Obika Mozzarella Bar

I have to say that I am disappointed. There was so much hype over this place because it's a Roman chain. Even though I work too far away for it to be a good lunchtime option, I hopped on a train anyway. On my first attempt, there was a train delay so by the time I got there, I didn't have much time to eat in. The long lines for take out further cut into my time and so I didn't even get to eat that day. I decided to be smarter and ordered take out for dinner on the next day. I would have eaten in but the restaurant closes at 7pm, due to the fact that it is housed in a plaza that closes at that time. My date couldn't make it until 6:30 and I didn't think they would seat us then since it's a hard close at 7.

Obika has 2 menus- the full menu for sit-down or the shorter, cheaper take-out menu. However, the take-out menu is contingent upon whatever is available and has not been sold out. They do not replenish the take-out options. I was extremely surprised by that fact. I don't think it's much to ask for a freshly prepared sandwich or salad when I'm paying $8 for it. Since I went at 5pm, they only had 2 items left- Mozzarella Basil and Mozzarella Prosciutto. I got both. The only dessert items that were left were ricotta and Nutella sweet bread or a plain croissant. I opted for the sweet bread.

They re-heat the ciabatta bread in a panini press so the bread wasn't stale even though it was sitting out all day. The mozzarella is very fresh. Mozzarella isn't even one of my favorite cheeses and I found the quality here to be outstanding. It's very delicate and moist. The ricotta in the sweet bread was sweet and creamy by itself. The ratio of bread to Nutella and ricotta was too high and so I ended up only eating the center of the bread and gave the rest of the bread to a homeless man. But as you can see from the pictures, the portions are not very big. It's about the size of my hand. I finished a sandwich in about 6 bites.

In total I spent $22 for what should have been dinner for 2. Due to the size of everything, I had to get an additional meal for my date. He laughed at the size of the sandwiches and thought it was a good appetizer. I'm a small girl and I was not satiated by a sandwich and sweet bread. I was hungry again 2 hours later. I was surprised by how unfulfilled I was since eating even small quantities of dairy squelches my appetite.

57th and Madison