I depend on Yelp reviews to help me make a better decision. I realize there were only eight and…read moresome from a long time ago, Sadly, I found the food to be very disappointing. Perhaps it was just the kind of food and other people would like it. We had the vegetable salad, which was apparently grilled vegetables in a mayonnaise base. It reminded me of egg salad. We had the mushroom risotto, which was actually pretty good, but I had it a few nights earlier, at another restaurant where I thought it was exceptional. Finally, we had the braised beef in a Barolo wine sauce. Sorry, not good at all. We had the cheese tray, which was delightful. We had the best bottle of wine I've ever had. The service was fabulous. Our server was so kind and had everything split for us. I really wanted to like the food and maybe it was just a bad night. I thought the ambience in the front of the restaurant was more Italian authentic. The back was a little more eclectic but still nice. My favorite part was a bottle of wine that our server recommended and the complementary appetizer they gave us. The cheese selection was great. If I lived in the area, I would definitely come back and try them again because I think they just had a bad night.

Okay we have not been here since 2009, well before I was Yelping! Here is what I wrote on my blog…read moreback then: A few weeks ago we were in Barolo, Italy and enjoyed a fabulous meal at a restaurant called La Cantinetta. The food was great and the service fun and relaxed. Here are a few photos from that evening. We ordered the antipasti tasting which happened to be five courses of starters. We expected a lot of local cured meats and pickled veggies - we were very pleasantly surprised that was not the case! The first course or amuse bouche was a very thin slice of local salami and small blini sized frittata of greens - crispy on the outside yet tender and with great flavor. We didn't think to photograph the dishes until the next course arrived - a rabbit mousse with caramelized red onions and toasted brioche. OMG! Heavenly, and for those of you squeemish about rabbit just think of it as a chicken with fur. It was amazing - creamy, savory, sweet and crunchy! he next course was delicious vitello tonnato. Have always shied away from this dish thinking it was too strange a pairing. Well I was wrong. A tender, perfectly roasted slice of veal with a tuna and caper sauce. We had to have seconds, hence the dirty plate in the picture! That was followed by a famous raviolo filled with verdura (chopped mixed greens), a soft egg yolk and topped with Parmigiano Reggiano and browned butter. Amazing that such simple and pure flavors could be so response provoking. The mmm's and oh my's kept flying out of our mouths as we devoured this delicacy. To bring it to the next level they offered a crispy asparagus tart with a fonduta sauce. It's hard to describe how perfectly crisp and yet light the pastry shell was on this dish. The cheesy sauce was a perfect smooth and silky accompaniment to the crisp and tender asparagus in the tart. To amaze one even further a dish of spinach gnocci with gorgonzola sauce was beyond description. Surely we will never have gnocci this light and tender without it being at all wet as most gnocci tend to be. We had braced ourselves for knock your head off gorgonzola flavor only to find that the chef used a slight hand with such a potentially overwhelming cheese. A dish / the local classic - ravioli al plin - were tasty but woefully inadequte next to that masterpiece of spinach gnocci. Regardless of the tastier dish on the table, all the ravioli al plin were consumed! We had no room for dessert and missed what appeared to be a delicious mixed berry tart that we saw them shaping in the pan just as we were arriving. We can't wait to return to the area in the future and experience another wonderful meal here.

Excellent small restaurant ambiance, great authentic food and superior service despite being busy…read moreevery night.

Our hotel owner recommended this place to us on a Monday saying it was good, local food. They…read moreopened at 7:30 and we arrived at 7:15 on a raining evening. The door was open and we poked our heads in to ask if they had any open reservations. The owner told us to come in and stay, that they were pretty busy with reservations but he had a couple seats open and with the weather we shouldn't go back out. He wasn't wrong, by 7:40 the place was basically full. A couple of individuals wandered in and he did his best to create a communal table to serve them. When we arrived one waiter was still hand writing the menus for the day and the owner was busy readying the wine selection. They brought us a menu, the waiter spoke English and was able to describe the 10 things on the rough menu. When we asked if they had rabbit he jokingly remarked 'no, none were running around the place today'. We opted for a 1/2 bottle of barolo, a portion of tajarin ragú (spaghetti with meat sauce), Milanese and brasato (traditional stewed veal). As per norm plenty of bread was served. The entrees came with sautéed vegetables. The brasato was good, meat was soft and flavorful and sitting at this long, wooden, communal table I could completely envision eating this as a traditional dish. The tajarin was perfect for my taste. It was not sauce heavy so if you prefer a meat sauce like that this is not for you. I loved how the homemade spaghetti and the meat really stood out with a very small amount of sauce to bind the two. The Milanese was great. Pounded thin and pan fried in butter, the flavor was tremendous. Living in Italy could really make me like veal! We did not get dessert but the waiter brought us some local appertif to try. It was very sweet but with bitters, an interesting mix. People watching in this place was great. I got a lot of amusement out of it and it was just the sort of place I was looking for in Italy. A place where people gather, are loud, laugh and enjoy home cooked food without frills.

