Otto Enoteca Pizzeria

Curious to try the thin crust pizza by Mario Battali, I dragged my friends a few nights ago to his restaurant, Otto, on eight street and fifth avenue.

I felt as though I was in a train station when I entered the restaurant. The tables had standing room only. A traditional timetable screen flashed your reservation indicating when your table was ready. Very cool.

Otto scored well on ambience and wine selection. The meal though was a bit of a let down.For dinner we selected from enticing options of antipasti, pizza, pasta, del giorno and gelato. Though the ingredients were of finest quality and one pizza (balsamic onion and goat cheese) was excellent, other dishes we ordered fell short of our expectations. For example, the arugula and cherry tomato salad was dressed inadequately so ended up being quite dry. Surprisingly, even the very basic Margharita D.O.C. disappointed. Somehow it lacked the usual aha we were all looking for. Feling a bit let down, we even passed on gelato.

I like Mario Batali a lot (from his T.V. shows) so I'm willing to give this place another shot. Maybe we ordered the wrong pizzas. They had so many dishes to choose from, it was hard to tell which would be the best. If someone has had a good experience at Otto, I'd love to hear about it.

Otto
One Fifth Avenue
(212)995-9559