TL;DR- if you are looking to make reservations for a group, do not book here! Confirmation means nothing here!
I researched a ton of restaurants to welcome our guests the night before my wedding and was excited to come across this restaurant; it was perfect in terms of layout, food, location, and price. I called the following morning to make reservations for 30 people (who are all traveling from another country). Not only did I have verbal confirmation over the phone that we were all set, but we went back and forth over email over a span of a couple of weeks to discuss seating and dinner menu. We received confirmation over email on date and time as well.
It is now 1 month before the wedding, and I receive an email from Flavio saying that another party gave them a deposit, and they have to cancel our reservations (what?!!!). They have not once asked about a deposit, which I would have been glad to pay. When I told him that, he responded with "many people call us and many don't came so when there is a group is better to have advanced money, may be i forgot to tel you" (again, what?!!!). How is that an appropriate response?!
Again, as we're so close to the date and don't have time to look for another restaurant, I am willing to be flexible and come in at an earlier time but no- they need their full 3 hours of rest before opening for dinner. I don't understand how they thought it would be acceptable to double book and not be at least fully transparent about it. Bottomline, if you are in the service industry and you f*cked up (and the customer is still willing to be flexible), it should be met with flexibility and accommodation on your end. Do not make reservations here- it's run by shady, greedy, dishonest people. read more