Lovely place in Alba. Nice lunch special. Air conditioning inside. Good service. Food is authentic…read more We sat outside and enjoyed the ambiance of the culture of Italy

Food was amazing as well as the wine and service. It was a gorgeous fall day and we sat outside…read morewhich was pleasant. Happy to have a table as the town is packed with truffle festival people. Reserved in advance but got the last table available. Started with a bite of a carrot curry puree and some taralu and bread. I chose a white truffle pasta dish and veal. Both were perfect.

We were with a group of six people from a boat cruise and stopped in for lunch. Great service and…read moreexcellent food. We just happened to drop in not knowing anything about the restaurant and could not have been more thrilled. I highly recommend this restaurant to anybody if they're in the area.

Great food, nice ambiance. Intimate. Server Clemente was attentive, personal, and funny. Black…read moretruffles the specialty were amazing.

They took incredible care of us when we had the day from hell traveling…read more We were a family of 5 (3 kids) and they were so kind and welcoming. Super friendly and to top it all off the food and wine were fantastic. So impressed and so grateful. Food was 5*

Delicious restaurant. Had our anniversary dinner there. And they provide a shuttle from the Hilton…read moreGarden Inn. Food is delicious and the people delightful.

one of the best restaurant in piemonte. real piedmontese food, great service, great wine list,…read morefantastic food. of course i strong recommend.

If my review was only based on the pastas, this would be a definite 5. The wine list was amazing…read more The secondis were good but slightly unmemorable compared to the rest of the meal. A solid 4.5 stars but that pasta definitely rounds it up to a 5 Situated in the tiny commune of San Marzano Oliveto, 20 minutes south Asti and set amongst the rolling hilltops of the Langhe, Bardon has all of the trappings of a classic, rustic Piedmontese restaurant. However, the modest, unassuming farmhouse exterior belies an interior which turns out a remarkable caliber of cuisine. Upon entering the restaurant, it was obvious that we were one of the first diners to arrive, as the staff was still hurrying to set up the dining room. However, a hostess quickly appeared, found our reservation and then led us to our table, a roomy two-top in one of the dining rooms. It was clear that the dining room we were in was once the exterior of the house but had since been walled-in and covered. It was bright and airy and had a great view of the Langhe landscape. While there is a menu available, we didn't see a single table ordering from one during the entire meal. Instead, servers came table-side and recited the day's specials, though it seemed as if the majority of diners already knew their order before hearing a word of it. Thankfully our server knew enough English to bridge the gap on the dishes we didn't recognize; however, we did have a casual look at the menu halfway through the meal, just to make note of what we had ordered. Since we had been consuming Barolo all weekend (and, when you're staying next door, why wouldn't you), Adam decided to go with a Barbera d'Asti as a change of pace. The wine list (really more of a wine book) at Bardon is massive, spanning dozens of pages with an impressively vast inventory of Piedmont wines, some stretching to vintages decades ago. We went with the 2008 Cantine Scrimaglio "Acse," a Barbera d'Asti Superiore. Due to the fantastic carne cruda we enjoyed two days earlier at Il Centro in Priocca, we knew we wanted to try Bardon's version. The carne cruda di vitello battuta a coltello (€7.00 = $8.00) was a great choice. As our 2+ hour meal continued, we noticed that every single table at the restaurant ordered this dish, usually one per person. The meat was very finely chopped and didn't have any of the gaminess that can sometimes permeate through with veal. We each received a dish of carne crudo and then a bottle of olive oil and salt and pepper grinders were left on the table for us to add to customize the dish to our liking. The meat was fantastic on its own, but a quick drizzle of olive oil and a few twists of salt and pepper really brought it to another level. After the excellent carne crudo, pastas were up next. We had read a number of great things about Bardon's plin, with some touting it as the best plin in the Piedmont area, so of course we had to try it. I ordered the raviolini del plin al burro e salvia (€9.00 = $10.50) - plin with butter and sage - and was not disappointed. The plin were incredibly light with a smooth meat filling. The plin had been delicately tossed in a butter and sage sauce that had an earthy essence of sage. This was so incredibly good, yet so simple, that I questioned why I hadn't had it more times in my life. The really great thing at Bardon is that when you order a pasta, they bring out a heaping (read: enough for two) serving and tell you to let them know when you would like them to stop serving. As I was trying to be polite, I did ask them to stop before the whole bowl was emptied. What a mistake! As the meal progressed, we noticed that every other diner, when told to let the server know when to stop serving pasta, just let them serve the whole large portion. Don't be polite, take the whole serving! Definitely our biggest regret of our lunch. While my pasta was fantastic, Adam's was somehow even better. The tagliolini al sugo di funghi porcini (€10.00 = $11.50) - tajarin with porcini mushrooms - was nothing short of incredible. Adam declared it to be the best pasta he had ever eaten. The earthiness of the porcini mushrooms imbued every single strand of the tajarin. The pasta was al dente, and while it wasn't the most delicate tajarin we had eaten that weekend, it stood up to the heftiness of the mushrooms perfectly. There was the option to have white truffles (tartufo, €30.00/gram = $35.00) shaved on top; but, in all honesty, we were getting a bit truffled out after three days. After finishing the two amazing pastas, our secondis arrived. While both veal dishes were fine, it was impossible for them to meet the impossibly high bar set by the pasta dishes. Both Adam and I enjoyed the veal, however, on our next visit we will order two more pasta courses in place of secondis. For the rest of the review: http://adamandvivian.com

