Al Chiostro Restaurant — Restaurant in Bergamo

The location is nice, facing an old chiostro and with a pleaseant design for those who like dark and kitch style.

It's obviously a place that tries hard to be posh. but becomes pretentious, failing all the way through, in both food and service. At least, this is my opinion based on my experience.

When I had dinner with a group of friends, the food was not really worth the visit, and was overpriced for what we got.

The appetisers (at the choice of the owner) were uninspiring and borderline tasteless (fried vegetables were cold, huge chunks of focaccia had so little filling felt like stones, low quality cold cuts, just to mention a few). We have for sure received more tasty and high quality nibbles at the cheap aperitivo bars in the area.

Main course was a bland risotto, so "al dente" it tasted more like pebbles than a proper Italian style, all'onda risotto.

The service was slightly arrogant and not transparent (we did not even get a detailed bill at the end of the dinner and we were overcharged - probably by mistake but they initially loughed at us when we pointed this out).

Without asking our permission or letting us know, they also served us a more expensive bottle of wine compared to the ones we ordered because "the cheap ones are finished".

Lastly, we were also charged for the entire group of people even though 2 fell sick and could not attend (it was before Christmas during an epidemic of flu and Covid). We advised management the day before, apologising for these unforseen circumstances, but we were charged anyway with the excuse was "[we] had already prepared". Risotto prepared the day before? Fritto prepared the day before? Oh, come on, not even Michelin star restaurants (where I worked) are so strict in these circumstances, and for sure not in places when you get this quality of food.

As a + point, they were flexible enough to prepare special appetisers for gluten intolerant guests.

In any case, I will not be back (and neither the friends who were with me...

My friends and I decided to try this restaurant last night despite its higher prices compared to other places. We chose it because other restaurants were fully booked, and this one appeared to be quite empty, with only one other table occupied. We ordered water and our dishes, and after a wait of at least 40-45 minutes (which felt unusually long given that the restaurant was nearly empty), our food arrived. Unfortunately, the dishes were small, slightly cold, and lacked flavor. We ended up spending €72 for 3 small dishes and a large bottle of still water.

When the waitress asked if everything was okay, I mentioned my disappointment. She was polite and offered to replace the dish, but by that point, I was already quite hungry, irritated, and it was 10:30 PM, so I declined. Overall, it was the least satisfying and most expensive meal we had during our stay in Bergamo. We were expecting much more considering the price and the lack of crowd. I...

Posto molto elegante e accogliente. Il personale è estremamente gentile e professionale. In periodo di COVID hanno posto all'aperto (location molto carina e design accurato) e quindi, dopo molto tempo, ho rigustato la possibilità di pranzare in un ristorante; ahimè rigustato si fa per dire 🙄🙄... Purtroppo i piatti proposti e la cucina sono scarsi nelle porzioni (4 ravioli di numero nel piatto) e la qualità 🧐🧐 è solo accettabile. Ho dato due stelle unicamente per incoraggiare la gestione a migliorare la cucina e magari pensare meno alla nouvelle cuisine e più alla qualità, oltre al fatto che i prezzi sono spropositati ... magari fossero almeno, in parte, legati alla qualità! ... tralasciando, come dicevo, sulla giusta quantità 🥺🥺. Sicuramente non lo consiglio e non ritornerò.

UNA PRECISAZIONE ALLA RISPOSTA DEL PROPRIETARIO: Credo che fare supposizioni non vada mai bene ... (basti ricordare alcuni film come "i soliti sospetti"), in ogni caso non ho preso il menù di lavoro ma solo piatti alla carta ... diversamente mi sarei guardato dal fare commenti ... quindi forse questo è motivo ulteriore per cambiare "registro". Spero di essere stato costruttivo per il...