Botto's Italian Line Restaurant — Restaurant in Swedesboro

What a fabulous restaurant! We are driving up from Naples, Florida to New York and stopped off in a local hotel, where they recommended Botto’s. It looked great on the Internet so we called up and they said come on down. When we walked in, we were seated in the bar area because they told us the dining room was closed. Unfortunately, the music was blaring and we could barely hear each other so we asked if they would be good enough to let us sit in the dining room. At first, they were going to have the bartender lower the music, but we didn’t want them to do that because everybody was having a good time and we didn’t want to spoil anything. Somebody went and asked the manager and the manager said it was OK so they put us in the dining room at a lovely quiet table with completely different music playing, the soft Italian type music that you would associate with a place like this. We ordered a red sangria and let me tell you! it was delicious with lots of fruit just the way it’s supposed to be done. My wife ordered a meatball appetizer that came with a salad and I got the chicken masala. Wow!! But before I tell you about that, they brought out some delicious oil and herbs for dipping with toasted bread. That disappeared quickly! And the food! Oh my God, the food! Out of this world! My wife literally inhaled her meatballs, and I couldn’t believe how delicious and tender the chicken was with a huge portion of thin linguine with mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, and a magnificent Marsala sauce. It was a huge plate of food. At first I thought I’m going to bring half of it home so we can have it tomorrow night and then as I worked my way through I started feeling there wasn’t enough because it just tasted so good I wasn’t going to leave a single bit of it on the plate. It was so kind of Judy, the manager, to let us sit in the dining area, even though it was already closed. Brian was the chef. What a gem! Our server was a very polite and personable, young man named Joe, who made sure that we were well taken care of throughout the entire meal. This is a place that really deserves to have people dress up for the meal and for the service. It presents itself as that kind of upscale place, but even though we were just wearing travelers’ clothing, they treated us like royalty. We had a charming conversation with Judy, the manager and only wish that we lived much closer so we could come here once a week. Thank you everyone for making our last dinner on the road so memorable. We certainly hope to be back ASAP. You guys are...

We were there last Saturday to celebrate my birthday. We were a party of nine and after the first two hours of not receiving our dinner I tried to find out why it was taking so long, when I spoke with the hostess she made some excuse and then went and got the manager and the manager came out to the table he was extremely rude and pretty much yelled at me and tried to turn the whole thing around. By then part of the food had come out and the other part had not. By the time it did half of the party had already finished eaten. My husband had to go and speak with a manager for being so rude and talking down to me and they tried to make it right by bringing a cake out which was nice but at that point the evening was ruined. Just about everyone enjoyed the food and I’m not talking bad about the quality or the taste of the food it was absolutely fine. Driving home was 2 1/2 hour ride and not getting home till about midnight I decided to wait till Monday morning to give them a call to settle the situation because I was very upset and when I called Monday morning I was told no one was there for Speak to so I called back this morning and spoke with the owner of the restaurant. After explaining the situation I was told that it was my fault and that I talked badly to the hostess and that I had yelled at the two young girls which I did not and that they thought they made up for it by bringing me a cake. When trying to explain that I did not yell at the hostesses and that I had just wanted to speak with a manager I ended up getting nowhere so at that point I just basically decided that we just would not go there again and when I said this to him he hung up on me! I find it very hard to believe that an owner of an establishment would be that rude and apparently they have enough Business that they didn’t Need or care about mine or my family Or that we...

Had really high hopes for this one.

Reservations for my wife's 50th birthday - only happens once... Called ahead to make sure everything was in good order. Asked if they had the ability to do a candle on the dessert or I could bring our own. Was assured "absolutely" and that a "note was made on the reservation" to accommodate. Even made it a point to point out the birthday girl to the waitress. Nope. Nothing. But at least the table beside us got a candle and they even sang to them.

The dining room has extremely high ceilings, so sound just bounces around and I guess there was a large work party in the same room and they were deafening! Impossible to hear anyone on the other side of the table so conversation was pretty much limited to the person sitting beside you.

As far as dinner was concerned, they COMPLETELY forgot to make a dinner for one of our guests. Like, just forgot. His dinner arrived 15 minutes after everyone else was served. We waited for his dinner to be served before we started. I don't know if that contributed to the condition of my entrée, but the Pasta Carbonara was very dry and not creamy at all and the "grilled chicken" was super dry and hard. I picked it off and then just didn't even finish. The dinner rolls were like a dry sponge. Enjoyed the calamari, though. It seemed fresh and was prepared with just a touch of crushed red pepper that gave it a nice zip. (This appetizer is the only reason I'm giving this experience a second star.)

Overall, definitely disappointing and with so many other dining options available in the area, we won't be returning. I wish I had the night to do over again, to really celebrate my wife's 50th. But, like I said, it only happens once....