Ristorante Salice Blu — Restaurant in Bellagio

From my clients for whom I booked this experience:

"We wanted to give you additional information regarding what we are calling “the Luigi experience” as a frame of reference.

Transportation - You had it very clearly outlined when and where we should be to meet Luigi. We arrived 10 minutes early and waited. At 10:13 we called the number and Luigi answered and was very rude and told us we did not pay for transportation. We waited until 10:38 am to send you the urgent email when he didn’t seem to be showing up. I believe he picked us up around 10:50 am from that location - NOT our hotel, which he later specifically charged us for. He quickly asked us what hotel we were staying at and then told us he did not like the owner of our hotel because he was in a political fight with him and told us he was running for vice mayor and the election was happening that day. We were waiting for him as per your directions (and his directions to you). During his unprofessional communication with you later in the day (when he told you to go to hell) he was completely lying about the entire morning event.

False advertising - We did for the most part really enjoy our day. We can always find the good in something and there was plenty of that to go around, but we thought you might want to know that our experience was nothing like what was written in his description. We were very excited about taking a real cooking class in Italy. When Luigi finally picked us up, there was another woman in the van. He told us he was taking us on a trip to his family’s cheese store. We went into the cellar to see the aging cheese and then waited at the store as he bought milk and butter for his restaurant. When we arrived at his restaurant we were told to put on aprons and enter his kitchen. We were informed we were making cheese. Throughout this part of the experience, we basically watched him work in the kitchen and took turns stirring the pot of boiling milk.

We then made pasta with no real direction. We spent a good amount of time rolling the dough while he ate his lunch and spoke on the phone. After that we were escorted to the dining room where we enjoyed a salad, 2 courses of pasta we made and a dessert. We had a glass of wine and a fun cocktail that Luigi made for us. I think it’s important to note that there was a good deal of strange banter from Luigi throughout the whole experience, where he spent a good anoint of time making fun of us but in particular, Damon. I think it was part of his “experience” but at times made us feel awkward.

At the conclusion of lunch, he gave us participation certificates. In his written description of the day, he says it includes an apron, bottle of olive oil, a recipe book and certificate. He offered a recipe book to us for an additional charge of 60 euros. It was a nice book and we decided to purchase it. During this time, you were having your unfortunate conversation with him. Our phones weren’t working but we could tell by his demeanor that he was angry. He informed us that he was talking to you and that you refused to pay the transportation fee and Damon just said we would pay it, trying to alleviate any further unfriendly exchange with him. His wife signed the 60 euro recipe book with a delightful message and Luigi signed our book with this “Damon, you need to change jobs”. Again, not a huge deal, but ruined the expensive souvenir we just purchased. When his wife ran our credit card for the purchase, the amount charged was 100 euros. You could tell she was embarrassed and kept apologizing for him. He did not offer us olive oil or tell us to take the aprons. We took them anyways. The day ended at 4:30 pm (advertised to be 2:30 pm). Not a huge deal, but if you had something planned it might have been.

So basically, the experience did not match what he advertised. We think he just flies by the seat of his pants. He spent a lot of time telling us how great he is. He clearly is a talented individual but has lost sight about how he got there. He likes...

THE BEST PLACE IN ALL OF BELLAGIO! 100% RECOMMEND!!

My experience at Salice Blu was one that left an everlasting impression on what fine dining, customer service and just an all around great environment for dining and celebration is.

When my wife and I arrived to Salice Blu, it was 40 minutes before they had planned to close. We had just arrived in Bellagio after our rental car had broken down and we had to get a new car. When we arrived my wife was greeted by who she thought was just the hostess. When my wife explained our situation and the awful day we had been having on the first day of our honeymoon, Camilla (who we thought was just the hostess) immediately said that everything would be okay and that we could come in for a meal.

Upon sitting down, we were met with amazing quality of service from our waiter who brought still and sparkling water to our table. Very soon after we were brought two bowls of tomato soup compliments of Luigi, the chef. Because we knew that they were closing soon we only ordered quick and small orders but those orders were absolutely amazing and had such a depth of flavour. We noticed that most people in the restaurant were drinking from the outstanding list of wines that they offer but my wife and I are more of cocktail people, so we asked if they offered any.

When we asked this, the chef, Luigi came to our table to describe to us what the cocktails were that they had to offer. Little did we know that when we did this, that not only did he describe what the cocktails were, but Luigi also made the cocktails at our table! We came to later find out that he also won the cocktail competition that happens in Bellagio among all the other bar/restaurants once a year!

Suffice to say, we came for a quick meal and we’re left in awe of the whole experience that we received. Of course this had us asking Camilla if we could book a reservation for 2 days from when we got there so we could experience a full 7course tasting menu!

When we returned for our full tasting menu reservation we were met with the exact same level of professionalism and overall great experience that we had when we came on our first night. On this night we ordered a bottle of wine and we let Luigi bring us one he recommended. What turned out be a very funny coincidence that the wine he brought us was from the same region that we had just gotten married in (which he wasn’t aware of).

The tasting menu was amazing and had us wondering when the food would stop as we were full by the 4th course but it was so good that we finished every last bit of each course.

Upon leaving the restaurant after our final meal there, Luigi and Camilla brought us one of their recipe cook books with a beautiful scripture inside congratulating us on our wedding and wishing us a lifetime of love and happiness, and of course good food! They also showed us their wine cellar and their island that they do dinners on 1-2 times a week which left us in awe!

Overall I would recommend this restaurant to everyone and anyone who is staying in Bellagio as it was the best part of our stay there. This restaurant was the definition of 5...

Places like this deserve a special place in hell. I have never experienced something as culinarily disappointing as a visit to this 'restaurant'. Unfortunately, the dozens of photos of the chef on the premises or the dignified attire of the staff do not cover up the lack of workshop and elementary culinary knowledge. Aspirations to fine-dining, which you will certainly not find there, exorbitant prices and an absolute lack of respect for the product are just some of the treats that await you there. To be honest, I regret that we didn't leave after having the worst amouse bouche of our lives - the waiter called it 'cucumber and peppers' and it was in fact a delaminated and underdone emulsion of cucumber (a pinch of xanthan and salt would have been enough - maybe then it would have been edible...) I wondered how you can serve something so bad to your guests until I received the beef tenderloin I ordered. To make a long story short: grey, poor quality, frozen, rubbery meat, delaminated hollandaise sauce, oven-dried courgette blossom and 'seasonal' vegetables i.e. mini canned corn and tomato chunks (at the height of the vegetable season - what ignorance on the part of the chef). After pointing out that I had ordered medium rare and got medium well, the chef, who moments earlier had also acted as sommelier, came over to the table and started shouting at me that the dish was done perfectly because he is a perfectionist and had 'tested it with a thermometer' himself. Let's not kid ourselves - a self-respecting chef does not need a thermometer to judge at a glance the quality of fried meat, especially if it has been cut in half before being served. Maybe if he had been in the kitchen and worked with the team instead of walking around the restaurant he would have had a better insight into what was being served. In the end he brought me a plate sent back to the kitchen and told me to eat it cold 'cause it's perfect and if I wanted it less fried you should have ordered rare because in Italy that's what medium rare looks like. 🤡 Of course I didn't eat the dish, shocked by the situation we asked for the bill, which was 95 euros (steak + veal + glass of wine + beer, as described above) and left without a word from the staff or any intention of easing the situation. Instead of shouting at dissatisfied customers, the chef should go to culinary school and acquire a lot of humility because, as you can see, taking part in a TV show does not make you a professional. Cooking should be done with the heart and for the people