You Usually Shouldn't Order Risotto When Dining Out. Here's Why

When you're dining out, you want to make sure that you're getting the best experience possible for your money. It can feel like such a waste, or at least a missed opportunity, to have a lackluster experience at a restaurant. That's why you'll even see guides for how to avoid ordering the wrong thing at restaurants. And if you were to ask certain restaurateurs, they would advise against ordering the risotto, no matter how much you might be in the mood for it.

Joe Isidori, the co-founder of Black Tap and the owner of New York's Arthur & Sons, suggests that risotto is usually an item best avoided when dining out. As for the reasoning why, he keeps the answer quite logical: "You can't rush risotto." He explains, "It's a dish that demands patience and constant attention. If you try to speed it up, you're going to lose that creamy texture that makes it what it is and you'll end up with something closer to rice soup than real risotto." With the time and labor required to make risotto, some restaurants might pre-make theirs or simply cut corners to try and speed things up. 

Subpar risotto is certainly not what you want when eating out, but with the demands of a restaurant's kitchen, that may be what you're in store for if you order it. In that case, you're probably better off learning how to make the perfect risotto at home and enjoying something else when dining out.

As a general rule, Joe Isidori's warning against ordering risotto at a restaurant is a valid one. But not every restaurant offers uninspired risotto. Some know how to achieve risotto's uniquely creamy texture, and Isidori has some extremely simple advice to figure out whether or not a restaurant makes its risotto fresh. "Risotto is a process," he says. "It needs time and care and if you want the real deal, you have to put in the work." Use that knowledge to your advantage when inquiring about the risotto at a restaurant.

When determining how to tell if a restaurant's risotto will be of a good quality, Isidori pays attention to one key thing: when it's made. "Personally, I usually don't order risotto unless I know it's made to order, and that's rare, because it's a labor-intensive request to pull off during service," he says, noting, "they'll usually give you a heads-up about that, kind of like the way you get a warning when you order a soufflé. That's actually a good sign. It means they're taking the time to do it right." If they don't tell you directly, you can always ask your server if the risotto is made to order. If that's the case, and you're willing to wait a while for your dish, then ordering risotto is completely viable. Isidori says, "That said, some restaurants do it really well, and when it's right, it's absolutely worth it." In short, if it's made fresh, go for it — otherwise, leave it be.