Orto - Charlotte

The failure of Orto was a vision that was coming at anytime. Having been to Heritage for many visits, something was lost every visit to Vericas restaurants in Charlotte. From the food being bland and tasteless, portions being nonexistent, to just overall a terrible experience. We were soooooo excited to see the concept of Orto being a fast casual style pizza and Italian spot. What we showed up to the first time was fine dining. Nope! I’m not paying fine dining prices for a square pizza.Being called two days later that our bill was wrong and three times the price because they provided us the wrong check, yeahhhhh what’s with that. That comes across as a hustle. Verica turned into a hands off owner and deserves Orto closing. He wasn’t there the times we went or the times recent to Stanley. His restaurants are like a bad relationship with us we know how good he was to us in the beginning at waxhaw but now he just keeps letting us down. We go back “just one more time. Be good just this one time…..”The food is bland, tasteless, and way overpriced. Read your reviews and you will see this is a consistent pattern. Nowhere near the level of a nominated chef.Reading his interviews. Pffttttt. Pizza boxes? Every pizza place can source them but yours are to precious and in no supply. It’s called making adjustments and moving finding options. Not excuses. Maybe you should listen to feedback on both your restaurants failures from customers instead of blaming everyone else. It’s pizza. Delivery service is expensive but it would have kept your lights on. Being an active part instead of a never present owner and chef would be a start. We went to Orto on a busy Saturday night after you opened. The server “chefs not in tonight. He’s way to busy to be here”. Stopped on the way home at the Stanley the bartender laughed and said “yeah we’re not graced with his highness”.It should be an obvious sign it’s not an issue with suppliers when all our favorite servers, the gm, mixologist, chef ashley and even his chef son have left to go elsewhere. So he had loyal staff. He chose to treat them badly from what the bartender spilled to us. I predict the Stanley is very close behind. 12 18 months of closing.Verica wants to put himself at the level of Joe and Kathy Kindred which reservations are booked for weeks, have them same issues with supply cost and staffing, but makes excuses that he’s closing a $1.2million space due to pizza boxes. Maybe work in your restaurants to save costs and buckle down instead of always being gone and shocked when your restaurant fails.Let’s see if Gordon Ramsay can “save the Stanley. Will Chef Verica be to narcasstic to listen or see a lifetime of debt and failure and ask for help”. It would be yelling, plate throwing, staff returning to spill the beans on the core toxicity. At the end the a heartfelt hug.Verica's food has gone downhill NOW, he treats his customers and staff with rudeness, and speaks so lowly of others chefs in the community that surprisingly try to support him.THE CUSTOMERS HAVE SPOKEN. GOOD RIDDANCE.

The Penne Pasta was AMAZING! It included house sausage, bell peppers, onions, roasted tomatoes and cream. Highly highly recommend. The Orto Meatballs were delicious and covered in all the cheese. The Tomato Buffalo Mozzarella had good flavor but had a foam on top I have never seen anything like it. My only dislike was the Linguini. It came with clams, shrimp, parsley, lemon garlic. Not sure where the crunch came from but it had a sand texture throughout. Looking back, that probably wasn't right and should have sent back.

Came here to celebrate a birthday. The food and atmosphere were great. This place is the sister restaurant to The Stanley which we've always been before. The service was great and the food even better.

Location: nestled in Noda close to the train stop next beside the Jenni's ice cream. Parking: some parking is available in the street, in the front lot or in the parking deck behind the restaurant. Cocktail:Bongo Cha Cha Cha 4/5 very tasty and pretty (If you like that sort of thing lol) I sub the gin for Tequila to give me the extra kick Meal: Bolognese 3/5 it was slightly too salty and some of the noodles weren't fully cooked. I was surprised because it wasn't busy at all when we arrived. I get nervous about sending food back so I didn't. Dessert chocolate and hazelnut torte 3/5 the torte was a little underwhelming, it was a cold torte with chocolate and berry glaze with a few hazelnuts Overall, it was an okay visit. The staff was friendly and all wore mask. The restaurant is intimate with a nice patio area. The food and dessert could have been a lot better. I wouldn't mind visiting again to order something different.

Fantastic Food; a feast for the eyes and the taste is exceptional inviting atmosphere; awesome staff. A must for Charlotte’s foodies. Enjoy.