Restaurant L'Altro Mondo — Restaurant in Brussels

TL;DR TripAdvisor: #2,263 of 2,365 Restaurants in Brussels. Many 5-star reviews are fake here. Check it yourself. Many of those "customers" made two reviews only: to this place and to "La Corte Gastronomica". Coincidence? I don't think so. Moreover, both restaurants have star distribution highly skewed to 5 stars only. Compare with other restaurants around. I just can't give more than 1 star to a restaurant with the dishonest owner, who attracts tourists by misleading them. This is basically the definition of a tourist trap.

Besides all of written above, here is my review on food and service. No criticism to the waiter. He made nicely his part of the job. Food: expensive, small portions, poor serving, lazy salads consisting of only raw lettuce, piece of tomato and a piece of cucumber. This is exactly what you expect from a kebab place that tries to make it cheap by cutting the corners. Simple fries or pasta as a side dish. By "simple"' I mean consisting of one component only.

Maybe the quality depends on the order: I have seen nicely looking photos in reviews. Even though the chef didn't try his/her best for our dishes, I expect it could be better. Maybe it is just hard to maintain 100 items menu...

Overall, if the place would have been honest, I'd give it 3 stars. EDIT : It is fun to see how did the owner cook up a story about me and his family. Check out the review of Isa Bell (with one star) that was given just 2 weeks ago and compare the owner replies. He wrote to Isa that his father opened the restaurant on 1971, but for me he already prepared another story where it was actually his grandfather who opened the same restaurant but one year later. I mean, there could be few explanations to this, but the most innocent one is that the poor guy cannot help himself not to lie to...

I am giving L'Altro Mondo a 5 star rating based on the quality of food and the overall welcoming experience from the owner (or the manager) and the lady that first served us. This place is a gem, sits beautifully in the smack-middle of Brussels (close by the Brussels Center train station), and its atmosphere is of authentic Belgian decor (yes, including the "old" wood framings, the tight "squeeze" with the tables and the chairs, or the narrow stairs to go upstairs - and it all fits great). The owner was very helpful and welcoming when we initially asked whether they have gluten-free pasta (for the ones that do have food restrictions: L-Altro Mondo does have gluten-free pasta, and very good one as well). We were seated immediately as we arrived, and the lady took our drink order and gave us the menus. As the younger waiter arrived, it sort of seemed that he had a short fuse, he was a bit snappy when taking our order, especially when our son (who is in Autistic Spectrum) kept clapping with his hands repeatedly and was screeching a bit (we tried and managed to keep it under control since the surroundings were quiet). Needless to say, it was obvious that the waiter was not sensitized on such cases but I don't blame him - the welcoming behaviour of the owner (the older gentleman) was good enough for us that we had a great experience. I was only a bit dissapointed when our order was not exactly as we communicated it with him (but it is my fault for not knowing any French or Italian 😀, and plus with my son's clapping I can see how he could make a mistake). Overall, I would recommend everyone to visit this restaurant and to try their food - it is great and in large enough quantities (and in case you hear loud yelling in the kitchen as we heard it when we went to the restroom, just remember: they...

A beautiful little traditional Italian restaurant in the heart of Bruxelles.

We were walking on our last night here and read over the menu. After all of the seafood and tastes of Belgium we opted to eat here given the availability of very tasty Italian menu and some traditional options for Belgian cuisine.

The venue is typically European with the use of outside snd inside dining across two shop fronts. There are ample tables and seating available but on a Saturday or Sunday night I would recommend either booking or getting there early.

Our waiter (the fast paced and witty Italian) was very attentive and provided a well earned laugh at the end of a day of exploring what Bruxelles has to offer

With Italian on the mind we ordered a Hawaiian pizza and lasagne. Both were delicious, seasoned well and ample in serving size. The lasagna was honestly one of the best flavours I’ve had since Italian day in Korumburra close to 40 years ago.

We all really enjoyed our meals, particularly coming from Melbourne with excellent Italian cuisine and having eaten in Venice, Rome and San Marino we would rate this as some of the best lasagna we have eaten.

Well done to the wait team and the chefs there for a delicious Italian meal and when in Bruxelles don’t miss eating here if you’re looking to change...