I booked this restaurant through Google and arrived early for my 7:30 reservation, expecting the…read morecozy, atmospheric trattoria shown in the photos -- the one I had reserved. Instead, without even asking for my name or checking my reservation, a young host walked me out the door and across the street into a completely different dining area.
The room I was placed in looked nothing like what was advertised: it was brightly lit, with paper napkins, cheap silverware, and visibly dirty walls. The whole place felt like a low-end lunch diner -- not a charming Florentine restaurant. They were blasting Highway to the Danger Zone and I Wanna Dance with Somebody while the main restaurant -- the one I thought I had booked -- played soft Italian music that actually fit the fine dining experience. The contrast was insulting.
I was dressed in an upscale outfit appropriate for a refined dinner, yet I was treated as though I didn't belong. It felt discriminatory and dismissive. To make matters worse, at the end they tried to pressure me into tipping on the card machine -- in Italy, where tipping isn't even customary. The entire experience felt like a bait-and-switch, and I left feeling disrespected, singled out, and completely disappointed.