Sotto

Not only is the regular food on the menu amazing, but they offer a gluten-​free pasta that I would swear was regular pasta. Have never had a mediocre meal here. Fabulous and highly recommend.

I cannot say enough good things about this place. So classy, so unique. The atmosphere alone is worth a visit. Our waiter was so professional and very informative. All the food and drinks we had were wonderful! I would highly recommend the Amish butter pasta. To die for! You cannot go here without getting the donut balls either! Will definitely be returning my next visit to Cinci.

We discovered this place while walking off dinner from another restaurant and decided to stop in for after dinner cocktails. The staff was friendly and service was good. Bartenders were knowledgable, and the drinks were creative and delicious.
We perused the menu and will definitely be back for dinner in the near future.

I’d have to say that this is one of Cincinnati’s best restaurants. I came here for a celebration in late Spring and would definitely come back again if I had the chance. First of all, keep your eye out for the building when you’re trying to find it while you drive. The door is pretty hard to find lol
However the food is AMAZING. I’m not going to point out what I got since I always ask the waiter/​waitress to give me the top favorite dishes but you can’t go wrong here. I’d recommend this to all my friends! Donuts anyone!!!

What happened to my peeps?
UTTER FAILURE… lotta empty tables but the manager on duty decides to let a 4 top wait for an hour… Off to my boy — SALAZAR!!!
Come on CINCY… stop playing these silly reindeer games with folk who supported you from DAY ONE!!!

Finally made it to Sotto a few weeks ago with my usual group of foodies. (Hi guys!) We made reservations week of, and arrived for our 6:15 pm dinner time excited to check it out.
The atmosphere of the restaurant makes you feel like you’re eating in a cozy wine cellar, perhaps in Italy or on the set of The Parent Trap. It’s a toss up. Our server was wonderful. She had great recommendations and was incredibly apologetic when I was brought out the wrong pasta (more on that later).
My friend and I decided to split the Goat Cheese + Hazelnut Honey Bruschetta, Polenta with Fried Egg, and then each get our own pastas. Between that, and a liter of the house red wine, I was good to go.
The brushetta was good, but nothing to write home about. The polenta was AMAZING. I ordered the Bucatini pasta and they accidentally brought out the wrong one. Our server was so nice and rush ordered my new dish, leaving the other for the table. She even took the dish off of the check, which was totally not necessary, but very appreciated. I am glad that I waited for the Bucatini, however, as it was my favorite thing there.
For dessert, we split a couple orders of the ricotta donuts, which were outstanding. I would go back simply for the donuts.
Overall, absolutely loved Sotto, but prefer Boca. If you’re going to drop virtually the same amount of money on dinner anyway, I would upgrade to Boca.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? REALLY??? $ 18 for a margarita made with Don Julio, the cheapest of all decent tequilas???
Sotto was on track for a solid 4 star review until the check arrived.
But $ 18 apiece for Don Julio margaritas? Granted they were tasty, but 18 bucks + tax + tip? In Cincinnati? Gimme a break… that’s just arrogant and greedy. All in, $ 100 for 4 margaritas.
We’re not at all cheap, but that’s New York City prices, folks…
The restaurant itself is gorgeous. Very cool and hip, downstairs in a beautifully decorated and roomy basement. Great use of candles.
Service was excellent.
The food was good, but a mixed bag…
The bruschetta with goat cheese, honey and hazelnuts was absolutely among the best things I’ve ever eaten. Utterly delicious.
The house-​made donuts filled with ricotta and three dipping sauces were simply incredible. I promise I will crave them.
The salumi platter was good, but not anywhere near great.
And the tagliatelle with butter and black truffles didn’t seem to have any real black truffle shavings in it. Both of us thought they tried to pass off cheap truffle butter as the main flavoring. The result was a little too salty and garlic creamy, with not nearly enough to truffle or butter flavors. This dish should have been much better.
All in all, we enjoyed the meal, and would return.
But I loathe surprises at the end of a nice meal when the check arrives, and Sotto absolutely disappointed me.

