I would give them three stars for service but fewer will bring the average down which is what this place deserves. Â They have a zillion variations of their awful tasting beers. Â Not a one there worth drinking. Â And that's their star attraction. Â Their liquor prices are outrageous. Â Their mixed drinks should come with a magnifying glass.
The fries were cold and dry. Â The juicy (medium rare) hamburger was warm and dry. Â Three of us at the table. Â The Cuban sandwich was passable, but barely. Â The dinner salad was limp.
The food is one step above Denny's in quality and three times the price.
Food - 3 stars
Beer - 5 stars
Food is inconsistent and anywhere between good and great, but it's a crap shoot especially for the burgers
The beer is delicious, and has a wide variety. I love the hefeweizen. Just be aware it's actually cheaper per ounce to get the smaller glass than the big glass.
Outdoor seating is also a plus, the staff is great, as is the service, even when they are really busy
I feel like I should give Otto's more stars, but I'm serious about beer, I really care beer, and I did not care for their beer.
They had this apricot wheat beer that is like the Arbor Mist of beers. Â It was so, so, so bad..
The pub itself looks really cool inside and the food was pretty good. Â My friend had hot wing mac n cheese which he loved, and I got a burger. Â The burger was pretty good but it was not mind blowing.
We did try their cheese/meats appetizer and that was very good. Â The service is pleasant, the atmosphere is good, but alas the beer was not. Â :(
I *would* comeback in the future because the food and atmosphere were so strong, but I just cant rave about their beer.
I will gladly take mediocre food with excellent service...happily this was NOT the case at Otto's today. I had the apple and red cabbage panini and it was delicious. As a lacto-vegetarian with vegan aspirations, I was impressed by the veg and vegan variety on the menu. They do not pay lip service to us by assuming salads will cut it! Next time I want to try a walnut burger, which is one of the beef burger substitution options. My husband had wings, which he, being a wing snob, pronounced very good. We shared the black bean and hummus dip combo and it was fabulous. Â Definitely enough as an entree for the light appetite. We also had the fresh cuts, which were hot and yummy-just like the ones at the beach.
Service was fast, flawless and very, very personal. Matt, our server, asked if it was our first visit (it was) and explained the menu, the beer and gave us a brief and colorful history of the brewpub. He also discussed the extensive use of local ingredients, which impressed us. From what I could hear from servers at nearby tables, Matt's warm and welcoming style was typical. He was a gem, though. He even brought us generous samples of some beers he thought we might like, even though we didn't buy any.
Summing up- comfortable, informal, warm, happy, gracious atmosphere. Delicious comfortable favorites and some lovely and daring surprises rarely seen at restaurants of this type. We will definitely go back to explore the menu further.
I have to say that I've not been to the new location, and that being said, that also means that I have not been here in years. Also, I was underage the last time I was here.
I remember liking the food very much (nachos both times), and I remember that the groups I was with (same people both times) absolutely LOVE this place. Though, both times, they were of drinking age, and boy did they drink. =D
Good food, ok prices, nice atmosphere. Worth a trip.
Being vegetarian can be a challenge at MOST restaurants in central PA, but Ottos is different. Â They have a large variety of vegetarian AND vegan options to choose from. Â I love the bbq tofu wedge myself. Â Super tasty. Â We just ate there this past weekend and the food was great. Â However, one pet peeve we have is when we order a starter and our main meal comes out right away. Â Unfortunately that happened this past weekend. Â We sent our salads back (hadn't even taken a single bite before our meals came!) and just ate our main meal. Â Service is generally very good, but we have had some very bad service there in the past. Â Overall, the food is great and they have some good beer to choose from.
Review Source:I think State College is just too small and too industrial looking to be quaint. It's just not a charming place. During my second trip to the city I was, however, really happy to go to Otto's. It has local flare, decent food, and decent beer. I'm a huge fan of wheat beers and i tried the Apricot Wheat. It's almost too sweet, but I did enjoy it. My friend enjoyed her IPA as well. The serving sizes here are huge! Just insanely big, but the food is not equally as tasty. i would say go for a fun atmosphere and drinks, but expect pretty standard meals.
