Valter's Osteria
When Jenny Willden reviewed Valter's Osteria in 2025, dinner still ended as it had in 2013, with hot chocolate and biscotti on the house.
Why go
Valter Nassi grew up in Monte San Savino in Tuscany and ran Cucina Toscana before he opened Valter's Osteria on Broadway downtown. He died in September 2022, aged 76 (Gastronomic SLC). The restaurant's site still quotes his aim: I bring you my mother's kitchen
(Valter's Osteria). Lydia Martinez of Salt Lake Magazine called him a hospitality giant in Salt Lake City
in 2024 (Salt Lake Magazine).
Order the pasta. Stuart Melling found the house sampler downright stunning
at $20 when he reviewed the restaurant for the Salt Lake Tribune in 2013 (Salt Lake Tribune). Jenny Willden of The Infatuation called the same sampler the best way to try everything in 2025, with its four-cheese ravioli and pillowy mushroom gnocchi (The Infatuation).
The reviews from Nassi's time also carry warnings about the bill. Melling paid just over $200 for two in 2013, with a drink each, and wrote that the price did not always match the food or the fussy service: At times, though, I felt like an interloper at a private party
(Salt Lake Tribune). He called the carpaccio di bue, raw tenderloin shaved thin with arugula, Parmigiano and mushrooms, first rate, but his came without its truffles at full price. Ted Scheffler named the same carpaccio his favorite antipasto when he wrote for City Weekly in 2014. He warned that the truffles offered at the table cost extra: Use caution when saying 'yes' to such upgrades, however, as they're likely to appear on your bill
(City Weekly).
Since Nassi's death, the house says, his longtime staff have run the restaurant. The James Beard Foundation made Valter's a semifinalist for Outstanding Hospitality in 2024 (James Beard Foundation). Martinez wrote that year that the team has swooped in and lovingly taken up the mantle of thoughtful service,
and added: You will never feel more personally known or cared for than at Valter's
(Salt Lake Magazine). Willden wrote in 2025 that it's still serving up the city's best Italian
(The Infatuation).
Order this / avoid
- Order: Tutta Pasta di Valter, the house pasta sampler (Stuart Melling, Salt Lake Tribune, 2013; Jenny Willden, The Infatuation, 2025).2
What locals & experts say
- Jutta Brandt, Utah Stories (2013), on the linguine alle vongole:
There was more missing than just a pinch of salt in this dish.
8 - Salt Lake Magazine Dining Awards (2024) put it on a list of
restaurants that are so good, they never went away.
9
Good to know
- Booking: by phone only, on (801) 521-4563. The line opens in the morning Monday to Saturday. The restaurant is shut on Sunday (the restaurant's site, September 2026).
- Time: Martinez's advice in 2024: "Be prepared to spend several hours here for dinner."
- Price: The Infatuation and Eater both marked it $$$$ in 2025. The menu the restaurant posts carries no prices, so ask about the specials and the truffles before you order.
- The room: white tablecloths, servers in sharp clothes and tables set close together (Eater, 2025).10
- At the table: in 2025 the servers made the Caesar salad for two and the lemon gelato with honey and sea salt beside the table (The Infatuation).2
- Where: 173 West Broadway (300 South), downtown.
Verdict
should-visit — Book a long Tuscan dinner for the house pastas and the kind of care at the table that Valter Nassi was known for. The room his staff took over when he died in 2022 was a Beard semifinalist for hospitality in 2024. Expect a $$$$ bill, and ask the price of anything offered at the table.