This restaurant really is as good as it gets, can't say anything else. This place is crazy good…read more
I'll start with the atmosphere. It doesn't look like much from the outside, but it's all the better inside. The decoration is neatly selected, incredibly spacious and most of all warm and welcoming. There is usually relaxed dinner music playing, light jazz and sometimes blues, acoustic or chilled R&B/Latin/Mediterranean. The mixture of wooden and plastic chairs needs some getting used to but it is somewhat funny. Lots of fine wines, pieces of art, one or two family pictures and wavy cloth on the ceiling round up the decoration.
The tables are far enough apart, the bar/preparation area is right in the center of the room which gives nice access to the staff.
While we're talking about the staff. 100 points out of 100. They give great recommendations, have good ideas if you're not sure, speak fluent English (and probably some German), are never intrusive and extremely friendly. They also know how to serve a good drink and to never clear the table while one person is still eating! They're amazing.
Some of this probably has to do with the fact that this place speacialises in wines. I can't say much about that, I'm not a connoisseur. The wine card ranges from 12 to 80€, more is available upon request. Myself... I like the house wine for 10€/ltr very much :D Sorry to all Italians for my disgrace
Let's talk food. In total my companion and I have now spent two weeks at the Lago Maggiore and we made it our task to eat at least one pizza per day. While we do not agree about second or third place there is NO discussion: This place has the best pizza at Lago Maggiore. By far that is! This is complemented by a choice of varying home-made deserts which are simply stunning. The staff will recommend a sweeter wine or rosee suiting to your choice. I was so happy. One time they even made the desert wine a gift from the house simply to surprise us when we didn't order one.
All this comes at a price that I think is almost shamefully low. For two people, half a litre of wine, two pizzas, two deserts + desert wine and "coperta" you can expect to pay 30€ or less (29 excluding tip for me last time). This is crazy but maybe owed to the remoteness of the restaurant.
I violently urge you to visit this restaurant. It is well worth the drive from Stresa or Arona. Parking spaces are limited in the back area but plentiful out on the street. On workdays there are maybe 6-8 of the 10-15 tables occupied. We didn't make a reservation beforehand but it's probably not the worst idea in high season
