Osteria di Mercato | ★★★ | Italian | 3642 University, No. 101 | 346-920-5430
Two ubiquitous menu items — tuna crudo and spaghetti with tomato sauce — convinced me that Osteria di Mercato is one of Houston’s best Italian restaurants.
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On a first visit, about a month after the West University Place spot opened, the crudo stopped my dining companion and me mid-bite. Our eyes widened. We paused and nodded in unison. Without saying anything, we shared the same thought: “If the rest of the meal is this good…”
Tonno crudo served at Osteria Di Mercato in West University on Wednesday, July 15, 2026.
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Neither of us was shy about ladling up the last of the fatty cubes of tuna bathing in a pool of ginger brodo. We lingered over each spoonful of the raw fish with bites of Granny Smith apples, cut into half-inch rings and layered on top like perfectly placed mosaic tiles.
Executive chef Mauricio Alvarado described the acid from the apples and a squiggle of citrus oil as a palate cleanser of sorts, ahead of the richer pasta courses. He was right.
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As I twirled the last strands of spaghetti alla chitarra on my fork, I admired the dish’s simplicity: The housemade pasta wasn’t drowning in pomodoro sauce or too-sweet marinara. Confit Sun Gold tomatoes, which had been simmering in olive oil and butter, burst open and collapsed on the tangle of carbs, resulting in a dish simultaneously rustic and refined.
Osteria Di Mercato GM and sommelier Marco Thompson and Chef Mauricio Alvarado at the West University restaurant on Wednesday, July 15, 2026.
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Osteria di Mercato manages to do what I haven’t found at many other Italian restaurants in Houston.
Places such as the newish La Griglia or the recently closed Tavola were made for expense accounts. Others focus on red-sauce nostalgia, including enjoyable versions like Milton’s, a self described “American trattoria.” Coltivare in the Heights and Mimo in the East End feel like reliable neighborhood favorites without frills; I would recommend both any day.
Alvarado’s ambitious cooking impresses. He sources seasonal ingredients for inventive, approachable dishes that utilize fine-dining techniques he’s picked up throughout his career.
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Osteria Di Mercato in West University on Wednesday, July 15, 2026.
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Mugs and moka ready to serve coffee at Osteria Di Mercato in West University on Wednesday, July 15, 2026.
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Vintage mirrors reflect wine bottles on display at Osteria Di Mercato in West University on Wednesday, July 15, 2026.
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Whimsicle decales on the windows at Osteria Di Mercato in West University on Wednesday, July 15, 2026.
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An explainer of the coffee service at Osteria Di Mercato in West University on Wednesday, July 15, 2026.
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Osteria di Mercato is attached to Mercato and Company, which Riccardo Valentini and Arlene Ventura opened in December 2024. The cafe and market, which the husband-and-wife team first debuted in Brownsville, has a devoted area following.
Many of those regulars fill the 24-seat dining room and five bar stools, said Marco Thompson, the restaurant’s general manager and sommelier.
The space is tastefully decorated with Hermès orange walls, accents of azure blue and warm wood paneling. It feels like a chic Italian living room you’d see in a design magazine.
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Marco Thompson, Osteria di Mercato’s general manager and sommelier, opens and pours a bottle of Italian wine.
Elizabeth Conley / Houston Chronicle
Osteria di Mercato is fully devoted to Italy. Thompson, a native Houstonian, moved to Italy as a teenager and worked in Toronto, where in 2023 the Michelin Guide awarded him Sommelier of the Year.
Except for Champagne, the restaurant’s wine list features only Italian wine. I love seeing a restaurant challenge its customers to go beyond those big California reds or other familiar wines.
Whether it’s Thompson or one of the knowledgeable staff — including a Camerata alum who recommended a floral nebbiolo to go along with my spaghetti — the team backs up the restaurant’s “osteria” theme, a casual neighborhood spot focused on wine as much as the food.
Antipasti, shareable small plates to kick off a meal with a drink, include saffron-tinged arancini with a golden exterior showered in Parmesan shavings or a bowl of stracciatella, the satiny-soft mozzarella garnished with mint leaves and peppers.
