Otto Tomotto’s Good Italian Restaurant is located at Phoenix Mills Plaza on Route 96 in Victor.
Otto Tomotto’s, a popular restaurant in Victor for more than 20 years, is ending restaurant service and will become a catering service and party house.
Owner Tim Archetko recognizes the news will likely come as a shock to customers accustomed to seeing a full dining room during their visits to the restaurant in the Phoenix Mills Plaza.
“Just because you’re busy doesn’t mean you’re making money,” he explained. “People forget that.”
He said the landscape of the restaurant industry has changed dramatically over the last two decades. Food costs have increased and availability has become more erratic. Employee costs have increased and the pool of potential employees has decreased. (Among the factors for the ongoing restaurant labor shortage: an aging workforce, immigration restrictions and reduced interest from younger workers due to working conditions.)
Orders of chicken pignoli at Otto Tomotto’s. The dish was one of the first served when the restaurant opened in 2004.
“We’re maxed out with our pricing,” Archetko said. “Going out to dinner is becoming less and less affordable these days.”
Otto Tomotto’s Party House & Catering will be an affordable place to have life celebrations, from baptisms to bereavements and everything else in between, Archetko said. It will be available to host events six days a week (it will be closed on Wednesdays).
The space can seat 100 people. It has three rooms, so it can be reserved for smaller groups. It will have a minimum $100 order for takeout catering, or a minimum party of 30 in-house. Meals will be served buffet style.
“We’ve been doing catering for the past 22 years,” Archetko said. “We’re ready for this.”
Archetko will continue to own and operate Nashville Hot Chicken and Route 96 BBQ, also in the Phoenix Mills Plaza. Employees from Otto Tomotto’s will work in those restaurants.
“You’re going to see familiar faces,” he said. “You’re going to see more and more specials.”
An order of tubolare, or deep fried Italian bread with cinnamon, sugar, and butter cream frosting, sits on a table at Otto Tomotto’s.
A 2002 graduate of Eastridge High School, Archetko started working at at Soccer Sam’s Pizza & Pasta Cafe in Webster at the age of 15. He opened Otto Tomotto’s in 2004; it moved to a larger building within the strip mall in 2016.
The final dinner service for Otto Tomotto’s will be on Sunday, May 10, which coincides with Mother’s Day. He promised that “Mama Tomotto” – his mother, Sue Archetko – will be working all day.
Otto Tomotto’s is at 6385 Route 96, two miles east of the village of Victor. It is open 4 to 9 p.m. Monday; 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday; noon to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday; and noon to 9 p.m. Sunday. It is closed Tuesday and Wednesday. For reservations call (585) 742-2070
Tracy Schuhmacher is food and drink reporter for the Democrat and Chronicle. Notice a food business open or close near you? Email tracys@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Otto Tomotto’s Italian restaurant in Victor NY to focus on catering,
Dining and Cooking