L'antica Riva Restaurant Hospitality Como — Restaurant in Como

A MASSIVE disappointment - and, now having read other reviews, also a fraud. Avoid. We chose to eat at this restaurant because it looked charming, traditional and, judging by the menu and pricing, was at the higher end of the choices. I assume, because we went on a Sunday night, we had the 'trainee' chef but who hadn't yet been to chef school because the food was awful. We principally chose seafood, as we understood it is supposed to be a seafood restaurant but nothing was fresh. Everything had been frozen and then de-frosted (not all of it completely). We choose 2 starters although one wasn't available as described (no lobster apparently) but that shouldn't be a problem as the other, we were told, is generally shared and was large enough for 2. When it arrived it was small and evidently meant for 1 person (only one oyster for example) and the seafood was tasteless - as stated above not fresh or properly de-frosted. I also say it was a fraud as my choice of main course (Frito Misto) was the same as someone else had, and posted a photo of 4 days ago of a wonderful plate of food. Mine however, appeared to have been taken from a bag of frozen seafood from a low-grade supermarket and deep-fried, badly. It was chewy and dreadful. I wish I had also taken a photo so you could make the comparison. My partner had the chicken which was dry, tasteless and also very bad. When we arrived there was only one other couple in there, although they left soon after leaving us as the only people in the restaurant. This we could accept as the surroundings could be charming. After a really bad starter and main course we declined dessert and coffee and left paying way over the odds for a the worst meal we've had in a...

We just visited this restaurant near Lake Como in Italy. We were expecting Italian quality food but what we got was completely unacceptable. The pizza seemed to be frozen food from the supermarket with ham placed on top, which was undercooked and clearly raw. I couldn’t take a photo as the waiter took it away after I showed it to him. He initially offered to put it back in the oven instead of apologizing. Then we were presented with the bill, which still had the pizza on it. After I mentioned it to the person taking our payment, he brought the waiter to double-check. The bald waiter tried to explain that we had eaten almost the whole pizza and that we had to pay anyway. At that point, I said that I will not be paying for it under any circumstances. He tried to threaten us by saying he would call the police and ask for our documents. I replied that we’d happily wait for them. He then proceeded to “discount” the bill by 5€, which I suppose was his way of showing a gesture of goodwill, but we were already at the point of no return. I insisted that I would not be paying any amount for that pizza. In the end, his colleague (who was taking the payment) told the waiter to remove it, and he did. The person taking our payment was from Egypt, and funnily enough, I had been to Egypt twice and the food had always been great. I mentioned this to him, and he laughed, acknowledging the situation.

For context: I have a small pizzeria in London using only fresh ingredients. I’d hope to think I know a thing or two about pizza.

P.S.: He never checked back on our food, nor did he smile. We shouldn’t have sat there to begin with, but that’s on me. Hope to save at least somebody the hassle of going...

On Saturday evening I went out for a seafood/fish dinner in Como and followed the recommendation of Hotel Como. Actually to sum it up briefly. The staff was eager to serve me well. However needed to change the seat two times as they were not internally clear which table is free and suits for one person. The grilled seafood and fish platters was very good. The salad was not fresh and the portion of the side grilled vegetables was quite small, it contained three slices of eggplant, three tiny pieces of zucchini and one thin apple slice. No idea how the apple made it to the vegetables. I also ordered one more lemon, which was good, but the alio (garlic in oil) had literally no garlic in it, so there was no garlic taste, this was for waste. The view to the lake is nice, but cars are passing by in this street. Pricy restaurant for good food, but space for improvement in regards to the greens. There is also no WiFi available. In the end I paid 48 EUR for myself, which is quite expensive as I did not have a wine or a dessert. Actually the bill was 49 EUR, but the waiter might have not seen clearly in the evening dark. It is not easy to give a rating of 4, so it is...