Osteria del Corso — Restaurant in Cagliari

We went to this restaurant, and while the food was lovely, the service was awful. We asked for a table for two, and a waitress cleaned and seated us. We were given menus and chose our food and drinks, then waited for someone to take our order. After 45 minutes without even being acknowledged, we still hadn’t been approached, no explanation, no order, no apology.

When a waiter finally came over, we explained the issue. He just said “damn” and walked away. We didn’t leave because it was late, around 10:50 p.m., and other restaurants were unlikely to seat us at that hour, so we waited.

Once we’d finished eating, we asked to speak to the manager. Waiting that long, especially in a restaurant of this standard, was unacceptable. During that time, other tables were seated, served, had plates cleared, and received more courses. We were clearly overlooked.

Two nearby tables (one local, one tourist) even commented that they’d noticed how long we were waiting and agreed it was ridiculous. That reassured us that it wasn’t just us being fussy, it was genuinely poor service.

After the meal, we again asked for the manager, hoping for at least an apology or some form of acknowledgment. We were told to go inside to speak with him. I did, and a staff member said he would get the manager. He walked into the kitchen and came back two minutes later saying the manager was busy, even though I’d just seen him chatting casually with the chefs.

It would have taken two minutes to speak with us. For a manager to refuse to deal with an unhappy customer was extremely disappointing. After being told the manager wouldn’t speak to me, a kind waiter stepped in and asked me to explain the issue to him. I did. He asked who had seated us, and I pointed to the woman by the bar, she was standing close enough to hear the whole conversation.

I then asked if we could at least receive an apology. The woman looked visibly annoyed that I was even asking. She sarcastically said “sorry” to her colleague, then gave me an insincere, agitated apology. It felt more like she was irritated at being held accountable than actually sorry for what happened.

They explained that they were overwhelmed due to a table of 18, although we didn’t see such a table during our time there. I completely understand what it’s like to be busy; I’m a chef and my girlfriend is a waitress. We know the pressure of restaurant work. But all it would’ve taken was someone approaching our table to let us know there was a delay or to take a drinks order. That level of basic communication doesn’t cost anything.

Instead, we sat trying to flag down staff, making eye contact, all while watching other tables around us get served. Eventually, I asked for the bill because no one seemed to understand our frustration. Normally, I let things go, I’ve never asked to speak to a manager before, but this experience was unacceptable, and we felt it needed to be addressed.

Even after the complaint, there was no real apology. Someone just said, “Next time, if you come, we’ll make sure everything is perfect.” At that point, it was clear we weren’t coming back.

After we paid and left, the kind waiter who had earlier listened to us came outside to apologize. He explained that he wasn’t aware we’d been seated or that no one had taken our order. We appreciated that someone finally acknowledged the mistake and spoke to us with empathy.

To conclude: the food was nice—though the crab spaghetti had shells throughout, which is a choking hazard and should be addressed. But overall, the service was shockingly bad. We were ignored, given no explanation, and when we tried to raise the issue, we were met with sarcasm and poor attitudes. The manager refusing to speak with us was the final disappointment.

We understand being busy. We work in hospitality and know how it is. But respectful communication and basic acknowledgment go a long way. None of that happened here, and the service completely ruined what should have been a...

Service very bad! People working there don't care about customers at all. When we entered the restaurant after we did book a table day before, one of the lady kicked her colleague and laughed that the are guests. We ordered the food and drinks, our waiter brought us a drinks with dirty glasses. When we reorder coke, which was served in can he just drop it off on the table, not even saying anything. Food was terrible. Seafood, just with a shell, fish not clean at all and very dry. Garnish was taken from trash, dry lemon that I couldn't squeeze any drop. There were cockroaches walking around, most likely from this restaurant. When we requested to talk with the manager, waiter played as he is going to catch him, when he came back he said we can pay just for the drink what we requested after complaining. After asking him one more time to talk to the manager he said that the owner is busy and doesn't speak english. In the end we paid just for the drinks, w had ti ask for receipt. Highly NOT RECOMMENDED place. Poor service...

We waited an hour for our food to arrive, and every time we needed something, we faced long waits before we could even find a staff member. They consistently forgot our requests. We ordered a dish that was supposed to cost 5 euros, but they brought us one that cost 18 euros instead. For 5 red shrimps. Charged us 2 times a water bottle! At the end, we were charged an additional 4 euros for service, along with the wrong dish on our bill, which we pointed out to them. The waitress admitted her mistake and apologized, but the rude bald-headed man with glasses insisted we still pay for the wrong dish because we had already eaten it. When we asked for a correction on the bill, he insulted us and shouted, even though we had already paid. Avoid this place—there are much better options elsewhere. The staff here is incredibly rude! The...