Otto Pizzeria

After our Valentine’s day bowling date, Ken and I wanted to grab a quick bite to eat. I initially suggested ramen at Ramen Setagaya, but after bowling, decided I wanted some pasta and pizza at Otto. I’d visited one time a couple of years ago with Ariel and we weren’t very impressed with their pizza or service, but decided to give it another shot.

The restaurant wasn’t too packed when we arrived after 9:30 and we were seated right away (unlike last time when I made a reservation and still ended up waiting quite some time for our table). We started off with lentils:

Hearty but not heavy, served cold, and I didn’t like it at first but after my initial bite the taste grew on me. I think I wasn’t a huge fan of the citrus since I associate lentils with something more hearty.

Ken ordered the spaghetti alla carbonara:

And I ordered the lasagna-like pasta with pork shoulder, tomato sauce, and basil:

We also ordered the pane frattau pizza with tomato sauce, pecorino, a sunny side up egg, and pepperoni (we added the pepperoni):

The spaghetti alla carbonara was one of my least favorite preparations of carbonara I’ve ever had (and I’ve made some disastrous carbonara at home with whole wheat spaghetti!) There was no creaminess to the dish, the pasta was slightly undercooked, and the meat tasted like cheap sausage. The pizza was my second least favorite; it was greasy, the crust tasted like a Trader Joe’s pizza crust with absolutely no flavor, and it was the saltiest pepperoni and pecorino I’ve ever had (I’m guessing the tomato sauce was also heavily salted because it was literally making my tongue feel like sandpaper). However, the saving grace of the evening was my pasta, which had delicious chunks of pork shoulder, mixed with full-bodied tomato sauce and perfectly al dente strips of pasta.

We didn’t have room for dessert, otherwise I would’ve ordered my favorite: olive oil gelato. The service was a tad better than the last time I visited but the water refills were slow and the waiter forgot about us as soon as the food arrived. I’ll probably eat at the bar the next time I visit Otto, specifically for the pork shoulder pasta and the olive oil gelato.