Review Source:Came across this place on a recent trip to Home Depot and holy crap, talk about pleasantly surprised. Beyond exceeded expectations on all levels. We got the Beer Cheese as an appetizer, delicious. Husband got a burger, it came with thick cut bacon on top, he loved it. I got the black bean burrito with smoked pork and sweet potato fries, all awesome. We also got a pizza to share because wood fired pizza's are my weakness, and most places we go to (at least around western pa) fail at making them, especially in a wood fired oven. Â It was also, awesome. The sauce was just a tad bit bland, but the crust, toppings, everything else were spot on. I can't believe I live just an hour away from this place and just now found out about it. Lastly, the beers. I can't tell you how many craft breweries we've been to, to only be let down by their attempt at making popular domestic beer clones as opposed to something different. Loved the variety of all the craft choices, as well as the ones we tried. Will definitely be back, and really appreciate that they use local ingredients as much as possible.
Review Source:This place is awesome - craft beer, friendly staff, knowledgable bartenders, food made in house...they even have TOFU, TEMPEH, & VEGAN options!!! Apparently, there's a micro-greens rooftop garden but I didn't get the opportunity to see it first-hand :(
Beer pretzel was OK - standard pretzel (I like the pretzel at Troeg's more) w/ a spicy mustard sauce. Standard salad w/ avo cream (vegan) dressing - yum. Beer was pretty good (I think it would have been better if I hadn't been wine-tasting just prior to going there...my palate was shot).
Would/am definitely going back next time I'm in that area.
Great place and fantastic beer! The Apricot Wheat is hands down my favorite! Can't stop drinking this stuff. Bought a gallon and half worth of growlers the other day. the food is pretty good too. Good portions for the price and i like that they buy as local as possible when the season is right.
Review Source:What an absolutely AWESOME place!
The atmosphere is great. Â Reminds me of one of my favorite places I used to go to in Asbury Park, NJ.
The food is consistent, delicious, fresh and as local as they can make it. Â Great to see a place supporting local farmers.
Options for all diets and lifestyles. Â I was vegan for 2 years and ate there, now I'm not and the burger I had a few weeks ago................ mouth watering delicious!
BEER - holy crap - the BEER IS AMAZING. Â The Winter Warmer stole my heart haha. Â My gf loves their Stout. Â Huge fan of the Apricot Wheat as well! Â Heck, they are all awesome.
Great bar, tons of tvs for sports, but they aren't blasting so you can enjoy a conversation without having to scream.
Service is prompt and professional.
Plenty of parking.
Always greeted with a friendly hello by the hostesses.
All around - my favorite place in State College.
Such a great first visit to Ottos! Drank a delicious home brew called Winter Warmer - a Belgian Raspberry Ale with chocolate undertones. Shared the butternut squash raviolis as an appetizer with friends - so yummy, sweet and salty. For dinner I enjoyed the walnut veggie burger with avocado, caramelized onions and Amish pepper jack cheese - added the mango habanero wing sauce - out of this world! We waited about 45 minutes to be seated on a Friday night, but that's to be expected when a restaurant is that good. Service is prompt and friendly, only negative is that I never received the ice water asked for twice. We will be back!
Review Source:Pretty good. The food, service and atmosphere are fine but nothing memorable. A little pricey for the area. Wish the front door was closer to the paved parking lot. And they need to put a sign on eastbound Atherton St. showing where to turn left, since it's well before the restaurant is visible.
Review Source:Awarded Pennsyltucky Veggie 2012 - Best Specials. They have made so many changes to the good for vegans and vegetarians, including options for their Pub Club dinners, we know that you won't be disappointed to try the specials on Wednesday or many of the regular veggie choices too.
Vegetarians can walk into very few places, throw all caution to the wind and say, "Give me the special!" We can, currently, on Wednesdays at Otto's Pub and Brewery.
They are clued in to what exactly differentiates vegetarian from vegan and sympathetic to cross-contamination. This will explain the lack of gluten free options; they take labeling their menu seriously and it means you can trust when it says it is vegan, it is.
Overall pretty good. One complaint would be finding a singular french fry in my order of sweet potato fries (which were amazing, a must-buy).
Really disappointed the Roger's mustard was not in the gift shop
We would give a 4.5 stars but they only take whole numbers, which is inconvenient, so you get four stars
ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS PLACE!
my boyfriend and I come here at least once a week if not twice in a weekend. The food is really great and so is the beer. The pizza made with the beer infused crust is definitely worth a try, my boyfriend gets the buffalo chicken pizza every time and it's the best he's ever had. Also love the local food and businesses they incorporate into the menu! The service has also been great lately, the servers are very attentive and knowledgeable.
