Otto's — Restaurant in Covington

Sorry, have to give a bad but accurate review. Haven't been here in awhile but stopped by yesterday. Stepped inside to use the restroom and wife grabbed one of the handful of empty tables outside. Didn't see any hosts or hostesses when I walked in, I don't know, maybe I overlooked him or her. Regardless, I came outside, sat down and didn't see any waitresses. A couple of ladies came after us, one went inside and asked for permission to sit outside to someone, not sure who. They got waited on right away and while we were waiting they're food was brought out. We flagged down the waitress with a nose ring who was ignoring us after taking the order from the 2 ladies.... I guess this is what we get for not getting permission to sit outside lol. I mean we were literally at the table right outside the door, pretty hard to miss. She was nice enough though and brought us our drinks. I ordered soup and bread. That's it. After that she did a disappearing act... never saw her again. We did see her inside waiting on others however. We actually saw some friends of ours who went inside briefly and then came back out and sat at an outdoor table. After not getting service they left. We sat for awhile and just watched others eat. I didn't time it but wife said it was 20 minutes. Didn't see the waitress again who we thought would at least come out and check on the people who she had already served. Finally, we just gave up. Had to go inside to get our check for our drinks. When I did so I noticed it wasn't as busy as it was when we first arrived. At this point it was around 1:45 to 2pm. Saw the waitress, reminded her of our order and just asked for the check for the drinks. The bar tender asked if I still wanted soup to go which just made my shake my head. We left and went elsewhere. I guess having worked in a restaurant I should have known not to grab an empty table without checking with someone. But I honestly didn't see anyone. But at that point they weren't that busy so we didn't think it mattered. I mean Otto's is an interesting place but you're NOT that great so if there was some "restaurant snobbery" going on then you might want to rethink that. Although we saw some lady bring out food to the couple that came after us, we didn't see any other waitresses so maybe this girl was just a bit overworked? I get it, its hard to find good help so maybe she needed someone else to help her. We didn't have a big order but I can't remember the last time I didn't tip over 20%, usually much more for small orders but we didn't leave anything here. I guess Ill try again in a few more years. There are plenty of...

Otto's: Located in the German influence area of Covington, on Main Street, this is one of the best breakfast/brunch places in the area. With street side seating arrangement it's a very good option on a sunny day.

Food: We went for a BLFGT minus B (bacon), so LFGT (lettuce, fried green tomatoes, egg, cheese, and mayo served on a toasted croissant) with a tomato dill soup and Lemon Buttermilk Pancakes with a potato cake. To drink, we went for a regular coffee and an ice tea. The LFGT was great. The croissant had a great outer crunch as you bite in. The fried green tomatoes had a perfect juicy-savory balance. Loved the overall feeling of the sandwich - just what you need for a perfect start of the day. However, the star was the tomato dill soup. Slightly tangy and very delicious. The freshness was amazing. Lemon Buttermilk Pancakes were of a little more than normal thickness, which was baffling. However, in terms of taste, it was still great. The mixed berries compote on top was delicious. The potato cake was fine - not a great combination with pancakes - but on its own it was good. The coffee was great. They provide a small bottle of local dairy milk. I like my coffee black but tried the milk separately and it was good. The ice tea was good too. Overall, the food is amazing here and definitely recommended​ if you're looking for some amazing places for breakfast in the Covington area.

Ambiance: The outdoor seating was amazing. Of course, nature played a key role there. But they have a very comfortable seating outside and you can see people preferring that on a sunny day. As you walk in, they have good capacity inside as well with a couple of tables on the left and a few on right. They have highchairs option as well where they serve you right at the bar counter. One thing you distinctly notice is their spirits collection which is reflected in their menu as well. Plenty of natural light coming in during AM hours makes the indoors bright as well.

Service: I liked the service - fairly quick. The lady attending us was good and friendly. Great...

I wasn’t sure how busy things might be on a Saturday morning around 10:30a having never visited before. But I found a free parking spot immediately on the corner and walked in to find there were only two other full tables. Even though my full party hadn’t yet arrived, they were kind enough to Seat me.

Their brunch menu is served on both Saturday and Sunday and I had already looked it over before my arrival. While I don’t have a gluten intolerance, I do prefer to eat gluten free. So I’d called ahead to get the annoying questions out of the way so as not to embarrass myself in front of my cousins. Lol. Their breakfast casserole with sausage and cheese sounded yummy, but I wanted to confirm that it didn’t have bread or flour in it (even though it wasn’t mentioned in the menu). This seemed like a reasonable question considering the person who answered the phone said the question had been asked before and they needed to confirm as they couldn’t quite remember if there was bread in it. But they were back on the line within moments and said that it was in fact gluten free. So that’s what I ordered along with a side of bacon.

But I have to say, I’m not 100% sure this was accurate information. Lol. The base of the casserole was either eggs that had been whipped so much that that were SUPER fluffy and mimicked the air pockets of bread, or it was very moist, egg soaked bread. So I stuck to eating all of the delicious ingredients on top just to be safe. The sausage, cheese and veggie had all the great flavors I was looking for! I will mention that the potato involved was shredded. I guessed I’d assumed it would be cubed and fried before being added to such a dish to give more text and flavor. But this shredded stuff had neither.

I’d love to return another time and try something else when I’m less concerned about being gluten free. My cousins seemed to enjoy their BLT and Avocado Toast. But the French Toast that walk med by looked particularly indulgent...if I’m gonna have bread, that’s definitely the way...