Il Pennello Downtown — Restaurant in Vienna

Such a disappointing last meal in Vienna. We had high hopes based on other reviews and overall the food was pretty good but of our 14-day stay here, the service at Il Pennello was hands down the worst.

We had a reservation for 8:45 and were seated about 10 min after. We waited a while to place our drink/food order and then waited some more. We finally received our drinks about 40 min after our scheduled reservation time.

Even ordering was difficult because the music was so loud - the waitress had to ask us to repeat ourselves multiple times and even then one of the dishes was wrong, which they dismissed when we brought it to their attention. After all of that, we finished our food and our first round of drinks and...? Nothing. No one ever came by to ask if we wanted a second drink or any dessert. In fact, we eventually had to go to the front and ask for the check because at that point, we were done.

The cherry on the cake - the price of the wrong pizza was ~$30... that's a personal pizza for one! It's a shame because the restaurant is right down the road from our hotel so location was great and the ambience was nice aside from the blasting music but the whole experience was two thumbs down. There's another Italian restaurant just a block over that we really enjoyed so recommend going...

The food was excellent, the atmosphere fantastic but the service H O R R I B L E. The waiter was rude and convincing us NON-STOP to get some fishes and expansive dishes while we told him multiple times that we dont want to. He was telling me that in my pumpkin soup (that was delicious) there are lobsters and shrimps and i told him multiple times there aren’t but i couldn’t convince him and at the end he told us that he forgot that the menu changed and that’s why there aren’t any lobsters. Then we got one spoon for two soups and we waited for 45mins for two pastas and a pizza, after waiting that much another waiter asked us if we have already ordered!!!!!!!!! Then we waited for 20 more minutes and the food finally came. When we asked for salt and cheese (parmigiano) we got salt, pepper and oil instead! Afterwards we asked for cheese again and got it. By the way the pastas were really good meanwhile a pizza with a bunch of things on it tasted like a regular margherita.

When we got the check (for pasta with truffles and mushrooms, pasta with ragù, a pizza, 0.5l beer, a cola and a sprite) it was 170€ and the rude waiter told us that SERVICE ISN’T INCLUDED! So than we gave him 5€ that were A B S O L U T E L Y not...

Definitely a fun place to check out. I was actually on my way to grab some Ramen downtown when I passed by this spot in Franziskanerplatz. My first thought was "wow, this feels almost TOO Italian..." and then that aroma hit me... Oh my God, that smell of freshly baked pizza. It took me straight back to Salerno. I peeked inside, and there was no turning back :)) Read in an Italian accent - It's a family business! filled with incredibly cheerful people! The highlight for me was the warm Neapolitan welcome right at the door, followed by Alessia's promise to make me the best Pizza she could. That was good enough for me! Don't think it's something for the faint of heart :))

They opened not long ago, service needs some practice, but they are on the right way ;)

P.S. For those who are more into classic foods like potatoes and meat, maybe check out something else or do a bit of research first. The flavors here are bold, and the menu might take a little getting used to. But this way, you won't have any reason to complain here :) These folks work hard and truly succeed in creating something homemade and delicious. La magia è fatta in casa, as they say.

Looking forward to my next visit.

Ciao,...