Ortica

So fabulous; we had a great time celebrating our 9th Wedding Anniversary here. Our waiter was the handsome, and smiling Angel. The Manager of the restaurant I think was named Annette. She did a fantastic job of ensuring that we enjoyed our Wedding Anniversary dinner .

We started our meal with an appetizer called the Salumi Board. We found it to be so good. It contained prosciutto, fruits, honey, and mascarpone cheese (At least, I thought that was the name of the cheese). Annette, the manager, showed true generosity: she comped us on the appetizer. Nice !

We ordered pizza , I displayed it in my photos for you. The pizza had delicious pieces of prosciutto on it. We devoured most of the pizza, and I had a slice leftover. They were happy to box the slice to go for me.

For dessert, we chose the cannolo. I had never tried it before, and I loved it. I though I could try to put the picture on Yelp. We could see later if we could do so. The waiter, manager, and staff were all so nice to us. We truly appreciated their efforts, and it was a beautiful Anniversary dinner .

This is the BEST pizza with an amazing atmosphere and incredible service. The bar, with mixologist is the cherry on top.
PLEASE REOPEN SOON!!!!

I've been meaning to go here for almost a decade and finally went last night!

Great place with good pizzas/pastas and meatballs.

Made reservations from valentines day and once we got there we were immediately seated. Our waitresses fixed up a couple of drinks and we ordered the meatballs, a sausage pizza and bucatini. Meatballs came out first and it was great! good amount of sauce and the meat itself (i think chicken) had great meaty texture.

The sausage came out with olive oil base which wasnt my preferred but it was good. The bucatini was good but was a tad undercooked. Nothing to complain about since the sauce was pretty dam good.

Great relaxing atmosphere, good food and potential good happy hour which ill be back for!

Parking located in the back with validation for 2 hours!

The pizza here is simply amazing!
Love their dough, sauce and the quality of it all makes for a light and satisfying meal.
One of the few places where I can eat an entire pizza and feel great about it.
The calabrese is my favorite, the mix of Calabrian chili's, ricotta and honey is insanely good, my husband really enjoyed the salami, thin and freshly sliced, it makes all the difference.
Parking is a bit of a pain, but they do validate.
Service is wonderful and food ready in minutes.
Of of our favorite pizza places, highly recommended!

Was excited to try this new restaurant in the area but was quickly disappointed. It was quite busy as there was a show playing nearby but we were lucky to get a table quickly.

Here are my thoughts:

- octopus salad was sold out
- Arugula salad had no flavour, had to ask for more dressing which tasted like kraft Italian dressing
- Had to repeat myself after EVERY item to the waiter which got very annoying
- bucatini was undercooked, no flavour and very small portion not to mention it was room temp and also came with a strange pesto sauce
- Spaghetti - no flavour but atleast it was hot (where as all the other dishes were room temp)
- added salmon for $10 which is quite expensive for a single skewer

I honestly think they forgot to bring out food over and let it sit out as we only received our salad for a good 20 mins and then suddenly all the other dishes came out at the same time. All the dishes except the spaghetti were room temp - which was not very appetizing.

I wanted to like this restaurant but sadly I did not. The food was not good.

Lastly, when asking for a check - they brought it over without giving me a pen. Smh

I swear I've had Ortica bookmarked since my earliest yelp days, which means it's taken me like 9 years to finally eat here and cross it off my list. I have to say I was a quite disappointed after reading so many great things about their pizza. I split two different pizzas...

Salame Picante - this is basically a Margherita pizza with mushrooms and spicy salami. I was disappointed in their choice of salame picante. There is a lot to choose from and to me this didn't pair well at all with the mild san marzano tomato sauce. It just overpowered everything and I left wondering what the rest of the pizza would have tasted like. Sure I tried bites without it, but I think my taste buds were fried. It says salame picante on the menu, so I'm not complaining that it was too spicy. But it's their choice on what salame picante to use. And to me this choice didn't make any sense. 2 stars.

House Made Salsiccia - This pizza was also ruined by one ingredient that didn't play nice with the rest of the pie. I don't know what they put in their Marscapone cheese but that was Gorgonzola. I would be my life on it as the entire pie tasted like a strong gorgonzola. We asked the waiter what the cheese was and he insisted marscapone and peccorino. Absolutely not. We were in a hurry, so we weren't going to send it back. Now that I'm writing this review - I just looked at their menu and sure enough they do have a whipped gorgonzola on their menu on a salad. So yes someone grabbed the wrong cheese and I can tell you a whole pie of melted gorgonzola is...well overwhelming. 2 stars.

So basically it was 0 for 2 on the pizzas due to poor ingredient choice. And the waiter (assuming he knows the menu) rather than insisting on what cheese it was, should have put 2 and 2 together that marscapone and whipped gorgonzola might look a like, rather than look at us surprised like we didn't know what we were talking about. Wait staff and Kitchen staff should work together. I wonder how many other funky pizzas were sent out that day. We were the first customers of the day, so hopefully someone caught it.

