OTTO — Restaurant in Portland

Without exaggeration, every time I order from these guys they manage to mess it all up. It’s usually a simple case of no one reading the tickets, since the box usually has the correct order even though the pizza inside is not that pizza. Does anyone read the tickets? Does anyone look at the pizza as it goes into the box? After it goes into the box? Ever?

Tonight we ordered a large pizza with cup and char pepperoni. What was delivered was OTTO’s “Hot Honey, Cup & Char Pepperoni & Goat Cheese” pizza. Why anyone would want goat cheese on a pizza is a whole other story, but alas, we did not. The box had the correct order on it, beginning with the words BUILD YOUR OWN (aka not the aforementioned pizza) in all caps. So we called, spent 10 minutes on the phone being informed they would need to charge us again in order for a new pizza to be delivered (this one arrived with the wrong sauce), and that a refund should show up for the first pizza in a few days.

I’ve worked in a lot of restaurants and have never worked on a system that couldn’t issue immediate refunds or process orders without payment. But I guess those restaurants also read the tickets and then made the food on those tickets so…maybe I’m asking too much?

On top of this, the inconsistency is the only consistent thing OTTO can guarantee. Sometimes the pies look decent, with proper sauce/cheese/toppings (not the correct toppings obviously) distribution and an acceptable char, but more often that not they’re burnt or undercooked or much smaller than a proper large pizza.

What kills me is that I keep ordering from here because of the utter lack of decent pizza options in town. If anyone reads this and tries to convince me otherwise, you are wrong. If anyone from OTTO reads this, please consider attempting to get someone at your “restaurants” to care. Anyone really. Or maybe caring is too high of an expectation? Can you just get someone in there who knows how to read a ticket that says “pepperoni pizza” and then (this is the important part) makes a pizza with pepperoni on it. And doesn’t...

It’s good pizza but the staff told us there were no seats available when half the tables were empty. I pointed to those and he said they were spoken for even though they don’t take reservations. And told us it would be an hour even though there was no one else waiting. Clearly didn’t want our business.

The "Response from the owner" sent me a link asking for more details. I filled out their form. For others, here was my response:

The manager at the checkout shouted over to us when we walked in the door that it was at least 45 minutes to an hour before they could serve us. I would have been fine with that - we were without power and it was warm here and there were large booths open which would be perfect to keep children entertained within with a card game I brought. I simply said ok, do we just take a seat? He said that there weren't any available. I looked back to the dining room, which had two booths clearly empty and asked if we could sit there. He said no. I asked if they were limited on waitstaff or the kitchen - he said no, it was that those tables were spoken for. He then turned to do something else. There was no one else waiting. It was just us there with a several other tables occupied, half of the booths empty, and no one staff to help me understand if we needed to put our name on a list, or in any other way be served at some point. My wife was home sick in bed and I was bringing my two kids and one of their friends (three children under 9) as a solo parent to get dinner after I wasn't able to get the camp stove to work to make mac and cheese as planned. This was our third stop, as two other restaurants we tried were without power and closed. This location seemed to not only not want our business, but to not even want to fully communicate how or when we would be served other than stand in one place for at least 45 minutes hoping that at some point they would be interested in re-engaging us in...

We came in today (6/13/2024) and it was a very uncomfortable experience. My daughter just had her preschool graduation and we figured OTTOS would be a good place to eat. When we walked in the older woman behind the bar serviced how annoyed she was that she now has "these people walking in". I was confused why customers coming in would annoy her so I just blew it off that maybe she was having a bad day. lt was a hot day and there was no AC on, that happens! But it made us debate staying since our 5 year old might not put up with it. So we ended up leaving. The same woman behind the bar goes "Are you kidding me, I just gave them menus and they are leaving." When someone asked who? She said "those people who just walked in, they're leaving, are you kidding me."

Listen, I get it was a hot day, it was almost 90 degrees, that can make people angry/frustrated. I don't know if she doesn't realize people can hear her. Or if she cares. But her verbalizations of her frustration of dealing with customers is unsettling. I used to work in the service industry and I know that it's not appropriate. I love OTTOs, we love the one by the Maine Mall, we love the one in Saco. We have always had great experiences with OTTOs. This one was...