The only drawback is there is sometimes a wait, especially on the weekends, but it is definitely worth the wait and you could always grab a drink at the bar or enjoy your meal at the bar.
One of the only 2 restaurants I will eat at in State College!
If you attend Penn State University at State College or need somewhere to go after hiking in Black Moshannon State Park then this is the place! Spent a good while looking at the menu and wanting to try everything! They make their own wood fired pizza but opted to try some more protein heavy meals after hiking the 42 mile Allegheny Front Trail.
- Chicken wings (6) smoked and served with choice of sauce. Went for the sweet and spicy garlic. These were served with celery and blue cheese. Quite excellent. Well worth the 6$.
- Pulled Pork Sandwich w/ sweet potato fries, coleslaw, and smoked jalapeno BBQ sauce. Asked for homemade honey mustard sauce for dipping the fries. Found the sauce not hot or smokey, but alas good with the pulled pork. The coleslaw was way too creamy for my liking as I prefer it drier. Good value for 10$ especially with the sweet potato fries that many places charge you extra.
Had 2 beer samplers to cover all 9 beers they had available on top. Most of these were quite hoppy and they held their own to Seattle's IPAs. I liked the Imperial IPA and Fresh Hop IPA. Quite surprised their sampler included a barleywine and imperial with no additional cost. They let you pick the 5 beers for the sampler and the cost is 5$. Lets put it this way, after 2 samplers I felt the buzz :)
The service was really good and the waitresses were familiar with beer - nitrogen and cask pumps. However, water service was a bit lacking I was a bit parched for a while (with not automatic refills).
The only reason Otto's does not receive 5 stars is because of their beer store which was quite lacking. No mixed sampler cases, no tin signs, and no big stickers for the kegerator. Bummer. I was prepared to drop some good change for all of those items but they didnt have any of them.
Went here for my sister's birthday lunch the other day. There was 8 of us, which is a lot, but the service was terrible. First of all, I know it's a brewery but there are almost zero options for people who are gluten free here. Every single one of their salad dressings are made with gluten. I got the cobb salad with oil and vinegar. It was just okay. Everyone else's food was just okay too- my dad got the meatball sandwich special that came with three tiny meatballs and no sauce- he had to ask for marinara sauce. The french fries were pretty good-
When my sister was in the bathroom I asked our waiter if he could bring over a piece of carrot cake and sing to her- he laughed and said  "we don't do birthdays here, but I'll look for candles, hold on" I stood there for about 5 mins before I saw him with another table, so I sat back down. When the check came the cake wasn't on there so I got up and asked him again about the cake and he laughed and said he forgot. He seemed stoned. Brought the cake over and we all sang.
I don't think I'd ever come back here for the food or service.
We stopped in at Otto's before heading out to the bars down by the college, and we did NOT have a good experience. Â I'll tell you though-the crappy review is all about the service... First off, when we got there we sat at one of the 6 empty tables around the bar. Â After about 4 minutes one of the hostesses came over and asked if we were 'on the list' because people were waiting to be seated...6 empty tables and they aren't fast enough to seat anyone so we have to move. Â Ok, whatever.
One of our friends needed to eat before we went out so we bellied up to the bar (where all the seats WERE actually taken) and were told that we couldn't order food unless we were SITTING. Â Are you insane?!?!? Â This was SO friggin' stupid that a woman ended up giving my friend HER seat so he could order. Â So far, great service, right?? Â
Our friend ordered some boneless wings and fries and we all grabbed a couple of rounds of beers. The wings were actually pretty tasty, though when they say spicy they should actually MAKE them spicy. Â We asked the bartender for a recommendation on the beer and I went with the Octoberfest. Â It was simply, meh. Â Wasn't anything close to the flavorful beer you expect from an Octoberfest. Â Ok, so the beer wasn't great (neither was their regular ale) not gonna kill them on that one, but the service really sucked. Â Someone knocked over a beer at the bar and what's the bartender do??? Â Replaces it with 1/3 of a beer...SERIOUSLY?!? Â You lost that much with overpours and drips from the keg and you can't replace a beer that someone ELSE spilled? Â To top it off, as the place started emptying out and we were standing around the almost empty bar we took a seat in a booth and were immediately asked by another bartender if we asked the hostess if we could sit in the booth. Â Again...half full bar and you're bitching about us sitting in ONE booth? Â
I'm a stickler for customer service and if this is how they treat their customers on a game weekend I'm pretty confident I won't be back...ever. Â ONLY reason for the second star was that the wings were decent.
