Osteria Il Cortile — Restaurant in Diano d'Alba

Location: the view is spectacular, looking on the vinyards. If you dine on the terrace at sunset it will be magical. Indoors, you can sit next to the big windows and still enjoy a spectacular panorama.

Service: courteous and to the point, with the host letting us taste the wine and see the bottle (I know, that's how it should be but it doesn't happen everywhere...). It was pretty fast too considering the restaurant was almost full.

Decor: outside is better than inside. Not that the inside is badly kept, it just needs to find its identity. My guess is that, since the owner is pretty young, he's focusing more on the quality of the food at this point (rightfully so). Bonus points for the choice of music: some relaxing jazz, perfect for the evening.

Food: the vitello tonnato was really good, prime quality of the meat and very well balanced sauce, of which I would have liked a bit more. The toma in cocotte was spectacular.

The guancia di vitello al Barolo is something you don't want to miss, so tender it melts in your mouth. The faraona was cooked perfectly, juicy and tender. The potatoes, on both plates, needed some seasoning.

The panna cotta with salted caramel was perfect, incredibly silky, with the caramel really adding that extra kick to the dish. The torta di nocciole was very good but I think the zabaione al moscato gets overpowered by the hazelnuts. It would benefit from something that would make it pop a bit, like a ginger or saffron sauce.

All in all, we had a great experience and this restaurant has definitely put...

We arrived with high expectations because the restaurant had been warmly recommended by friends from the area. The place is very beautiful, but we realised there were two terraces: one for tourists, overlooking the car park, and one for locals, overlooking the vineyards. The menu is quite unusual: you can choose from 4- or 5-course set menus, or order à la carte, but with a minimum of two dishes. There’s also a surprise 6-course menu, which we chose. Some elements were very good—I particularly recall a homemade ketchup with refined and indulgent flavours. However, others were quite disappointing: the beef tongue was unseasoned (it would have been helpful to know that offal was included in the menu), and the meat was dry. The portions were not well-suited to a 6-course service, with a risotto following pasta in main-course sizes. Finally, our waiter seemed to ignore my partner, focusing only on me. By the final course, he had given up entirely, simply throwing down the cutlery in front of him with a curt ‘Voilá.’ It’s a beautiful region with a wide enough selection of restaurants that we won’t...

Siamo venuti in questo ristorante per festeggiare un compleanno, cibo non male, materie prime di qualità anche se poco valorizzate, panorama e location molto belli. Ma: al momento della prenotazione abbiamo chiesto se fosse possibile avere una torta gelato e ci è stato detto di sì. Siamo poi stati richiamati dal proprietario che ci ha detto che non ce l’avrebbero fatta perché “non possiamo andare su e giù per le Langhe a cercare una torta gelato” e quindi avremmo dovuto procurarcela noi. La famosa torta gelato portata da noi c’è stata servita in quattro fette da mangiare con cucchiaio da minestra (avevano finito i cucchiai da dolce e lavarne quattro al volo era troppo lungo?). La torta era di dimensione media, giusta per le quattro persone che eravamo. Tuttavia le quattro fette di torta che ci sono state servite non corrispondevano ognuna a una quarto. Solo al momento del conto, essendosi accorti del nostro disappunto, il personale ci ha fornito la parte mancante della torta da portare a casa in un contenitore di plastica. Abbastanza inutile, essendo una torta gelato ed essendo piena estate. Mi chiedo, perché non dirci prima che ne era avanzata una fetta? Se non ci avessero visti tanto contrariati, ce l’avrebbero data? Abbiamo ordinato per il pranzo un menu degustazione a testa (40€ di menu), ognuno comprensivo di dolce. Il personale di sua iniziativa ha scelto di non servirci i dolci (evidentemente decidendo bastasse la torta gelato sottodimensionata di una fetta) senza dirci niente. Di nuovo, solo davanti alla nostra palese perplessità, in cassa per salvarsi in corner, c’è stato fatto uno sconto di 5 euro a menu (costo di ogni dolce sul menu: 7 euro). Che dire, il servizio scadente ha reso l’esperienza decisamente poco piacevole. Sì, il panorama molto bello, ma di ristoranti immersi nelle Langhe ce ne sono tanti e con miglior attenzione al cliente e altrettanti buoni piatti e...