Authentic and delicious Italian food!
This is my first time at Sotto and I decided to come here due to its glowing review.
The restaurant is on the 6 th Street of downtown Cincinnati and it is located in a basement with entrance through the ground floor. The sign is quite subtle from the front but the place is very popular.
The menu was difficult to understand but the waitress was very helpful. I ordered the kale and cheese salad and the truffle pasta. The pasta was cooked to perfection and very flavorful.
Salad costs $ 10 and entrée at $ 18. The menu is limited and the entrée portion on the small to medium size.
This place gets filled quickly and so it will be good to make reservations in advance.
Great Italian place!

Amazing food and dining experience. Is hard to find but once you find it, it’s a very high end restaurant. The food was simply incredible. Everything we ordered was phenomenal and couldn’t have been done better. I highly recommend this place! Also, Ross Houston is the best chef ever! You should try to meet him! He’s awesome!

I’ll start with this– I felt like a sexy vampire eating here.
This awesome restaurant is located in a basement of the building and when you walk down the stairs they are lined with small white candles. This sets the ambiance immediately for what you are about to walk into. The restaurant is all exposed brick with arched doorways and long stem white candles on the tables. The lights are dim and the private dining area can be closed off with red velvet curtains. I almost got the Phantom of the Opera vibe and loved it! This restaurant is somewhat small inside– probably why the reservations fill up so quickly but it’s one of those places that doesn’t need to be anything more.
I came here in a group of 8 before a show at the Aronoff and we were told that most parties our size take about 3 hours to eat… we did it in 1.5 hours! The staff was nice enough to cook our food at a faster pace because they knew we were going to the show. We started with 2 Carafes of wine which amazingly weren’t that expensive. We also ordered 3 bread plates and 2 orders of the goat cheese and honey bruschetta. The bread is awesome and they are large slices. I don’t like goat cheese (I know, I know, how un-​american) but the bruschetta got rave reviews at the table.
Our waiter also informed us that people usually order and share their meals with everyone but we opted to get our own and try bites of others if we wanted. Only a few of us ordered salads but if you do order one I loved the Citrus Salad! It was refreshing and light before eating a bowl of pasta. A handful of us ordered the short rib cappellacci with shallot, amish butter, thyme and by far that was the best thing I tried! The portions are smaller but absolutely perfect. The pasta is handmade (you can definitely tell) and extremely light. The sauce was perfection. I am imagining eating this dish all over again as I write this review. It was that perfect!
I knew I was in for a fantastic meal when anyone I saw over my weekend trip asked where we were eating before the show. I would say, «Sotto» and they would just gasp with excitement and tell me how amazing it is. I am now one of those people who will react the same way!

Romantic setting and delicious food. A group of us came here before a show, and I’m glad we told our server because he told us that a typical dining experience there should be three hours. He was kind enough to put a slight rush on our food since we had only given ourselves two hours to eat. However, the food and the experience was not sacrificed in the «rush.» The bread, goat cheese & hazelnut honey bruschetta, citrus salad, and short rib cappellacci were fantastic. So much so that I only remembered to take a picture of my salad because I was so excited to eat.

Update:
Second experience was by far so much better than the first! Server was amazing (Aaron) and all the food was outstanding! Thanks Sotto for being my favorite place to eat in Cincinnati!
I would very much love to give Sotto a 5 star rating, but this visit to me wasn’t 5 stars. I will happily go back and try again though!
My husband and I arrived for my 30^th birthday, this was our first visit so we were excited! The décor is beautiful and the lights are dim and romantic. Our server came over and introduced himself, he was nice but he seemed a little annoyed from the beginning. He went over the menu and soon after we ordered.
We started with the goat cheese and honey bruschetta. It was very good however they must have been running low on honey because there was literally 1 small drop of honey on 2 of the pieces. Next we had the panzanella, it was amazing! The tomatoes were beautiful and so flavorful and the vinaigrette on it was to die for. My husband who isn’t the biggest fan of tomatoes said he even loved it! So, that was a great choice. Next, we tried the short rib cappellacci. Probably one of the best things we both had ever eaten. I was so tempted to just lick the rest of the sauce off of the plate! But, our server came and took the plate before I could do so!
We got the swordfish, which as I look back on it now was probably the worst choice we had made of the night. Don’t get me wrong, it was good however it was overcooked. I have had swordfish before and even cooked it and I know what happens if you cook it just a minute too long. This was cooked a minute too long, the fish was very dry and under-​seasoned, luckily I could use the pepper relish (I think) to help bring some moistness and flavor to the fish.
For dessert of course we got the ricotta doughnuts. It came with 3 dipping sauces. Pistachio, raspberry and caramel. I tried the pistachio, it was ok, didn’t really taste like anything so I stuck with the raspberry and my husband liked the caramel. We also got the trio of gelati we picked the strawberry basil which was very refreshing, chocolate and hazelnut. I couldn’t eat much because of all of he food but my husband wasn’t going to leave it to waste!
Overall the experience and atmosphere was great, just a couple of things could have made it a little better!