The wedge sandwiches are astonishingly underfilled. I got a turkey one, at around $10, and it had literally less buy-at-the-store-in-the-tub sliced turkey than would fit on the palm of my hand. Mine came with two pieces of arugala and one 1/4 of a tomato slice. Seriously!??! The pizza 'bread' was fine, but seriously overshadowed the sandwich contents, being 90% of the meal. The sweet potato fries were fine - crinkle cut - but fell apart a little. The cobb salad was okay, but again, the portion size was too small for A) the price, and B) the location - near a strip mall in State College, PA. Do yourself a favor and go ANYWHERE ELSE for lunch. You'll be much happier.
Review Source:"Beef on weck" is an export of taverns in Buffalo long ago that sold salty sandwiches to sell more beer when workers came by to cash their paychecks and settle their tabs. No pickled eggs or pickles, no peanuts or popcorn, no pretels can touch a good BOW. So, how was it?
Pretty good. Brisket is beef. Not roast beef, but close enough.
Someone once said it's foolish to sacrifice the good in search of excellence. Good advice. Driving 200 miles to Buffalo for a sandwich is nuts. This place serves a good BOW and you save 20 gallons of gas.
The beer is good and cold. Servers are friendly. Nice place here.
I've had a complex relationship with Otto's. Â I've only been about 30 times, maybe 40. Â I'm a pub club member. Â I go there warily these days, expecting the worst and sometimes getting an excellent outing. I really hope they succeed, but at times I can only wonder how they stay open.
The Pro's:
 really good real ale on hand pumps, I mean, seriously good
 some ambiance, sometimes
 food to go with the beer
 firkins of beer on friday that are especially tasty
The con's:
 they will argue with you about taking away the real ale. I've always gotten it, but have been literally been left close to tears.  They assume you are an idiot if you want to take away this beer.  really.  they have also nearly failed to honor a reservation for a keg of it (which went down very very very well at a party).  that keg was priceless.
 their service can suck in new and interesting ways:
  thumbs in half-fllled glasses to carry them away
  no water when you ask for it twice
  no service for 20 min.
  clearing plates of food rather than empty plates
  abuse when you ask for corrections for mistakes
  being closed with no notice or sign on door (was a holiday, who would go out?)
 increasingly higher prices
 crowds (!)
so, go, but be prepared to be surprised. all of the horror stories in the other reviews, they are really plausible.
Otto's...you disappointed me.
My mom suggested we go to Otto's for brunch. I hadn't been there before and heard their menu had been revamped from the old location, featuring a focus on local ingredients and a slew of woodfired pizzas. Sounded totally up my alley.
Unfortunately the food was not good at all. The server did not ask me how I wanted my burger done, and I was focused on choosing a salad dressing and totally forgot to make a request. When I got it, I found out why I wasn't asked--the burger was McDonald's patty thin and super dry. I thought about sending it back, but I don't know if it would be possible to get any amount of pink in such a thin burger. The pepperjack cheese was melted so much that it had melted OFF the burger, and the grilled onions were barely cooked.
The pizza my mom got was not terrible, one of the better pizzas in SC. But I'd rather just go to Faccia Luna.
Finally, my bloody mary was not good. The mix was bland and the vodka was burny as hell. They had a $5 bloody special, but that's still pricey for a special, so I assumed the vodka used would be decent. Apparently not so. I should have just gotten a beer--I LOVE their Apricot Wheat.
Since this first visit, I've been back and ordered the bacon mac & cheese which was decent--I appreciate the use of Fasta Pasta--but it was kind of one note in flavor. The calamari seemed fresh, but unfortunately, the breading was waaay too crunchy and salty and overwhelmed the squid.
Otto's, you can't just tell people your food is locally sourced and expect them to flock to it. That's not that the trend is about. It's about actually doing something interesting with those ingredients, and something that tastes GOOD. Then again, this is State College, people will probably flock here regardless. Sigh!
