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    Joia

    4.3 (39 reviews)
    Ultra High-EndVegan, Vegetarian
    Closed 7:30 pm - 11:00 PM

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    JOIA ATMOSPHERE

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    Quiet
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    Upscale
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    Recommended Reviews - Joia

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    Eggplant

    Our group had a phenomenal experience at Joia. We were staying way over in Piedmont but we went out of our way specifically for Joia. It was well worth the trip. There were two non-vegetarians in our group and we were all equally stunned.

    Gong
    Paul S.

    June 25, 2019 Tuesday - 9 PM for dinner 4 Adults and a teenager Atmosphere - 5 stars Food - 5 stars Service - 5 stars Background - Michelin restaurant was in the plans for our visit to Milan. To find a vegetarian place was extra special. Atmosphere - Two small dining rooms, and we sat in the front one. 4 or 5 tables in this room. Their music selection was very unique. Food Drinks - I just had water. Others has some mocktails and my wife had a three course wife pairing. Dinner - Joia was currently on their summer menu. My wife wanted to try everything or close to it. So we all ordered the Zenith, 11 course, not counting the free one for just being their guest. The names are a bit crazy and long. The one item that stood out for everyone was the "Man does not live on bread alone". Their menu description "Panzanella with crunchy vegetables, wasabi-flavoured cannellini bean core, raspberry contrast, shiso, strawberry and lovage sorbet funny composition". I also limited the pictures I posted, I went a little nutty, but this item is so beautiful, I have never had anything plated like this. Service - We were greeted by our waitress. But it was a true team effort. But felt very special when Pietro Leemann, Michelin star chef and owner, took our order. Clearly we made it easy for him. He did checked in with us later during the meal. In our small area I only saw him checking in with one other table. Future - Yes

    Annie P.

    This was an interesting Michelin dining experience since it was vegetarian! You can tell that they have chosen their dishes based on elements and forms of nature. Midway through our meal, Peter Leemann greeted us and asked us where we were from and how everything was, which was very considerate of him even though the kitchen and dining room was busy. Service was very friendly during our meal. Our server and busboys spoke great English and we were also offered with an English menu. Most of the ingredients were from Joia's very own garden located in Cascina Caremma. My husband and I went with the Emphasis on Nature (8 courses) and we were pleasantly surprised at how delicious everything was without using any meat. Some dishes were even vegan! Since the menu changes seasonally, I won't rave about the dishes that I enjoyed since the ingredients and/or entrees for the next season will probably be different, but I would highly recommend checking out Joia if you're looking for a unique dining experience.

    The Menu
    Lisa B.

    We visited Joia the first time five or six years ago and were stunned at the types of things a great chef can do with vegetables. So we had to visit Fabrizio Marino's Michelin Star restaurant again upon our most recent visit to Milan. The Zenith tasting menu is an immersive experience and lasts, if you do it right two and a half hours. It's even more enjoyable if you add the wine pairing. It's a sixteen course menu which they say embodies the essence of nature. The dishes are creative and are often presented as theater. As the menu was in Italian, I cannot and could not remember the names of every dish. It took pictures of just about every one. The dishes are presented in splashes of beautiful colors and in the shapes of things you associate with the animal kingdom, like "The Shape of Life". A dish that is formed in the shape of an egg surrounded by spring leaves. There are many, many layers of flavors, but this time I wasn't as bowled over by the selections. They were creative and beautiful, but not as memorable in flavor or consistency. Still one of the best restaurants in terms of service, creativity and vegetarian menus.

    Norry H.

    Hats off to the chefs who can create such unique elegant dishes with such wonderful combination of ingredients without using any meat. It was a very pleasant experience and discovery.

    "Pomo d'oro" dessert
    Bebe P.

    Extremely creative vegetarian food. The restaurant is abstract and spiritual and backs it up with good tasting creative flavor combinations. Often there would be ingredients carried over from one dish to the other even all the way to dessert. I would never have though passion fruit would taste good with passion fruit. Overall a great experience and great food.

    Wow amazing meal here. What an escape this was.

    Every dish was magical. This dinner lasted so long. Not complaining but definately my longest ever meal. I thought i was going to have to be wheeled out of there, lol. We did order the longest most expensive tasting course. :)

    Soup
    Yuvaraj V.

