Josephine

We decided to participate in restaurant week and chose Josephine as the restaurant we wanted to try. Upon arrival, the host seated me immediately while I waited for my friend. The restaurant is beautifully designed and decorated. At the time, I was the only customer. My waitress attended to me promptly after I settled in, offering to get me a drink while I waited. I asked about the restaurant week menu and was informed that the restaurant week menu is only available for dinner time. I ordered a passion fruit mimosa, but unfortunately, the bartender only had ingredients for pineapple or orange mimosas. I then requested a strawberry lemon drop. I noticed that when my waitress informed the bartender, it seemed there were issues with the ingredients for that as well. The bartender offered to make it using strawberry syrup, and I was given a taste to confirm if it was acceptable. I agreed. While the strawberry syrup was sweet, the drink ended up a bit bitter and the portion was quite small.When my friend arrived, she ordered a glass of rosé. It's worth noting that the dishes at this restaurant are served family-style, so we decided to share our orders. We chose the mozzarella sticks ($15) and the Caesar salad with roasted chicken ($22).Overall, the food was good, our waitress was incredibly nice, and the restaurant's interior is stunning. Despite the 45-minute drive, I would definitely return.

In day 1 of my trip out to boston I ventured to Josephines. Great ambiance and food. I ordered a sausage/vodka thin crust and "deep dish" sausage pizza for dinner. The caesar salad was amazing and the pizzas were solid, but the service could have been a little more attentive. Apart from that the staff was extremely personable and I enjoyed my visit, Charlie was in charge and he definitely took care of us. I would definitely recommend stopping in if you're in the area!Day 3 and I'm back!This visit put Josephine's over the top, fantastic ambience, staff, service, and food. From 4 stars to 5 now.Stop by if you're in the area, or make the trip! Its worth it.

This was my second visit to Josephine. I first dined there a few months ago, and I sat waiting for my order while the rest of my table ate their's. I asked our server about the status of my food, and was told that they were short staffed in the kitchen and it would be up soon. I finally received my order when everyone else was ready to order dessert. This wasn't a great experience, but I wrote it off as a one time problem.We decided to give them another chance, and we met friends at the bar tonight. We ordered drinks and some simple food, and once again, I sat waiting while the others dined. After 15 minutes or so, I finally flagged down the bartender and asked about my order. She gruffly told me that the food didn't always come out at the same time and that it would be out soon. I told her that the rest of our party was almost done with their food and asked her to cancel the order. She again told me that it would be out soon, so I let it go. I gave it 5-10 more minutes, and asked again, only to be told the same thing again, and in a very passive aggressive tone. I never once spoke angrily to the bartender - I just wanted my food, as it had been 20-25 minutes since I ordered and everyone else was finishing up. I told her that I needed to cancel it, and again, the same nasty passive aggressive tone and total lack of any care.Management - have you trained your staff? This is definitely not acceptable. Really, really bad service.

I've eaten here approx 10 times over the past year bc of the vibes and convenience and very cute decor. I'm finally writing a review because I happened to come here two nights in a row this week and both nights I ended up with liquid diarrhea and a terrible stomach ache within 4 hours. I feel like that is an indicator of improper food prep or improper food storage, as this is not a typical occurrence and I eat out often. I feel that people should be aware. For additional info, i ate pasta with red sauce both nights. The first night i got meatballs with the pasta and they were pink in the middle, so i figured that was the culprit. Came back the next night and ordered pasta and sauce with no meatballs this time, with the same result.

So excited about this addition to the Somerville restaurant scene! I'm a big fan of Waypoint and Alden & Harlow, so I knew I had to try Josephine when I found out the same chef is behind it.First things first, the space is stunning. The decor is super chic, and it's not a small space, but it still manages to feel cozy and intimate. There's a huge bar stretching across one side of the room. They were running a bit behind when we arrived for our reservation, so we grabbed a spot there while we waited. I was immediately sold on Josephine when I opened the drink menu and discovered draft martinis with a whole list of fun customizations. My husband and I both went with draft dirty martinis; I opted for the blue cheese olives and he chose the pecorino and calabrian chili olives (which were definitely our favorite). Warning that the blue cheese ones are extremelyyyy smokey, so if you're not into that, I'd skip 'em. The martini itself was great, I'd definitely order it again. Once we were seated, we ordered the Burrata & Smashed Avocado (the puffed rice and calabrian chili on this...chef's kiss) to start followed by the Joseph's Dry Aged Burger and Carbonara. For a pizza place, this spot makes a darn good burger, the focaccia bun was unreal. The carbonara was nothing special unfortunately, I'd probably skip it and check out some of the other spaghetti or pizza instead. There was some confusion with our check at the end of the meal, they actually had to correct it twice, but ended up giving us a small discount as a result so I won't hold it against them. Can't wait to come back soon to try some of the pizzas...and for more martinis :)

Josephine is a must try, as one of the best new restaurants in Somerville. Great vibes with chic decor and a unique menu. The menu is meant to be shared family style, so as a party of two, we ordered 2 appetizers and 2 entrees and left feeling extremely satisfied. Even with so many Italian restaurants around, I would recommend giving Josephine a try!What we drank:- Dirty Martini w/ Smoked Blue Cheese Olives (+$2). - Kings 189: Similar to a Negroni. Would get again! I'm always going to order cocktails with buzz words like fat-washed olive oil gin.What we ate:- Jo's Shrimp Cocktail: This is the only dish I wouldn't get again. It came with a 50/50 sauce, which I had never heard of. One half was cocktail sauce, but we were unable to identify the other half. While the shrimp and sauce were tasty, the value was not there. You only get 3 large shrimps for $22, which doesn't feel like enough. - Mozzarella Sticks: Fried to perfection served with delicious tomato sauce.- Garlic, Fresno Chile & Good Olive Oil Spaghetti: We're typically order red sauce , but I'm glad we tried this. I would get it again. - Joseph's Dry Aged Burger: The focaccia! The onion jam! Cooked to perfection this burger is a must try. Parking Tip: Limited public parking outside of or near the restaurant on a busy main road. Unless you're a Somerville resident with a parking sticker, you'd be better off Ubering.