My best friend drove me to Otto's at 11:30 am yesterday morning. I didn't look at the menu. "I'm staying at my parents house and I need one of those drinks with coffee and booze... over ice." I told the waiter. He said that they had Irish coffee but he wasn't sure if they could serve it over ice. "Let's try again," I said. "I'M STAYING AT MY PARENT'S HOUSE!"
Two Irish coffees, a hummus platter a with cucumber, grape tomato, Kalamata olives, and bread instead of corn chips with an Asian chopped salad with seared salmon, organic field greens, shredded carrots, cashews, organic greens and crispy wontons, and I was speaking in complete sentences again.
The hummus platter was good, great hummus but would benefit from pita as the starch. The Asian chopped salad was not as good. The dried wontons were just weird and the salmon was dried out.
Our waiter was very nice. Sitting outside was very pleasant, and it's nice to have someplace half way decent over on this end of town.
I like beer. I will be back to try the beer.
I've tried Otto's on several different occasions and each time wasn't impressed. Â The service isn't spectacular and the food each time seemed as though it was sitting in the back for 10 minutes before they brought it out to us. Â
Also, be careful of the "bar menu." Â The last time we were there we were seated at a booth next to the bar--so close that we could actually touch the bar if we wanted to. Â On our table was a "bar menu" and we found some things we wanted to eat as we didn't want a full dinner. Â When we ordered, we were told we couldn't order from that menu as it was only for those who sat at the bar. Â The waitress took that menu and wouldn't let us order what we wanted. Â We finally decided on burgers and fries. Â The fries seemed to be cooked in old oil and then sat under a heat lamp for 10 minutes. Â The odd thing is this was the third visit to Otto's in which we had to send back fries for the same reason. Â The new fries came out hot and fresh--so it wasn't like that was the style of the fries. Â
Now, I must also give credit where credit is due. Â The pizza we got was good and on occasion the burgers were good--it just seems it depends who is the chef that night.
The real issue to me is the training and consistency of the food. Â It seems the wait staff isn't trained properly in customer service and the kitchen staff isn't consistent with the food. Â If those things were fixed, I would give them more stars because the food was good when, I'm assuming, the head chef was on duty.
I've been to Otto's several times and despite the average food, I will probably continue to go back on my visits to State College. I like the atmosphere, the service, and the dedication to local products.
Get: Sweet potato fries, Mac N Cheese. I'm not usually a big fan of sweet potato fries but these are soooo good. They put cinnamon on them, mmm.
Avoid: The sweet n spicy garlic chicken wings. They are way more spicy than sweet, and the flavor just wasn't that good. Also, the broccoli and cheddar soup was just okay; kind of bland and could've used a stronger cheddar flavor.
Your call: The beer cheese. I thought it was pretty good, but as this was my first beer cheese experience I was surprised by the texture. Not smooth and it kind of looked like baba ghanoush. And everything else on the menu, as I've not had it.
I hear that the beer here (brewed on-site) is very good. I may have had it before but not recently as today I forgot to bring my license, because I am intelligent like that. Maybe once I have their beer they'll move up in my book, but based on the food alone, I have to go with three stars.
Of all the bars and pubs in town, Otto's is the best place to become a regular.
First, you can become a member of "Otto's Pub Club," which gives you discounts on beer (glasses, growlers, and kegs), lets you get drinks in an exclusive club member mug, gets you a free glass on the day they get a new beer on tap, and lets you sign-up for members-only dinners throughout the year This costs $150 for a lifetime, but if you are going to be in State College for more than two years, it'll be worth it.
Of course, being a member isn't worth much if you never want to eat here. Luckily on top of their regular menu featuring plenty of pub classics like burgers and sandwiches, they have a few daily features which normally include local ingredients and a beer suggestion. Compared to the rest of State College, the food is very good, but nothing on the menu will rank on anyone's "Top 5" list.
The beer is pretty good, and I love to support my local brewery, but there are some issues. The biggest problem they have is being out of something pretty much every time you go, and it can be frustrating when you have to the get your third-choice drink. Also, if you don't like the beer or the guest tap, you are out of luck. Naturally, those two problems compound each other when they are out of the only thing you want.
All said, this is in my Tier 1 of State College restaurants. When people visit from elsewhere, this is the first place I take them so they can enjoy a local brew, local food, and a casual atmosphere free from the madness you find downtown.
