La Lanterna Bellagio — Restaurant in Bellagio

A friend recommended this place as the best pasta she's had in her life. I was skeptical as we've had just jaw-dropping amazing pasta in several restaurants throughout Italy, especially Rome...and our friend was mostly experienced with Italian food in America.

We queued up before they opened for lunch being first in line arriving 15 minutes before they opened. By the time the doors opened at noon, there were at least 20 people in the queue...on a Monday, so the build up to amazingness was palpable. Grabbed a seat inside, even though there are some cute tables outside along the stairway thoroughfare (great for people watching). The atmosphere is cute. Painted wine bottles galore, hand drawn unique menus, even the soap bottles in the bathroom were hand painted...they must have some inspired artists on staff.

So, on to the food. The salad was hearty and tasty, if not just a little heavy on the parmigiano. You make your own dressing with Olive oil, balsamic, and salt, as is typical throughout Italy. The wine by glass is limited to Rose or prosecco. I had the Rose, which was good, but likely just dispensed by the jug.

So....the pasta...could it compare to our favorite spots in Rome, Bologna, and even a unique little spot in Venice?

Well, the bar was high. So, no, it didn't surpass our faves. But it was tasty. We had the papardelle with the Bolognese and the Tagliolini pesto. It might not be fair, but the Bolognese was a faint cry from our experience in Bologna. But still enjoyable. The pesto could possibly rival what we've had in Genoa and Cinque Terre, which are known for it. For me, maybe just a tad less salt and it would have been perfect. The pasta...was evidently homemade and the highlight.

I may not personally seek this place out again, but I would recommend it is a place to try while in Bellagio....

I'm writing this review as an Australian having just left Rome having read bad reviews that I didn't believe the restaurant deserved 1 star.

To begin the menu selection is limited, something we knew before coming here. We ordered 2 pastas (1 each) and 1/2L of house wine.

First the price, like everything in Bellagio there is a lake Tax, basically meaning everything is more expensive than what you would find around Italy. Having been to Rome beforehand we would pay 16€ there for a pasta where here you pay 22€ similar to all places in Bellagio.

Second the food, the menu is limited as I already said, as such I expected the pasta to stand out being they only made 4 however it was sort of standard, nothing crazy but not bad, I saw reviews of people complaining about the salt but I didn't have that issue, again I had better pasta in Rome in the places people would probably consider "tourist traps"

Third the wine, we ordered the house red ordering the house wine in Italy is basically gambling I've found, sometimes you'll get a hidden gem at a fantastic price other times you get a house red, this was the latter I saw reviews of some saying it had a vinaigrette taste and I could agree with that, it wasn't the worst it wasn't the best but for 12€ it is what you expect.

Forth the dessert, this place only does a single dessert the tiramisu, it was nice a bit gimmicky and again you pay the lake tax on it at €15 but that's only the complaint I really have on it.

Unlike other restaurants in Bellagio there is no service charge added onto the bill at the end it is included in the price of everything.

All and all the restaurants is okay hence my 3 star review it doesn't light the world on fire, the aesthetic is cool, the hand drawn menus are different but for...

The food was disgusting to say the least. All the positive reviews on here are from tourists that probably never had a good Italian meal before, in fact this was the worst Italian food I’ve ever had. They should be ashamed of selling this food. The price is extortionate and the portion is puny. There was a big line up and I made the mistake of asking a tourist if the food is good or not, of course I shouldn’t have trusted her opinion. We got the famous lasagna and the pesto and it was horrible, like the worst I’ve ever had in my life, one of those $1 frozen dinners at the store is better. The lasagna had no taste (I just tasted salt and the meat was diluted and tasteless) and was so tiny. I’m a small woman and the portion was too small for me. The pesto was extremely salty and had no other taste other than salt. Had to gulp down water after. The pasta quality was extremely bad. It did not taste “homemade” it didn’t have the texture of homemade pasta, the lasagna dough was sometimes very watery and some parts were just hard. The pesto pasta was also bad. We went to another fresh pasta place after and it was so much better and half the price and portions were massive we couldn’t finish. Absolute tourist trap. The tourists who think the food here is good have zero taste or...