Lovely patio and space. Lots of good foot options! The pizza wasn't exactly what you'd expect for like Chicago deep dish but I think they lean more into Detroit style. Honestly it was tasty!

Surprisingly posh and dateworthy digs on Somerville Avenue just outside Union Square. Long bar. Lots of booths. Outdoor dining. Connected to a hotel. Parking not as tough as you might think. Two visits: a weekend brunch and a weekday lunch.Smoked Wings: Very tinted red color and deep wood flavor with spiciness from the rub and a very light coating of sauce. Visibly overcooked, with extra crisp exteriors, shrunken size, and pretty dry interiors. Bones pulled out of the flats easily. Decent flavor otherwise, but having no moisture beyond the sauce was rough.Unfortunate about the dryness. More unfortunately, this was my appetizer on my first visit, but delivered well after the entree.Melon Salad: Elegantly plated and beautifully presented, a feast for the eyes. High quality ingredients and tasty. Good use of olive oil, puréed peppers, herbs, abd seasonings. This was for my wife but I can see getting that myself too.Mushroom Wood Fired Pizza: Not as leopard-spotted as hoped, but good looking crust, and the mushrooms (my nemesis) actually seemed doable: crisp and vinegar soaked. Crumbly Fontina cheese. Surprisingly, no tomato. Nice finishing oil. This was also my wife's (she of little appetite), but I tried a slice and really liked it. Great balance of flavors, great contrast in the crust between crunchy exterior and chew interior. Neither fluffy nor dense; more of a midground density. All things considered, a win. I later saw an egg yolk carbonara style pizza with cubed guanciale (bacon) that looked great, so it was the target on the next visit. "Cacio-Nara" Wood Fired Pizza: This unusual number has reggiano crema, egg yolk drizzle, and candied black peppercorns, with the option to add guanciale for an xtra $5. This was the pizza I saw the previous time and well worth the extra $5, though that egg yolk drizzle was equally responsible for the wow factor. Imagine peppery pasta carbonara in pizza form, will all of the crunchiness, silkiness and fattiness, but with the wood cooked chewy pizza crust. It's a must-try if you love bacon, experimentation, or both. Dry Aged Burger: This was the main draw on the two visits that got me in here, and both times it impressed, starting with a pleasing visual. Char from grilling, cooked to requested temperature, great color, thin melted cheese, creamy condiment. Roll was a focaccia, I believe cooked in house, and different on the two visits: a higher quality version of an English muffin on visit 1 and a more traditional focaccia with aromatic rosemary on visit 2. This burger felt as good as it looked, with pink, flowing juices both times. Taste was very solid, not as strongly aged in flavor but nicely gamey and very good beefiness. Not much seasoning, but overall very, very good. Definitely not top 5 all time in Boston but probably top 10 all time and easily top 5 among burgers available now. Two square logs of fried potato on the plate joined the burger on the weekend brunch version. Service on both visits was well intended but a little distant. Weird how an app would come out so much later than the entree, but things happen and aside from that one app, the food was not only good, but different, creative, and excited. Even with the minor kinks, I'm excited to go back.

Second time coming and food, quality, and service were all consistent. Restaurant is inside Cambria hotel. We've been lucky to find meter street parking nearby. Nice modern decor inside. Great spot with friends or date night.We got the pork ribs with hot honey (flavorful, not too spicy), warm focaccia with canned anchovies and homemade butter (anchovies went well with the bread and not too fishy), hashbrown sticks had the perfect crunch, deep dish spiced roni (never disappoints and makes a great leftover) - deep dish takes 30 mins to make, so put it in first before your other orders, if you're hungry, their chicken parm was cooked to perfection but they are huge (can feed 4). If you have room for dessert - their olive oil cake is delicious (dense, can be shared).Our server was very friendly, attentive and knowledgeable. Which made the experience that much better.

I used to live a block away from Josephine, and uh, tbh, I would've never went to Josephine's LOL. It's a clear gentrification of Somerville and it really hurt me to see this overly priced pizza/Italian restaurant right next to good ol' Wings Over. *record scratch* so how'd I end up here? Begrudgingly for my friend's birthday...I will have to say, the food is pretty good here. We got the clam pizza, and it's probably the second best one Ive ever had next to Franks Pepe. The flavor was great and not fishy at all. However, the crust was way too doughy and was not charred enough on the bottom.The carbonara also had incredible flavor. It was creamy, fatty, rich, and salty. I just felt like the portion size was half of that of any other Italian spot.The service and flow of the restaurant was also a little strange. I felt like our group was kind of ignored. I also didn't really like how all the dishes coming out way ahead of another - it doesn't really work with these dishes since the portion were small; one person would be done with their pasta and another person would just start.