Otto's on the River — Restaurant in Augusta

Please eat here!!

After a funeral home visit last week, I stopped into this restaurant as it was on my list to try for a place to eat after my father's funeral. We are not from Maine and had not been to this place or many places in the area. All I knew was I needed someplace great and comfortable for after the service.

I stopped in and met the owner. He was warm and personable. Could not do enough for me. I really had no appetite as I had just lost my dad a few days before and just left the funeral home. But I wanted to stop in and try the food and see the place. I ordered the French onion soup and the half of lobster sandwich. The French onion soup was just awesome. It was super-hot; the cheese was melted perfectly right on the mug and the toast was perfect in the broth. I brought the sandwich home (that too was perfect) but like I said no appetite. I did however have a bite of the macaroni salad that they give you as a side. It was amazing. It was real macaroni salad, like my grandma made it in the kitchen.

Fast forward to funeral day.. We arrived at the restaurant. The room that they gave us was perfect. The table was perfect. The view was perfect, the atmosphere was perfect. Even the artwork was perfect. I am firm believer that the devil is in the details. They have got it covered. Appetizers were perfect, the crab dip, bacon wrapped scallops, and homemade chips are to die for. The meals were great. Most had the haddock or scallop casserole which they raved about. Then we had dessert... My oh my. The creme brulee comes in flavors, vanilla, blueberry, mango... What!!!!!??-- speechless. On the dessert plates they placed the cutest little mice made from an oreo cookie, chocolate covered cherry and a hershey kiss. It rocked my granddaughter and nephew's world, the toothpicks in the Shirley temples or Roy Rogers were snow men. Adorable and thoughtful.

I did read the parking comments on a review prior to going. There is free parking in 2 places right nearby. If you take a left right after the restaurant there is a lot right, there on the river. My family all took photos there because it is gorgeous. There is also another free lot past the restaurant on your right. I am horrible at parallel parking, so I was thankful for both.

When you are looking for somewhere for dinner... Say yes to this place You will...

TL;DR: HORRIBLE Valentines Day experience. If you ever plan to go this restaurant, NEVER go on a holiday and DO NOT expect a high end atmosphere or good service.

My wife and I set up a reservation a week or so in advance for 7:30PM on Valentines day. We arrive at 7:34PM with no one at front-of-house, by the time someone does arrive we are told it will be a few minutes before we are seated before they disappear.

A few minutes slowly becomes 15 minutes, then into a half hour. As tables finally are ready the employee returns and seats a couple who arrived with an 8:00PM reservation before returning a few minutes later to seat my wife and I. It is now 8:10PM.

After we are seated I am greeted by water stained IKEA silverware, an LED candle, fake rose petals, and a menu printed on office paper using a font I haven't seen since middle school. The atmosphere so far can be summarized as inconsistent, with no real vibe given off besides that of a antique store.

Our waitress arrives and we order a drink, an appetizer (the brie), and our entrees (The salmon dish and the halibut dish). The drink arrives shortly after ordering but we are left waiting for the appetizer. It isn't until 8:45 PM, over an hour from our reservation time, that the appetizer arrives. It tastes good, no complaints with the food.

As we wait for our entrees, I decide to head to the restrooms. After walking around past the bar I am greeted by two doors. Both include a painting of a person, though the style of the painting makes it difficult to understand I assume the one with the woman means that its the woman's room, and the one with the painting of the man is the men's room. No one in the restroom appears to follow this as its not very clear. Restroom is clean and bright.

After using the restroom I return to my wife and we continue our wait for our entrees. Alas! at 9:35PM, 35 minutes after the restaurant is listed to close, and over 2 hours past our reservation, our food arrives! The food is good, well presented, and portion size is generous.

In conclusion, it was an awful date night experience. The restaurant showed no remorse or apology for any of it, avoiding ever bringing up the long wait times. If you ever plan to go this restaurant, NEVER go on a holiday and DO NOT expect a high end atmosphere or...

BAD FOOD, do not come here unless you want to get sick. We ate maybe four bites of the over cooked mushy pasta with a microwaved frozen fish patty that was supposed to be fresh seared ahi and four days later Were both still sick!! Its unbelievable not only did the cook serve us the worst food I ever had, at such an expensive rate, but then came out and yelled at us for it. :( Our server was very nice and accommodating although the younger staff was running around our table in and out the kitchen yelling until the server kicked them out? But the owner just sat around and watched everything, even after the cook came out to give us a hard time about the BAD FOOD SHE COOKED! Very unprofessional to say the least but more importantly very hostile and uncomfortable. Unbelievable that all that happened while this place has so many five star reviews and is so expensive! We ordered two appetizers as well before the “special” main course and they were also not good but not as bad I guess. The Brussels sprouts were barely cooked and completely drenched in a sweetened vinegar based sauce. Why anybody would be putting sugared vinegar on uncooked sprouts i don’t know but nothing was seasoned and there was not even salt an pepper anywhere in sight. My boyfriend order the potato flautas as an appetizer and it literally had instant mix mashed potatoes wrapped in some breading. I can’t make this up. With tomato and corn garnish, uncooked and unseasoned. He had then asked for it to go just trying to be nice and open minded but it was a very big mistake. It’s days later and we both are still so sick! I’m dismayed and shocked to say the least, seems like maybe damage control but there is defintly something weird and fishy going on here, esp with all these online reviews, because what I saw online was absolutely nothing like the experience I had in real life and I had been looking forward to coming here on a date for over week:(. The only thing good about this resturaunt was the bread and water and our server not giving us as hard of a time about it. Paid over $60 for appetizers still even to be served food sickness on a plate and get yelled at by the angry hostile cook that...