La Bucaccia - Da Romano — Restaurant in Cortona

Pure scam and a lying restaurant owner.. With that said, let me start my review here.

Booking our restaurants for our trips are always top priority, and one short cut for inspiration is usually the Michelin Guide. Bib Gourmet places are usually meals full of flavor, decent, honest and down to earth staff and within a fair price. La Bucaccia is almost the complete opposite than these key words and let me tell you why:

Visiting the restaurant’s webpage showed only one menu item which was “Menu Michelin” which was a five course menu for 29€ euros. Seeing this, our first thought was “that’s a no brainer” and we booked a table for two. As the date approached, we read the latest reviews on I.e. google and started seeing a pattern in expectations weren’t met, especially on the “Menu Michelin” which wasn’t available when other guests visited. The reasons varied quite a bit but it was always about some kind of “excuse” by the owner. We stayed positive and hoped that the restaurant would live up to their online advisement and integrity that you would expect by an establishment being recognized by the Michelin guide several years in a row.

Well.. we arrived at the restaurant and were sat at a tiny table in their main dining room, cramped between the wine cellar and another table. The distance between tables were so small, that I almost tipped over the wine bottle at the other table on my way to the restroom - and I’m a normal sized guy.

We get the menu and can quickly see, that the menu reflected a regular Italian menu card with antipasti, primi, secondi etc. These dishes varied between 15-25€ for primi, 22-35€ secondi. Literally the same price as their entire Menu Michelin advertised. Additonally, we got handed a “menu of the day” with additional courses and two options for set menus which were 120€. After looking and concluding that other reviews were right on the fact, that this special menu for 29€ wasn’t available, we went ahead and asked the owner about the Menu Michelin. The owner instantly responded “I did not have time to make it today as a my family member is in the hospital”. You know, sometimes you just know when people aren’t telling the truth and this was one of these moments, especially after reading lots of similar reviews. We found ironically funny, that the owner - who does not cook - didn’t have time to make this Michelin Menu but two other set menus that costed 4 times the price..

We went ahead and ordered two pastas which were nothing more than mediocre taken the competition in the area into account. Each set us back 19€ (double price of restaurants around the corner). We also got one wild boar stew which was the driest, overcooked meat we have had in a long time and probably the first at a restaurant that is mentioned by Michelin guide. Super disappointing and straight up frustrating. The dish was also tasteless. We finished with a tiramisu which was okay but again, nothing special. We waited +30mins for the staff to take our empty main plates from the table and started feeling rushed as a growing number of people was waiting in the door for a table. Wines were also significant overpriced compared to competition.

General services were disappointing, slow and at times rude.

Do yourself a favor and avoid this place at all cost. We been to all kinds of Michelin rated restaurants around the world and there are plenty of amazing Bib Gourment places around, especially in Italy but La Bucaccia is not one of them. Cortona has multiple great restaurants which much better service, better food and...

We were a table of seven Americans, and with that comes certain caveats and assumptions for you, the reader. A couple of us can be loud. One of our group doesn’t eat meat, but we all made an effort to be polite and observe basic Italian manners. Several in the party are self-described foodies, and we all deeply appreciate local food and culture.

Starters:

Woe to the sad truffle that adorned two of our dishes. The first was beef carpaccio, generously topped with shaved truffle. Truffle is famously pungent; you often smell it before you see it. And yet, in this instance, laying a slice of black truffle flat on my tongue barely registered that telltale earthiness. The rest of the carpaccio was fairly forgettable.

The eggplant, however, was good. It was soft and delicate, without bitterness. The sauce was light and creamy, and the judicious use of red sauce between the slices was flavorful and tomato-forward. Little did we know, when it arrived first, that it would be the highlight of the meal.

What followed was a 30-minute wait before the final starter arrived. The snails were overpowered by a sauce that resembled more of a ragù. The dish tasted fine, but it did nothing to showcase the snails themselves.

