Otto Gastronomia Italiana — Restaurant in Bajo Boquete

Stylish decor, modern bistro. Unfortunately, that was the only good thu g apart from the friendly hostess. If I could, I'd give Otto Gastronomia Italiana a negative 5. The food was terrible and, because of the poor quality, overpriced. We were expecting a traditional Italian meal made from fresh, quality ingredients as their website says. When I asked about the classic lasagna, I was told it doesn't have mozzarella - really? The website touts their mozzarella bar, yet they skip this traditional ingredient in their "classic" lasagna? So, I ordered the spaghetti bolognese. It had too much tomato sauce, almost no meat and was very, very salty. I asked for more sauce thinking it would improve the flavor but it didn't. My husband had to add olive oil to his pasta carbonera because it was so dry. How is it possible that this place is owned by and Italian family as the website said? I asked the young, inexperienced server who told me that the chef is not Italian and neither is the owner. The server said that the owner is from Spain but "traveled a lot in Italy" and right now is away on vacation for 30 days. That explains it!!! We were hungry so we ate what we could. When we went to pay, the server asked us how much we were going to tip him. That was just a ridiculous question given the awful...

Stopped in for lunch. Great meatball subs (called panini there but it's not a panini). The bread was fresh and seemed like homemade. The meatballs were very tasty, sauce was legit, and mozzarella was for sure real mozzarella. It would be perfect if they made it without the lettuce, cut the meatballs in half, and did not cut the baguette all the way through so the meatballs don't fall out. Also it was wrapped in paper which got soft and broke up because of the sauce. It would have been much better to wrap it in foil and then paper. Leaving this tip for the restaurant in case they read this because it really was an excellent meatball Hero as we...

Great option for Italian in Boquete. Clearly high-quality products. Lasagna was delicious, but the goat cheese salad was a little light on actual goat cheese. However, the lettuce was still fresh and it was a good salad overall. The wine options were very nice. The strawberry and pineapple smoothies were excellent and very fresh. The only complaint, and reason for 4-stars vice 5, was that the penne pasta was either undercooked or pre-cooked because several pieces were dry and overly chewy. The offer of an after-dinner shot of limoncello or maracuya liquor was...