Fattoria Al Dotto Lucca — Attraction in Lucca

I was really looking forward to this but it didn't meet the mark for us.

Starting with the positives.... the food was super. I liked the Cheese and Honey course the best. The views are also spectacular.

However, I did feel we were in an episode of Faulty Towers. The service was sporadic and some courses took AGES to come. There were three members of staff serving, and you weren't allocated a server. This meant they lost track of which course you were on. Some literally poured you a glass of wine, others spoke about the flavours etc. There was also no explanation of the vineyard or the business background. We also arrived 30 minutes early (due to bus times) and were told our group was for 3 with a pesctarian... I had all the email correspondence explaining we were a group of 2 but this still seemed to cause difficulties.

We also had a large group sitting beside us who has brought their children. The children screamed and couldn't behave. Absolutely not the restaurants fault, but there were lots of couples there, promised an exciting evening of wine tasting and instead you had to hear tantrums over lasagna.

Getting from Lucca to the vineyard is also a nightmare. They advise taking a bus... which is fine on the way, but the busses stop early in the evening and there is no way to return to Lucca unless you want to fork out for a taxi or walk 5km in the dark.

I think if I'd went in with the expectation of a family restaurant which happens to serve local wine, I would have been happier. But it was pitched as a wine tasting, which it wasn't. I'd also recommend reassessing whether a wine tasting is the right place...

Visited this place yesterday with my girlfriend. We decided to go by bikes. Which was a good idea for two reasons:

1. the way up is beautiful, through the vineyards.
2. we took the 6 wines tasting (which I recommend) and it's not so much tasting as full wineglass drinking. Mark is not shy when filling up the glasses

The place is beautiful and the view is amazing. I recommend making a reservation because then you are able to eat there as well. And the food is good. For only 30 euros you get 6 full glasses of wine plus really nice good that matches with the wines. It's a bargain.

After the tasting you can buy a few bottles if you want to, and you will. Mainly because the wines are very good and because after six glasses you are going to be a little drunk.

After the tasting the 80 year old owner wanted to show some of the production process. In his best English he explained how he ended up with a vineyard and some of his life story, it was lovely.

Mark the one who explained everything about the wines is from America but worked and lived here for a very long time. Very friendly guy who takes time for your questions and makes sure you have a good time.

We had a great night great wines good food and a nice memory and story for the...

I scheduled a wine tasting here for three. Me, my mom and aunt. We went there Sat May 18th, 2019. Mark responded to my emails fast and when i called he explained how to book on website and sent me confirmation for my reservation fast. Location was great as they are so close to the walls of Lucca which is where we stayed. We arrived when they opened and got a tour. We had great food pairings with the four wine selection. You can do more if you like. Food was all fresh and amazing. He had a great personality and gave us the history of the winery and how he got into the wine business with his family. You can purchase wine and have it shipped home, or whenever. If you stay with in the walls of lucca i think we paid 20 or 30 euro for the ride there which was like 8 miles away. We ended up talking to the other groups and couples who were with us that night and hd a lot of fun and laughs, shared a cab ride back to Lucca. Great memories. Highly recommend you go! Thank you Mark for the great...