What a great find. Â Not only does their menu feature variety enough to please my entire family, the house-brewed beers and localvore ethos are right up my alley. Â And on top of all that, the stuff is actually good: Â I found the cobb salad, the calamari, and the farmer's pasta all above average. Â The menu is full of all sorts of enticing choices.
How about the beers? Â Pretty solid. Â They have everything on draft and several selections available in six-packs and/or 22-ouncers. Â My favorite was the Arthur's Bourbon Aged Old Ale, in their words, "a big malty ale brewed in the style of English Old Ales." Â I also enjoyed the Red Mo, an American red ale. Â The Mt Nittany APA was pleasantly but not overwhelmingly hopped, with a nice hint of nuts rather than too much pine or citrus. Â The Apricot Wheat was the only clear miss. Â Let's just say that I don't care for beers with extraneous ingredients (e.g. fruits, sugar, spices), and this offering did nothing to change my tune. Â The Jolly Roger imperial stout was a little thin and slightly bitter, so I actually gave up drinking it straight and turned the rest into a few nights of milkshakes. Â Mmm, stout milkshakes.
One final note: Â I love the historic Pennsylvania beer signs and other old-timey decorations in here. Â I had never heard of any of those old breweries. Â The place looks great and celebrates our brewing history to boot.
Wayyyy up on North Atherton is where you'll find Otto's. This place is home to one of the breweries in State College, so yes......you will find real beer here. None of that Milwaukee's Best or Natural Light is sold here. Be warned though, the wait on weekends does get hectic. You're looking to have a 30-45 min wait depending on the size of your party. Ambiance is what you'd expect from a brewery-restaurant. Packed and loud.
Food-wise, it's typical brewery food. From burgers, cheesesteaks, salads, to steaks, Otto's has your usuals. I ordered the beer sampler, which was around $5 for 6 kinds. Not a bad deal for the variation of beers that you get to taste.
What kind of killed it for me was the service. Our server let us wait 20 minutes before taking our order, and when we paid our bill, it took another 15 to swipe our credit cards. Apparently it takes 15 minutes to do so. Nonetheless, the beers and food are decent and the price is relatively reasonable,
A nice find in our short stay in State College. Â I had the Otto Burger with Amish Pepperjack cheese. Â While it was not cooked medium rare as I requested (cooked more like just a bit less than medium well), it is a testament to the quality of meat that it was still tasty. Â The cheese was incredible as well, and had a freshness that was lacking in a lot of cheeses I've had in, oh I don't know, like 10 years.
I also tried the proscuitto and arugula pizza as requested by a lactose-intolerant individual (and thus, cheeseless). Â Again, I had a "what could have been" feeling that actually made the tasting positive, and not negative like I would have expected.
However, the best thing I tried at Otto's had to be the Apricot Wheat beer. Â Seriously, one of the best tasting, summer-ready brews, I've had. Â Fruity, not overbearingly sweet, light but not innocuous and forgettable. Â Got a bottle for home. Â Wished I bought all of the 6 packs at the store it was so good. Â Maybe some day Otto's will ship beer and/or make it available outside PA.
So while I still love Otto's and come here frequently for the beer, I'm no longer impressed with the food since the move. Â Like many have said, I like that they are trying to go local, so I know that this meant a much smaller menu. Â But the items they do have are disappointing at best.
 The nachos have a pretty tasteless, runny velvetta type cheese sauce on them.  The new addition to the menu is their pizzas, I was very disappointed in the prosciutto and arugula pizza, the flavors did not mix well at all. Â
 Here's hoping the food catches back up to the beer soon!
There are plenty of great things that have been said here about Otto's, but there are also some things that bug me quite a bit:
1) They are always out of beer.
Sometimes, so much it's ridiculous. A couple days ago, I ordered the beer sampler. You pick beers out of their list of 12, and for $5 you get 5 samples. But that day, they had only 4 beers. I mean, come on. This has happened to me multiple times, and is especially frustrating because I went there for the beer (it's a brewery, isn't it?). On those days, you'll have more Otto's beer variety at Wegmans next door.
2) Their food is inconsistent.
Their wings are delicious (that mango habanero sauce is wow!), but some days I've gotten next to no sauce on them. Other days, there's so much sauce I need multiple stacks of napkins. Some days their garlic fries smell so strong they'd scare a vampire, and others they are just like regular fries.
