It was a huge mistake coming here, and there were bad signals from the beginning. First of all, there was a sign on the door saying, in English, "Come in, we're open." And in we went only to be told they didn't open for another 30 minutes, so we waited and entered only to then be told there were upcoming reservations and they could only squeeze us in for a quick dinner. It seems this wasn't mentioned when we initially wanted to enter the restaurant in order to lure customers in and churn them out quickly - judging by other reviews, the owners seem to be using the same spiel by saying they are fully booked and giving "tourists" a table for only a hasty, overpriced meal.
We accepted a table after an awkward interaction with the head waiter - presumably the son in this "familial establishment" - who then virtually threw the menus at us and returned one minute later to demand our orders. He barely wanted to take our orders for secondi piatti, and less than five minutes later our primi piatti dishes came out, which were nothing noteworthy. The tagliatelle al ragu is done better elsewhere, and the ravioli with sage and ricotta was dry and boring. I asked for a second glass of wine for only myself, and the head waiter proceeded to pour one for my partner as well; despite apologizing, he ended up charging us for it - another sly trick this distrustful establishment seems to be using. My second course, which was zucchini stewed with meatballs, was swimming in oil and terribly over-salted. The torta alla ricotta for dessert was but a pathetic smear upon the plate.
The atmosphere in this place is completely suffocating, stiff, and snobbish. Not only is the service rushed, rude, and reliant on mechanistic, phony smiles, but all the pretense of a "familial" atmosphere is on display, replete with a nonna smiling graciously and trying to help out, probably in order to mediate her son's horrific customer service. At one point she came to clear our plates and after picking them up, the head waiter/son grabbed them violently out of her hands to take them to the kitchen, probably because she was moving patiently and being pleasant.
We couldn't wait to leave and were in and out in 35 minutes, which was about 34 minutes too long for such a rude experience. Only one other couple turned up to dine before we left, and by that point, the head waiter had changed from a t-shirt into a collared shirt so he could at least appear a little more professional. Whether they were fully booked for reservations soon thereafter is highly questionable.
This was one of the worst dining experiences I've had in all of my travels and certainly in the many places I've visited in Italy, which is unfortunate as the restaurant comes so well recommended. But don't believe the hype - this is a place owned and run by snobs looking to take advantage of you. Bologna is supposed to be a culinary capital, but with a place like this representing the city, that reputation is nothing but dubious. Do not visit this restaurant unless you want to leave with a hole in your wallet and some quite bad memories. read more