The Otis Restaurant — Restaurant in Washington

We really miss our Otis Grill. The few items that they did carry over are pretty much just sandwiches. We shared one and it was good enough but nothing special. Not something to make you want to come back. I don't really have any expectations that it will make it until Christmas. Their latin food menu is mostly unfamiliar stuff. Most of it doesn't appeal to me either. I did have 2 street tacos. I ate one right away when the food was brought to our table and it was just fine. I didn't eat the other one for about 10-15 minutes while we ate the rest of our meal. It was so dried out I could barely eat it. Though street tacos are admittedly not on my list of favorite foods to begin with. They maintained the original mom and pop atmosphere of the Otis Grill but took all of our favorites, the stuff that kept us coming back, off the menu. They appear to be going for more of an "authentic" Latin American vibe with their cuisine. But they've made no effort to match the ambiance to the menu. We've only met one other neighbor who has tried it. They shared a burrito. They said it was pretty good but they didn't indicate that the looked forward to having it again. They've both got a more adventurous or "sophisticated" palette than we do and yet did not find anything else on the menu interesting enough to try. I think this restaurant would do well closer to downtown or the upper South Hill. My optimism matches my enthusiasm on their likelihood of keeping this restaurant open in this market. My advice, if the owners are listening, would be to restore a half dozen or so of the Otis Grill dinner menu items, add a half dozen or so "typical Mexican American" (think Azteca) menu items and combinations. Let the community learn to like your restaurant by doing a good job with a more familiar menu. Then as people learn to like your food they will start trying other items. But who am I. I'm just a local customer who's been coming here 2-3 times a month for over 7 years. We'll likely try it again a couple times over the next 6 or 7 months, if you can keep it open that long. If the menu stays about the same we'll just scratch it off our list. While writing this I did have an idea that might jump start their acceptance. Offer to exchange the customer's selection if they don't like a recommended menu item for something different. Depending on how well the food is liked such a policy might jump start the business by having more people try things they might not otherwise be willing to spend their money on. Something they have no idea whether they might like it. Another idea might be to make some much smaller (1/4-1/3) size "sample" plates for $5-6. So, for what it's worth, there's my verbose 2...

6/124 They lost another star from me. Went there for breakfast. Owner poured coffe, and took my order... which ended up being wrong when served. Younger gal came around to refresh coffe and replenish creamer (when asked) but could not acknowledge my gratitude. Older lady came around to place 3 individual checks to the table. She got it wrong saying she didn't take the order... i didn't care BUT...she brought me cash when i pad with card, and handed my card to another person at the table. I also had severe digestive upset (only ate half of my breakfast, but didn't want to be discourteous). Honestly, i am over being nice for poor service and foo that doesn't sit well with me (that has also had other reviews of meat being bad... i ordered NO meat, and i got ham, bacon, and sausage... no veggies omelette). I am over the rude or ignorant service and mediocre food that makes me feel ill for 10 hours)

(Edited previous review i left from when the Otis Grill was not this current business) Salsa was salty and just didn't seem fresh, flavorful, seemed more like canned. The pollo crema sauce was gritty and greasy. The refried beans more like soup, and the cheese just powdery/waxy. My hubby had the carne asada and the beef tasted "off" to him. He gets it at every restaurant we go to, and never complains about flavor, so definitely something not normal. No hot salsa, and rather limited options for american or mexican. Just pick a lane so you can focus on providing better food.

The owner sat on his butt in the booth near the bathrooms, acting like a customer, not an owner. Never once visited a table. Service was mediocre, long wait, and only 5 tables (also not getting much attention, other than the one that they seemed to know). We'd love to support local, but if i want good food, there are better options for sure.

Sadly, they are riding on the coat tails of the great reviews before this owner took over. Average now would be just...

Met my cousin and my aunt here for lunch today. I just started working down the road from here and there's only a couple places close by to eat. Especially if you have dietary needs. My aunt has celiac and a shellfish allergy. The staff here was exemplary! They went above and beyond to ensure my aunt could have a nice meal that wouldn't make her sick. The cook came and talked to us and told us all the precautions she'd taken and asked us questions about seasonings she could or couldn't eat. Brandi spent quite a lot of time on the phone with my cousin the day before discussing things so that we could all have a nice lunch together to celebrate my new job and enjoy each other's company for a little while. And our server was simply a doll. I'm sorry I didn't catch her name but she was courteous, helpful, understanding and very sweet and friendly! I can't say enough good things about them.

To top it all off the food was delicious. I had a patty melt with fries and my cousin had their chicken bacon ranch salad. My aunt had a variation of their taco salad with grilled chicken and avocado/no tortilla bowl and a side of fries.

Thank you to all the...