Ittiturismo Ristorante Mella — Restaurant in Bellagio

Nothing special.

The restaurant offers food that is well below average.

You are forced to eat from a very limited selection (4 appetizers, 2 main courses, and 1 dessert) and you must eat at the times they dictate: lunch from 12:30–14:00 and dinner from 19:30–21:00. So if you don’t eat exactly at those times, you’ll have to adjust. Also, if you’re used to enjoying a glass of wine and sitting longer, that won’t be possible.

They present themselves as an authentic, non-commercial fish restaurant, but that has nothing to do with what you actually get. For starters, you can choose either one small appetizer or a mix of all of them. Hardly anything is edible except the pâté. For the main course, you can choose risotto or fish. If you want risotto, you must order two portions (which is completely absurd) or go with fish. Meaning, if one of you wants risotto and the other wants fish, that’s not allowed. The risotto is far below average, basically just plain rice. The fish (the reason you came) is one of the worst we’ve had—fried in oil, greasy, and served without any garnish or sauce. They don’t even provide a lemon. The story about the fish being fresh from the lake is very weak, as everyone is served the exact same size fish (a whole fish, not fillets), which in the best case means it’s farmed, not caught. Dessert is crushed ice with artificial lemon flavor.

All in all, the food is very poor. The only reason we gave two stars instead of one is because the staff was friendly. Of course, you’ll pay handsomely for this: dinner for two comes to about €85...

Five star food, five star experience, and five star view located in Bellagio. For lunch, they are only open from 1230-1400 and we got so lucky that there was a seat for 2 available (we emailed them 1 hour before opening). If local Italians eat here, you know it’s a good, authentic restaurant. We were sat upstairs close to the big window and had a wonderful view of the lake.

We each ordered the Lake Fish Tasting Menu that comes with: -Starter with four small bites: fried crunchy fish ball, fried fish fillet, Lake Fish mousse, and marinated Lake Fish -Main course: Risotto with Lake Fish -Second course: Lake Como White fish breaded and grilled -Dessert: Lemon Sorbet The price (in July 2024) was 42 euros per person and it was a great deal for all the food included. We also enjoyed a bottle of refreshing white wine which I didn’t get the name of.

We heard about this restaurant from the Netflix show called Dogs, featuring Ice, a Golden Retriever who helped his owner fish in Lake Como. We were heartbroken to hear from the owner’s daughter, Gaia, that Ice had passed a few months ago at 15 years old. There were lots of pictures of him all over the restaurant which was so awesome to see!

If you are visiting Bellagio, I highly recommend eating here for authentic seafood. Make sure to get a reservation beforehand Shout out to Gaia and Daniella for the wonderful service and providing us with a...

What an absolute treat! We dined here on a Sunday and had made reservations about a week out. We had to adjust, due to our schedule, and they were more than accommodating and quick to respond!

The food was absolutely AMAZING. We had the 2 person local lake fish platter so we could try everything and every single thing was delicious! I had the special of the day, which was a beautifully prepared lake fish that just melted in my mouth.

Lastly, the service was just beautiful. Everyone is just so kind and when they found out I loved their episode on Netflix's Dogs (which featured their handsome dog, Ice, and their father, Alessandro), they were so sweet to introduce me to Alessandro and show me photos of Ice. Unfortunately, Ice wasn't there (he's living as a king/celebrity back home and enjoying retirement - as he should