Ristorante Roggi dal 1950 - Pizzeria — Restaurant in Castiglion Fiorentino

Nice olive oil, ok food, poor service, appalling (house) wine

The first thing we noticed when we entered the restaurant were the two tv sets blearing out some kind of popsong contest show. At that point we were still amused by the setting. There were wine bottles all around standing on the wall, in that respect the wine looked promising.

The menu’s arrived in the form of heavy folders with several pages. The pages were held by plastic coversheets. They seem to have been used before and the prices of the previous menu ware inkstained on the plastic. It was therefor kind of confusing as to what the actual prices of the dishes were. This until we realized that we were to ignore the stains.

I asked for the wine list. It turned out to be a page at the end of heavy ink stained booklet. The list consisted of grape varieties, and a price per variety. When I asked for more information the response was all wines were from Tuscany. I settled for a beer.

The antipasti wasn’t all to bad, the prociuto crudo was freshly cut and the olive oil that was made by the owners family was nice and grassy. All though it lacked the pepperiness some Tuscan olive oils have it was something authentic. The crostini were simple and traditional.

For the primi piatti we had two ravioli one with sage and butter sauce and one with black truffel sauce. The black truffle sauce seemed to have been thickened up with some cornstarch but wasn’t all to bad.

With the primipiati we ordered a glas of house red, not wanting to order a bottle based on the lack of information on the winelist. The wine was stale, completely oxidized, it was awful not because the wine was bad in itself. They had left the bottle (or more likely carton) open for far too long. We asked for a different wine, I made the comment (in poor Italian) that is was vecchio or old. His rebute was that that all other wines he had were at least a year old also. In disbelieve of his complete ignorance is asked him to serve us the other house red. This wine turned out just as stale and tasted like a sweaty sok left in a closed gym bag for two weeks.

The service around this wine debacle was arrogant with a slight hint of aggressiveness.

Some points of advice to the management of Restaurante Roggi: Clean out your menu’s, they look to be from the 1980’s and are dirty. Improve the information on your wine list: year, house, location perhaps even some pairing suggestions of flavor hints and intensity. When a guest (or customer) comments the wine is old, make sure you don’t serve them a second glass from a different bottle, which is also stale. Have a taste yourself and don’t doubt your guests’ comment as a primary reaction. Teach the staff at least some basics about serving wine. Turn off (please throw them out) the TV’s and play some Eros f’ing Ramazotti for god’s sake. It would make the ambiance...

Food was fair not great, prices were reasonable but you would expect better quality food and slightly larger portions, I left the restaurant still feeling hungry... If you would for example order sliced tomatoes you literally recieve a few slices of tomato on a plate, is adding some herbs or dressing too much to ask for? My tiramisu was frozen... Staff was horrible and unfriendly. The service was so ridiculously bad that it became funny for us. Our waiter was arrogant and seemed as though he had a Napoleon complex. When we asked for the bill we needed to ask them two more times after our first request. Eventually waited for 30 minutes and this wasn´t even the worst experience of the evening. They receive one star because of the nice view, terrace is built on a slope so be cautious when sitting down. But all in all I don't recommend sitting down at this restaurant at all because it won't be a...

Was with a large group on several different visits and we tried several dishes. Everything we ate was AMAZING!! Simple, fresh ingredients made from scratch. We didn't have to wait too long for our food, especially considering we were a large group and everything was made to order by the small family. My mouth is watering thinking about the ravioli with butter sage sauce! Pizzas were delicious too. And the olive oil is excellent. They grow the olives themselves and bottle their own oil.

The location of the restaurant in town is convenient and picturesque. Love the ancient stone walls and the fact it is frequented by locals says a lot about the quality and price of the food, and atmosphere. Staff is wonderful too! Family owned and run place. Silvano and Shonnie are so warm and gracious. Can't wait to come...