    We had heard good things about the only gourmet vegetarian Michelin star rated restaurant in Europe, hence we made our way to Joia during our short stay in Milan. Its located in the downtown/official area of Milan away from Duomo or El Castille. Our overall experience was very unique and interesting. The staff and the chef were friendly and helped us understand the menu. The chef shared an interesting story with us, he was an Italian chef making French cuisine for several years, then became a follower of ISCON (Hare Ram Hare Krishna) and became a vegetarian by choice. He decided to invent a fully vegetarian gourmet menu in his restaurant. The chef doesn't have a fixed menu , infact he told us he changed it based on seasonal availability. So we had the summer menu to choose from. They also had a wine guy who came in and advised us on a nice lite white wine, which wasn't too expensive either. The restaurant (as expected) was full of old rich men with seeming younger, hotter wives in jackets and boat shoes - we seemed to be the only people who actually came for the vegetarian food and not the Michelin star (if you catch my drift) ... Now, setting the interesting story aside.. let me comment on the food. We tried about 5 dishes, couple of which were really interesting, the rest were average. Our appetizer was a unique watermelon dish, but the texture was so much like having meat (something like prosciutto or a thin ham slice), but it's a burst of fresh watermelon when you taste it - it messes with your brain, pretty ingenious and tasty. We also had a soup (either pumpkin or squash). It was tasty but nothing I had not tasted before at other high end venues. The pasta dish was pretty average - we had much better pasta in Venice and Rome for far fewer Euros. It's probably my palette which loves street food more than gourmet. For my entrée I tried an entrée called Summer field; it was just a glorified salad with some cool iron chef type things like pumpkin foam etc. the dish had 3-4 different textures, crispy, foamy, saucy and more.. It was light and sparse, not heavy at all - but hey, that is not the intention with gourmet fine dining. What I didn't like is that very basic veggie dishes (like soup and pasta) had long descriptions and the waiters pointed out almost each ingredient to make you feel you got something fancy. The chef certainly plays well with colors and textures but seemed to have very less experience with spice, most dishes were on a bland side and none had a pop of acid or spice. The highlight was the "Gong" dessert. It was some kind of vanilla foam with strawberries in a mason jar, but was pretty cool. The waiter came with an actual gong and played it once as he served it, which was cool. All the food was dainty, delicate, layers of flavor and textures.. you could tell it was no home cooking, it was certainly something made by an iron chef (or something). Of course, I do feel that the place was overpriced, especially since it is a vegetarian place and the portions were very small (even from European standards). My main complaint with the restaurant was the ambiance.. it was very simplistic. If I am spending €150+ for a dinner, I do expect some candles or fresh flowers or white gloves; none of which existed. I don't know much about Michelin stars and they will certainly be hard to get, but the bottom line is always about the food and not about pretentious ratings usually obtained by networking and contacts; I rate this place 3/5 stars and probably a one-time visit at best.

    Complementary appetizer of organic garden grown vegetables

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    7 years ago

    The best high end vegetarian/vegan dining in Milan. They also have an excellent wine selection.

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    12 years ago

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    7 years ago

    Amazing food... Really beautiful plating and really creative. I am also a big fan of their wine selection! Totally recommend it

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    7 years ago

    Our waiter, Darlei, was amazing! He knew everything abt the menu and suggested us with the best at the restaurant. Amazing service! Thanks!

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    Joia Reviews in Other Languages

    Review Highlights - Joia

    But felt very special when Pietro Leemann, Michelin star chef and owner, took our order.

    Mentioned in 2 reviews

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    Bellavista

    Bellavista

    4.5(13 reviews)
    1.7 kmCentro Storico
    €€

    This place is amazing! After 2 weeks touring through Italy, we still reminisce of this meal. It was…read moreflavorful and well cooked pasta!! We came for lunch and once we sat down, we could tell the locals also came for lunch. Had an amazing vegetarian macaroni dish. It was colorful and flavorful! Great ambiance as well. This may have been our best meal of the trip!! Can't wait to go back!

    In town from the USA looking for solid Italian food near City Center Milan. Picked this due to the…read moreover 4 stars albeit several of the reviews were over 7 years ago. Seated very quickly, nice clean restaurant and nice waiters although language barrier made ordering a bit clunky. My wife got the ravioli while my friend and I got the bolognese lasagna. My wife said the ravioli was good not great and our lasagna was very tasty but room temperature. I like my food hot. The other person at our table got salmon and it was way overcooked and very tough. Not sure why our other party got Salmon at an Italian restaurant in Italy but to each his own. If you want a glass of wine you only have two choices, white wine and red wine. No other available. This is probably because the restaurant doesn't carry large inventories of wine due to their small size and cost. Overall no way is this above an average restaurant. It's just okay. Heat up your lasagna better, teach your chef how to cook Salmon and expand your glasses of wine selections.

