il Castello — Restaurant in Medellín

If you are looking for the closest thing to Italian food, you found your place! Me and my partner have lived in Italy so we can tell when the food is more authentic. It’s the only restaurant that doesn’t have a freaking flat dough pizza - good sign! And the dough was delicious! They serve a complimentary bread (like garlic bread) and then a sort of focaccia bread. All homemade and you can taste it!!! DELICIOUS, I wish I had more space for all the bread and the food. First time here, we had the octopus with potato and cheese - to die for - and the bruschetta - although not with the typical bread, it was seasoned to perfection and the mozzarella + tomato were so so fresh and flavorful. We then proceeded to eat a Diavola and lasagna - decadent. For desert, tiramisu obviously and a cafe (just like the expresso that’s made in Italy and Portugal). Second time we got a carbonara but it could be better. It has cream besides egg as sauce and it lacked more pancetta. The pasta was cooked to Al dente point. I had the lasagna again and it was just has good. We also repeated the bruschetta and it was even better than the 1st time. The natural juices are super thick and delicious as well. I also had the house white wine and it was good. They have peronis! Service is amazing, they really treat you like royalty, and if you think this sounds like an expensive place, it’s not! Our meal was around 30€. We loved this so much we had to come again! Disclaimer: not the best...

Overall this is a solid Italian restaurant for Colombia. However for a restaurant that makes it own fresh pasta and clearly uses some quality ingredients, I was disappointed that they used margarine in some of the dishes when only butter was listed on the menu. When butter is the main ingredient like for a ravioli with butter sauce then it means the dish has a strong chemical flavour. The menu also said the pasta was served with parmesan, however I believe they were using a different hard cheese. The house wine was also poor however it was cheap so I can’t complain too much.

Apart from this lots of aspects of the restaurant were great. The service was outstanding from start to finish. The meatballs were delicious and the pasta very well made. The portions were generous and good value. And the atmosphere was lovely - very cosy and bustling with people. Definitely worth a visit in Medellin - I just wish they hadn’t cut a couple of corners on...

The food and service is very good and worthwhile going out of your way to visit this restaurant. However, the restaurant owners need to update their profile on the Internet and especially Google maps. Their hours of operation are not accurate. My wife and I went to eat dinner expecting to be seated at 6:30 when the restaurant hours of operation were posted on Google maps, yet we were told that they did not open until 7 p.m. . Likewise, our prior visit, we found that the doors were locked and closed due to renovations and this is after calling to confirm that they would be open only to receive the standard phone call that was not change to an ounce they're closing for renovation work. Very disappointed with the management of the restaurant, because when it comes to Medellin, I always tried to visit Castello for Italian food. It's a commitment to come to the restaurant, since it's not a great location and not an easy...