Osteria Broccaindosso — Restaurant in Bologna

We came here on the recommendation of chef “Vincenzo’s Plate” (YouTuber) as the place to try lasagne in Bologna — and in terms of food, it absolutely delivered. The lasagne, which thankfully was the special dish that night, was one of the best we’ve ever had. Rich, balanced, and full of flavour. (My understanding is that they don’t always have lasagne on the menu, so we felt lucky, privileged and grateful )

Unfortunately, the overall experience was mixed. The evening before, we had tried to dine but were left standing awkwardly in the corridor with no proper greeting or explanation (same for some poor international girl group tourists in front). A waiter vaguely suggested we might be able to eat at the bar, but no one made any effort to clarify the situation. My partner had to press the bartender for answers, and only then were we told the kitchen was closing and they weren’t accepting more diners at 9pm on a Sat. It felt disorganised and unwelcoming.

We gave it another chance the next night (Sunday), and were seated. The meal again was excellent — until the end. The owner that kindly greeted us insisted we had to try the tiramisù. My partner said we were full, and upon further insistence from the owner, “at most only if you can do half of a portion for us to share.” They agreed but despite this, they later brought a full portion and charged €7, which although it was worth it, it felt dishonest and disappointing. Especially because we didn’t finish it, of course.

Also, be aware that the coperto (cover charge) is applied per person.

Overall, while the lasagne and tortellini broth was worth the visit, the service didn’t live up to it. Tourists should be cautious: communication can be unclear, and you may be nudged into extras you didn’t fully agree to. A shame, because the kitchen really knows what it’s doing. Also because we heard the owner might give you a sample of the desert to try if you don’t want desert. So this was completely the opposite...

We recently visited Osteria Broccaindosso and unfortunately, our experience was far from enjoyable. We were very much looking forward to this meal given the number of positive reviews, however the service we received was absolutely appalling - specifically from the waitress/bartender that was behind the bar.

We didn’t have a booking so we chanced it by arriving just after 8:30pm. We lined up behind one other group who also had no booking and were seated shortly after by the waiter who was attending to the patrons arriving at the front. While he was helping them get seated, the bartender from the very back of the restaurant, ushered us to come to her at the bar which was unusual and unprofessional as we had to walk through the entire restaurant to get to her. We asked her if there was a table available, to which she responded - we’re fully booked, without even conferring with the floor staff or a booking schedule. We saw a number of free tables and mentioned that the previous patron just got seated without a booking, to which she became heated and rudely mentioned that their table was available and there’s more people coming at 9:30pm. Absolutely shocked by her rudeness and terrible attitude, we made our way out of the restaurant, only to see the other waiter seating the people that were standing behind us in line who also had no booking. We mentioned to the waiter that we were actually in front, and the ladies who were about to get seated were kind enough to offer up their table. More people without bookings got seated after us, so we’re unsure as to why the bartender blatantly lied about being booked out. Her terrible behaviour should’ve been our cue to go somewhere else, but we had walked a long distance and hoped the food would be a redeeming factor. It was not.

Please advise your bartender to treat patrons...

When we walked into this restaurant we had 4 employees of the restaurant judge us by a look and ask what we were doing there. They took a few minutes to look up our booking and gave us a seat hidden in the corner. One of the waiters didn’t speak to us all night, but the manager warmed up as we ordered a lot and I’ll get to that in a bit.

The restaurant filled up with people on the Thursday night and it was clear that bookings are good to make for this restaurant.

The food was very good. We had each course on the menu including dessert and a 3rd secondi to share (and were still hungry afterwards), but the dessert was a great portion and all food was delicious including the wine we had.

We were referred here by our AirBnB host and also got a 10% discount at the restaurant (the manager gave us a slightly bigger discount given all we ordered and our love for the food) and the manager by the end was very nice and gave us dessert wine for free too.

I highly value good service and wouldn’t put myself through being treated that judgingly again, but the recommendation on the food was still a good one, but just make sure you’re not expecting a huge meal apart from dessert. (PS. The pictures are zoomed in on smaller plates and the meals look a good size in the images, but we were also...