Old Forge Restaurant Guide

On our visit we found the food to be ok, about average & the service was fast and friendly. However, the meal prices were a bit steep. Also, they offer a "happy hour" on Wednesday night during the hours we were there and when the bill came our drinks were not discounted. The waiter informed us that the drink specials were only if you were ordered yourself at the bar. I have heard of restaurants offering specials at the bar however they usually include it in the add in fine print. The add we saw had no restrictions....anywhere.

Used to live in OF, when we make a trip from DC, we ALWAYS return to have a fantastic meal here. Wonderful menu selection. Lines go out the door. REAL Italian cooking. Generous portions. Good prices. We couldn't finish our meals! So many appetizer choices--hard to decide!!Wait staff was friendly, never rushed us even though more table turnovers would mean better tips. Worth the wait!

My husband and I go out to dinner every Friday. This past Friday we went to Bruticos with another couple. It was our first time, but definitely not our last.
We've all been talking about it ever since.
The atmosphere is like an old fashioned Italian restaurant in NYC. When we first got there, there was hardly anybody there. By the time we left, the place was packed and was bustling with regulars.
We all had a hard time deciding what to have because there were so many interesting things on the menu.
The food was the best I've had. My girlfriend and I ordered clams stuffed with crab meat for an appetizer and were surprised that there was so much lump crab meat on them. The flavor was to die for. The clams were tender and the crab was light and just a little buttery. My husband ordered veal topped with crab and it was also fabulous. The veal was top quality, not breaded but grilled. It had, what had to be, a half pound of lump crabmeat on top. There was no filler...just a ton of buttery sweet, white crab meat.
A few of us had the caesar salad. It's been a long time since I've had real fresh caesar salad dressing on a salad in a restaurant. It had a perfect, slightly salty, anchovy taste. No doubt it was homemade and not out of a bottle.
Our waiter was also top notch. He made suggestions based on what we said we liked. Even though he was buried by the end of the night, he was always on top of our table and we never felt ignored.
Everything we ate was so good, but now we can't wait to go back to try some of the other interesting items on the menu.
Old Forge is full of really good restaurants, but this is by far the best we've had.

You get better service at McDonalds!!!! The salad was horrible and since when is merlot white? And I thought ordering something meduium had some pink in it??? Not shoe leather. Better off crossing the street to Genels.....

When I was very young, I remember going to Brutico's with my family. Mrs. Brutico (the original!) was in the kitchen stirring the pots in between shmoozing with the customers. We had drinks (on the house) simply because we were part of the extended Brutico "family". Waitresses Claudia and LuAnna knew us all by name. The food? It was to DIE for!! Bread, salad, mini-slices of various Old Forge pizza, a pasta course, entree, and dessert-all wonderful and homemade under Mrs. Brutico's supervision and oh so wonderful!! When her son and daughter took over, prices steadily elevated, but quality began to wane. Last week, my fiance and I decided to go back for a visit to the "new Brutico's". New menu, new people in charge. Pizza was as amazing as I've remembered, but the food? Well, the salad was nothing more than a few shreds of Romaine and a slice of tomato (in fact, only my fiance had the tomato) with a dressing that was only as good as any off-the-shelf store quality brand. My "Filet al Forno" was a generous portion of beef with mushrooms topped with Gorgonzola cheese. The steak was terrific, but the sauce was harsh and "vinegary"; over-bearing and unsuitable to a dish that could have been wonderful. Normally, a sauce is so good that one wants to lick the plate, or sop it up with a nice slice of Italian bread. First off, we had no bread to sop up anything with, and secondly, the sauce was so unappealing that one simply wanted to leave as much on the plate as possible. My side of angel hair was scant and was embellished with not much more than a tablespoon of sauce. Brutio's, WHAT HAPPENED??!! I was there about a year ago under the new management, and things were great! This time, the waitress was attentive and friendly, but needed prompting as to meat temperature, utensils, cheese for the pasta. Certainly not the Brutico's I'd grown up with. PLEASE get it together and do justice to the Brutico legacy!