Barchetta Ristorante Pizzeria Bellagio — Restaurant in Bellagio

First impression:

When you walk up the stairs you are greeted with a nice second story restaurant with some tables having excellent views down the alley of the lake and mountains.

Service:

We chose one of the many open tables, this one having a beautiful view. Once seated the waiter came promptly asking if we would like some drinks, while beginning to order a half bottle of wine, an older balding grey haired man who was the manager, possible owner as rudely interrupted and said we must be reseated to another table since it was “reserved”. There was no sign on the table indicating so however. We were moved to a corner table. Once you sit down you are charged €3 per seat so we stayed. A few minutes later an older British Couple came up and asked the manager if the table that we had originally sat at and were moved from was available. He said certainly and they were seated without a reservation. There is clearly profiling occurring and the best seats are offered only to those they think will spend more deem more wealthy based on age, and appearances.

Food:

I had the fried lake fish entree with creamy risotto and sage. It was mediocre and the fish batter was not tasty. Way too much egg in the batter, it was like eating egg. My girlfriend got the tagliatelle since it said it was “fresh pasta” unlike their spaghetti which is from a box of dry pasta. Unfortunately I tried the tagliatelle and it was not fresh, but had been dried and stored for quite a while before being boiled for serving. Maybe most tourists can’t tell the difference, but I make pasta home made often and know the difference instantly. The owner is deceptive. The pasta did not cling to sauce, broke easily so you could not turn it onto a fork. Both signs of NON-FRESH pasta. It was boxed tagliatelle.

More on service:

The older man that owns or manages the restaurant came to our table and was rude, not asking if we enjoyed it, just trying to rush us out to open up our table for new patrons. We did not buy the expensive wine and of you aren’t spending alot of money they try to push you out quickly. The young male waiter also never asked if we liked the food or needed anything. However the older couple next to us from the UK that had ordered a full bottle of expensive wine, the owner and waiter both were very attentive, and visited multiple times. Never, NEVER returning to this...

Summary: Unless you appreciate mediocre food and poor service, head elsewhere. We'd spent 2 weeks in Italy on vacation, from Rome to Milan, and usually having a full meal with good wine, and this is the only establishment where we were really disappointed.

Read on for the details.

Service: We reached at 8pm without reservations and asked if they could accommodate us. The waiter said they needed the table back by 845pm, and we thought we would have a quick bite. We ordered one antipasti and one main to share as we were concerned we would not finish the food in time. It was obviously not to the waiter's satisfaction as he confirmed the order with us twice, with an unpleasant expression. We tried to order the house wine, which was apparently unavailable. Waiter then attempted to persuade us to order a half bottle of Amarone at €41 which we refused, as we don't think we will enjoy it over the rushed dinner. We ended up ordering a cocktail each.

Food: The drinks came first. My aperol spritz was decent. Her negroni was not. She took a sip and told me it was just gin. I took a larger sip and then realized they had not even bothered to stir the cocktail. The vogole was like the other reviewer said, a mis-representation. It was full of tiny clams that do not belong in the dish and cannot be eaten. See photo for proof. The other dish we ordered was a very mediocre veal. The potatoes were also undercooked.

By the time we finished our meal within 30min, we could not wait to get out of the place. The waiter had the cheek to come along and tell us we can stay. I told him very firmly we are done. The meal came to 78 euros and not a single item on our order was worth it.

We headed out to get dessert elsewhere (which was excellent) to make up for the sucky meal. Save yourself the pain and enjoy your...

Lunched here yesterday- superb! Wish l could give more than Five Stars! Even though we arrived less than an hour before closing time, we were warmly welcomed by Claudio, who continued with impeccable service, delivered warmly and professionally. His great explaination and menu suggestions were appreciated. His sense of humour and was too- adding to our fantastic experience here too. Chiara, our waitress also was friendly and most attentive. The food, cooked and prepared by Chef Roberto, was superb! One of my husband’s favourite dishes is pasta. The porcini ( picked locally in the forest) pasta was the best he’d( we’d) ever tasted! In all our lives! Real depth of flavour delivered in soft tagletelli ribbons- melt in the mouth- second to none! All in all, a wonderful experience- lovely sitting on the balcony amidst the grape vines while it gently rained. Thankyou Claudio- you’re THE BEST!...