Hoping to end the semester on a sweeter note, my partner and I decided to splurge both in price and health by searching for a decadent dessert. Looking through menus online, I came upon Otto Strada located at the corner of Park and Eighth St, which is convenient because the name translates to “Eighth Street” from Italian.
The dessert menu caught my eye with its nontraditional takes on traditional Italian fare such as a Nutella or cannoli cream calzone and pear robiola pizza. My partner’s addiction to Nutella led to the choice of the Nutella pizza, and my love of cannoli’s led to ordering cannoli cones. Coming to a grand total of $32, I was hesitant, but hey sometimes you just have to splurge.
Walking up, we were met with the low roar of restaurant-goers beneath strung lights but that was not quite so striking as the delicious smells of garlic and tomatoes which greeted the nose. Seeing as the wait for a table for two on a Friday night was 45 minutes, we decided to do dessert take-out. While we were waiting, I couldn’t help but glance around at the abundantly filled plates of aromatic Italian fare.
After about 20 minutes, our food was ready, and we made the trek back to campus, all the while the scent of Nutella was wafting up from the pizza box. Anticipation building, we opened the box back on campus, and well, what a letdown. The box revealed pizza crust with some Nutella spread on top. That’s it. Nothing else. Biting into a piece, the crust was nice and crispy – perfect for a savory pizza, but perhaps not the best for dessert – and the Nutella, of course, was creamy and chocolatey. However, 16 dollars for some bread and Nutella is a tad of a rip-off. Come to think of it, you could buy some pita bread, spread on some Nutella, and heat it in the oven with similar results. You could even slice some banana and mix in some peanut butter if you feel like splurging a bit.
As for the cannoli cones, which by the description are homemade cannoli cream in sugar cones with chocolate chips, pistachios, and drizzled raspberry sauce, looked very pretty, much nicer than the plain pizza. I enjoyed the cannoli cream, as it was creamy and not overpoweringly sweet and mixed with the raspberry sauce was really quite good. However, the cones seemed to be pulled straight out of a supermarket box. Save the cones for ice cream, I’d take a straight cannoli any day.
Despite dessert being an overpriced disappointment, I want to try Otto Strada again. Maybe it was the soft glow of the strung lights and dimly lit inside or more likely than not the aroma of the savory dishes, but something is drawing me back. Though based on the prices, which are on par with other Hoboken spots of the same atmosphere, Otto Strada is perhaps best saved for a slightly nicer occasion such as a date or dinner with the parents.
