Giuliano — Restaurant in Ghent

Italian here. I grew up with my mom’s authentic Italian cuisine. She would cry if she tasted this. First off, when we arrived, we weren’t greeted by the staff at the front desk. Since we were meeting a group we walked in. It wasn’t super busy, but it took staff 10-15 minutes to get our drink orders. The bruschetta was ordered for an appetizer and it was delicious. We both ordered pasta dishes for the main meal: Penne vodka and Ravioli quattro formagi. I know what these dishes should taste like, and they tasted so bland. The penne had capers and pig cheek added, but if you didn’t get a bite with that in it, there was no flavour to the sauce itself. The ravioli had a boring assortment of cheeses and also tasted bland. We barely ate anything and we were starving. Moreover, the dishes were served in old pans. They did not look appetizing. They were so hot they dried out my pasta sauce before I’d eaten very much of it and my pasta noodles continued to cook softer than al dente. Upon being served, the waiter came so close to my head with these searing pans, I had to quickly move. They almost placed one of the pans on my partner’s hand before he quickly moved it away. For dessert, we ordered the cannoli, which was the wrong consistency, and also tasted off from what I’m familiar with. Also upon being served, the waitress came up beside me with three plates I was certain we’re going to fall on me due to her precariously holding them. I could see one edge of a plate was inside the chocolate cake below it. A huge chunk of someone else’s cake stayed on the edge of the plate my dessert was on. When she was calling out the desserts for us to claim, she said it in such a monotone low voice on repeat I could swear she hated her job. No one could hear her either.

One more thing to add: the water has gone up a euro. It is now €12 for 1...

The restaurant is like everything but not Italian cuisine. The pasta and spaghetti taste disgusting. We left the food and did not eat it because of the smell of rotten food, as if it had been prepared for weeks. It is not advice and, moreover, it is very expensive. When the chef is Belgian, the food will be like this, and the chef told us the food is good, and the chef is rude. We will never go there because of the bad food and the rudeness of the chef. There is no experience in pasta and spaghetti. The girl and the lounge staff are very rude. There is no experience in how to treat customers in an...

We bezochten het restaurant gisteren om 17:15 zonder reservering en werden ontvangen door een serveerster, die ons meedeelde dat we maar tot 18:30 konden blijven vanwege drukte. Om zeker te zijn van onze tafel, maakte ik alsnog online een reservering voor 17:30. Tot mijn verbazing waren er meerdere tijdsloten beschikbaar later op de avond (18u, 18u30, 19u), wat vragen opriep over de eerder genoemde beperkte tijd. Toen ik dit met de serveerster besprak, reageerde ze op een arrogante en spottende manier. Haar houding veranderde duidelijk na deze discussie, wat de sfeer aan tafel beïnvloedde. Ze sprak nadien alleen nog met mijn partner en vermeed verdere beleefdheden richting mij, wat erg onprofessioneel aanvoelde. Gelukkig nam een andere ober het later over en zijn vriendelijke en goedlachse benadering maakte een groot verschil. Hij zorgde ervoor dat we ons op ons gemak voelden en bood zelfs rond 18:20 nog een dessertkaart aan, zonder ons te haasten. Dit contrasteerde sterk met de eerdere behandeling. De keuken verdient echter alle lof. Het eten was voortreffelijk, en we mochten zelfs onze restjes meenemen, wat een leuk gebaar was. Al met al een gemengde ervaring: fantastische gerechten, maar een wisselvallige service. Hopelijk kan het management de service verbeteren om deze verschillen in klantbeleving...