Italian owners and chef set to open new restaurant in Lakewood Ranch’s Waterside
It’s been a long wait for the opening of Osteria 500, a new Italian restaurant in Lakewood Ranch’s Waterside Place.
But the partners promise the authentic Italian cuisine, served with warm hospitality and attention to detail, will be worth the wait.
Osteria 500, which opens 4 p.m. Sunday at at 1580 Lakefront Drive, Unit 101, was first announced as coming to Waterside Place in early 2022.
“It’s like a rustic style bar that serves wine and authentic regional dishes. We are trying to reproduce the feeling of old Italy. It reminds us of our hometown,” said Carmine Ussano, who with Giuseppe Del Sole, Andrea Dedominicis and Salvatore Scacciono are partners in Osteria 500.
Osteria refers to a friendly Italian bar that also serves food, and the number 500 refers to the red Fiat 500 automobile that serves as a wood-burning pizza oven near the restaurant’s open kitchen.
The Fiat is a symbol of what the owners envision Osteria 500 to be: stylish, fun and vibrant.
Osteria 500 will have extensive lunch, dinner and lounge menus, featuring what the partners call grandmother’s recipes from central and southern Italy.
The chef is Italian and so are the food ingredients: cheeses and meats imported from Italy, an Italian-made pasta maker, imported wines, homemade gelato, and fresh bread and desserts made on site daily.
Osteria 500’s partners knew that they wanted to open a restaurant at Waterside Place when they saw an artist’s conception of what the town center would look like around the time of the groundbreaking in 2018.
“I used to live in Country Club East and I saw a picture of what was proposed to be built here,” Ussano said of the genesis of the restaurant.
“We met here when there was nothing built. We really liked the location and thought it would be a good spot for a restaurant,” Ussano said.
One of the partners, Giuseppe Del Sole, already had a successful restaurant, Napule, at 7129 S. Tamiami Trail in Sarasota.
Ussano, a native of Sorrento, Italy, operated a luxury tour business in Italy and first visited the Bradenton-Sarasota area in 2004.
Osteria 500 has seating for 180, including tables inside and on the lakeside deck. With high-top chairs, the restaurant can seat about 230.
A centerpiece is the long bar inside the restaurant. Outside is a second bar, outfitted in what might be described as a vintage food truck.
The partners have worked hard on creating a welcoming atmosphere with a rustic Italian look, including a lemon tree ceiling on the second floor, and other touches throughout: a Vespa scooter in the front foyer, hand-painted china and a gelato push cart.
“We don’t want to just do numbers. Quality is very important to us. Everything is made in-house and it will definitely be authentic Italian,” Ussano said.
“We have so many details and we wanted to get them right,” he said of the opening.
Osteria 500 will be open seven days a week. Hours will be 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. daily except 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
Initially, the restaurant will not be taking reservations but in the future will take reservations for parties of eight or more.
For more information, visit https://www.osteria500.com/ or call 941-866-8962.
