This ended up being my favorite dinner of our entire trip to Tuscany. The staff was incredible and…read moregenuinely accommodating. I even called from the U.S. to make our reservation. I tried my best Italian, they met me with their English, and somehow we understood each other perfectly. This is clearly a place the locals adore, and it was evident the moment we walked in. I'm pretty sure we were the only tourists there, which made us love it even more. The menu was surprisingly available in English, though not everything made complete sense but that was part of the charm. Our server did a phenomenal job guiding us through the menu and offering thoughtful recommendations. The pasta dishes were exquisite. My husband decided to be adventurous and ordered a mushroom pasta (despite hating mushrooms) and ended up absolutely loving it. My ravioli with sage was unforgettable. I still think about it. I can't quite pinpoint what makes Ristorante L'Altana so special. It's a simple restaurant, nothing overly fancy, yet there was something about the food, the ambiance, and the beauty in its simplicity that made it stand out as the highlight of our trip.

Great food (nonna would approve), service is wonderful, it's like eating at your nonna's home!read more

I can confirm what has already been posted here. Yes, it is hard to find (look for the Hausbrandt…read moresign, see pic). Yes, there is in fact a grandma cooking the food (just as Jeff J. said, two in fact). Yes, the food is amazing. Maybe the reason this place is so hard to find is that it is a hidden gem that feels so authentic that you only hear whispers about it. But it is real folks. We started our meal with the fried polenta with ragu. The combination is a meal in itself. You can tell the ragu was fresh and well made because you could see the chunky bits of garlic, mushrooms and meat. The next course was the lasgna. It was rich with the ragu and ricotta. The noodles tasted homemade. It was a delicious dish blessed by a nonna. The last course was the steak Florentine. You can order it by weight. My conversion math may have been off because we got a HUGE cut of porterhouse. But it was absolutely tender and delicious. We enjoyed this delight to the bone. The service was exceptional. We were the only non-Italian folks in the restaurant but we were treated like family. I will also add that while I enjoyed our food selection, I noticed that the pizzas and pork/veal shank were also very popular and looked incredibly appetizing. My only regret is that we found this gem of a restaurant on our last night in Barga. I wish I had more time to taste more of the menu. The family owns another restaurant in Lucca (la Donna Clara) and one that's 3 km away that does seafood.

Writing this review is ridiculously painful because figuring out how we got there and its address…read morewas impossible. Their "webpage" is on Facebook, but their address on Facebook is inaccurate (stating that it's in Lucca city). On the receipt, there are two addresses, their page on TripAdvisor is matches one of the address on the receipt. When I put down the address here, the location on Yelp doesnt seem right. I tried to Google Map this place, but street images were taken in 2011, and this place wasnt opened yet. Long story short, we were driving down from Renaissance Tuscany Il ciocco resort on the SP20 looking for a restaurant, and happened to turn into this one off the side. It seemed like a traditional Italian restaurant you see on TV with cozy red chequered table cloths, a wood fire oven, and ladies behind the counter busy making pizza and pasta for you. We ordered a 4 seasons pizza (6EUR) and a personal sized lasagna (8EUR) - both of which came out of the wood oven! It was so delicious. We came in just before noon and there was only one other table filled but as we were leaving this place filled almost to the max and when we were driving out, people were waiting for our parking spot! WIth a beer and capuccion, our total was only 18.50 for too and we were so full.We really felt it was traditional Italian home cooking - awesome comfort food. We are still wishing to go back!

"cucina tradizionale casalingha, pasta , dolci e pane di nostra produzione cotto al forno a legna,…read morespecialita' carne alla brace e baccala', patate cotte sotto la cenere verdure grigliate ecc." one of the best restaurants in the garfagnana! i highly recommend it.

We were just in Italy for our honeymoon. We went to Rome, Tuscany, Lake Como and Milan and visited…read morehere during our time on Tuscany. The truffle pasta was so Devine. The vibe inside is so cute. Highly recommend!

Hole in the wall restaurant serving amazing and very flavorful food. Nothing here disappointed!…read moreSomewhat limited seating, but it's a great place for a more intimate meal.

