Description: I went to Otto at 6:30pm on a Tuesday night and it was empty. I was surprised this was even a Mario Batali restaurant. It quickly filled up as time went on, and my brother-in-law tried to reserve on a Friday night and the hostess said, 5pm or 10:30pm. Moral of the story, call for reservations between Thursday night and Sunday night.
The restaurant basically looks like a fancy Olive Garden. It was a very comfortable dining room with farmer-like sturdy tables and chairs. The other people there seemed to be locals with children, bigger parties, and tourists who like to go to the restaurants of famous chefs. The waitress was very friendly and definitely chosen for her ability to wow the tourists. She reminded me of the people working at Epcot Center in Disney World.
When you sit down, you get a bunch of sealed breadsticks and a crusty loaf of bread wrapped in paper. I ordered the cheese plate (oh my god was that good!) and I received three dipping sauces, cherry brandy, spicy peach, and honey. I don't know if those sauces come with the bread or with the cheese, since everything came out at different times. In any event, that was definitely the highlight of the meal. We selected a goat cheese, a pecorino, and the taleggio, all really wonderful. Don't be afraid to get help from the waitress if you're not up on cheeses, she offered help right away. We also ordered a small marinara pizza, note it doesn't come with cheese, and spaghetti carbonara. The waitress claimed that the pizza is Mario's favorite, but I can't say I was overwhelmingly impressed. It was tasty, but it's no Lombardi's. The carbonara was SO peppery and salty, but decent otherwise. The prices are right and the portions are small enough so that you can order a dessert or an appetizer. With dinner, instead of tackling the Ginormous wine list, I went for the house beer which I found to be quite nice. Overall, I'd definitely go here again and try a few more dishes...and definitely order a bigger cheese plate next time!!!
UPDATE: I've been back twice since I wrote this review, and I have to say I'll be going back a lot. They were late in bringing our order of pasta ala norma (penne with eggplant, tomato sauce and melted creamy ricotta) and offered free dessert and coffee. We selected the Olive Oil gelato with passion fruit granita, strawberries and sea salt. Sounds funky, but the sourness of the passion fruit with the sweet cream of the gelato combined with sweet strawberries and a touch of sea salt was delicious. They were so nice and really made what was supposed to be a quick bite into a nice romantic 3 course dinner.
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