Botticelli's

Living on SoCo is really high on my 'things that rock my world' list. I have everything a stone's throw away, including work and my Italianini's place! However, lately I've been getting together with all my peeps in the neighborhood and realized we are in DIRE need of new restaurants and watering holes in the area. I have had enough tacos al pastor and overpriced margarita's from Guero's to last my life time, been to home slice (although, I really just love it there) about 700 times, Hotel San Jose for a refreshing adult beverage at least once a month, I'm so over the spraying, misty fans at Perla's that make my hair look like a lion's mane, and can't even stand the smell of Zen anymore (although I heard it may be closing????), I don't love the food at Snack Bar, am not a huge fan of Continental Club or Vespaio, and South Congress Cafe doesn't come to mind when picking a place for a meal.

Anyway, making the most of our pretty afternoon in the 'hood the Persian, the Argentinian, and I went to Botticelli's for happy hour to enjoy a cheap glass of wine and apps. 

We shared the Boticelli bread (the only $7 item on the HH menu)  “the original”—grandmother’s own homemade bread stuffed with prosciutto, coppa, mortadella, salami, mozzarella, parmesan, and roasted bell peppers. 
I had always heard people rave about this bread, and with the long list of Italian ingredients that live happily inside of it, I figured it had to be fantastic.... Wrong, it totally lacked pizzazz and flavor. It's also very dry, maybe a little sauce would be nice? Maybe a little spice? I don't know, but I won't be ordering it any time soon.

Persian got a caesar salad, I got the mussels, and Argentininan had the calamari. 

The salad was very simple, don't really need to go into detail for that one. 

The mussels were tiny, and the broth was o.k., way too many things going on. They had capers, brown butter, lemon (LOTS of lemon), bread crumbs, and some red pepper flakes.  For $5, they were o.k. 

I liked that the calamari's batter-It wasn't overwhelming. It's cooked just enough to avoid the rubbery effect. The Arrabiatta sauce was not spicy, but it was decent. 

Overall, it was a good deal, but the food is not award-winning or even worth full price... so, only go for HH :)

And, restaurateurs, please bring more options to SoCo!!!!!
http://www.botticellissouthcongress.com/index.php