Whoa how have I not made it here yet.
Sotto is an outstanding Italian restaurant located below Boca. Bottom line, I agree the ricotta doughnuts are a must but do not overlook the bonet (chocolate amaretti bliss which I am pretty sure also has fabulous espresso).
The entrance to Sotto is a little different. It is a basement. Have no fear, just walk down the steps. If you would like to sit at a table, plan ahead and make a reservation. If you like fly by the seat of your pants like me, dine at the bar.
The restaurant itself is gorgeous, with dark woods. The bar top is brass and the lighting is perfect for romance (but it would fine for family too).
We started with bread (Blue Oven) and olive oil (Cretan) — of course this was delicious. Next I had gnocchi (without sausage) and my boyfriend had the short rib cappellacci. The gnocchi I am used to are little balls (not really that shape, they are more like the tip of your tongue) of pasta, but this was a set of three large round gnocchi (like the diameter of a pop can). They were divine. I am not sure if this magic is in the sauce or the pasta but these lovelies melted in my mouth. I snagged a couple of the cappellacci– their sauce is amazing! We tried a red and white house wine with this course. Both were very good, but we especially liked the red.
Our bartender had suggested more food, but little did he know I had planned on ordering two desserts for my boyfriend’s birthday. I had heard about the doughnuts and our bartender had mentioned that the bonet was unbelieveable so we ordered both. The doughnuts are amazing (and I don’t usually get excited about doughnuts), but the bonet, oh my gosh amazingly decadent. The bonet is richly chocolate with notes of espresso and is surrounded by a generous serving of amaretto (with whipped cream and a bit of crushed graham– I think). Amazing.
We sipped a bit of limocello and orangecello with dessert– house made and fabulous!
I cannot pick a favorite here, but I will definitely be back!

I came here for my boyfriend’s birthday and had an overall very good experience here with a few suggestions to make it a truly five-​star experience.
I made the reservation on open table and added a note that it was my boyfriend’s birthday. Our waiters knew this going in and it was a nice touch to the meal.
We were seated in a side room that also happened to have a massive party in the middle. Not only did we feel crammed into a corner and forgotten about, this group was very loud and initially dominated the entire room, spreading out and introducing themselves, not sitting at the table. The manager came over during the beginning of the meal and I wish we would have taken up his offer of a new table, but at this point it wasn’t so loud. I was disappointed to be crammed into this space with another huge group.
Our service was good, we had a main waiter and another floater assisting us. Being Sotto virigins I expected (and needed!) an explanation of the menu, but our waiter was so over-​the-​top in his descriptions that it took him more than ten minutes to get through 5 dishes. At some point being succinct is the best policy. However other than a few periods of extended waiting (hence the forgotten remark) I can’t complain about the service. The wine recommendations were also spot-​on.
Now for the food. Everything was excellent. We had the honey and goat cheese bruschetta, which melted in our mouths and left me wanting more. The kale caeser was good and a decent portion after the (small) bruschetta portion. For main courses we split the short rib cappellacci and gnocchi alla romana. I enjoyed the gnocchi more than the cappellacci, but both were amazing. The bread is a must to soak up the sauce, you will get free refills as well.
Lastly, the donuts were a must-​try. We also had the chocolate dessert, but it was definitely not on the angelic level as those ricotta-​filled pillows. The pistacio sauce was unexpectedly tasty, I reccomend mixing the three sauces on your plate and giving that a try as well.
Overall, I will be back and can’t wait to update to a five. The seating experience set a tone for my meal that was hard to overcome. I was also pleasantly surprised with the price, no wonder its harder to get a reservation here than its sister locations.