3) The Service (sometimes)
Mostly great, but sometimes it's awful. One time some friends of mine got kicked out at 10 when they weren't even finished with their drinks because the waiter wanted to close their section (Otto's was closing much much later). The waiter didn't even offer to move to another section, nothing. Just told them to leave. Another time, a waitress gave me attitude because we were only ordering wings and beer. And then, ignored us.
Finally, on my last visit I asked the waitress to make sure that there's plenty of sauce on the wings (see point 2). She asked if I wanted extra-sauce on the side, and I said no just that I want to make sure they aren't dry like on my last visit. She groaned. I got my wings with plenty of sauce, but she charged me an extra $2 for sauce for a $5 wings order. She never told me about an extra charge (which seems steep) until I got the check, and I wasn't happy.
So why do I go back? It's simple. Because when  the cooks are in a good mood, when the beer is available, and when you can have a table with a good waiter/waitress, Otto's is 6 stars out of 5. There's no other place in town I'd rather go to. That's worth the risk is even once in a while it's really more of a 2/5.
I wish I could give Otto's 5 stars. I love their beer-- I brought a few bombers home to Illinois with me, and there were a hit. Â They obviously have their good and bad nights, so I'm basing this review off of a meta-analysis on visits, rather than focusing on the one bad visit I had.
Otto's is definitely better in smaller groups-- they only allow 2 credit cards per table (or at least that is what was enforced last time we had a group of ~8 there, and they did not inform us of this policy when we called ahead), so if you have a group, plan ahead with cash. Â Their beer is fantastic, but to me most of their food leaves something to be desired. Â The barley burger is pretty good, but a little bit dry for my tastes; the wings made my tummy happy, as did a few others. Â Beer wise, the DD is always good, though I'm a big fan of their Oktoberfest. Â There's a little bit for everyone, with the apricot wheat.
My one main complaint is that when we had our large group there, the waitress was just terrible. Â We figured it was because she knew she was already getting automatic gratuity, but it literally took us 1.5 hours to get our food, and then 2 orders were wrong. Â We kind of felt like she was prolonging us getting food so we would order more beer to drive up the gratuity, and there were times when she wouldn't be seen for 25 minutes or so. Â The other times we've been there, we've had much more knowledgeable and prompt service, so I consider this waitress an outlier.
Overall, I like it, I wish I lived closer to it, but from now on when we're having celebration dinners with large groups, we're sadly avoiding it because it was just so much of a hassle.
As many reviews have already said you come to Otto's for the booze, not the food. That's not to say the food is awful, but the main star of the show is all the in-house beers. Spruce Creek Lager and Red Mo Ale are top choices here, with occasional seasonal rotations. As an added bonus, most of the ingredients used are all local, so I don't mind tossing a few extra bucks in.
If you have any questions to the integrity of Otto's, sites like BeerAdvocate can show their consistently high ranks.
Wing Night is Wednesday evening. Wings are discounted from 85 cents to 60 cents, bleu cheese and celery stalks are a buck extra. Not a great bargain but they are one of the top three wings in town.
They come in half a dozen flavors. Pretty decent sized wings, they are always great.
You'll be pleasantly surprised with their micro-brewed beer. I won't share the name of my favorite in-fear you'll drink the last one.
This is a better alternative to those chain restaurants and one of the first restaurants to go non-smoking in the area. If you're from out of town visit their website for directions, <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ottospubandbrewery.com&s=ab3eee1107ea16a7bba4cf78c0857a49002a52ab7b0bc3d7e359e2769c8afe64" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.ottospubandbr…</a>.
Only 4 stars out of five, because the parking is almost always a problem. You may end up standing rather than sitting, on a new-brew night. But it's worth the wait and there's parking across the 4 lane if you're brave enough.
The 5 best restaurants in the 2015 Denver Restaurant Week
3,611 Views | Category: Denver
The complete list of 2015 Denver Restaurant Week businesses
1,972 Views | Category: Denver
The tourists' guide to Portillos: 5 must have dishes
3,318 Views | Category: Chicago
Pho = Pronounced "fuh" not "foe" for pho-king sake
2,915 Views | Category: Denver
Indulgery selected to exhibit at Collision Conference
2,987 Views | Category: Press Releases
Not Logged In
BUSINESSES
Local Businesses
Near Me
My Favorites
SOCIAL
Blog & News
MY ACCOUNT
Login
Register
Contact Us
Add Your Business
