Orto opened a few months ago in the Glebe in the space previously occupied by the Urban Pear, but redecorated to make it more intimate. The restaurant is Italian. Everything on the menu is Italian. All the wines and aperitifs are Italian. Many of the waiters are Italian. The chef is not - it's René Rodriguez, formerly of Navarro and chosen Top Chef Canada in 2014.
The menu has the usual Italian courses of Antipasti, Primi, Secondi and Dolci with five choices for each course, and a few extra antipasti. Four courses is often too much for us, but we did have three. Two of us picked the Devil Octopus Alla Calabrese to start and the other two picked the salad. The octopus won, hands down. Perfectly cooked, spicy but not too much, great accompaniments and plating. The salad was good, but not special.
For the mains, two of us picked a pasta dish and the other two went for a Secondo. The lasagna was well prepared and tasty. The pappardelle ai funghi were good, but not as rich as I would have expected. The ahi tuna piccata was prepared with lemon and Calabrian chilis, served with Israeli couscous and was very good. I ordered the best plate of the day, the buttermilk brined confit pig cheeks, served with baby vegetable cooked in pistachio butter, truffled peaches & mostarda. It was outstanding.
For the dolci, we shared a lemon tart and a dark chocolate budino. Both were excellent.
Apparently, what I thought were the two best dishes were the ones that chef René had brought with him from Navarro. I hope that he'll be able to get the rest of the dishes up to that same level of excellence.
Service was attentive and professional, but a little cooler than some of the other fine restaurants in town. The ambiance is relaxed and the noise level is OK for normal conversation. We were there for a full three hours.
Anyway, to sum up, my meal was five stars, but not all of my dining companions had the same experience. We'll definitely go back. A great addition to fine dining in the Glebe. read more