Otoro81 is an upscale sushi restaurant and cocktail lounge in Chiaia, Napoli. It opened in early 2018 and caters to the trendy crowd as the most high end sushi restaurant in Napoli. With its stylish interior and strong focus on cocktails and lounge music with live DJs, it certainly is one of its kind in the city. Although it might be possible to grab a table on slow weekdays, the restaurant is highly frequented on the weekend and reservations are a must.
Amazing Sushi Dinner
Located in the basement of a typical Napoli building, the newly renovated bar feels stylish and warm. The restaurant offers various tables as well as some limited seats at the sushi bar, where I was greeted with a small tuna tartare on a blue chip. It was amazing. Also, the sushi bar is highly communicative and allowed me to chat with the sushi chef (a rare setup in Napoli). While I waited for my sashimi plate, I tried the dragon roll with ebi (shrimp) and unagi (freshwater eel). It was very tasty, although I don’t like large amounts of avocado in sushi rolls.
The sashimi plate was absolutely amazing and the best I had so far in Napoli. It came with maguro (bluefin tuna back), seared ibodai (butterfish), sake (salmon), katsuo (bonito fish), hamachi (yellowtail), suzuki (sea bass) and o-toro (bluefin fatty tuna belly), the signature fish of the restaurant. By far it was the best tuna I had in Napoli. The o-toro was especially amazing and had a very intriguing texture. I also enjoyed the sake, the ibodai as well as the katsuo.
As this started out as the most impressive sushi experience in Napoli so far, I decided to go for more specialties from the menu. I was amazed by the hotategai (scallop) and o-toro (bluefin fatty tuna belly) nigiri and also enjoyed the ibodai (butterfish) and unagi (frehwater eel) nigiri. The maguro (bluefin tuna back) and suzuki (sea bass) nigiri were also very nice, but most impressive was the hotategai (scallop) with ibodai (buttefish) and ikura (salmon roe) topping. The mango ice cream with ikura was a nice cooldown but something I could have skipped.
Sushi Guide Verdict
Hands down, otoro81 is the best sushi restaurant in Napoli that I have been to so far. It impressed me both with its atmosphere, its interior setting as well as the outstanding menu options and breathtaking food quality. The taste of the fish at this restaurant outpaces the competition in the area by a long shot. The cocktail menu is extensive and very upscale, making this location an ideal place for a long night out. The service was excellent and I really enjoyed talking with the chef during the meal, something I miss in many of the Neapolitan sushi restaurants.
Atmosphere
Menu Options
Food Quality
Drink Variety
Service
Review date: February 27, 2018