Cafe Bistro Bellini — Restaurant in Villach

Never in my 30 years on this planet, dining and working in hospitality, have I ever stumbled upon such an insult, to both my palate, and the principals of hospitality, as Bistro Bellini. We ordered, what should’ve been, a simple meal. A schnitzel (bare in mind this is in Austria) and a fish burger. What we where served, on the other hand, was something out of a post-apocalyptic pantry. The ”fish burger”, oh it still makes me shiver, reeked of rot and mold. Like a forgotten towel on the floor of a public shower. And the taste… Well let’s say it would scare the vultures away. I took one small bite, because my partner wanted me to ensure her that it was something horrible going on, and for a second, I thought I saw the light. My partner, much braver and probably hungrier than I, managed to eat the fries that she had ordered on the side. But the burgers stench had already turned our bellies upside down, and, inside out. We both felt physically ill.

We politely informed the server that we wouldn’t be paying for this biological weapon of mass distraction that we had been served. She seemed to understand. Bless her, as she was the only sign of humanity in this hell hole, but when the bill came only half of the burger was removed. We protested of course, and before we knew it, the burger was removed from the bill. But then, after consultation with the chef and/or owner, there had been ADDED charges. €5,50 for KETCHUP and MAYONNAISE. Hear me out, not homemade sauces, but the ketchup and mayonnaise that comes in plastic pouches, like the ones you get at a gas station. An absolute robbery.

Never mind, I told my partner, I’ll pay up and we can leave this torture chamber once and for all. But then, amidst paying, the kaiser of this culinary gulag comes charging up to our table, looking like what was forgotten or left behind when the last warehouse rave in Mannheim closed in the early 2000s, complete with tribals and died black hair. Without even addressing us, he hissed at the server something in the means of ”If they don’t pay, we call the police”. Like we had planned some sort of smash and grab instead of surviving his Novitjokesque poison attempt. He muttered something about going to McDonalds next time while he walked away. I told him that I would be happy if there ever was a next time, since he nearly killed us both. At least at McDonald’s, the food kills you slowly and quietly, with consistency. If this man was the chef, I suggest he stuffs his mouth shut with some breading, opens a cookbook, and signs upp for some kind of sanitary course before he poisons anyone else. If this man was the owner, i hope he hangs his head in shame every time he walks through those doors, assuming his ego fits through it.

To the sweet, obviously embarrassed, waitress, I’m sorry you work under such a tyrann. You did what you could. With all this said, the schnitzel was okay. Avoid cafe bistro Bellini at any cost. Console your local embassy, even WHO if you want to be on the safe side, before coming near this place. Go to McDonalds. Go to a gas station. Hell, eat a diaper. Just...

I had a very upsetting experience at this restaurant. Me and my friend discussed want we wanted to order with the waitress but never decided and we asked to have a look at the menu. Here it must have been a misunderstanding because the waitress wasn’t very good at English. The waitress left and we had a look at the menu, and later we tried to get her attention but she ignored us. We decided to try another restaurant and left but one of the waiters came after us and shouted at us. Apparently they thought we had ordered but we had only been discussing want we wanted while we had a look at the menu. The waiter was really angry and said stuff like “What’s wrong with you” We said we were sorry and that it must have been a misunderstanding but he kept being really angry. We agreed to pay for the food we apparently had ordered and kept apologizing but none of the staff said anything, they just ignored us. When we argued one of them threatened to call the police. I understand if they find these kind of misunderstandings irritating but I still don’t think it’s okey to behave so rude and ignore us, when it all had been just that, a simple misunderstanding. And to be fair, the waitress wasn’t very good at English (none of them were) and therefore we don’t recommend this restaurant for...

Very slow service, 30 minutes waiting time for a coffee. Very tasty breakfast though.

Edit: As a response to the, in my opinion, very unpolite and unprofessional response of the owner below I would like to extend my review. It took almost 40 minutes before we received our first tea, coffee and dishes. Ordering was difficult because our table's lady waitress actively avoided eye contact and we luckily managed to order partly with another waiter that walked by from another table. My father's coffee wasn't brought at all. I don't appreciate being attacked personally for a review - I don't claim to be perfect at my job but I take customer feedback as opportunity to improve myself instead of giving petty pseudo-subtle passive aggressive replies like the owner of this place. People work hard to have a nice vacation in the beautiful Villach area and should not be ashamed to give feedback when they have to sit for 20 minutes before their order is taken....