Uno Tre Otto — Restaurant in Claremont

Uno Tre Otto is my favorite restaurant in the Claremont Village by far. Their drinks are delicious, fun, and well made. The food is fresh, well seasoned, and thoughtfully prepared. While the menu is small because it changes daily, I never have an issue finding several things that sound delicious. I will note that you really should have a reservation if you'd like to eat here. They are sometimes able to get people in who do not have reservations, but the space is romantic and small so there aren't tons of seatings each night.

My most recent trip was delicious per usual. Everything was fantastic! For appetizers we got: Bread & Butter (Bread from Creme and fresh butter!) Spicy Polenta (SO silky and delicious, not too spicy!) Pasta: Rigatoni Bolognese (I've had the pleasure of having their bolognese on more than one occasion and it is EXACTLY what I want from a bolognese. The flavor is rich and extremely well developed, fantastic and toothsome. I would pay good money for this recipe!) Mains: Chicken in a balsamicy glaze, arugula salad, seared leeks (Chicken was very well prepared and juicy, sauce was a tad sweet for me but very well developed and was great with the arugula) Steak & Roasted Veg (Great steak, well seasoned, cooked to order perfectly. Roasted veg was incredibly tender and flavorful)

They're also working on their rooftop dining area that looks really adorable from what I can tell!

My only complaint is that their outdoor chairs are INCREDIBLY uncomfortable. I like that this is the type of restaurant you can take your time and really enjoy the food, but its hard to do when the chairs aren't comfortable! The chairs were quite small and did not feel sturdy at all. They almost felt child-sized. If you are a medium to large person or have back issues, you will likely have a hard time with their...

Overall impressions: "Uno tre otto was pretty dang good." "What's going on, how come everything tastes so good?"

Wow that place was good.

For appetizers, we got Amy's salad, fettunta, bluefin tartare, and panzanella. All were perfect - small, light, fresh.

Then we got casarecce (twisty pasta) and rigatoni. Both were really good too, rigatoni was possibly slightly tastier due to it having more flavors (tomato garlic basil).

I was surprised how good the milanese was - usually the breaded pig or chicken that I get is really rubbery or soggy, but this was evenly breaded, the meat was of uniform thickness, and it was perfectly crispy and oily. The cod was small but so tender, and cod evenly balanced out the vibrant roast fennel puree (it's strong, but that was fine with me). The thin strips of fried leek were a pleasant surprise - I could eat those as a snack.

Butterscotch budino was delicious (salted caramel is amazing), and something that has been on their menu for two years.

We are outside under a tent that covered 6 small tables. It felt rustic, intimate, unassuming.

Inside, it was pretty small and dark. The decor felt charming. Lots of wood. The kitchen is small, the plates stores behind slatted wooden doors. The bathroom was unique: the stall doors and door handle seemed old and flimsy, but in a charming way. The bathroom doors were also really unique with their male/female signs. It was really nice, but personally, I prefer to sit outside in the fresh air.

So good that it is worth considering for an upcoming...

Uno Tre Otto is a very nice place to dine for a special occasion. The dining room and kitchen are basically one room. It's a mostly wooden room, like an old pub. The room has a high ceiling and a good, comfortable vibe.

The food is delicious, farm to table freshness. There are a number of appetizers, and then you have three pasta and three meat dishes to choose from. Each dish is served ala carte. The portions aren't huge, so the expectation is that each person will order a pasta and a meat dish. This reminds me of the multi-course meals I enjoyed at my Italian grandparents house when I was a kid.

The dish pictured in my review is a poached cod with roasted fennel puree. The red slices on top are crispy garlic. It was great. They have a pretty good selection of wines, though no Spumante. There were at least three bottled beers to choose from. I really liked the Saison.

I'm gluten free nowadays, so I wasn't able to order a pasta dish to go with my poached cod, and was still a little hungry afterwards. It would be great if they had one rice or potato dish, but it's pretty traditional Italian, so I don't expect that. I'm sure if you order a pasta and a meat dish like you're supposed to, you'll be satisfied. I look forward to...