The Risotto House

This place has been on my list for a while and I am so happy I finally came!
If you get there before 6pm there is an early bird special. For $ 16 you get: an appetizer, entrée, dessert and coffee… Can you beat it?! I had the mussels as my appetizer. Omg were they delicious. And the sauce… Heavenly. It’s a red sauce with huge chunks of garlic. An italian’s dream. For my entrée I had risotto with shrimp, tomato and spinach. The risotto was creamy and cheesy. The perfect combo. For dessert I went with classic chocolate ice cream.
I really enjoyed my visit and can’t wait to come back. I forgot to mention its BYOB. The early bird special is really awesome and such a great value. Also enough food for leftovers. Highly recommend coming!

The food is great it’s too bad that the staff Is not. We arrived for 2pm reservations and the tables were not set. After waiting 10 mins we were shown to our table while the staff stood around putting their ties on and finished setting tables. They finally got set up and opened our wine and took drink orders. The dinners came out on plates that must have sat under the lights for quite some time as they were hot enough to burn. While we were drinking our coffee the waiter came over and asked us to leave as someone was waiting for our table. When I spoke to the person at the front desk he was nasty and said you’ve been here for 2 hours and we have other people here waiting. We made an early reservation so they we could enjoy our time there. What a crummy way to end a dinner. Don’t come here if you want to relax and enjoy your company.

The food was good. But they ruined our celebration by asking us to leave because they had people waiting. They said we were there for two hours however they were not ready when we got there and took some time serving the food. We will never go there again. They seem to have a time limit and we had not finished our coffee

My husband and I have been to the Risotto House and the staff has been attentive, the food delicious and plentiful, at a reasonable price. It is decorated simply but with warm details.
We also held a private party here and had the same attentive service by a hard working staff. Appetizers and entrees were generous with the package we selected. Everyone was so pleased with the food.
As a person who has experienced NYC restaurants, I can tell you, you will be satisfied with these home cooked entrees. If you are expecting a fancy restaurant where you are paying for location, fancy décor, and trendiness — well that’s what the city is for.
I’m not sure why this restaurant has negative reviews. But they all seem to stem from major holiday meals (Mother’s Day/​Christmas Eve). And what restaurant isn’t lacking during those days?
So if you’re looking for delicious food, head here. The end.

This rating is based solely on service. After reserving a table for 6:30 on Mother’s Day weeks in advance, my party of 11 was stranded on park avenue for over an hour waiting for our table. Once the table was ready, the hostess say a table of 9 that showed up after us. Since it was Mother’s Day we had no choice but to continue waiting on the streets of Rutherford or go home and order pizza, we stayed. We were then crammed into a table for 10, and not given even a simple apology. Still waiting on food, will report back and rate that separately.
REVIEW UPDATE I have reduced it by a star because that guy who commented on this review is lying and never came back to our table, which is why we had to leave at 8:30, two whole hours after our reservation. They were out of every appetizer we wanted to order and did not wait around long enough to see what they didn’t have for dinner. Their rice balls are premade because they ran out and could not make more. Wouldn’t allow my godmother to replace her potato with risotto as a side at THE RISOTTO HOUSE, on MOTHER’S DAY, and then we promptly got the hell out of there.
We went to la venere in North Arlington and were given better bread while we waited for our food, and it was delicious. I suggest you should go there instead, their service is excellent. The service at the Risotto House was abysmal, rude, and passive aggressive. The hostess wouldn’t even look is in the eyes and no one tried to stop us from leaving. The restaurant itself admitted defeat, knowing very well the blunder they committed. The offer of free dessert sounds good, but if their desert menu was anything like their appetizers who knows if they actually had any to give out.
DONT EAT HERE.

Wow based on the last couple of reviews I don’t think I’ll be spending my hard earned money to a place that doesn’t even serve properly to patrons.

Made a reservation for Mother’s Day for 11 people. I was told to wait outside as it was a fire hazard to wait in the building. After waiting for about an hour I went back in to check when my table would be ready. I was told the table was being set up. After another 10 minutes I was told my table was given to another party who were able to wait in the building. Apparently they were not a fire hazard. The 11 of us were seated at a table for ten. Tight to say the least. Ordered appetizers. After a 20 minute wait we were told they were out of rice balls. I ordered stuffed pork chops and asked for risotto instead of mashed potatoes. I was told I would have to pay extra for the risotto at the RISOTTO house. We then got up and left. No one tried to stop us or asked what was wrong. I will never return there or recommend this place to anyone.

What a nightmare… So humiliated after bringing my family there for mothers day and being treated like we were doing them a favor!!! I have never complained about something like this before. The service was low class and passive aggressive. I will never be returning there. If I could give zero stars I would. Spend your money somewhere that will appreciate your business.

Nice place, good food, but the décor could use an update. Service was good, great location, would definitely go back

Risotto is great! I’ve never been disappointed. Good food. Good prices. Recently went there for lunch, and felt it was a bargain. The chicken salad I had was fantastic with fresh, warm bread. I’ve also had several risottos there and all were delicious.

Best Lamb shank with wild mushroom risotto –so succulent, it melts right of the bone. You need this! You also need the muscles in red/​clams in white! Risotto Risotto Risotto Risotto! Make sure to pick up a couple bottles of wine, this place is BYOB if you forget, head across the street and pick one or three.

Was here for a private party. Everything was perfect. The risotto appetizer was very good and so was the salad. Had veal Marsala for my entrée and it was great. Tiramisu dessert was very good. Small place but the staff was very nice and service was good too. Would love to come back for dinner.

