Baby-friendly Italian restaurant in Bangbae, Seoul: Couple B set at

This week, with autumn finally settling in, I went for a walk along Banpocheon Stream and stopped for dinner at Osteria Ottivo, at the far end of Bangbae Cafe Street. Since moving to Bangbae-dong, I've been trying out restaurants nearby, and this one stood out for easy parking and great prices — so here's my review. Reservations are also possible through Naver.

Where is Osteria Ottivo, and what about parking?

Osteria Ottivo sits in the Guban-po area, right at the very end of Bangbae Cafe Street. Valet parking right in front of the building runs ₩3,000 for 3 hours.

I just followed the navigation and arrived to find it's literally the last spot on the cafe street before you hit Banpocheon Stream. It's on the ground floor of what looks like a fairly new (or freshly remodeled) building, and valet parking right outside is ₩3,000 for 3 hours — basically ₩1,000 an hour, which is a great deal.

The parking area is fairly spacious and you can retrieve your car right away, so ₩3,000 for 3 hours feels very reasonable. You could probably eat here and grab coffee nearby on Bangbae Cafe Street afterward, and still only pay ₩3,000 for parking the whole time.

Walking in, I noticed signs of Osteria Ottivo's history as a Blue Ribbon and Mango Plate recommended spot. Delivery riders were also coming and going.

Inside Osteria Ottivo: dining room and visiting with a baby

The dining room at Osteria Ottivo was bigger than I expected, and on the weekend evening we visited, most tables were families. When I mentioned we'd be bringing a baby, they had baby dishes ready in advance.

The moment we walked in, the atmosphere looked great, and I was surprised by how spacious the place actually was.

Since we had a reservation, we were shown to our reserved table — and maybe because it was the weekend, there were lots of families around.

Maybe because it's such a good spot to bring a baby, about 80% of the tables — including ours — seemed to have babies with them. Probably because the nearby Banpo Raemian Trinije apartment complex recently opened, since afterward we headed over there and ran into some of the same families at the playground.

When we ordered, we mentioned we had a baby with us, and — since we really did bring one — they set us up with baby dishes. What was unusual: out of all the restaurants I've been to, this was the first time I'd ever seen a baby-safe knife. Thankfully it wasn't dangerous at all, and our baby actually loved it, like playing kitchen.

Osteria Ottivo menu and prices: the 59,000 won Couple B set

The best value on Osteria Ottivo's menu looked to be the couple sets. The B set in particular combines soup of the day, garden salad, pasta, pizza, and americano or soda for ₩59,000.

The couple sets seemed like the best value overall. The B set — soup of the day, garden salad, pasta, pizza, and americano OR soda — comes to ₩59,000 (looks like it's gone up ₩2,000 recently). Glass wine at ₩5,000 each also seemed like a great price.

Even the à la carte prices are quite reasonable considering this is a restaurant in Guban-po/Bangbae-dong. If the couple set doesn't appeal to you, ordering individual dishes works fine too.

The desserts on display ran ₩8,000–9,000, and I noticed some guests were just there for coffee. For the record, on this visit I ordered the couple set with a Margherita pizza and mushroom cream pasta. They used to bring out bread before the meal, but this time none was served — not sure if that's been discontinued.

Garden salad and the mushroom soup of the day

Ordering the Couple B set got us two garden salads. It was a solid starter, and the portion was bigger than I expected.

Instead of one shared plate, it came split into two separate portions — a nice touch.

The soup of the day turned out to be mushroom soup.

For a mushroom-loving family like ours, this was the best possible soup, haha. The mushroom texture was excellent, and "refined" is exactly the right word for the flavor.

When it came to choosing the drink included in the set, I honestly assumed we'd only get one — but we actually got two, haha. Even the glasses were pre-chilled like at a beer bar, so the drinks stayed extra cold.

Mushroom cream pasta: mushrooms in every bite

Then the mushroom cream pasta arrived! The moment I saw it — wow, so many mushrooms packed in!

A lot of places call something "mushroom cream pasta" but skimp badly on the actual mushrooms, which is disappointing more often than not. Osteria Ottivo's version, though, is simply a bumper harvest of mushrooms!

Wood-fired Margherita, cut into 8 slices

Next came the Margherita! It's a wood-fired pizza, cut into 8 slices, and each slice comes topped with a fresh basil leaf.

I'd noticed this before, but Osteria Ottivo really does use quality ingredients across the board. This time the mozzarella was so fresh that even my daughter — who usually only eats the crust ends of bread — ate all the cheese too.

Is Osteria Ottivo worth it for a family dinner in Bangbae?

On the way out, I noticed Osteria Ottivo also has a solid wine selection! With The H Bangbae and Banpo Raemian Trinije both recently completed nearby, over 5,000 households have moved into the area around Bangbae Cafe Street. Naturally, people will be searching for restaurants nearby — and with clean, convenient parking plus solid food and quality across the board, Osteria Ottivo is a great choice for a meal out.