Sotto opened recently in downtown Stavanger and is located under CinCin and it is the same owners - hence the name Sotto which means under in Italian. The concept at Sotto is Italian lunch and I stopped by on a Saturday afternoon in March to check it out. Keep in mind that this is only like a week after they officially opened.
The menu is not extensive, and they offer pannozzo (an Italian style sandwich based on pizza dough) , pasta and salads – and they also have a sharing menu. The restaurant is split into three rooms so there will be space for both larger groups and couples. I decided to have the porcini ravioli, and my guest had the Caesar salad. I would have loved to try out some of the items from the sharing menu (e.g. the arancini and the caponata) but this was not available unfortunately as separate dishes. The wine selection is limited, and it seemed like they only had Peroni beer.
The food was served after a short time and my ravioli with porcini was good. The pasta was still a bit firm, and it was maybe a bit salty. I would have loved to have gotten a couple of pieces of bread to scoop up that lovely sauce. The Caesar salad was a huge portion, and it included egg, chicken, bacon, bread etc. I think that Caesar should just be just Caesar salad so in my opinion this was a bit too crowded and not enough Caesar dressing. The dessert option was pannacotta, tiramisu (that they had run out of) and gelato. It was good to end the meal with an affogato (gelato and espresso).
It was nice with a lunch with Italian flare, and I look forward to trying out the sharing menu. The place shows signs of being newly opened but that is only natural when they opened a week ago. We look forward to stopping by for Italian lunches also in the future.
Pros: - Italian lunch is always a treat - Space for larger groups - there is tasting menu
Cons: - small menu and limited wine selection - only a lunch place