I went to Sotto a few weeks ago, while one of my good friend was in town visiting. I would like to point out that, if you plan on going to Sotto, you need to make a reservation at least five weeks in advance.
Upon arriving at Sotto, I was impressed by the fact that we were seated within one minute of arriving. This is very different from many restaurants downtown so it was very impressive. Our waiter, Patrick, promptly approached our table and was very polite and friendly. I started off with the Amfali cocktail, which was extremely good (it was a twist on a Moscow Mule). For appetizers, we decided on the chicken liver and goat cheese and honey bruchettas. Both were so delicious, I think we got most licked the plate! For my meal, I chose the short rib cappelacci based on Patrick’s suggestion. He did not steer me wrong! It was delicious! We then decided on the doughnuts that came with salted Caramell, chocolate, and pistachio sauces for dessert. They were also amazing! Service is top notch here. I was impressed by the fact that Patrick went out of his way to give us extra donuts so that we wouldn’t finish off on an odd number!
By the time it was all said and done, it was a pretty pricey dinner, but Sotto definitely has my business. I will definitely be back!

Food is fantastic, ambiance is perfect, but customer service is OUT OF THIS WORLD.
A group of friends and I went here on a Friday evening for a few birthdays (group of 6 with 2 birthdays) and had an excellent experience. The first few of us met at the bar where we all had a few glasses of wine. There was an accident where a server spilled chocolate on my friends jacket to which the staff immediately approached her and asked to clean her jack in the back even though we were not even aware that it had gotten onto her jacket. The manager came out and said they tried to clean it with club soda but could not completely remove the chocolate and offered to pay for dry cleaning and if that did not work they would replace the jacket to their expense. The management was very apologetic but she said it was an older jacket and it wasn’t really a big deal anyways.
Once we were called to be seated they sat us in the back room which was awesome as we had the 10 person table to ourselves. We enjoyed multiple appetizers and even had the donuts first which I HIGHLY RECOMMEND! The dishes were all amazing and I can’t list what we had because we got so many and just split them all. Nothing was left uneaten and I would love to bring my partner here for a little dinner date night.
Thank you for giving us an incredible first impression. You have won some customers for life!

This place will surprise you upon opening the oversized door and walking through long curtain and down a flight of stairs. My boyfriend and I had reservations and had to wait about 10 minutes before we were seated. We sat at the chefs table, which at first we thought would be disappointing. However, we ended up enjoying it thoroughly. We each ordered an appetizer and an entrée. You know that feeling you get when you eat your mothers cooking? It feels like it was made with love, which is exactly how Sottos food is. Everyone we encounter seemed to love their job and it was a pleasant ambience to be in. We will definitely be back!

Who doesn’t love good Italian food? Sotto is a spot perfect for romantic dinners, loud celebrations with family, and everything in between. Many many years ago, my mother worked here (while pregnant with yours truly) in the former incarnation known as La Normandie, talk to your parents about this pace and La Maisonette (now Boca).
I hope you saved room for dessert as the ricotta doughnuts w/​three sauces ($ 8) are excellent. Yes, that’s a little pricey for dough, but most people only eat here for special events or if their company is paying ;)
Highly recommend reservations for this hot spot.

