First time to Arezzo, and we'd been driving for a long time, so we arrived tired and hungry, which caused us to break our cardinal rule... "Don't ever eat in a restaurant in sight-line of a souvenir store, and ESPECIALLY if it's on the main square." Broke both those rules this time around, and paid the penalty!
We had a light lunch here, and parts of it were actually quite good. A tomato-basil soup appetizer with some small pastry breads. And some little pastries for dessert; none of those little extras had we actually ordered. I had the gnocchetti, which was... "OK." And C had a chicken salad that I would put into a similar category. Service was reasonably attentive.
So why the harsh rating? I think I had noticed a 2.50 euro cover charge at the bottom of the menu. (Turns out that was PER person, in addition to your bill, REGARDLESS of what you ordered.) The menu may also have mentioned the 6.00 euro service charge (percentage?) as well, but I didn't notice that! So a half bottle of local wine, a bottle of water and two light lunch entries came to 45.00 euros. ($63.00 for a light lunch??)
So there were all the little extras, and had I studied the menu more closely, I probably would have seen the whole picture before we took the jump, and it was lovely on the square, and all the little under-ordered extras were a nice touch, but I left feeling a bit jilted in my own naivete that I didn't see it coming. If you want lunch on the square, and you've already decided you don't mind paying for the privilege to do so, you'll probably walk away feeling satiated and happy. I left, still a little hungry, and feeling like I'd taken a sucker punch.
Next time. read more