Caffè Al Dente — Restaurant in Uccle - Ukkel

My mother in law came to visit us from a different country so my wife and I decided to take her to a nice restaurant. I called the day before to make a reservation for 4 people, including our 4 yo daughter, at 18:00 for a table outside on the terrace. The lady I was talking to on the phone in english actually went to check if there were still tables available on the terrace. There was. So she confirmed my reservation at 18:00 for 4 people outside on the terrace.

When we arrived at 18:00 on the dot, we were met by a young man who informed us that the restaurant opens at 19:00 and that we can sit in the wine bar and have drinks until 19:00. With a hungry 4 yo this is impossible. Apparently the lady I spoke on the phone didn't understand me as her english was not the best. To me her english sounded pretty good, so I'm not entirely sure what happened here.

So we were left hanging and had to walk around the neighborhood to find another place where we could have something to eat, which in the end we managed and we had great food.

I called to make a reservation based off of the opening times stated on google maps, where it says the place opens at 18:00. If you have 3 objects in one (wine bar, restaurant, shop), which all open at different times you should inform people about this when they call to make a reservation.

This was a very disappointing experience for me and for this reason I felt the need to give a one star review without even having...

I am extremely disappointed with this Italian place which boosts an overrated image, overpriced dishes and under experienced and rude service. Taking into account that the place values it's "daily" specials as there is no card, and we are at the hight of the mushroom season, hight humidity and an excess of porcini, I ordered fettuccine alla boscaiola, asked the waitress if they were fresh and the reply was "sorry, only dried as this is not yet the season", whatever !!!! After waiting for 1.30h, and the dried out cynical comment from the waitress that pasta is being boiled ??? I get my plate of fettuccine and surprise surprise, there are no porcini, only tomato sauce, green peas and a poor sliced Paris mushroom which must have found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time ... I was of course told that I should not complain before even tasting the dish and that if I was unhappy with it, I could of course have another one but would be billed anyhow for this one. Taking into account that the dish cost 17€ for tomato sauce and green peas and not even a swift appearance of a slice of dried porcini nor a dwarf of its unmistakable aroma, I ate my overrated dish which by the way was of the most ordinary taste, I am Italian after all !!! and vouched to forget about the Caffe al Dente. On a more positive note, I will know to avoid Italian places in August as the good ones are closed for...

Un moment qu’on voyait ce beau restaurant, on arrive et tout sent très bon. Réservation prise, et sur place on se rend compte qu’il y a deux parties (pas précisé à la réservation). Tant pis on est côté cave à vin, puis tout déchante. Le serveur arrive et nous propose en moins de 30 secondes deux types de pâtes, beaucoup de monde et de bruit (c’est mignon quand on voit la cuisine, mais la plonge à 3m de la table ça fait un bruit d’enfer), un peu pressés. On a pas de carte - beaucoup de resto sont minimalistes, ce n’est pas le soucis - mais on trouve le choix un peu maigre, tant pis. Même pas une carte des boissons, pour la partie du resto qui se veut cave à vin c’est… particulier ? Ensuite on remarque d’autres tables avec des apéritifs, on est un peu surpris donc on demande explication et la mauvaise foi du serveur quand on lui demande pourquoi se résume à “Bah c’était sur le mur derrière moi, ça tombe sous le sens, je peux pas expliquer à chaque client”. Je ne sais pas ce qui prend le plus de temps entre : avoir une carte/QR code ou dire à haute voix “les apéritifs sont sur le mur derrière moi”, puisqu’on a quand même du prendre du temps pour nous expliquer les pâtes ? Soit, même pas un petit pain pour dire d’attendre notre plat, au pire la nourriture serait bonne ? Mais rien de révolutionnaire… Dommage, peut-être tombés sur un serveur dans un mauvais jour, mais le service laissait vraiment à désirer et ne donne pas envie de revenir .. mais à ce stade c’est un fast food, entrés et sortis en 35 minutes, je ne suis pas vieille mais je n’avais jamais...