A Tavola Bar and Trattoria

I just made my first trip to A Tavola at their location in OTR! We went with a big group, so we were able to make a reservation. We still had to wait about 15 – 20 minutes, which was completely not a big deal. We headed up to the bar and grabbed some (great) cocktails while we waited.
The space, like all of the spaces in OTR, was pretty small but beautiful. Their big, giant pizza oven was a focal point in the room.
The food itself was amazing! We were pretty hungry so we sampled some of the appetizers. They clearly know their way around a fried green tomato! The bacon wrapped dates and arancini were other favorites at our table. Realistically, nothing was less than amazing. I opted for the fried artichoke sandwich for dinner and it was extremely good. It was the perfect balance of salty but not too salty, plus a little tangy/​garlicky. Plus, Sixteen Bricks bread is always amazing. Others ordered pizzas and loved them. Between 7 people eating pizza, we ordered 4 pizzas and everyone had at least a few slices of leftovers, but I mean, who hates pizza leftovers? We probably could have condensed the pizza orders some, but there were so many cool ones to try!
It was sort of a slow meal, but it was a Saturday night, they were packed and we enjoyed having a few extra minutes to hang out! I’ll definitely be coming back to try more of the pizza options — or just get the artichoke sandwich again!

I came here for a business dinner on a Thursday night and had a pleasant first experience.
Apps:
Asparagus Salad: Great portion size and nice texture balance with the addition of pine nuts
Roasted Cauliflower: well seasoned, perfect balance of tartness with it’s lemon vinaigrette
Dates: Wrapped in crispy bacon with tomato sauce: heaven:
«Main» dish as if the appetizers weren’t enough: Margherita pizza
I was a little underwhelmed at first, but my veteran A Tavola colleague was as well and mentioned the apparently undercooked pizza to the waitress, who then promptly took the pie away and had another one on order, which was a nice but appropriate gesture.
The ‘new’ pie was still softer than I expected for an oven roasted pie (nothing really beats NY pizza I guess) but the flavor was still great.
No complaints otherwise. Our waitress was attentive, didn’t have to wait for a table on the weekday night, and we were even offered complementary dessert which I would’ve accepted if I hadn’t acted as a savage with everything else!

Reasons I am upgrading my 4 star review to 5 stars, in order of importance:
1. House made ginger beer with bourbon-​must try. There’s half a dozen more alcohol choices you can mix the ginger beer with but seriously try the bourbon its a perfect pair.
2. This place is affordable for OTR.
3. Fig and Prosciutto pizza.
4. There’s never a long wait, even on weekends.
If these things sound good to you, I guarantee you will not regret coming to A Tavola

Clean and relaxing atmosphere for a lunch. I was hoping they sold pizza by the slice but they only sell 14″ pizzas. I settled instead for a sandwich which was a bit too fried for me but very tasty. Wine was good.

Poor selection for gluten free diners. Any good successful restaurant would offer gluten free pizza & bread. I will not be going back here as they are not gluten free friendly. Salads are also cross contaminated so should not even be listed as gluten free on menu.

The highlight: my fried artichoke sandwich is worthy of more stars than are an option on Unilocal.It was otherworldly. Truly. I would go back just for this sandwich.
The low: while we were waiting for our lunch to arrive the entire staff was huddled around the bar tv watching Say Yes to the Dress. While our food was being prepared the waitstaff, bartender AND chef were all watching. Since our food was supposedly being cooked, this was confusing. I get needing a break, but it was such an odd television program choice for a restaurant of this style combined with the whole staff watching… it was just so incredibly odd.

A friend recommended this pizza place in OTR while on a weekend Cinci visit. I don’t know if this is my absolute favorite pizza place in Cinci, but it’s definitely a great, reliable choice. We tried two pies on our visit: artichoke, add chicken chicken meatballs to half, and the gorgonzola and pepperoni. So yum! While the gorgonzola pie might be my favorite, I would like to point out that the chicken meatballs (added on artichoke pizza) were more flavorful than any other chicken meatball I’ve ever had! Lastly, patrons nearby were partaking of delicious-​looking desserts and while I didn’t have room this time, I am definitely going to indulge the next time.

I love pizza and this place is one of my top 5. Never disappoints. We went during lunch time and ordered the bar b que pizza which was delicious, nice thin crispy pizza! I like this place because its very trendy and modern.
Even Though the pizza is delicious their prices are a little over board. Same pizza at my other favorite spots are way lower in price and taste just as good. But if you want to eat a good pizza at a trendy up and coming location in the downtown area, well this is the place to be.