    Photos
    Bellavista
    Bellavista - Cafe facade

    Cafe facade

    Bellavista

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    Papà Francesco - Spaghetti ai frutti di mare

    Papà Francesco

    4.1(142 reviews)
    1.5 kmCentro Storico
    €€€

    I literally wrote 4 paragraphs and Yelp glitched and deleted my draft…read more Please make sure to ask them to charge you in Euros because we didn't get the option by the owner and he charged us in USD which costs us more. He's been in business for 44 years so obviously he knows but still charged us in USD which is kinda shady IMO. We decided to dine here due to all the reviews and photos posted. When we approached the restaurant, the owner immediately said "Ni Hao" which I thought was kinda racist. What if I wasn't Chinese? Mink felt offended but we committed to dining there so we did. He asked if we wanted to dine inside or outside. Since it was chilly for Mink, we opted to dine inside where it was 90% full due to a Chinese tour group. They all had the same dish so we figured preset menu for them. I wasn't sure what I was going to get but since they all ate the Ossobuco con risotto alla Milanese in Crosta, I decided to order that as it was one of the dishes I was considering. Mink ordered their Spaghetti ai frutti di mare. I'm not sure why but the owner exclusively took care of us. He also made it a point to bring a photo over of Jay Chow saying he's dined there 4-5 times in the last few years. Maybe that's why the Chinese tour group eats there? He was arrogant enough to brag about how much money he's made because of Jay Chow. There were lots of celebrities that dined there from what gathered looking at his wall of fame. I bet he didn't charge any of them in USD *smh* The Ossobuco con risotto alla Milanese in Crosta was really good and probably the best we had in Milan. They must be able to make this dish with their eyes closed at this point with the daily Chinese tour groups dining there. Their Spaghetti ai frutti di mare was decent but didn't have as much seafood in the dish as other restaurants and the flavor was about average. The bread and EVOO offered was legit though! I loved it and I normally hardly ever eat the complimentary bread. Food is good overall and customer service felt extra. If we didn't get charged USD, wasn't getting bragged to about how much money he made off Jay Chow and wasn't greeted with a "Ni Hao" then the place is 4 stars. Since all that did happened, 2.5 stars.

    What an amazing experience- authentic in every way- if you want a real good meal in Milan - go…read morehere!!!

    Photos
    Papà Francesco
    Papà Francesco - Ossobuco con risotto alla Milanese in Crosta

    Ossobuco con risotto alla Milanese in Crosta

    Papà Francesco - Papa Francesco himself. The perfect choice for an authentic Italian meal.

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    Papa Francesco himself. The perfect choice for an authentic Italian meal.

    Mama Burger - Chillaxing out front. Enjoying the view, the crowd, and taking it in all.

    Mama Burger

    3.5(35 reviews)
    1.5 kmCentro Storico
    €€

    Last place I planned on eating at while in Milan was a burger joint, but I did, and let me tell…read moreyou, it was a good burger. A very good burger. And I am not a person who would ordinarily put sliced cucumber on a Bacon Burger (beef burger, tomato, onion, cucumber, mayo, ketchup, iceberg lettuce and bacon /€8), but it was crunchy good. Mama Burger's Agnello location was very clean, the Men's washroom was clean, the counter service was friendly and fast (Thank You, Cassa!), my special order burger was done correctly by the kitchen, and despite the politically-incorrect logo (sorry, Mama, it is what it is), I was impressed. Four Stars -- Mama, you are doing burgers and service right!

    It's pretty difficult to find decent non-Italian food in MIlan, so after a month and a half of what…read moreseemed like endless paninis, pizza and pasta, this place was a god send. I try to be impartial in this review though, and review it just like any other burger place in any country (not as a burger place in MILAN, where I'd probably be more lenient). I came here for lunch and got the lunch menu, which is €10 for any burger (except the angus and another which I forget), fries, a drink, and a coffee. I would recommend that lunch is the best time to come for this reason, any other time of day a burger itself starts from €9 and a combo like that would be €15 and up. I got a cheese burger, and it was pretty amazing. They ask how you want your burger cooked, and you can see the chef cooking all the patties as well as toasting the buns right in the back. I got mine medium, and it was juicy and not too greasy. My only complaint is they might have overdid it on the ketchup on the burger. The fries I got were not as piping hot as I would have liked, but still SO good. After our meal, we had a choice of American coffee (a change of pace from the espresso shots that everyone takes here!) or an espresso. The ambiance is chill, and the decor is pretty trendy. Their logo with the woman in hoop earrings still makes me laugh. If any of you have been to New York's Shake Shack, their ordering system is the same, where they give you an electronic thing that vibrates once your order is ready. It was refreshing to have a solid American meal, and I would definitely be coming back to Mama Burger soon!

    Photos
    Mama Burger - Chickenburgher

    Chickenburgher

    Mama Burger
    Mama Burger - Ketchup and Mayo packets

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    Ketchup and Mayo packets

    Joia - vegan - Updated May 2026

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