Excellent cuisine and outstanding service. 4th time in Italy and always come here to stay and eat…read more Breakfast features scrumptious croissants that are filled along with Italian meats and cheeses Dinner features typically Piedmont dishes and Canavese cuisine. All made with great attention to detail on flavor and authenticity. Tell Luigi and Nicolleta I sent you.

The food is fabulous. Wonderful wine selection. Delicious fresh dishes traditional to Canavese. The…read moreservice is impeccable as well. This is a must try when in Pont

Heard great things online, recommend by chatGPT and booked a reservation…read more Small place, friendly service, but time limit on the table, so if the service is a bit slow, you might be mid dessert and you're being asked to leave when the next party has arrived. Not a big deal, they let you know there is a time limit, but maybe they should keep the service flowing so that doesn't happen. The interior decorator here did a great job with the time warp back to the mid 20th century. Cool vibe. Food was ok. Perhaps using old recipes from the time period is not so good for a tourist? I wasn't really impressed with the food, but I don't have a cultural link to Milanese food to begin with, so I don't think I was fully able to appreciate it. If my grandmother made this when i was a kid, perhaps it would have been better, but the meal was lost on me. There are plenty of spots to grab a good meal, I'd only recommend this place if you have a fond memory of the menu items or you really want to time travel and post to social media.

Intro: After doing a bunch of sightseeing in Milan, we stopped by Riseolatte for dinner. While we…read moredidn't have a reservation, we were seated promptly upstairs (table for three). Ambiance (3.5/5): This Italian restaurant looks like your grandma's house. Lots of old school decor and it's the exact look they're going for. Homey, just like grandma's house. Seating is a bit tight and there's no A/C so things were a bit stuffy. Service (4.5/5): Our waitress was friendly and was pretty efficient in taking care of us. Service can be a bit of a miss in Europe but our experience at Riseolatte far exceeded the norm. Drinks (4.5/5): Good drink list. I ended up splitting some house wine with my buddy. They have it in different sizes and we went with the largest option of the house red. Food (3/5): I went with the osso bucco which is served with risotto (two of my favorite dishes in one). And part of what also made the dish so attractive is that risotto Milanese is a classic Milanese dish. Unfortunately, the dish didn't live up to the hype. Osso Bucco, done right is so tender that it falls off the bone. It's a slow cook type of meal and you can taste the results of that. Here, the meat was harder than it should have been, which indicates to me that they probably cut some corners. The risotto, on the other hand, was solid. As was the portion size. I was just expecting better with the osso bucco. My friends got the veal (elephant ears). Talk about a portion size. Three huge veal cutlets and fries. You can see why they call them elephant ears! I tried a bite and enjoyed it more than my dish. Overall: There's a lot to like about Risoelatte. Some dishes are a hit and some are a bit of a miss so make sure to choose wisely!