Kitchen — Restaurant in Como

I am a bit surprised by all of the positive reviews. As an owner of a 2 Michelin star in the US, let me give my honest feedback. We came into the restaurant and were seated at a 6 person table (for me and my wife). We asked to be seated at a more appropriately sized table and said they were spoken for. We asked for the room near the garden in our reservation. Their response simply is the tables were reserved. The tables never were seated.

The decor is laughable. It’s full of bird pictures and has no real connection to the lake.

In all of this the manager is the one who addressed us and she was extremely rude. Of course Europe doesn’t work on a tip system and therefore there is no skin in the game for the employees to provide good service. This is not true of all employees. The lady who has been working the breakfast buffet in the Sheraton (connected to the hotel) has learned our names and orders in only two days! She was amazing

The food was very mediocre. We worked so hard to get our first star and if we served this food we would have gotten no stars in Miami. The wine pairings were off. Very young wines. When I asked the rationale they said the more refined tastes conflicted with the chefs dishes. The dishes themselves were not complex, my guess is that the older vintage was too expensive.

When you arrive they slap a card down on the table with 5 different caviars. No explanation of what these entail, just prices. They have turned this whole area into a place to make money off “stupid Americans”. I am lucky to know Italian and be able to eavesdrop on the side conversations.

I am disappointed. This is my favorite place in the world, and it continues to go down hill. As Italians try to make more and more profit off Americans the overall effort just seems to fade. As Americans we expect a lot from restaurants, especially with a Michelin tag. Our meal was $650. Do yourself a favor and try some of the other lake areas in the more northern region of the lake. 1/8 of the price and...

The star of the show (apart from the food here) is the outdoor eating experience surrounded by greenery with the focal point being that massive (scots pine?) tree in the centre. Seating is very comfortable, but for some reason I did feel a little uneasy and I don't know why. Maybe it was a fear of the unknown. Staff here are very nice, however when they explained what dishes were on the way they spoke too quickly and therefore I mostly did not catch what they were saying. What would help enormously here would be a copy of the menu to be left on the table throughout the meal. (We had the 5 course tasting menu).

A €60 per person wine paring is also offered, but this was too much wine for us, so we chose a bottle + glass red with Pigeon dish. There should be more than one wine pairing option.

The presentation is spectacular and attention to detail is not disputed. However, I have eaten just as good food in other restaurants that do not have a Michelin. This is not a reflection on 'Kitchen', it's more a reflection on how Michelin assign their coveted stars, and because of this Kitchen is bound to be compared to many other excellent restaurants.

My photos will confirm the attention to detail that we experienced.

We were thrilled to have the opportunity to eat there and we had a very pleasant evening. I absolutely...

As an Italian with experience in Michelin stars restaurants, I would say Kitchen is an overpriced average Michelin star one that focuses on cashing in from tourists.

The location is great as well as the atmosphere, the staff is very nice and welcoming, but it’s definitely overpriced.

We’ve been welcomed with a caviar menu without any explanation, just a mere list of caviars with high prices. I did not like it at all.

Then we got a “welcome” champagne with very little explanation of what it could have been paired with and why. We realized only once we had to pay that it was not a “welcome” champagne (i.e. on the house) but we had to pay for it (30€ a glass). This was not clear at all and I felt tricked.

For the experience + menu with wine pairing I personally believe the choice of wines was based on price rather than pairing, the explanation was always “very fresh, the wine is very fresh” and it came always before the dish. The sommelier never explained the relationship wine-dish and why it was a perfect pairing, but always said “it’s a very fresh wine and it combines perfectly with the next dish”. This repeated for 7 dishes.

Overall it was an ok experience, but for 300€ each I am expecting...