Ortobello Restaurant

awesome food and even more awesome environment. with a Bensonhurst that is rapidly becoming Chinese, it is cool to see one of these old-​school italian american restaurant still hanging on the block. i just loved the décor of the restaurant and family feel you get from the servers and owners. the prices are affordable too
just one knock though… it took quite a long time for our entrees to be served after the appetizers. from some previous posters, it seems like this is a reoccurring thing at the restaurant which prompts me to leave the 4 stars instead of the 5. i’ll definitely come back and hopefully that will be something that’d be improved upon.

Slow service but really good homey italian cuisine. Everything was delicious. We had the calamari, veal parmagiana with mussels and ortobello linguini. The sauces are all made in house. We will return. Portions are huge we had to pack up most of our food to go.

came here for dinner with my colleague.
She recommend this spot, it’s her regular family dinner spot for Italian food.
I have to say this is by far the more authentic Italian place i been to and best flavor.
Colleague ordered a bacon spaghetti and i had the lasagna.
They were both good, pasta made fresh in the kitchen when you order!!! a huge +++++
I do want to point out though, my lasagna was too salty, they could go light on the sauce.
We have cappuccino and tiramisu for desert even though we cannot finish out big plates of food. lol BUT, this cup of cappuccino was the best! yes, it was a bit heavy with wimp cream, it was a great treat. Tiramisu actually had a shot of espresso in it! WOW! i was shocked and amazed and grateful. It was worth every penny.
Def recommend this place and i will be back!

WOW! I’m blown away by this place. It has an old school mob family kinda feel. The chef is great. Friendly guy with a big personality. The food is even better! Huge proportions you will not finish in one sitting. Definitely will carry out a doggy bag. When you take a bite out of the food, you will feel like you’re Goldilocks and find it to be «just right!»

Place seems very authentic. It’s small so just keep that in mind when going there. The food is to die for! They have huge servings as you can see in the pics, so feel free to share or just come with a big appetite.

Zuppa Di pesce is so good with octopus, clams, vegetable
All their noodle is so good
Fried calamari i like it so much

Warning — you will wait for what feels FOREVER… But it will be some of the best food you’ve ever had. EVER! One of the closest tastes to Italy I’ve ever had in the states!
It’s a tiny restaurant on a Bensonhurst corner. Have some wine will you wait because every item is made fresh to order. You will become addicted! My personal favorites are the pasta fagoli, stuffed mushrooms, capellini primavera and farfalle al salmon.
I love the feel of this restaurant. My uncle was an Italian artist and it reminds me of being in his studio.
They also make awesome hero sandwiches perfect for incredible lunch takeout!

This seems like an authentic classic old school Italian restaurant. It’s small with a homey vibe. Looks like a family run business. To start we had the mussels marinara. The portions were huge and the marinara sauce was great. We dipped the free bread that they gave us in the sauce and it was wonderful. For entrée, we had the pollo marsala, which is chicken in marsala wine sauce with mushrooms. This I wasn’t a fan of. The taste was light and not a flavorful dish. But, if you prefer something light this is a good choice to get.
Also ordered the tortellini bolognese. I love the bolognese sauce, which is like a minced meat and tomato sauce. The tortellini is a type of pasta stuffed with cheese. I didn’t know that it had cheese filling or I would’ve chose something else. It wasn’t the type of cheese that I like either, so it was too much cheese for me. I would’ve enjoyed it much more if it were a different type of pasta with no filling.
And last, we had the shrimp marinara. You can’t go wrong with this dish. It has big shrimps and clams in the dish. The spaghetti coated in marinara sauce was just delicious. The portions here are so big that we couldn’t finish everything and had to take the leftovers to go. I highly advise you to not over order. One entrée can definitely be shared between 2 people. Even the appetizers are humongous. They accept credit cards, but tips need to be in cash. Prices are in the $ 20’s, which is reasonable for the portions that they give.

I might’ve had my expectations set a little too high for this restaurant. I was expecting something out of this world but it was just good old Italian food. Don’t get me wrong, I love Italian food but didn’t think it was anything out of the ordinary.
The only dish that I absolutely loved was the seafood salad. This refreshing dish is perfect for a hot summer. Actaully, it’ll be good on any given day. It’s super light and tangy. Everything else was pretty good but not jaw dropping good. Prices are fairly steep for a Brooklyn restaurant but I guess the large portion makes it worth it.
I also really liked the fact that this place is run by Italians who can actually speak Italian. It feels extra authentic. I would definitely be returning to try more dishes and of course for that yummy seafood salad.

This place is authentic. It is So authentic that when I walked in with my family… we felt like we don’t belong and only the Italians should come here.
Warning: they got BIG portions!!!
Me, my wife and our two kids ordered the Mozzarella Logs, mussels in white sauce and baked clams as starters; then we had spaghetti with meat ball, seafood risotto and chicken cutlet with mozzarella cheese and salad over it… The portions were so huge that we barely made a dent, so be mindful when you order.
Let’s talk food:
The mozzarella logs are not your typical mozzarella sticks! These logs are HUGE! One log is probably equal to 3 – 4 of the regular sticks combined and a order comes with like 8 – 10 of them… We each had one and packed the rest.
The mussels… I normally don’t eat mussels… its my wife and daughter’s thing. But these mussels were sitting in a buttery sauce loaded with garlic, fused with lemon that is simply irresistible.
The baked clams… Hmm… Where do I begin? These are not your average Joe stuff either! Fresh clams stuffed with garlic and stuffings baked to perfection on top of garlic sauce… did not expect this level of foods coming out of this small, old local restaurant.
— — — — — — — — — — — — —
Main course:
Spaghetti with meatball: the meatballs pack a subtle yet elegant flavor… Not the best I have had but definitely sits in the top 5. The sauce is really what made it special. I like my spaghetti just a little hard so I felt their spaghetti was a bit over cooked and soft.
Seafood risotto– OMG!!! Soooo good!!! Shrimp, mussels, octopus, abalone!!! The flavor was incredible! So delicious. All the yumminess of the seafood got soaked into the rice… Need I say more? For $ 30 it is a gigantic plate!!!
Mozzarella + salad over fried chicken cutlet was decent but nothing special, although it is good I would still say skip it and order something else.
Our waiter has to be at least 60. Good, old fashioned clean service with that true local flare. Love it love it. He came by and said «if you guys finish all the food I buy you cheese cake on the house!» Laughs and walks away. Hahahah.
Great dinner, great service, great food. These local jewels need to stick around for at least a few more generations.