bottega restaurant and cafe

love it!. recently went with friends and had the best time. they have a great cocktail menu and nice wine selections. i had the steak tartar and it was divine. the atmosphere paired with the knowledgeable servers makes this place a great place for dinner!

our go-to. birmingham has several excellent fine-dining restaurants, but this one is our personal favorite. the wait staff are knowledgeable pros and the timing is perfect- i hate being rushed from course to course and i've never experienced that here. the parmesan souffle is my favorite appetizer; the fritto misto is very generous in portion if not particularly exciting. i've never had an entree i didn't love- puttanesca, pappardelle with braised chicken, lamb, and multiple fish dishes. my husband, who is not particularly adventurous with food in general will try anything here because he trusts the chef so much, and he also has no complaints. for dessert, i prefer traditional creme brûlée or tiramisu.

love it, but wish they took reservations!. the food and service has always been wonderful, but i wish the cafe side took reservations, or was bigger. the chicken scallopine and crab cakes are to die for and my husband had some type of pizza that was really good but i can't remember the name of it!

good, great is a reach.. i recently dined at bottega and opted for the cafe side. we ordered a wonderful baked feta with mariana appitizer. the bread offered was warm, and was surprisingly good. the only complaint i had until then, was that i could reach out and touch the person next to me. the tables are very close, and this prompted for very close encounters with the waiter. the waiter reached over me, which usually does not faze me, but this was very annoying as the little amount of room meant it felt like he was in my lap.
the hanger steak for an entree, was good. the potatoes were perfect. the steak, ordered medium, was charred on the side. although some do like this, i very strongly hate the taste of a charred steak, it ruins the taste altogether.
for desert, i opted for two different, small scoops of gelato. the biscotti with the gelato was a nice treat, and the gelato was sub-par. i could have gotten the same thing at whole foods, for 4 dollars cheaper.
overall bottega was good, reminded me of a small restaurant i dined at in new orleans. but it was not a great meal. i would return maybe to try the pizzas or burgers.

very stylish!. you can really get the feel for the b'ham elite here. went on crab cake night and it was better than any i've ever had...even in maryland! great, knowledgeable server we had in erin! a little steep price-wise but stitt has to earn a living somehow! (g)!

off night?. i have eaten at bottega a few times over the years and have always looked forward to going. however, my last meal may cause me to pause. our party of four choose 2 starters, 4 main courses, and 2 desserts. while the sweet potato ravioli was excellent, the fritto misto was uninspired. two of our main courses, the tagliatelle and the grouper, were so salty that is really all we tasted. our lamb chops were fine and the venison was a little tough and gamey(maybe that is the way it should be).

most disappointing were the desserts. the bread pudding was average and my butterscotch tart really tasted like a granola bar at a markedly higher price.

i hope this was just a bad night with some bad choices on my part. but for a while, i have better options in birmingham.

i have visited both the restaurant and café many times and have enjoyed every moment every time. the sardines on the appetizer menu at the café is one of my favorite bites!

...an absolutely delightful olive oil sponge cake. plus, the service was wonderful, and it was all in all a very fun experience!

another great stitt restaurant. i recently dined at bottega with my wife to celebrate our anniversary and it was another reminder that frank stitt truly is the best birmingham has to offer. the wait staff was very knowledgeable and attentive and very willing to suggest their favorites, (this is important to me, i want to know that the waiter knows the menu and knows what is good and what is great) and in this our waiter did a great job. he suggested that we have the baked feta to start and then the braised duck pasta. the baked feta was such a great start to the meal, it was rich and flavorful and plenty to share between my wife and i. the duck entree was equally wonderful. i am a huge fan of duck to begin with and will usually order it if available. the duck was so tender and flavorful and the fresh pasta was just how pasta should be. my wife had the rustica pizza and loved it. even though we were stuffed, we had to split a slice of the pumpkin cheesecake based on the rave review from our waiter, and it was a great encore to a wonderful meal. all in all it was a great anniversary outing and it just made choosing a favorite restaurant in birmingham even more difficult.

good, but. very nice, but in the pantheon of top birmingham restaurants, this one is 4 or 5 down from the top. good place nontheless. i think that the staff is very impersonal. the selection is lacking somewhat.

awesome service. i dined in the cafe with my family, the service was awesome and the food fantastic. i ate the best burger i have ever eaten. everyone was pleased with their food, wood fired pizzas, spectacular salad. mr stitt visited took the time to visit our table. the service form all the staff was fabulous.

i will definitely go again and will be going to all mr stitt's restaurants.

great restaurant with daily menus and an extensive wine list. the service was excellent. we had a late reservation and the place started to clear out leaving us to a romantic setting. very nice. highly recommend. also, my steak was huge and very tasty.

good but..... we ate in the restaurant. food was excellent, service was good if a little impersonal. wine list extensive. but would i rush back ? there seemed to be something lacking that i can't quite put my finger on, i think we would probably try the cafe next time.

a little pricey but good. nice ambiance.

omg.. so expensive...so little. never the less, my barbie size steak was good.