Food put into boxes and dishes handed out. Customer had to
Put food from boxes onto plate. This is not acceptable.

Pizzeria Ortica used to be one of our favorites, but they seem to have gone through too many cooks (one insisted on burning the pizza crust). This last visit too many of the salad leaves were wilted. With so little business there was ample time to sort through them. Thankfully the waiter still provides excellent service.

Understand the transition between being only open for takeout due to CoVid and being open for limited seatings but the experience still could have been better. There was no staff anywhere to be seen when we walked in. There were notes everywhere and it seemed like the lights were off. Even the homemade "open" sign on posterboard should have been better executed. The menu selection was ok and we understand that a full menu might not be available but the bar was closed except for beer and wine and when we received our food, it was in to-go boxes with disposable plates and cups. If you're not ready to open, please don't. Just keep it to go orders until that time where you can transition properly.

The food other than the pizza is terrible pasta awful.

The first thing we noticed is that the online menu is much different than their actual in-restaurant menu, very much reduced. When we pointed this out to the waitress, she said the online menu was being worked on...fair enough...
Also, the online site said it was one of the few restaurants that did not have a corkage charge...so we brought a bottle of wine. The waitress told us that there is a corkage charge of $25 per bottle...so we didn't open our bottle and ordered a martini and a glass of wine.
When I asked about Happy Hour, I was told that it was from 8pm-10pm...then was told that they normally close up about 830pm on weeknights...sheesh...
The martini was served in the smallest martini glass I've ever seen and they appeared to forget about the glass of wine, we received that about 20 minutes later, well into our appetizers.
The sauce on my pizza was not as tasty as the one I recalled from a previous visit several months prior...but could that have been the result of our increasing disappointment in the place? Maybe...
I had mentioned that we were celebrating a birthday in our reservation but no mention was made of it by the concierge or the wait staff...it just wasn't important to them I guess.
We also noticed that there were only about 6 people in our half of the restaurant. When we asked why so few, we were told it was still early and it was only Thursday....we're thinking there are other reasons, some mentioned above, that may account for the lack of patrons. We wish the biz well because we don't want any to suffer but sometimes a restaurant is responsible for it's own condition and popularity. I'm afraid we'll choose a different pre-show restaurant next time.

Delicious cocktails and pasta. We had a wonderful evening.

Pre theater

We had reservations over an hour prior to a show around the corner. At 6:30 we explained to the waiter we understood our food would not take a great deal of time and did not want it to go in immediately, but also did not want to rush at the end. He said no problem he will time it well. When 7:00 came part of the order was delivered. Then 7:10 and no pizza. Asked about it at 7:15 and was told simply, it was coming. Then at 7:20 our $24 pizza arrived that we had to cram down in 5 minutes. We left immediately for our show and had to wait until after opening act because we were too late. Never got an apology when we asked about the status of our pizza. Never got an apology when it was delivered. And nothing was ever adjusted on the bill for getting it that late

Also noted that at some point prior to us leaving a neighboring table had an issue that we overheard, although not sure of what it was. Then our server who also took care of that table was outside on the sidewalk having a discussion with those customers over something. Perhaps unhappy about the way they were taken care of and decided to leave a less than desirable tip. Just our assumption.

It was a modest experience that could have been a notch or two better with just a little more consideration of our timing and needs.

The food was very good but the SERVICE WAS VERY POOR. We were seated without menus and sat there for several minutes until we could get someones attention to bring them to us. When our food came, we had to ask for napkins and silverware. I ordered a salad and when they served it, there was no offer of ground pepper. There was no pepper or salt on the table, so again, had to get someones attention and the salt and pepper was finally brought in little dishes without a spoon. Using a large spoon to sprinkle it on the salad left the salt and pepper in large clumps. I had seen a pepper mill over by the food delivery station when I had to ask for water but several minutes went by before I could get the attention of the wait staff so my husband got up (for a third time) and went to get the pepper mill. IT WAS LIKE A SELF-SERVICE RESTAURANT!! The only time they were attentive was when we were finished. They were anxious to clear the table, have us pay and get out of there. THEY REALLY NEED TO TRAIN THE WAIT STAFF TO BE MORE ATTENTIVE... THEY WOULD LITERALLY IGNORE US WHILE WE WERE TRYING TO FLAG THEM DOWN AS THEY WALKED PAST OUR TABLE. IT WAS OBVIOUS WE NEEDED SOMETHING!!! F- on the service!!

