La Montanara — Restaurant in Bologna

HORRIFIC CUSTOMER SERVICE! They actually make an effort to be rude… My Regret Is Ever Bringing Business Here

This was my fourth—and definitely last—time eating at this restaurant. I’ve regularly brought my team here during our trips to Bologna because of the beautiful view and the quality of the traditional food. The service was never impressive, but we tolerated it for the scenery and cuisine.

We asked to split the bill—something that had already been agreed upon with our lovely waitress Maddy. She was excellent. Then another male waiter came over, ignored one of the girls who politely said she’d only had a drink, and without hesitation charged the entire bill to her card. He said “grazie” and walked off. No confirmation, no clarification—just blatant disregard.

Despite being the first to arrive, we were the only table that didn’t receive bread, even though we paid the coperto. When we went to the till to address the issue, the man there didn’t offer an apology. He didn’t refund the coperto, either. He simply refunded the entire bill charged to the wrong person, so we could re-pay individually for what we each had. That’s the bare minimum—not service recovery.

To make matters worse, while we were still at the till discussing the situation, another waitress shoved past us without a single “excuse me,” clearly irritated by our presence. It was unnecessarily spiteful and perfectly summed up the hostile energy we received throughout the meal.

My biggest regret is having brought so much business to a place that, frankly, doesn’t deserve it. Bologna is full of fantastic restaurants with incredible food. What sets any establishment apart is how it treats its guests—and here, it’s clear they just don’t care.

Lose the waitstaff with attitude and hire people who understand what customer service actually means. Good food isn’t enough if your customers leave feeling disrespected and...

Be aware: the tourist rip off!

For a food mecca like Balonga, everything about this place said "eh, ok" - except one thing.

The decor - contrived and ok. The tortellini - not bad. The dessert board looked nice, but tasted bland.

The "except one thing"? The rip off.

La Montanara pulls the same trick that seems to be catching on in popularity in tourist cities.

If you seem like a tourist you will not be offered all of the same options - specifically options that are more affordable and frankly, I'd say more authentic. It's basically a tourist sur charge.

If you seem like a local or a native speaker, if you ask about a carafe of wine you will be offered, in the case of this rip off, sparkling white wine or prosecco. This is on top of what we, as apparent tourists, were offered - still white or still red.

I watched two other tables get served what LOOKED like carafes of prosecco.

I asked for a carafe of prosecco. "Oh, no. Im sorry, only still red or white."

Fine. We wanted prosecco. So we ordered the bottle for $18 euro.

On our way out the door after the meal, I stopped by a table that had what looked like a carafe of prosecco and asked them what it was. "Prosecco!" They responded. For $5 euro.

Spend that extra $13 euro somewhere else to get better service, better food, and most importantly to not be ripped off simply because you decided to step into an establishment that decides to rip...

We were lucky enough to walk In after debating where to eat its was very close to being 20:00 or 8pm and when we entered we were asked if we had reservations which we did not. Lucky for us there was one free table without a reservation. I say lucky because throughout our dinner about a dozen people walked in asking and they were all turned away, the restaurant is very busy and all tables were reserved. So my first piece of advice is make a reservation dont try your luck anywhere in Italy for good dinner without reservations.

We had the montanara sampler with mortadella pate, the mushrooms and it was super delicious.

Our lady server was very nice and knowledgeable and took care of us In Spanish for the entire night something we truly appreciate as we can Express the love for food and delicacies better in Spanish than English.

We ordered some local red wine two bottles, tortellini en brodo and 3 more dishes, all of them amazing and for dessert a suppa inglesa.

Exquisite highly...