The food and wine list are very good. We split the ham hock arancini, rabbit papperdalle and the peach pizza. Don’t miss the rabbit. It was lovely and rich. The homemade pasta had a great texture. The pizza was also good. Way better than we expected. I got a Toscana wine that I really enjoyed. Lots of great Italian wines on the list. And it is one of the few places open on a Monday night. Our waiter seemed a little tentative and inexperienced but did fine. And the atmosphere inside did remind me a little of a restaurant at a Caribbean resort — very clean, house music, no windows, crazy paintings. Overall very good. Be sure to finish your night with cocktails at cotton.

Love this Italian restaurant! They take Open Table reservations as well so it’s easy to make a reservation, which I recommend you do for dinner. Wait staff is knowledgeable and friendly. The Food is awesome. I have had the 20 layer lasagna and it’s enough food for 2 people. It’s just perfect. They make their own ricotta cheese there and they make their pasta fresh every day. Their Pizza is also great especially for lunch. The Atmosphere is relaxing and they have outdoor dining for those nice evenings. Would highly recommend for anyone who enjoys Italian food.

We were passing thru Monroe, La. from Pensacola on our way back to Dallas. Hoping to find a place for dinner, we looked on Unilocal and found great reviews for a place called Nonna. We called for a reservation, and told them we had two Westies, and they said, no problem, that we could sit on their patio. As we drove up, we were impressed by the restaurant’s appearance. We were greeted by 2 members of the staff who guided us to a table on the patio. They brought a bowl of water for our dogs. Long story short, everything we ordered was amazing, from the warm olive appetizer, soup and kale salad to our Texas Red fish, with lemon risotto and salmon. with Israeli couscous. The dessert of olive oil lemon cake, with ice cream was outstanding. The entire staff was friendly and knowledgeable. We really enjoyed it, when the executive chef introduced himself and chatted for awhile. What a great dining experience! Wish this restaurant was in Dallas!
Ann and Scott

Atmosphere is very nice, service was extremely good ! Food was fantastic ! Meatballs and polenta appetizer wow ! Be prepared to spend some money but you get what you pay for !

We loved our foods and the relaxed feel. Sitting outside was great. We loved the ham hock arincini, the gnocchi with crab, and the affogato for desert. Tried the lasagna and pizza too, and really liked both. We’ll definitely be back.

Monroe does not deserve a place as delicious as this; Nonna could take on just about any menu found in Austin, TX (my current location). Everything is lovingly made with as many local ingredients as possible, down to the homemade pasta and gelato! We went for soft and official opening nights, because the executive chef, Nick Oskoian, is my boyfriend’s brother. That being said, I would’ve reviewed kindly no matter what, but our meals blew me away and Nonna deserves every ounce of praise I can muster.
We let Nick choose our dishes the first time; the hamhock risotto balls were delicious and perfectly sized to whet the appetite. The lamb was to die for, though I prefer it less done. The veal and polenta was also wonderful, and I’m very picky with veal. The GM selected my wine and it paired perfectly with my meal. Finished out with the lemon olive oil cake that Nick seemed very proud of and deservedly so — the gelato and lemon curd melded into the soft cake and it was incredible.
The second night we chose dishes ourselves. Simple olive appetizer was elevated with a little citrus and rosemary. I tried the Rosemary’s Baby cocktail, which a found a bit small for the price but it was tasty and packed a decent punch. The night before Nick and the owner weren’t pleased with how the rabbit dish turned out so they switched to a rabbit and mushroom pasta that slayed me. I always bring home leftovers and I ate every bite of this. My boyfriend got the shrimp risotto, and was very uninterested in giving me a taste because he enjoyed it so much. This time I had the affogato with rich house — made gelato and it was just right, not too much after I’d just thoroughly pigged out.
I hope Nick and Cory are packed every night because the quality of Nonna deserves it!