Al Vesuvio — Restaurant in Dublin

Absolutely bad, it is a money scam and tourist trap, awful quality, it's all about cutting all the costs and making easy money.

We've been there for a birthday dinner and it has been divinely disappointing.

STARTERS: we had Aubergines with Mozzarella as a starter: one ridiculous semi-slice of aubergine with a lot of very fat, chewy, lowest-quality mozzarella, it was basically a bowl of fatty sludge.

OLIVES: we ordered olives as sides, they were big green rock-solid and very tasteless olives, 7€ for this... We ended up leaving most of them - the staff did not even comment on this or ask why, or ask what we thought of the olives.

PIZZAS: we ordered two pizzas: one Napoletana with tiny traces of anchovies (what on earth am I paying for ???), melty, awful quality capers, funny tasting olives (what on earth were they doing here ?), this lowest-quality mozzarella was of course part of the game, and the cooking of the base was a disaster: not cooked, chewy, sludgy... Same for the Vegetariana pizza, the base of the pizza was paper-thin, if you tried to pick up a pizza slice, it was very soggy and fell apart instantly. Most importantly, a pizza of this price should taste good but it really did not.

WINE: we had two glasses of Rosé, it was absolutely basic-low standard, without any nice, yummy, complex taste, just harsh and flavorless, 8€ for one glass...

76€ in total for only lowest quality products, you should avoid this place. Just a little word about the fact that as we booked online, Opentable.ie proposed us to select any specific occasion, which we did, we chose "Birthday", but nothing happened with the service in-restaurant, not even a little word nor acknowledgement...

At the end of the meal, we were not asked how everything went, or whether we had enjoyed the food at all, which is why I am leaving this review. This was disappointing, as usually in a restaurant, the staff will at least raise this question. We feel scammed, this place is obviously only about cutting all the possible costs and making money with this nice Temple Bar central location.

Having previoudly lived and worked in Italy and in delicatessens in Italy, I disagree that the meals offered are authentic and of the best quality - I can cook better at home, or to be honest, a take-away pizza would have...

Pros: Nice atmosphere, cozy. Melanzana alla Parmigiana - starter was probably the best out of the entire meal.

Cons:

Oh boy, where to begin... We have ordered 2 Aperol Spritz to kick off that afternoon. They were small, way to diluted (think sparkling water with a dash of Aperol). Starter - Mozzarella ball on a bed of salad with a their signature balsamic vinegar. Mozarella wasn't house made, it wasn't even imported from italy. Just your standard supermarket bought, with unevenly cut tomato slices and LITERALLY 6 drops of vinegar, on a wilted bed of rocket leaves.

Awaiting our main course we have ordered 2 glasses of Chianti Rufina, which were poured behind the bar (who does that?!), and glasses brought to the table. For all we know we could have been served house wine. Wanted to order Peroni Gran Riserva but was told it's not available.

Main course - Scaloppine di Vitello ai Funghi Porcini. It was okay. Mushroom sauce quite nice, veal overcooked.

Now this - second dish we ordered was Saltimbocca Alla Romana, as it was one of the Gluten Free dishes served in the restaurant. So what happens? The waiter mixes up the order and brings - Vitello Alla Milanese Thin sliced veal lightly breaded and fried, with lemon wedge. Yep, 'lightly breaded' meat. He offers to change it, but one of us would have to wait another 20 minutes for the meal while watching the other eat their meal.

We decided to swap the meals, as the veal with mushroom sauce would have less wheat (possibly to thicken the sauce...) And to top it off the 'Lightly breaded' meat was basically breadcrumbs. I kid you not. You could not taste anything else, it was too dry, and again served on a bed of wilted rocket leaves.

To make it even more interesting the waiter only squeezed out something resembling a laugh after he discovered that he mixed up the order, then and only then he tried to be nice. Before that we felt that he simply does not want to be there. Which is fair, not everyone likes their job but hey, we are paying customers, and we paid quite a lot - 93 Euros Ladies and Gentlemen. For poor service, diluted cocktails, wine that was not presented to us at the table, sub par food and mixed up order.

Save your money, there's a few better Italian restaurants within...

Good restaurant, quite average I would say. I have some reservations about the authenticity of the food. I found some questionable choices on the menu, as an Italian, such as the Capricciosa pizza with an egg, for example. Anyway, I was here with my partner. While he ordered meat, I ordered a white Quattro formaggi pizza, but out of the four cheeses that were supposed to be on top, I could only taste mozzarella. The gorgonzola, which should be the distinctive feature of this pizza, was practically nonexistent. His dish was quite good, very unique, but unfortunately, it arrived long before my pizza, so we ended up eating at different times. Moreover, his dish was accompanied by French fries, which were served without any sauce. We asked for it (they hadn't any, except for garlic mayo), and it turned out to be an extra charge on the bill. The pizza dough was not bad, perhaps not the best in Dublin, but good. However, the toppings left much to be desired. As you can see in the photos I attached, there was very little topping. It didn't even cover the entire pizza. As for the appetizers, the carpaccio was very tasty, but the bruschetta was less so, and the bread was soggy. I think a negative point was being served by three different waiters. Obviously, they didn't communicate with each other because as soon as they seated us and brought the menu, another waiter instantly came to take our order. Of course, we had to ask him to come back later. And he never returned. We had to call someone ourselves when we were ready. What surprised me the most was the final bill, which was quite high. A €17 pizza should be really good, but it wasn't. I can't argue with the price of the rest because a meat dish cooked in a more special way could be worth around €18. But what's the point of serving the dish with potatoes as a side if the potatoes have to be paid for separately? The menu stated that the potatoes were an accompaniment, but in reality, we had to pay for them. We spent €80 for the two of us, which, in my opinion, is excessive for what we ate. I would prefer to give it 3 stars, not less, because the food wasn't bad, but it wasn't exceptionally...