The staff were very kind, the decor was colorful and inviting and the food was very good. We do not…read morespeak much Italian, but our server had very good english. She made us feel very welcome and appreciated.

Brisighella is my friend Ricca's hometown. It is about 87km from Florence. It is marked by the…read morepresence of 3 defensive monuments, the Manfredian Rock, Monticino Sanctuary and the Clock Tower. Brisighella is now one of the most beautiful towns in Italy enjoying a high quality of life and attracting many tourists during the Medieval fair held at the beginning of the Summer. My friend Ricca took me to her favourite restaurant called Stryx. The restaurant is located at Piazza Marconi, just below the ancient Via del Borgo, also called "Via degli Asini" (Donkey's Alley). The alley is an elevated covered street with arched open windows of different sizes used by carters for carrying chalk using donkeys. Stryx is a family run restaurant by brother and sister chefs Pierluigi (Gi) and Mirena. They grew up in kitchens where their father and uncle both had Michelin starred restaurants (La Grotta and Gigiole). The restaurant can seat 20 but could fit 30 for special events. The building is an ancient building and the back structure of the building is a chalk hill. As such the law does not permit them to have a kitchen in the building for health and safety purposes. They have their kitchen in another building just across the street. They do not get tired of walking to and fro, from the kitchen to the restaurant. I salute people who have passion in what they do! Stryx serves traditional Italian food from the region but with a twist. This brother and sister team strongly believe in the philosophy of fresh ingredients and sourcing local produce. Therefore does not have a cold store room in their kitchen. They love to challenge themselves to create new dishes based on the ingredients available at the local market. Their menu changes on a weekly basis. Not once did my friend had the same dish twice during her previous visits. We were served freshly made Focaccia bread with Brisighello olive oil. The olive oil has a slight pleasantly bitter taste a characteristics given by the clay soils of the area. The Focaccia bread was so good that Mirena generously gave us 2 plates! I ordered the €18 set lunch: 2 coloured pudding made of Ricotta cheese and spinach. It was so soft, smooth and full of flavours. The texture was similar to pudding.Yes, it was that good. Opened ravioli with white Bolognese sauce and black truffle. I have never had opened ravioli before. It blended well with the sauce and aroma of the black truffle. Yummy... Pork rolls and omelette. There were herbs in the pork rolls. Even the mash potatoes looked so artsy. The omelette was thick and the combination of flavours was good. I was full but definitely had space for dessert. Dessert was semi cold cream and liquor with crunchy biscuits (croccantino). The food was excellent. The service was great. Gi and Mirena were friendly, polite and attentive. This was undeniably the best meal I had in Italy. There were many wind chimes hanging in the restaurant. They were gifts from customers who had travelled all over the world. I managed to spot a Dreamcatcher, not a wind chime. Local artists also display their artworks on the walls of the restaurant. I believe that they should charge customers more for that level of high quality food and service. It is just a matter of time before they are awarded Michelin stars. They truly deserve it!

Great food great service I don't think we've had a better meal in Italy I would recommend this to…read moreanybody that comes to the area

A feast for the price of tea and toast…read more We were recommended this restaurant for lunch by our Italian hosts, so we took them up on it. How unprepared we were! For €25 each (this may seem like a lot but wait for it...) we had: One bottle of house wine - delicious, refreshing and complemented the meal perfectly. Antipasti - a colossal platter the size of a medium dog, piled high with breads, meat and cheese. Little bruschetta's balanced around the edge tantalised our taste buds, before the mountain of food assailed our stomachs with rich flavours and amorous aromas. Pasta - two styles, perfectly complementing each other. Freshly made, cooked to al dente perfection and stuffed in one with creamy mushrooms and the other with mozzarella. At this point we were stuffed and collapsing Into a food coma, however the best was arguably yet to come: Meat - rare steak seasoned with mouthwatering flavours, complemented by pork and garlic roasted potatoes. Dessert - a ménage of desserts, heaped high with ice cream and awaiting our attention. However we genuinely struggled to finish these due to the quantity of food consumed. Coffee - served the traditional Italian way. After two hours of the most amazing food we were finally done! We were definitely thankful we parked the far side of the village to walk the food babies off...

Beware of staff rudely speaking behind your back! Please caution spending your resources on a…read morerestaurant that demeans foreign guests. Arianna was our waitress, and she was extremely rude to my family and me. I am a non-Italian, English-speaking guest with Italian family members, attending dinner for eight during the off-season. We had a reservation and took a normal amount of time to order 3 dishes each. After the last person ordered, she announced loudly in Italian within earshot of other guests in a manner that severely offended my Italian relatives, "FINALLY 'these' guests are done". While seemingly innocuous in translation, my Italian relatives were very offended by her service and by the blatantly rude comments -- there may have been more but they didn't translate for me. This soured our dinner enough that it caused a family argument. While I have a soft spot for family owned places (this hotel is 4th generation), it does not give a business the right to demean guests who do not understand their language in front of others.

Solid food in an unassuming little town just far enough off the motorway to be "off the beaten…read morepath." Octopus salad was a hit, slow cooked beef was actually very, very good, the gluten-free, dairy-free pasta didn't smell quite right but was very fresh. Not sure if that was the GF, DF person's nose just being off or what-- the waitress, who was very pleasant, confirmed with the chef it was GF and DF. The baked tomato was amazing-- intense flavors, a great finish. About the only catch is there's no A/C, as is common in much of Italy, and there's no outdoor seating...

In 2019, we visited Bologna, Parma, and Modena, before visiting cousins in Florence. One of our…read moremost memorable and fabulous meals was lunch here one afternoon traveling by car. The ambiance was perfect. The service was friendly and very kind. The food spectacular. If you ever have a chance to visit, do it. It's such a small cute town, you'll love it. My wife admired the doilies in the small restaurant so much, the owner gave her two! A most memorable and wonderful experience.

Fantastic selection of pasta dishes, ranging from delicate to hearty, and sized for every appetite…read more(each dish comes in a regular or maxi size). Located in a basement with the entrance hidden in an alleyway off a courtyard in the middle of town, Spaghetti Notte is a little gem that is frequented mostly by locals. It's super family friendly, your kids will get something to colour in and, if they let the staff hang it up on the wall in the restaurant, get a little treat. Pricing is very fair, with the most expensive maxi sized Spaghetti dish coming in at around €15. But the menu also holds a bunch OMG other delicious dishes for those that might want a break from pasta. It's not fancy, but the food is so good that you won't care, and I doubt anyone in your party will leave unsatisfied.