Otto By Polpo — Restaurant in Lower Merion Township

This place is great, but we've had some misses with the service. We really enjoy the Gnocchi Alla Sorrentina and Penne Agli Scampi, and we have ordered takeout for ourselves and visiting guests a number of times.

Unfortunately, there was recently an issue where we ordered online using Toasttab, their preferred online ordering platform, during Philly restaurant week. They had a handful of restaurant week specials, and we were excited to experience that from home, we have two special needs children and going to the restaurant is not a good option for us, our children, the restaurant, and other patrons, but that didn't work out. My wife showed up at the scheduled pickup time, and they said they were not able to make the order because they didn't have the specials available. They didn't offer any help and simply stated that they couldn't fulfill the order. They called me when my wife was waiting in the vestibule and explained the same thing to me and didn't offer any assistance. They were pretty hostile and tried to blame me for taking advantage of a mistake or something. I don't understand. I tried to navigate the confusion and requested to speak to the manager on duty and I was transfered to a chef that was argumentative and simply stated that there was no manager assigned for the entire shift. At this point my wife was embarrassed and simply wanted to exit stage left. I requested a callback from the manager the next day, and it never happened.

It's very confusing because the specials weren't at all that special. They were simply the normal dishes in smaller portions. Also, it doesn't make sense to wait to inform us until the moment of pickup. It was odd.

Maybe the B team was working that night. Maybe we were unreasonable expecting restaurant week promos the week of Philly restaurant week that were posted by Otto By Polpo. Maybe somewhere in between. Regardless, we are a bit reluctant to order again from here. To be honest, I have no idea if we were refunded, and I'm not interested in sorting through...

A resounding 2 thumbs DOWN. Let's start with the food. About as basic as you can get which is blasphemy if you are going to call yourself an Italian restaurant. The octopus, which their restaurant is NAMED AFTER, is awful. The char completely overtakes the taste (and I love a good char)- in an all I can taste is the gas which has saturated the plate- this is the namesake of your restaurant- if you can't get that right, you have a major problem. Also ordered was the homemade polenta in creamy mushroom sauce- sounds delightful, right? nope. polenta was tasteless, very little sauce, and the sauce provided was not flavorful at all. We also got 3 pasta dishes- all you can taste is the salt. It's pretty hard to mess up seafood and pasta, but this was accomplished here. Walked a very fine line on inedible. On to the service- although our waiter seemed sweet- the hostess I dealt with on the phone and in person was unpleasant. This is the face and first interaction with the restaurant-do better. I don't need to be made to feel like I'm bothering anyone by asking basic questions such as, are there tables available at this time? The guy who was in charge of the water seemed to struggle with, again, some basic social interactions. Then, the surprise of it being a BYOB. If you google ANY other Italian restaurant in the area, it is very clear and evident that they are a BYOB. This was not the case here, and such an incredible disappointment when you sit down to have a relaxing meal at the end of the day. Wait, did I say relaxing? No... sorry. Your table is timed, and when we went to put in our order, like any normal order- appetizers first- we were told we needed to put in our entire order because they were about to get busy, and we needed to eat as soon as possible and leave. wow. also- families- do NOT eat here- children are most definitely not welcomed. we went around 5:30 p.m. on a weekday, and that was even met with ice. If you want a real, delicious, relaxing Italian meal- go elsewhere-...

We came to OTTO By POLPO looking forward to a special night out, something rare and well-earned. I paid for parking, arranged a dog sitter, and cleared my evening to enjoy what I hoped would be a beautiful dinner. Instead, what we got was a masterclass in being completely disregarded. After being seated, it took ten full minutes just to get water. Not a single offer of drinks, appetizers, or even bread. Our waiter passed by once to say he’d be with us soon, then vanished. We sat there for another twenty minutes, smiling through the growing discomfort, assuming someone would come back. No one did. Every other table around us was getting full attention. The restaurant wasn’t even that busy. The only interaction we had was when someone came to quietly take our untouched wine glasses. When we finally stood up to leave, the waiter glanced over and said, “Oh, you guys are leaving?” No apology. No accountability. Not even a half-hearted attempt to pretend it wasn’t as bad as it was.

We were the only visible minorities in the room, and the only table completely ignored. I don’t want that to matter, but it did. Everyone else was treated like a guest. We were treated like we didn’t belong. I didn’t just lose an evening. I lost the energy I spent trying to give this place the benefit of the doubt. It was humiliating and isolating, and it...