The woman serving us was maybe having a bad day but looked pretty unhappy

Pizzeria Ortica has been one of my favorite places in Costa Mesa for several years. Unfortunately, the quality of food and service levels has declined on my past two visits. Two visits ago, the food was average at best. But any place can have a bad night, so I didn’t leave a poor review. On this last visit I was there with two colleagues. None of us enjoyed our meals. We shared a pizza as an appetizer. Both the dough and the toppings were not particularly good. We all described the pizza quality as average. My two colleagues shared a vegetarian manicotti dish as their main course. It was overly salted to the extreme. Neither person finished their portion. I had an agnolotti dish as my main course. It had no flavor of any kind. I’m not sure if the restaurant is under new management or ownership, but I can not recommend and I likely will not be back.

Pizza is OC’s best example of authentic neopalitan wood fired pizza.

New Year’s Eve dinner

We visited prior to going to the Segerstrom. This is a place we’ve visited often and enjoyed but the service was terrible. We waited over an hour for our food and then they brought all courses out together. Pretty sure it only came then because we reminded the server we were going to a 7:30 show. Had to ask three times for a sparkling water. Long story short my girlfriend walked to the Segerstrom eating her pizza.

My wife and I have eaten here at this restaurant on several occasions and have had a great experience each time. The meatballs, and the pasta dishes are all good. I would recommend this place to anyone who likes to try different foods. The pizzas are also very tasty.

I hate to ever leave a negative review, especially at a place where the food is good and the pizza is like my favorite pizza in OC. But I have to let people know about the service here so everyone is warned. It’s not good. Probably because of all the business they get from the theaters around and also again because the pizza is so good, we keep going back. I have never posted before about the service because we expect it to be bad. But the issue we had this time was, as a party of 6, the tip was added into our bill. My in-laws paid the bill and did not realize it, and they added an additional 20% tip on top of that already added 20%. Not only were we not alerted, when we called later to ask about it (because somehow we realized how expensive the bill was (way more than what we normally have paid) we were told that there was no manager on until the following week. I felt so bad that my in-laws paid the bill - it was my husband, his parents, me, and our 2 kids. I cannot believe they added in the tip without mentioning it. Incredibly rude, and not dealing with it immediately when called out really makes me question the integrity of these owners and employees.

Great spot before the show

Christmas Carol at SCR

Exec Chef was on maternity leave and all the entrees as listed on their website were not available. Food was slow in coming as well.

Disappointing. Pizzeria Ortica was an old standby for pre-concert dining. Perfect location. pleasant staff, nice ambience, too bad the food is no longer very good. They were out of the octopus salad so we got prosciutto with melon, which was fine. The pizza was a traditional crust with prosciutto, scattered arugula and a barely perceptible white cheese. We mentioned this and were given a free dessert which resembled a Girl Scout chocolate pudding. I didn't bother to finish the cappucino which was based on simply regular coffee.

Always a good meal. Quality ingredients and friendly wait staff.

This review is after my 2nd visit.
1st visit was during DineOC week. My friend and I had a show next door at the Segerstrom so we got ourselves an early dinner reservation at 5pm. We barely made it out and to the show by 7:30.
So I thought it might because it was a special menu offering so I gave the restaurant one more try recently.
This time we got a 5:30pm reservation, and probably the 2nd or 3rd party that got seated for their dinner service.
Again, super slow service and I got so antsy because this time our Segerstrom show started at 7:30 so I didnt want a repeat of the 1st time and requested for the check as soon as our entrees FINALLY came out so we can get out of there.
Food is decent, but not worth the wait and super slow service.
I heard the table next to us asking their waitress to at least bring any sort of food out for their kids because they were getting restless.
I dont think I'll go there again unless somehow I'm forced to.

Our server was slow, in attentive and completely disengaged. We poured our own wine the entire meal except when she opened the bottle.

The Brussels Sprouts were amazing, we had cannelloni which was good and pizza was just OK.

We will try dining again...hopefully it was an off night. It’s so convenient for the theatre.

Great service and food. Really enjoyed our meal and our server was on point about when (and when not) to check up on us. Had a great reunion meal with an old friend as a result. Thanks!

Very disappointing salad and pizza dishes. Extremely inferior
quality ..... not returning.

We celebrated six years since our first date, which was also at Pizzeria Ortica. The staff made all the difference in helping surprise my now fiancé with my proposal. They were awesome and so kind. The food was, of course, fantastic. Thank you!

