Review: Primizie Osteria Italian Café & Wine Bar in Austin, TX

1000 East 11th Street, Ste. 150
(512) 236-0088
Website: Primizie Osteria
Hours: Monday thru Friday, 11am-10pm; Saturday, 5-10pm; Sunday 5-9pm
Happy Hour: 4-7pm, discount appetizers

Our rating:

As we are making rounds of the wine bars in Austin, we found ourselves on East 11th Street, at Primizie Osteria Italian Café Wine & Bar, which is located next door to Ms. B’s Authentic Creole Restaurant. Word around town is that the food is good and reasonably priced.

At 5pm we had the place to ourselves. We had late dinner plans, so we were looking for a couple of glasses of wine and appetizers. Primizie’s wine by the glass list includes 18 red wines and 11 whites. Both of us started with a glass of white wine. I tried the ’06 Tiamo Pinot Grigio, and Michael ordered a glass of ’06 Pin du Franc Blanc Bordeaux.

The pour at Primizie’s is good, approximately 5.5 to 6 ounces. Both wines were fresh and properly chilled, but not very exciting. Along with the white wines we tried the Fritto Misto di Stagione (mixed fried seafood), which was without a doubt the saltiest dish I have ever been served (seconded by Michael).

Looking to change our luck, we ordered red wines and a Bosciolo happy hour pizza. The pizza was good, but unfortunately the wines didn’t really measure up. The first red was a Podere Elia Dolcetto d’ Alba ‘03. This medium-bodied wine was drinkable, with enough acid to work with the pizza. However, the second red was a Gulfi Nero D’ Avola ’05 that must have been opened several days before. The wine was oxidized and very tired. The friendly bartender even tried the wine before it was served to me, but didn’t notice that the wine was ready for the trash.

We will have to go back to Primizie Osteria for dinner. Their reputation for a good meal has to be based on a better performance than they showed as a wine bar.