Expert fast service, food was plentiful and tasty. I paid 13 euros for a pasta dish, a meat course…read morewith salad or veg, water,wine and coffee. The salon was vibrant and busy. You have to park off street but would say go and give it a wee try.

I was in Lucca and stopped here for dinner. The reviews were good and the menu online showed more…read morefish being offered I thought they would have more seafood, but being in Tuscany, I realized that most places don't. That's OK. The inside was very homey and nice. The owners, I believe are a husband and wife team who are helpful. Salmon carpaccio was an appetizer special - it was excellent Swordfish for the main was a mistake. Should have stuck with a pasta. This fish looked like it was frozen and it's was fair, nothing special. Tiramisu for dessert was so good. totally made up for the swordfish. It was made fresh that day and you could tell. This and the service raised the rating from to 4.

Both the gorgonzola gnocchi and the lasagna were some of the best dishes we have had in Lucca…read more Great service and a super helpful staff

My husband and I found this small osteria in a tiny town, Galicano, in the Tuscany region. We ended…read moreup going twice because the service was fabulous, the food was marvelous, and the restaurant itself is in an old stone house built in the 1400s. What an atmosphere! The owner was meticulous and had each table set (by her own hand) with lovely cloth napkins, water glasses, wine glasses, and of course beautiful linen tablecloths. They had a great wine list, not extensive, but very good. We recommend d their Buonamici red. They spoke very little English and thanks to some months of studying some basic Italian, we could order in Italian. I had their minestrone, barley based and not like we see in USA - delicious! Both of the meals were amazing but the steak we ordered on the second dinner was melt in your mouth! The filled vegetables were also fabulous. We were in Italy for a month and we are huge tiramisu fans so we had tiramisu almost daily. This restaurant had the best tiramisu by far! Delectable!!! Also made in house. The ambience was perfect, the food was stellar, and the service was some of the best we enjoyed during our time in Italy. The second night, we tried some of their homemade grappa. That's an acquired taste .

This was seriously the best Italian food we have had in our trip. We are staying at the resort down…read morethe street and didn't want to pay the high prices for their restaurants and came here after reading other reviews. Paid about 70 euro for a bottle of wine, two mains, an appetizer, 3 desserts, a bottle of water, and a side and all was well with the money. Easy drive but the address listed on yelp when we went wasnt correct (tried to fix it on here) and will take you to the wrong place. The one on trip advisor is the correct address. It's directly across the street once you cross the bridge. Very friendly staff and definitely a place I wouldn't miss if ever here again. You won't be disappointed! The mushroom puff pastry was AMAZING. We also loved the chestnut ravioli and veal with 4 cheeses. Don't miss out on dessert either. Wowza!

Reasonable, price fix dinner, delightful patio seating. Courses were just right and white wine was…read moreexceptional. (Red was fine) The sauerkraut and eggplant starter was excellent. Then toast with toppings (sausage delicious) then salami and fried buns ( so good!) , main was thinnest slices of moist pork and sautéed vegetables, ended with a wonderful chocolate custard pie. The view from the patio was wonderful, watched the sun go down. Ample Parking on street below restaurant. Owner and waitress took great care of our large group. Make a reservation, but we saw walk ins too. Worth the short drive up the hill!

We both enjoyed the meal, and the host, our waiter. He brought us expertly prepared local dishes of…read morethe region. The Lucca wine was perfect. You order by the half litre for two, full litre for four. This meal is $20E per person and $5E more for wine per person. The road from Lucca is windy and narrow' , don't doubt yourself it is seemingly out of the way and makes you feel lost' , keep going, well worth it. Great ambiance and served family style. No menus, trust them for an excellent meal. Meat dishes were tender and tasty, local produce prepared with flavor and zest, the bread pillows (what we called them), out of this world! Rosie's dessert was superb and quite surprising, all in all a 5 star find!

A very lovely spot located on a beautiful street. The mista salad was only fair because of the…read morebitter greens they incorporated into it. The pizza was good but not great and the Branzino was dry. Service was so so, we had to fetch the waiter to take our order. If we had had a great experience we would of course come back tomorrow.

Pretty decent but not over the top good authentic Italian. It tasted more commercialized than…read moreauthentic...especially the pasta.