Ortobello's — Restaurant in New York

Filthy place. People in the kitchen sweep the floor while the food is cooking and the kitchen looks really gross (I saw it first hand because I was sitting across the way from the kitchen). The waiter who initially greeted us was very rude. There was a hair on my chicken franchise (I saw it right away and I did not even touch the food at all), and when I told the waiter that there was a hair, instead of apologizing, he took my dish back, showed it to his boss and immediately took it to the kitchen, and then, came back and asked me what color hair it was....I said, "don't even start that." I knew exactly what he was implying. He immediately stopped discussing the subject and asked me if I wanted something else. I worked in Italian restaurant many years ago, and I know that there can, sometimes, be an incident of hair being in the food....but, I would, never, ever ask a customer if it is "their hair." So gross....the hair was white, my hair is brown. How dare you accuse the client of such thing...Just their attitude toward customers is not welcoming at all. I think that this place has been in Brooklyn for some time, and they could care less about new patrons. I would never, ever, go and dine there again. It makes me noxious to even think about the gross hair on the chicken and people sweeping the floor while the food is being prepared. So gross. I could not eat the substitute dish, I was so noxious that I wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. Please stop sweeping the floor while the food is cooking. Please be nicer to your customers as they are the ones who bring the business to you. Even considering the grossness of the whole situation, I kindly paid my check and I left a very good tip, because that is what I do knowing that everyone works hard for their money, especially in the restaurant business, (you did not deserve the tip to tell you the truth, but I wanted to be myself, a very generous tipper). I hope you improve your business and your environment. I think you lost a very valuable potential...

Huge portions, great ambiance!

Loved the homestyle vibe and that people from all walks of life come here. You have families celebrating a birthday, couples young and old, and even folks treating out of town relatives. Obvious signs of folks returning returning frequently for visits for a wide array of occasions.

Sunday afternoon I had a hankering for pasta and found this place to try. Walked over, arrived shortly before 5pm and was seated promptly in a comfy spot by the window. Slight glare on the laminated menu as I perused all the many options. No big deal, cleanliness is a good thing. Took half an hour at least to deliberate over all the delicious options and ended up with the prixe fixe to get a little bit of everything.

The bread, the baked clams appetizer, and garden salad were so amazingly good. Set my taste buds up for a salivating main course! Delicious for the first few bites then became salty. I would get the salad again with balsamic vinaigrette. Maybe the bread was meant to go with the chicken marsala? I'd visit this restaurant again for sure, it's a pleasant experience and appetizing food.

Hope to find a dining companion for the next time I go! Had I not had my smart phone it would have been boring to wait in between courses. A star knocked off because they had to turn patrons away when it got busier and also when it got busy I saw a waiter accidentally spill dressing on the other side of the room when shaking the bottle, splashing a few tables. Was too focused on finishing his task of ferociously shaking the bottle and drizzling the dressing on salad to notice peripheral splashes on other patrons. Despite that random incident, I loved seeing the tight knit community vibe going on where everyone knew each other and caught up, felt like an extended family dinner and the perfect way to...

I’ve passed here often but never had a chance to visit. Yesterday I decided to give it a shot. The restaurant isn’t much to look at from the outside but that doesn’t mean much. The food was amazing. I went with the baked clams for my appetizer. Which were very good. For my main I couldn’t decide between the tortellini bolognese or the penne vodka with shrimp. So I asked my waiter’s opinion & he suggested combining the two. So I took his advice & had tortellini vodka with shrimp. It was extremely delicious, the vodka sauce was especially creamy & both the shrimp & pasta were fresh. It was an extremely filling meal as well. On a side note you may want to avoid eating the pre meal bread with butter & save the bread for the excess sauce from your main. I usually prefer NY style cheesecakes but since they were serving a HOMEMADE ricotta cheesecake I had to take a slice to go. I couldn’t eat another bite after that amazing dinner. The restaurant is on the small side & can probably seat around 40 people. It has an old school vibe to it & the food is amazing. I had half of the slice of cheesecake for breakfast this morning. It was surprisingly delicious & moist (I often find Italian cheesecake to be dry). I would definitely recommend stopping...