Four stars for the food. Three stars on the comfortability factor.
Let’s start with the good shall we? First off the arancini cheese risotto ball appetizer was so, so good. I wanted to order a second plate! We ordered the artichoke pizza for our main meal. It too was very tasty. Not too greasy and the dough was just how I like it… soft and easy to pull apart, but with some burnt edges to it. We finish the entire pizza between the two of us.
Now to start on the bad. The plates on our table were dirty. We get new plates. Still… kind of dirty but not as bad as the first set. I don’t mind a little dirt. It just looked like some stuff that was baked on in a dishwasher drying process.
What really irks me about this place is how freaking hot it is!!! By reading other reviews I think people are convinced this is some kind of BS you must suffer through because of the wood fire oven used to make the pizza. Don’t let this place fool you… they just don’t want to fork out the utility money to keep this place cool! I have been to many, many wood fire pizza places across the country and have yet to SWEAT through my ENTIRE MEAL. Napolese, a chain of three authentic pizzerias in Indianapolis, is a place I dine at often and have yet to feel warmth from their 1,200-degree oven. (Napolese is on my highly recommend list for Indy visitors… a good blend of traditional Italian and inventive use of local ingredients).
And nice try A Tavola Bar and Trattoria on the use of oscillating fans… all it does is blow around napkins and even bits of food from one table to the next.
I will also say I liked the beer menu. Fix the air con and I will consider coming back when I’m in town.

First; the hostess was not cordial, welcoming or encouraging when we entered. We dined here at 7pm on a hot, Sunday evening. Place was full but not packed. She seemed more put-​out we even entered the door way. The place is loud, & she whispered every spoken word. My apologies for making you work…
Service seemed decent. Server was very sweet, soft spoken, but attentive.
Food was good. Not great but good. Ordered the artichoke pizza w/​prosciutto. So greasy it seemed extremely undercooked, think raw dough. But the flavor was very good. Maybe an extra few min in the oven & it would’ve been considerably better.
Also ordered the sausage & sage. Same thing. So doughy it seemed undercooked. Maybe it was & the health dept should be notified…
The drinks were meh. Ordered Moscow mule, not in the correct copper cup first off & it was just a mojito w/​ginger beer.
Try not sit upfront by the windows, hot as hell & no AC. Folks like to stand, waiting for their table w/​the door open. Good point; people watching.
This is definitely not one of my favorites. Next time, I’ll ask for my crust EXTRA crispy, a table in the center or back of the restaurant & send my drink back if it’s subpar.
I guess try it, but if you don’t…no worries.

Somewhere Over The Rhi-​ine,
Way up high…
There’s a place that I know of with
Wood-​fired pizza and industrial chic design.
It was great fun to sit at the pizza counter and watch the pizza masters at work. The fig & prosciutto pizza was the best — salty with a hint of sweet. The soppressata pizza was also very good — more on the acidic side. The roasted cauliflower was good. While they’re supposed to be oven roasted they came out a little on the softer side. What would have made them even better is if they had hot pepper flakes, sprinkled with a hard cheese and crisped under the broiler. The fennel panzanella was also an interesting twist on the classic panzanella. It’s a great space with a happy atmosphere. The pizzas are what this place is all about…

They have a refreshed menu with some new delicious salads and build-​your-​own pizza!
I loved the shaved fennel salad, so good and made of things I would never toss in a bowl! Nice.
The slider trio is fun to try, but the vegetarian egg plant slider is the absolute winner, delicious!
Pizza is really good and I love the new concept of creating it by yourself.
The service has always been and still is great. Last time I could enjoy watching the bartender mix the cocktails, I was impressed by the skill level and fun ideas, like burning orange skin with a lighter and rubbing it around the rim for better aroma.
Still 5 stars!

We went for a very, very early dinner and had great service with the bartending staff. Everything from the food was great, especially the meatballs and the risotto balls that we had. Bartender even made a crazy drink for my mom (with its several thousand or so ingredients, yada yada).
Ordered a pizza, came out tasting great. Seriously, it was a fantastic dinner and I really liked what they had.
However, I gotta say it’s a bit stupid that they charge $ 2 for 4 very small pieces of bread and 50 cents for a small dollop of sauce. I mean… its an Italian joint. You serve bread with the table. Prices for the food seemed reasonable, otherwise.
Drink variety wasn’t exceptional, but for some reason they had a very rare Three Flloyd’s on tap. That was awesome.
All in all, definitely a go-​to place in OTR.