La Bottega Numero 5 — Restaurant in Angera

A bit of a mixed bag. The food is delicious, portion sizes are excellent, wine selection is good, and it has a pleasant atmosphere. Something I would recommend is that contorni are listed on the menu since some dishes were completely missing vegetables so it would have been good to know that veg was extra (without having to ask) and we would have ordered some and brought the restaurant a few more €.

Unfortunately though as tourists we weren't made to feel particularly welcome. We can communicate at a basic level in Italian and are very familiar with Italian culture but perhaps there remained some awkwardness around language. But we weren't attended to very well, mostly ignored, and had to ask for salt and pepper as well as forks to be replaced with our mains. We felt too awkward to ask about cheese with the pasta or about vegetables with mains. These things should have been offered rather than leaving us to ask. Other restaurants that we ate at in Angera were extremely welcoming and helpful despite some struggles with communication.

With more focus on service, including those who aren't locals and possibly won't be coming back soon (but who could still influence other tourists), this could be a great restaurant! Everything else is there. Oh and as another reviewer said the aforementioned forks need to be replaced: they're very uncomfortable...

Absolutely fantastic & authentic regional Italian food. This restaurant is a gem & they clearly really care about what they’re doing here. Fresh high quality local/regional produce, fresh home made pasta, locally caught fish (actually from a nearby smaller lake with no boat pollution). The Pappardelle Ragù & the Maccheroncini Ossobuco were simply outstanding. They have a good & varied wine list, and all of the prices (food and wine) are reasonable. We’ve been staying in Arona for the last 8 months and have visited many towns & places around the lake - and this is certainly the best restaurant we’ve been to. It could easily hold its own against any restaurant in Italy (& that’s no exaggeration). We can’t wait to...

I don't know where the people behind all the positive reviews are eating but this was a huge disappointment. We had a "pesce persico", pasta with asparagus and guanciale and our kid had a simple pasta with tomato. The fish was super tiny and very fried, not what we expected at all. It arrived with some fried potato and not a single vegetable. The asparagus pasta was drowning in sauce and neither meat nor asparagus was distinguishable. Both pastas were extremely salty, which is ridiculous for a kid's menu. To top it all the parmesan, ketchup and mayonnaise arrived in single dose packets. Would definitely not...