Osteria Lalibera — Restaurant in Alba

This restaurant is poorly run. They open at 8:00pm and I had a reservation at 8:00pm. However, the front of house was not prepared to accept guests at 8:00pm. Nor at 8:15pm. Perhaps by 8:30pm. I arrived a bit late for my reservation at 8:10pm. The receptionist was no where to be seen. I waited 10 minutes by my watch before anyone came forward to acknowledge my presence. No apology for keeping me waiting for 10 minutes, they just acted as if nothing was wrong.

After I had been seated, another 10 minutes passed before I was offered a menu. The manager was busy arranging the condiments and such, preparing for dinner service. Apparently too busy to pay any attention whatsoever to customers.

Once I actually had a menu, the server was reasonable. I ordered two courses and a bottle of wine. The restaurant has an extensive list of bottles, many quite old. I found out, however, that even though listed, the bottle might not actually be available--this is not unusual, but then these entries are usually marked as "not available". When my selection was not available, I selected another potential vintage of the same wine. The manager pulled 3 possible vintages and the wait staff presented them. I chose one (they had neither my first nor second selection).

I watched as the manager handled the bottles to be returned. There was no finesse in handling bottles from 2007 and 2008. They were flipped from upright to sideways and back again. If there was any sediment, I sympathize with the poor person who might order that a bottle.

An amuse bouche appeared. It was perfunctory; nothing unusual or exciting. After another length of time, my antipasto arrived: roasted scallops. They had been seared and roasted (or possibly vice versa)--but in any case over cooked and starting to get tough. Another very long interval occurred before my primi arrived: tajarin with butter sauce and Alba white truffle. The manager shaved a nice quantity of Alba white truffle onto the pasta. The pasta, however, was heavily sauced with butter not all of which was even melted--there were chunks of butter amidst the tajarin. There was nothing subtle about the dish; and with a dish of this simplicity, subtlety is the essence. I did get a dessert, but it, too, was nothing to write about.

I do not recommend this restaurant. The front of house manager is totally oblivious to customer service. The kitchen produces subpar food. Their wine list is not well maintained. I cannot figure out how they have gotten such good ratings. Everything about tonight's performance was way below average for such a...

Lalibera has a mention in the Michelin guide, so our expectations were very high. We (four people) entered the restaurant at opening time: eight o' clock sharp. Since we had made reservations, we immediately got shown to our table and got the menu.

Alas, after that the waiting began. It took them more than a quarter of an hour before they took our drink order and we had to wait another quarter of an hour before the drinks finally arrived and they took our food order. The complementary appetizer only arrived at 20.52h. At that time we were really hungry. I can't give an explanation why it took them so long to bring our order and get us our drinks, because there was more than enough staff working in the restaurant.

Moreover we were still drinking our glass of bubbles when the sommelier came to our table to open the wine we had ordered to drink with our dinner. After we finished our aperitif, staff simply forgot to clear away the empty glasses.

Such a shame that the service was so chaotic, because the food and the wine were really outstanding. I loved every bite of it. But the lack of attentive staff really made our visit less enjoyable than it could have been.

And yes, in line with the rest of our evening: it took ages before we got the bill we asked for....

We booked a table which they didn’t safe on the system and we had to wait one hour and 15 minutes to be seated. The service was ok, friendly people. I ordered a plate that said had a side of smashed potatoes and got polenta. Not even an excuse. For the dessert my partner’s dessert was extremely hard, for what they accepted that was not properly tempered ( to short time out of the fridge). Personally it enfuriates me to book on a place that’s on the Michelin list and get such a miriad of mistakes and careless for details. Overrated and overpriced for the experience we took with us. Was supposed to be the highlight of the autumn vacations and instead became a frustrating experience. Would definitely think twice to recommend this place and/ or place it on the level of the...