Ristorante Posta — Restaurant in Bologna

Serendipity can be a wonderful thing. December 25 is not a great night to find dinner reservations in Italy or anyplace in the Christian world. Some cities in Europe are shuttered on the 25th and 26th. A restaurant online reservation service helped me find Posta. Mille Grazie!

The cute white and bright rooms are lovely in a very organic way. There’s a simplicity about Posta I love. The women at the front, all the servers, reverberate with hospitality. Even on Christmas, they seemed to love what they do. I felt so welcomed, even with no Italian language skills. Shame on me!

Food was absolutely delicious. Our pastas, cacio e pepe and tagliatelle in a rich boar ragu, were some of the best anywhere. The steak, something I will order in the US, Japan, South America, but rarely in Europe, was tender and savory, cooked in the Florentine style. The area around Florence is famous for beef cooked over an open flame. Posta is a Florentine restaurant. Motto bene! Desserts, usually not an Italian restaurant specialty, were perfect. A complimentary pour of grappa enhanced my jet lag, and by the time I was finished with dinner, I could have slept under the table at Posta.

When the check arrived, I argued about the low price. No, we had two glasses of wine, two cocktails, two pastas, steak for two, salad, and two desserts. The bill has to be more than 104 Euros! What, huh, it must be a mistake. I was hoping Posta would be open for New Year’s Eve. Alas, no. But what a fantastic first night, Christmas, in Italy.

Grazie mille...

First negative things: We had reservation at 20:30, we left at 23:00, not because we wanted to stay long, the service was exxtremely slow. I originally wanted to have dessert in the end but that would add another half an hour that would make our visit 3 hours. We were a big group but it shouldn't be an excuse. Nobody got their food at similar times which created awkward moments. I watched people eat at times. Service was so messy (they were not rude, don't get me wrong) but we were attended by 3-4 different people and because of that, there were constant confusions. They brought a plate that nobody ordered. I ordered extra bread, it arrived and another waiter attempted to take the bread back and I had to be like "Heyy it just arrived, why are you taking it?" and he dropped the bread back to our table. I had some sort of pasta and the cod fish. Nothing impressive for what we paid. Cod fish had barely any taste. Pasta felt like they bought it from a supermarket and added their own sauce on top. I tried to remembering what we had for antipasti, and even though I was there 5 days ago, I can't remember. That should indicate how much unimpressed I was. I kept eating bread and olive oil cause the portions were extremely small and there were at least half an hour between antipasti, first and second.

Positive things: Ambiance is nice. As I said, the service was not rude, just quite messy. I like the wine, olive oil and bread. Pasta wasn't nice but pea sauce was quite tasty.

For what you hear and what you pay, it is...

Wow, where do I start?? I can definitely see why they no longer obtain a Michelin star, the place is definitely lacking in many and I mean many areas. First off, if you’re American, just go somewhere else, you will watch the wait staff serve all the Italians with the best service while you sit there with empty cups and wine glasses. I had to get up and ask for another water bottle and the wine menu again after sitting there without either for over 20 minutes, meanwhile the tables around me are getting refilled and serviced accordingly 100% due to being Italian and or speaking Italian. Now on the food, I’ve never sent a dish back at a “Michelin” star place in my life, well today I had too. The Tortellini with Parmesan cream was downright horrible and inedible to where I didn’t even eat it. My wife’s dish was fine and once’s she finished it, then they finally noticed I barely touched my dish and asked about it. Once I told the lady, she pushed a fork into them and finally agreed they weren’t right and were cooked wrong. She did offer to bring another half dish, but by this time I’m just ready to bounce on this whole horrible experience. In simple words, save yourself and go elsewhere, this place sucks and again I know exactly why they don’t have a...