Otto

We have made a reservation but waiting 1/2 hour to have our table. Food was OK Despite a reservation and arrived perfectly on time, we had to wait 1/2 hour for our table. The service is lazy, waiter's smile is an option and volume is too high. Despite a promising wine menu, any advice is lavished you. The plates are taken away, even before you have had time to finish, just to clear the table for an additional cover. Devoid of charm, Otto looks like a large cafeteria soulless where the manager will order you to leave 20% of tips if you've have gave 15%. Avoid at all. NYC has enough of charming Italian restaurant not to set foot in that one.

Four of us went to Otto on a Friday night at 6:45 and were seated right away, which was a great surprise. They gave us 2 pieces of bread and 2 bagged breadsticks. Definitely ask for olive oil to dip the bread in--it's sublime. And when we asked for bread to go with the eggplant appetizer we ordered (which was quite tasty) they obliged. For our mains, we got the goat cheese ravioli which was yummy--just be warned the individual raviolis are teeny-tiny. Our friends got penne alla norma and really liked that. We split two pizzas and the difference in quality was amazing. Do not order the margherita pizza. It was so bland, nobody wanted another piece. The cacio e pepe pizza on the other hand was absolutely delicious--a little oily, but high on flavor. I highly recommend. For dessert, we got the black and white based on reviews here and weren't disappointed. Our friends got the coconut meringa and were pleased too. My friend said the bathroom wasn't so nice, which is odd considering the caliber of the restaurant. So go, try it out, but avoid the margherita pizza and I'm guessing the other standard pizzas.

Clearly Mario wasn't expected to 'check in' on his restaurant Saturday night. The food was mediocre at best. Grocery store wrapped dry bread sticks and 2 pieces of bread were dropped at our table. We had to ask for butter or oil for the bread. Olive oil without pepper or seasonings was delivered to our table. The salad arrived and we had to ask for pepper. Another waiter came and removed the pepper from our table without asking. Is pepper expensive in NY? They tried to remove the salt cellar but we were able to tell him we wanted it. Our pasta dinner came and we had to ask for pepper and parmesan. Again, NY? Bottom line, we needed the salt, pepper and parmesan to mask the mediocre dinner that was placed in front of us. Most disappointing dinner of our trip.

If you're looking for a run-of-the-mill and boisterous Italian cafeteria, go to Otto. Bland food, mediocre service- the experience is akin to any large format Italian/American restaurant. Left bored, disappointed and hungry.

My wife and I have been here a bunch of times and this place is great. A vast selection of Italian wines. Don't know what these reviewers are talking about. Go somewhere else if you want a library type atmosphere. Enjoying a nice red and with some cheese reminded us of our time in Tuscany.

If you like your food served after it has been sitting under a heat lamp for 15 minutes of so, this is your place. The Green beans with onions was overcooked to the point of mushy and extremely spicy. The Pasta Norma had been sitting so long the sauce was dry and almost crusty...and the eggplant was burned. Very noisy, but wait staff nice. Service staff grumpy.

Five out of seven of us arrived for our 6:30 reservation for my dad's birthday, only to be very rudely told by the hostess that everyone had to be there to be seated. Seriously? For a party of 7 people with a reservation you are going to tell us we have to wait for everyone to be seated? Keep in mind we were with my father who is over 70 and has ankle problems and difficulty standing for long periods of time. When we told the hostess he needed to sit and could they possibly seat us early (the other two joining us were a couple blocks away), the hostess so rudely and insultingly pointed to a chair in the middle of the bar area for him to sit. I wasn't about to let my father sit in some random seat in the middle of the bar area on his birthday. Thanks but no thanks. We finally sat down at our table after waiting another 15 minutes for the previous party to finish their desserts. For our 6:30 reservation, we weren't seated until nearly 7:00pm. The waitress brought us our water but we waited 20 minutes for her to come back to take our drink and food orders. Not once did she stop by our table to ask if we wanted drinks or if we had any questions about the menu. She couldn't have cared less about our table. We had a good time because we were with family and it was for our dad's birthday, however I would seriously re-think returning to this restaurant or recommending it to anyone. The food and pizza were solid, but nothing to write home about.