OTTO on Congress Street in Portland is Back Open After 2 Years

I moved to southern Maine from central Maine in December of 2019.

Prior to that, I'd come to the "big city" for concerts. After leaving my 9 to 5 and then hightailing it to a show, I'd often skip dinner and was left starving at the end of the night.

I then began a sacred routine after one evening a friend introduced me to OTTO pizza on Congress Street.

There was nothing quite like a warm summer night leaving an incredible show at Aura and walking to OTTO, one of the few places still open that late.

Now you may be thinking, "Why on earth would you want to order a whole pizza to drive home with?" Well, I wouldn't. The beautiful thing about this OTTO location is that they serve pizza by the slice.

I stuck to the always reliable pepperoni until I tried their mashed potato, bacon, and scallion pizza, which is my new holy grail.

Their by-the-slice service was a huge part of the Congress Street location's success. When the pandemic hit, the streets of Portland seemed to die overnight. Foot traffic disappeared in favor of working from home and quarantining. OTTO made the difficult choice to close their doors.

While they still have a handful of other locations throughout the state, it broke my heart to not be able to walk from work to grab a slice of pizza. I had just moved here and it was one of the "little things" I was looking forward to the most.

Fast forward to earlier this month, OTTO announced the news that I had been hoping for and to be honest, wondered if it would ever come. They were finally reopening.

Grab a slice for the first time in years at OTTO at 576 Congress Street Wednesday through Sunday from 3 pm until 10 pm. Or dine in and grab a drink too. I finally had the chance to pop in tonight and it felt like the final piece of the post-pandemic puzzle.