When Sotto opened, some spoke of it as a «Bargain Boca,» a less expensive and more casual version of its sister restaurant, which is decidedly more of a fine-​dining affair.
In reality, I doubt that Sotto can be considered a «bargain» anything, but as an overall dining experience – food, service, décor considered as unified whole – there are not many more pleasurable ones in the Cincinnati area. David Falk definitely had a vision with this place, and he executed it to a tee.
The décor is full-​on «grotto»: romantically-​dark basement glamor, with big solid wooden tables, reasonably spaced. (More on the «darkness» below.) The overall effect is a casual, comfortable feel – this is one of those 21^st-​century restaurants where the staff is dressed far more casually than most of the patrons. The music is usually excellent and played at audible but reasonable volume; it’s of a piece with the contemporary, romantic atmosphere Sotto is trying to create. Noise levels overall connote good times without being stupid-​loud.
Although the food isn’t exactly adventurous, it’s usually terrifically executed. The seasonal, rotating menu (there seem to be a few permanent items) consists mostly of very simple Italian stapes – bruschetta, salumi, a few other apps, a couple of salads, various house-​made pastas, a handful of entrees – almost all of which are quite simple and designed to showcase the freshness of the ingredients. A few things have been terrific: short-​rib cappellacci is rich and decadent, and wood-​fired branzino has been one of the best dishes we’ve had in Cincinnati – a marvel of bright, fresh flavors (lemon and paper-​thin cucumber) paired up against the robustness of perfectly grilled fish with crispy skin. (A few things have been underwhelming, like a mortadella and honey app that was a bit flat.)
Take the hint from your server and share as many of the items as you can with others at your table. This menu lends itself to that.
Service is among the best in town: Just about everybody we’ve had in about four visits has been engaging, efficient, and very informative. They’re super-​casual but also completely professional, which is a great combination. Meals have been paced just about perfectly every time.
Not perfect, but damned good. 4.5 stars, rounded up.
P. S. The «darkness»: The absence of light in Sotto is obviously a big part of the concept, but it can be almost silly, at least in some parts of the restaurant. If you enter Sotto from the blinding sunlight of a summer evening, with no time for your eyes to adjust, it’s almost like stepping into pitch-​black dark. (Seriously, some senior citizen is going to fall and bust his or her ass in Sotto, and Falk is going to get his name in the paper for the wrong reasons.) The lights in the opening stairwell have improved, though.

Nice. That’s exactly how I would describe it :) Not great, but more than OK.
The interior is cool, naked walls, dark wood, dimmed warm orange lights, heavy curtains, sort of a cozy basement.
I am quite surprised that nobody got hurt on a DARK stairs down yet, cause that staircase would def need some more visibility :)
The service is great. Out server was an adorable Lady who explained us every dish and advised to order one of each from each ‘section’ of the menu. She was very knowledgeable and efficient.
About the food. I actually waited over a month to make up my mind, as initially I was not very impressed. I think it is fair to say that the food is good and ordering many dishes to share has its charm. But in the end, it was not amazing and it was not a meal that encouraged me to come back.
First things first: the cocktails. Good. The beer: better. They have Robert The Bruce on the menu, nice!
The appetizers: perhaps we ordered wrong, but on such a small short menu there should be nothing wrong to order, right? Well… Goat cheese with honey nuts was well overpriced for a trivial toast smeared with cheese and honey. It was not bad, but there is nothing to write about.
The sampler of cold cuts, supposedly aged in house, should be called: ‘gone with the wind’. Everything was sliced paper transparent-​thin and there was no flavor there to enjoy. Waste of money.
Primi: hand made pasta it is. Ravioli with short rib was good, yes, but no surprises there, just a familiar taste accompanied by heavy cream sauce. In the end, nothing bad about a good classic.
Secondi: schnitzel. Oh well, coming to the US from Germany, there is just nothing to write. The heavy creamy lemon sauce on top seemed tou me like a desperate trial to make something ‘different’ out of something that is already good and simple. Didn’t work for me.
Btw, the schnitzel at the end was huge in comparison to the portions of previous dishes, but having it served with nothing but capers seemed odd and not balanced.
Doughnuts as a dessert were very good, it was a nice finish.
So, to Sotto or not to Sotto… Still not sure!
Glad to have tried it and would recommend when in need for dinner downtown.
The ambience and interior would encourage me to come again. If I do, I will have pasta dishes only, althougg there are several other places offering equally good quality.