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The pomodori e caviar charmed with its creativity.. Alvarado described the dish as an homage to his time at Cyrus, a Michelin-rated restaurant in California’s wine country. (Aaron Bludorn also cooked at Cyrus, and Alvarado was on Bludorn’s opening team before heading out West for a few years.)
Pomodori E caviar served at Osteria Di Mercato in West University on Wednesday, July 15, 2026.
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Just-ripe tomatoes marinate in olive oil and basil overnight before the clear juice is strained through cheesecloth. Caviar often feels like a superfluous addition, but it works here, adding a hint of salinity to the sweetness of the fruit. Every component of the dish is carefully planned, including basil shocked in ice water to keep each leaf crisp and mellow.
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A variety of dishes from Osteria di Mercato, clockwise from left, scarpinocc and hanger steak.
Elizabeth Conley / Houston Chronicle
The lighter dishes set the stage for the heartier pastas, such as fettuccine topped with braised rabbit or a rigatoni mixed with white bolognese, a nod to Alvarado’s time working for Tony Vallone as a teenager.
But it was the scarpinocc, stuffed with smoked ricotta, that rekindled the same excitement I felt over the crudo and spaghetti.
Alvarado joked that he and his team roll and fill this pasta each day as part of their team building in the kitchen. There’s a garnish of morels gently cooked in browned butter, but the addition of tamari ramps up the earthiness of the overall dish. I swiped each dimpled purse of pasta through the green garlic sauce and wished it came in Olive Garden quantities.
Of course, that’s true to the Italian tradition, where pasta arrives in modest portions before the meat or fish course.
Branzino per due served at Osteria Di Mercato in West University on Wednesday, July 15, 2026.
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
The butterfiled branzino added to the growing list of must-order dishes at Osteria di Mercato. Alvarado ensures the skin is crisp by lightly curing it with salt and sugar before it hits the grill. The result crackles under your fork like glass.
The fish is sourced from Spain and arrives three times a week. Its delicate, pearlescent flesh flakes so beautifully you could almost mistake it for Dover sole, a far pricier catch.
Other entrees, listed under the “secondi” section of the menu, don’t elicit quite the same ohhs and ahhs.
A hanger steak was overwhelmed by an au poivre sauce but that was corrected by my third visit. Chicken and duck breasts arrived juicy and cooked to the proper temperature, but without much artful flair, they felt pedestrian compared to the exceptional branzino and pastas.
A ginger chantilly with fruit, left, and chocolate Basque cheesecake at Osteria di Mercato.
Elizabeth Conley / Houston Chronicle
Ginger, one of Alvarado’s favorite ingredients, appears throughout the menu. While the attentive servers will likely steer you toward the delicate chocolate Basque cheesecake, the fruit-and-cream dessert is the more memorable finale.
A cloud of Chantilly cream carries just enough ginger to lend a gentle warmth, while oranges and fragrant mint keep the dessert bright and refreshing.
“Our main goal is to show off what Italy can do,” Thompson told me over the phone.
Simple yet elegant. That’s Osteria di Mercato.
Osteria di Mercato, 3642 University, No. 101, 346-920-5430, mercatoandcompany.com/osteria-di-mercato
Three stars
Hours: 5-11 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday (closed Sunday-Monday)
Prices: $10-$29 shareable small plates, $18-$19 salads, $25-$28 pastas and $28-$64 entrees.
Reservations: Available on Resy. Bar seats are first come, first serve.
What to order: Stracciatella, tonno crudo, pomodori e caviar, spaghetti alla chitarra, scarpinocc, branzino, bistecca, ginger chantilly with oranges.
Noise level: Quiet to moderate
Parking: Free
STAR RATINGS
Four stars: Superlative; can hold its own on a national stage.
Three stars: Excellent; one of the best restaurants in the city.
Two stars: Very good; one of the best restaurants of its kind.
One star: A good restaurant that we recommend.
No star: Restaurant cannot be recommended at this time.
Dining and Cooking