We got there early for our reservation and were seated promptly, even though we were still waiting for one more to arrive . (Nice). Our wait person arrived and asked for our drinks order. We needed a minute or two. She came back, we ordered drinks, still waiting for one more.
She came back and asked for food orders, told her we needed a minute. Ok. Came back again and told us that it would become busy soon and we needed to order. Ok, told her we weren’t in a hurry, no problem.
We finally ordered, got our food, and then were basically ignored because we had taken so long to order We did order a dessert, and then waited forever to get our bill. I finally had to get up to find our waiter because the theater was starting soon. By this time it wasn’t busy at all, but couldn’t get any attention. We should have told her that we had theater tickets, maybe she thought we were there for the evening .
Long story short, we felt pressured to order, and then neglected because we didn’t order fast enough.
The food was mediocre, at least mine was ( spaghetti Bolognese) mostly noodles, very little sauce.
I would not go back

Really really disappointed!! Either management has changed, this or the owner has changed… And definitely the chef has changed. The pasta was bland and the pizza dough was very chewy. The only saving grace was the prosciutto appetizer. There are only five pasta options and two of them were sold out. Definitely not the restaurant I’ve been going to for the last 15 years. I ended up walking down the street and having dessert and cocktails there rather than spend any more time in this place.

The portions of the Pasta were very light for entrees. You would think that with pasta they would be generous, but it really was very small. It was disappointing, we have been here before and it seems they have changed. The pasta was ordered by three of us at dinner and all three were very light!

I have been visiting this restaurant for more the 15 years (under different names/owners) and did really enjoy the past 5 years or so. The menu was interesting, not too extensive and well executed.
However I was very disappointed at this past visit: none of my faves were on the menu any more: no mussels, no octopus, no farro and there was no selection making up for the missing, i.e. no fish or "light " selections. I selected the meatballs and was "underwhelmed"

Great pizza, wonderful and courteous service. A great experience.

Our visit was extremely disappointing. We have eaten there several times before but after this experience, we will not be going back. The waitress was surly and not helpful. The two salads that we ordered were very poorly prepared and the pizzza was not good. The crust was so thin and limp that we couldn't even pick it up. The busboys were clearing our table while we were still eating! Not good. The only smile that we received from the waitress was when she presented the check!
However, the hostess that greeted us was very cheerful and helpful - the only employee worth keeping

Well this is like my 5th time eating here. It is close to the hotel I usually stay at and it is an Open Table Restaurent. I will be back, the food is always good and the wine pour is generous. I really enjoy the layout of the restaurant, it makes you feel very private.

The waitstaff is always so accommodating and friendly. I really like the fact that I don’t feel rushed or have dishes pushed on me.

Thanks for the great experience and keep it up.

What has happened to this once lovely restaurant??
. The menu is a mere shadow of its former offerings and scaled down from the menu posted on open table. While the pastas and pizzas remain delightful, they no longer serve branzini or chicken main courses. You can add chicken or salmon or shrimp to your pastas ( at add’l cost) and there are a whole bunch of add-ins for the pizzas. Even the wine list has been pared down. What a disappointment as this was one of our go-to dining experiences though The room is still lovely and the service well schooled. But if your expectations are muted and well made pizza and pasta are sufficient, the restaurant performs.

I liked the food but thought the restaurant was quite dirty and not kept up. The floors and base boards were very , the aluminum cooking hood over the stove was dusty and the place had just opened

We were visiting Ca and wanted Italian. I ordered the tortellini, which was good, but very al dented and portion was small.
My daughter, just got a basic rigatoni will butter and olive oil (as she’s young and picky) and received about 10 noodles. Certainly didn’t warrant the $15.00.
Needless to say, we left hungry and went back to our hotel for dessert.

Overall, pleasant experience. Nothing negative to say, it was an adequate evening.

What do you do when you are seated at a table (in a mostly empty establishment) and are then COMPLETELY IGNORED for 15 minutes? Through a chance placement, our party of 4 was seated at a table where it was erroneously assumed we were being served. After 15 minutes of watching the wait staff ignore us, I went to the host station and explained that at most restaurants like this one, the wait staff will come over and take your order. To their credit, the restaurant, seeking to rally, comped our wine orders and brought us a complementary order of bruschetta. I don’t wish a place like this I’ll will; in fact, they are located in an area where I wish them to thrive. This travesty, however, was completely self-inflicted.

Great place for quick date night dinner before segerstrom show

Amazing food, and service!!!
We’ll definitely be back soon!!