It's adorable. The toddler calls it the "turtle spoon" an thinks it's hilarious when he sees the little head peeking over the top of a pot. But, sadly, it's incredibly flimsy. The handle barely holds it's own weight so you have to be extra careful when actually attempting to ladle something.

The ladles I ordered did not have the OTOTO brand name on the bottom. They are absolutely knock offs, but they're still cute and my friends enjoyed them as gifts. Please note they are very small and do not seem to be super sturdy. These don't really have the height to stick out of your pan like the photos suggest. Also the ladle cup is very small and only fits about 3/4 of a cup of liquid. Some reviewers mention the fear of hot liquids melting or bending the plastic; I can absolutely see this happening. Overall, if you're looking for a fun, inexpensive gift, these are great, but if you're looking for an everyday ladle this is not for you.

The Nessie Ladle is undoubtedly adorable, but practically speaking, it is not as useful as you would think. The Nessie's neck is very thin and is not very strong; it bends quite easily when it comes to ladling soup or when it encounters any sort of resistance. Therefore, I could only see myself using it for broth or drinks, where there are no solid objects to hinder it. The Nessie has feet, but its weight is distributed evenly throughout the ladle, which makes it tip over easily. I would also never set the ladle on its feet after using it, for it would dirty the counter. Maybe I would more often if I placed it on a plate, but that just means more dishes to wash. During storage, its upright position will collect dust and dirt, which requires that I give it a second washing before use. Finally, the plastic used to make it is questionable. I would not trust the Nessie to sit in the pot or hook it over the side without it melting. It is definitely a cute collection for your kitchen, but I would still invest in a high quality ladle for regular use.

tl;dr
1. Thin neck bends when ladling.
2. Not steady when standing on its feet
3. Plastic on heat = melt

The product itself was fine, there's not much to say about it, although in my case the picture fooled me about the actual size of the item (of course that would be my own fault for not paying close attention to the description). The ladle is much shorter than I had expected. It was a gift so I did not use it but I don't think it's long enough to be used in anything larger than a medium-size crock pot.

My biggest issue with the item is how it was packaged. It was sent wrapped in what was basically a grocery bag and did not include any product packaging or labels as shown in the picture. It was simply the ladle and nothing else.

Still, I can't complain about the price if you're looking for a fun and inexpensive novelty item.

I think this is very cute, but I'm not giving it 5 stars for a couple reasons. It's smaller than I hoped and thought. The ladle would need to be scooped several times to fill a soup cup. Which doesn't bother me a lot. What does bother me is that I thought it was silicone and it is not. It's hard plastic. I feel like I remember the description saying it was silicone, (maybe they changed it after I bought it or maybe it still says silicone, I don't know because I can't look at it from this screen) and that's why I bought it; we replaced all our kitchen utensils with silicone. I definitely could have misread, I'll admit, so I won't give it a bad rating for that alone when I can't double check if it truly said it was silicone or not when I bought it. It would be very nice for a child who likes to help in the kitchen because of the size and looks. I would just advise to be careful because if a child was using this for hot soup, they could spill it easily depending on how they held the ladle because the neck is just thin hard plastic and isn't reinforced in any way and if left on or near a hot surface for just a short time could melt. Even I would need to be wary. I'm not giving it less stars because I do think it's super cute and would be great for something like punch at the kids table for holidays or something.