I finally dropped by Pizzeria Ortica on Anton across the street from Mastros in CM. In addition to offering pizzas, they also have pasta and sandwiches.

I ordered off the prix fixe menu ($19.95) that includes a starter and entree. For my starter, I chose the winter salad of arugula, radicchio & pomegranate seeds. Other starters include meatballs or soup. For my entree, I chose the margherita pizza w/ anchovies ($2 extra). Other entrees included a sausage pizza or pasta.

First of all, the salad was a large portion and it went very well together. The greens were very fresh, and the pomegranate seeds added a nice contrast: 4 Stars. Secondarily, the pizza was very tasty. The rustic crust and ingredients were perfectly balanced. Although there was only a small amount of basil and anchovies, they complimented each other well: 4 Stars.

Regarding the ambiance, its a narrow space. You walk in and there are dining areas to either side of the restaurant. However, the six of us did not feel cramped like you would at Pizzeria Mozza: 4 Stars. Likewise, the service from the hostess, Larry our waiter, and the remainder of the team was friendly, attentive and efficient. They were on their game: 4 Stars.

I encourage my co-workers to go to lunch w/ me to try new places, and I often pick up the tab. I find it improves camaraderie and helps us get to know each other better. All of us enjoyed our experience at Pizzeria Ortica. If you are looking for an alternative to Mozza, that is close by SC Plaza, you have found your place.

I actually visited here nearly a decade ago when I was in business school and my friends and I decided to walk around the area outside their apartment (which is down the street). All I remember now was that I enjoyed the food, and that I'll be back!

Fast-forward a decade later and I happen to find myself getting a haircut nearby, and getting it done in record time. Now, the parking validation in the parking structure allows you to have two hours complimentary on the condition you're visiting one of the shops or restaurants on the street level of the office complex. Since the haircut was done in under half an hour (thanks to making arrangements ahead of time) I now had 1.5 hours to kill! It was conveniently dinner time, and I realized that next door is Pizzeria Ortica, one of the (now) most popular pizzerias and trattorias in the area.

Also not wanting to sit on the 405 for 4 or 5 hours, I decided I might as well eat something good now, because it was gonna suck badly shortly. I have a total weakness for pizza, and I realized just how hard it is to get a solid Neapolitan pizza around here! It's a lot like trying to find needles in a haystack. With the haystack being the Los Angeles and Orange County metropolitan region.

I went immediately to the bar (which is always the best seat in the house), faced the door, and had my back against the wall, mob style.

I ordered backwards. I ordered the picante salume pizza first (spicy pepperoni/salami) because I was starving. Then, having a moment of Catholic guilt, I ordered a still-constructed salad with anchovy dressing. I had to do the deconstructing myself (as you can see in my picture).

The food was excellent. The timing between the salad and the pizza was good. It was like they were professionals and knew about people's eating patterns! The salume was indeed picante, and came out hot...temperature wise. I could eat one or two of these Neapolitan pizzas myself, so I recommend each person in your group orders their own. You will not want to share, I guarantee you that. I also recommend eating with knife and fork only if you're not hungry and have the patience of a saint. The temptation will be to just grab the pizza and begin consumption immediately when the hot plate hits the table.

Part of me was keeping an eye on the clock when I began eating my non-deconstructed salad. The challenge was accepted!

I was now going to try to fit in two (2!) visits to establishments on this block all under the same parking validation! But, I was going to get a second validation on my parking anyhow from the restaurant, just as a backup. If I was able to leave the structure in a single validation, I would have the peace of mind knowing that I now possess a second validation, ready to go anytime between now and December of 2020.

Short story short, I managed to eat as if my life depended on it (as eating typically does for anyone), and I bolted out of Pizzeria Ortica in under 1.5 hours...and sat on the 405 North for another 1.5 hours.

HAPPY HOUR only review! Drink specials were okay but I did enjoy the pizza deal!

Chill Thursday night hanging by the bar
---margarita pizza: the crust reminds me of my favorite pizza joint in NYC, just wish the the sauce wasn't so watery!! Now I'm curious to try the pastas

LOVE that they offer Lambrusco here because it's my favorite pizza pairing but few restaurants seem to carry it

NOTE: they validate for the garage!

My friend suggested to try this place out since we were nearby shopping at the South Coast Plaza. The place is located near a business park area (easily missed).

The interior is a long narrow restaurant and has a unique decor. The food wasn't splendid and the portions were very odd meaning very small. Appetizer: fish paste w/jam in a jar and tuna poke type of salad. This was my fav dish out of all. Entrees: we shared the ink pasta and clams + mussels. Strangely the portions of the ink pasta was very small. Think of 3~4 mini fork bites. So not a good idea of sharing the dishes. The clam + mussels dish was very fishy and not fresh. Over salted too. Dessert: Torta chocolate cake, which wasn't very special.

Maybe we should've gone with the pizza.

Parking structure - right behind it and you can validate the ticket.