Donatello — Restaurant in Bologna

My husband and I just happened upon this place while we were in Bologna a few weeks ago. They had a table available at lunchtime so we jumped in. It’s a very busy place, and it’s clearly very well known. There are photos of “celebrities” all over the walls. Our server had a bit of an attitude, but we dealt with it with kindness. Our food was good, but it wasn’t amazing, nor was it the best meal we had in Bologna. (The best meal was at a gorgeous, little cozy spot on the other side of town.) I think this place is living on its reputation. My biggest complaint was the ladies room. A place with this illustrious reputation should have a ladies room with lighting that works! While you’re sitting on the toilet, the lights, that are on a timer, turn off. It leaves the user in complete darkness! Thank god I had my phone with a flashlight. You may think this is not a big deal, but it is! When I returned to my seat, I saw a young women who was getting ready to take her crippled grandmother to the ladies room. In VERY broken Italian, I tried to explain to her that she needed to bring the phone with her. I also tried to explain to her that she could NOT leave her grandmother alone in the ladies room. When she came back she practically hugged me for letting her know. She said her grandmother would have been scared, and could have potentially fallen. GET THE LIGHTS IN THE LADIES...

Ambience was ok, food so so. What I cannot accept is the snobbishness of the establishment. My family had wanted to try a decent and good Italian restaurant and found this recommendation through Google. When we were seated, one of the more senior old waiter attended to us, greeting us in Italian with “Bon jorno” (sic). My wife is not familiar with Italian, so she asked him apologetically again on whether he is talking to her and what he meant by that. She got a curt retort from him that it’s something about Italian greetings and she didn’t know? His expression seemed to said it all - don’t know Italian, better don’t eat here! We were all shocked,,as we have travelled from Rome, Napoli, Amalfi coast, Florence and were greeted with warmth and respect. Never have we encountered such treatment, particularly in Bologna as our last stop. The last straw was when we asked for the bill, he threw it from a distance to our table. We paid up and left, with a bitter taste and confusion. However, Italy has redeemed itself through another restaurant which we patronised - warm and sincere service, attentive and reasonable price, sans the stuck up attitude. Not all foreign visitors are Italian schooled / conversant, please give a bit of slack for people like us, loving to understand and appreciate the history and hospitality of Italy. Fortunately, the pros are more than the cons -...

So I came here alone at around 08.45 pm on a Saturday night without a reservation. The place was full, in spite of many tables that they have inside and several more in the corridor. Thankfully, I managed to get one at around 09.15 pm. I had learned their menu while waiting so I immidiately ordered the beef fillet with greenpepper sauce that cost 26 EUR.

The service was quick enough that I didn't get bored waiting. The nice decoration and thousands of pictures of famous people did help.

And came the dish.

The fillet was fully covered in greenpepper sauce, served with raw vegetable and potato. The steak was done close to rare that when I cut it in half, quite a lot of myoglobin dripped on to the plate. The meat was very tender, enjoyable to chew. The sauce had a great balance of creamy, thick, and acid.

This was my first time trying this dish and I liked it!

I say it was worth the price, considering the nice place as well.

Know that it can get very noisy when the restaurant is full as the table was a bit close...