La Bruschetta — Restaurant in Bergamo

First impressions, looked like a cozy, dimly lit wine cellar with old art on the walls. Menu offered a decent choice. But the first red flag was the included laminate offering burgers. We ordered a meat and cheese cutting board as a starter. Before that came, they gave us 2 pieces of tomato bruschetta which was nice. Unfortunately, this is when it started going downhills. When the cutting board arrived, we ate the majority of it before we noticed one piece of cheese had mould on it including the spores. We called the waitress, a blonde lady in her 60’s, and she proceeded to scrape it off with her nail and said it was the flour off the focaccia that was on the cutting board (I wouldn’t like to be the person who ate off the next plate she touched whilst she had the mould spores under her nail). We said it was furry with spores, focaccia isn’t normally dusted with flour and that the focaccia was on the opposite end of the board. She took the cheese and disappeared for a while. In the meantime, we decided not to take the risk with the rest of the food and was getting ready to leave. The waitress reappeared with 3 small pieces of the same cheese and offered it to us and said see, no mould. I told her I wasn’t going to eat it and that we were leaving. We spoke to a younger lady who looked like she was in charge and offered to pay for the cutting board because we ate the majority of the meat before we noticed the spores. We also said we didn’t want to risk our health staying for the main courses. She was really apologetic and only took payment for the water. It’s a shame because the place looked nice but we should’ve known better and read some reviews...

Started well enough, waitress spoke good English, the seafood pasta course was lovely. I then had to wait a long time for the plates to be cleared and almost an hour for the second course. By now the staff had changed and now I was waited on by an overly friendly man who acted like a failed holiday camp entertainer. When the second course eventually arrived, the chicken had dried out. Given that he had forgotten the coffee the lady opposite me ordered, I decided to just ask for the bill and waited half an hour. Waiter returned, now very touchy feely, apologising and promising a limoncello drink. Had to ask for bill three times.... the limoncello never arrived. As soon be as there was a problem, waiter lost the ability to speak...

A cosy and reasonably priced place to eat with a very good choice from the menu. I was on my own and managed to get a table despite the restaurant being very busy which says slot about this place given the fact it was a Tuesday evening.

A lovely ambiance inside the restaurant which is set in the cellar that has a great deal of character, yet cosy if you're a couple and easily accommodating if you're a group of four or more.

The service was excellent along with the food which was plentiful and delicious.

I paid 30 euros for a primo and second courses, along with a glass of red wine and a delicious cappuccino and no room for dessert.

I would go back again, preferably with my wife...