Came here on a Thursday night 6:15pm and the restaurant was half full. Most diners seem to be local seniors. After reading through the menu, I realized the reason why. This restaurant serves traditional /​simple risotto specialty. It was not fancy enough to attract cutting edge crowd, but the solid cooking keep the regulars happy. We ordered a mixed mushroom and a seafood risotto dishes. Both were properly cooked and seasoned. Seafood gets overcooked easily, and this place did not disappoint me in this regard. My shrimp and calamari were both tender and juicy, even though they were frozen to begin with. We ordered a small salad and the waiter has split it before serving, very nice gesture.
Overall, this restaurant offers very solid Italian cooking, and risotto is their specialty. Don’t expect new and modern dishes. Traditional home cooking is nothing wrong. Bring your own wine.

Went for Xmas eve dinner and was very disappointed with the service. Long story short we had a reservation and arrived early. We were informed by a server at the host stand, rather rudely I might add, that we were early and they still had 20 minutes before they had to sit us. Then they proceeded to sit another table of 4 before us that arrived after us. We both had 6:30 reservations. The remainder of the evening was just ok nothing special.
One strange thing was the older gentleman who was directing service, either the owner or the manager, spent the whole night just standing in the middle of the room looking around. You should be helping your staff they needed it. Also he walked past me at the front door with his arms full of bread so you know its not made in house.
Service *
Food ****

I went with my family for dinner on Christmas Eve and the service was terrible. We had a reservation for 6:30PM but had to wait along with several other families. The wait staff and
host were very unprofessional and rude. Another family of 4 arrived after us and were seated before us, when we asked why we were told to be patient… we all had reservations for 6:30PM.
The food was good but the whole experience was ruined by the rude staff and confusion.
Will probably not go back…

Cute little Italian place located in Rutherford. Came here on a Friday evening around 7:30 and it was Surprisingly not busy. We got seated immediately at a table for two in the back of the restaurant.
First impression was very Italian and good ambiance. Light was just right and the tables were arranged with a good amount of space for personal space. I wasn’t a fan of the dark color carpet but it wasn’t something to cry about.
The service was good. Our waters were refilled constantly and the food came out quick. We ordered the calamari to start and between two people, it was a lot. It can definitely feed at least 4. My husband got the risotto with seafood and I got the risotto with asparagus, chicken, and shitaki mushrooms. Both were amazingly good and very filling. Unfortunately we didn’t make it to dessert so I can’t say much about it. The food potions were more than generous and worth the price.
I suggest this location, however i wouldn’t put this on the top of my ‘to try’ list. If you’re in the area looking for a good Italian place that’s BYOB, this is the place.

This place was recommended to me by a friend. The staff was very unfriendly when I entered restaurant, stupid me I should have left. I had to call the host over to who was sitting down reading. what!!!
the bread was hard and stale. I order a chicken parmigiano. The chicken tasted like the day before. Sauce tasted like it came from a can. the whole experience was horrible. They shoved us out of there clean our tables without asking if we were down. very rude.

I don’t know how to begin to describe how great this place is, but omg it’s so amazing. I had the stuffed pork chop (stuffed with prosciutto and mozzarella) with mushrooms, bathed in marsala sauce. The dish was served with three cheese risotto. The dish was a special, so I’m not sure how often it is available. The prices are also extremely reasonable, and it is BYOB! Service was also great. I highly recommend this place.

First off, this place is BYOB as many have mentioned. The prices were very good as I do not remember the exact prices of the dishes purchased, but I know they were extremely reasonable. They had a whole page of specials too.
The Risotto House is a small restaurant, but very decorative inside. The staff was very friendly. However, the service was average at best. The only problem I had was they forgot my meal. We were a party of 8, but forgetting a meal is unacceptable. The staff did apologize multiple times. The rest of the food did not take long at all to come out though.
We started off with 4 appetizers. We ordered the rice balls, seafood salad, stuffed mushrooms, and tripe.
There were 2 medium size rice balls stuffed with ground beef, mozzarella cheese and peas with a side of marinara sauce. These had no flavor and the outside was too crunchy.
The seafood salad was the best dish I had all night. The salad consisted of mussels, shrimp, calamari, and scallops. The mussels were some of the best I ever had. They were all with oil and lemon. They were not too fishy either. This was just a phenomenal dish.
The stuffed mushrooms were a solid choice too. They were stuffed with breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese. The mushrooms were cooked perfect and the stuffed toppings was a pleasant touch.
The tripe was average at best. Tripe does not really taste like anything to me in general. It would have been better if the marinara sauce was spicier.
For an entrée, I ordered the fettuccine casalinga It was fettuccine pasta with prosciutto, peas, chicken in a cream sauce. First, I thought the portion was a little small. Second, the prosciutto did not taste like prosciutto. The other people in my party who tried it said the same thing. It might have been pancetta? I don’t know. It was not too big of a deal to me. The cream sauce was very tasteful. The chicken was just cut up grilled chicken. There was no flavor cooked into this chicken. If not for the cream sauce, this dish would have had no taste to it.
For dessert, I ordered the tartufo. They cut it into 4 quarters and had chocolate syrup on the plate. The ice cream was solid and the chocolate shell was not too hard where I would have to wait for it to melt. There was also a cherry.
Will I go back? I will go back if the opportunity presents itself.

Love this place! Four letters BYOB!!!
I took my parents there and they loved it too. The service is amazing with a nice intimate dining area.
We brought wine and the servers PPP the cork and serve ur wine. The menu has many options. I have tried the seafood risotto and parents got the lamb Shank and brother got the stuffed pork chop.
The seafood risotto was $ 18 But there was so much seafood in there definitely worth it a lot of scallops mussels clams and calamari. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.
I tasted all the dishes and they were all very delicious and flavorful.
Great spot for fine dining at a fine price.