Pasta Courses:

The Cacio de Pepe and the beef pappardelle fared the best at the table during the second round. Unfortunately, the disappointing truffle made an encore appearance atop the ravioli. The ravioli itself was fine. The filling of Chianina beef was inoffensive, but the truffle’s absence of flavor made the dish feel two-dimensional.

Mains:

The sliced beef was the safe choice and delivered a safe, satisfactory main. It was cooked closer to medium rare, which, thankfully, was uncommon in the land of Florentine steaks and their signature black and blue doneness.

The duck was frustratingly disappointing. The breast was overcooked, dry, and verging on tough. (See picture) The red wine reduction was good, jammy with a hint of pepper, but the accompanying white purée was indistinguishable from wallpaper paste. I think it was meant to be puréed parsnip, but it tasted like watery potato.

The pork with apples featured a vin santo reduction. The sauce was excellent, the best part of the dish. The apples were fine, but once again the meat was overcooked.

But the strangest service moment came when the one vegetarian in our group received a simple salad in addition to roasted vegetables with pistachios. She asked for balsamic vinegar, as she had the night before at another restaurant. There, she was brought olive oil and a spray bottle of standard balsamic. Here, however, the waitress sprayed the salad two or three times, then looked at the patron and asked if she wanted more, in a tone that suggested the question wasn’t entirely sincere. This wasn’t some 40 year old aged balsamic, it was your ubiquitous salad spray.

By this point, we had abandoned any remaining optimism for dessert. We paid and made a hasty exit.

Overall the food had some good elements, predominantly the sauces. But the Rotisseur had some personal vendetta against properly cooked meat. We were all surprised by their repeated acknowledgement from Michelin and hope that this was simply...

Disappointing, unforgettable, under-staffed and straight-up weird. This is my 12th visit to Cortona over the past ten years and finally was able to snag a table at La Bucaccia, this week. There was an opening at 9:30 p.m. and having had this restaurant recommended a few times by friends I was excited for this experience.

Unfortunately, it was truly disappointing. I had heard on more than one occasion that the owner/Romano was a bit eccentric, however I wasn't truly prepared.

It began with arriving a few minutes early and it was just a few minutes. Over the phone he had promised a lovely outside table. Upon arrival, we saw the tables outside were full and having been in the industry, also saw that no one was going anywhere as they were still waiting for their meal. No biggy, it was busy. We waited another 20 minutes and when I came inside to let him know we would be going and it was ok to release the space he made kind of a spectacle loudly in the restaurant that a table was ready, step 1 of uncomfortable weirdness.

We were seated in the upper room in a corner where a server was preparing the tables, she was trying desperately to turn the tables as quickly as she could. Once seated the service was quite good, Luca our waiter was kind, helpful and working his butt off.

After a few minutes, they asked if we minded moving to another table as a table of (4) had arrived and they needed the extra space. They moved us to a very tight table near the clearing station and we barely fit in. This was starting to be comical, like a skit. As we were taking our seats, they separated the table we were just at and sat 2 (2) tops. 😳 huh? Baffled, Luca thanked us again for being understanding, so they could seat the new tables. The table of 4 (Ragazzi) local boys got the big table away from the tourist seating.

We placed our order with him, I got the flan and tagliatelle. My husband got the fagiole and pici. Unfortunately, we both got the tagliatelle. Mine was supposed to be the chianina beef, but we got one with cinghiale and the other beef, but honestly tasted the same. Everything was just o.k. Anyway, Luca apologized for the mistake and offered us a dessert, we had the panne cotta.

After finishing, we made our way to check out and Romano's behavior continued to be weird and inappropriate. Cortona is a tourist town for sure but having visited multiple times, please check out my other reviews for excellent options in this town. There are plenty. My friends were mortified by my story.

Other helpful tips: if there is a tight squeeze and many reservations, just say it's full. I would have rather chosen another night then literally squeezed...