Ristorante Hostaria Savonarola — Restaurant in Ferrara

We went here to spend a long awaited weekend in Emilia-Romagna and it’s quite satisfying! We chose it because of the pricing, it’s very reasonable considering that this restaurant is very near to the castle (Castello Estense). However, I must warn you that the portion is quite small, which is completely justified because even their most expensive pasta only cost 12.5€ We booked the place for 13:00 but we came earlier since I was already very hungry at that time and it was a good decision. They already prepared our table and the most important thing is that we got the very last lasagne. Apparently it’s so popular that we need to grab it as soon as we can….. Nevertheless, I think what we ordered are totally recommended. We enjoyed the cold cuts which paired well with their bread (ask more for the ones with sesame, it’s so good!) since most of them are salty and the bread is slightly sweeter compared to the general italian restaurants. For the pasticcio, I truly enjoyed it since it’s very tipical of Ferrara and it feels like something new. I like the blend of the sweet bread with the maccherone with white ragù. But, I think it’s an acquired taste because my boyfriend doesn’t agree with it and it feels weird for him to eat a “sweet” pasta. Indeed, the bread is the typical sweet plum cake-ish bread that might seems weird when you think about it, but it reminds me a lot of dutch macaroni schotel. Maybe that’s why I enjoyed it a lot. The lasagne is good but not the best I’ve ever tried. All in all, for all of the food we ordered, we are satisfied. Such a nice lunch!

I’d like to give this place 3.5 stars, but since it’s not possible, 4 stars it is. I have two things that annoyed me a bit when I was there: first, the waitresses are way too impatient. When we were deciding our orders, they kept coming and couldn’t seem to wait even for one minute. I mean, we would call them when we decided on our order, why couldn’t they wait? The same thing happened when we finished our plates. We ordered the cold cuts and as soon as we emptied the board, one waitress came and took it. We felt awkward because of it and even after that, we still needed to wait for around 10 minutes for our pasta. We thought that maybe it was a coincidence, but then the same thing happened when we finished our pasta, too! As soon as I finished my pasta, the filipina waitress just took our plates! Too fast!!! We were speechless and really, we don’t understand why would they be THAT fast? I know that fast service is a forte, but this is not it. For us, it seems like the restaurant doesn’t want us to spend an enjoyable time and having a nice chit-chat after meal. I know that if we leave as soon as possible, they can use our table for the next customer, but why can’t they leave us a room to breathe for at least… 5 minutes? Not even 30 seconds passed since I finished my pasta, mind you….. I literally just put down my utensils when she came and took the plates, reminding me of an all you can eat sushi restaurant. The last thing that I don’t like is the water bottle brand they use. It feels heavy for my tastebuds but I guess it can’t be helped.

I will recommend this restaurant if they can slow down their reactions to...

Cream-Pocalypse – An Italian Tragedy on a Plate

I came in hungry for pasta. I left questioning every life decision that led me to that table. This wasn’t Italian food. This was a culinary mugging.

Let’s talk about the pasta. First of all—who the hell cooked this? It was so overcooked it could’ve doubled as glue. Mushy, limp, dead inside. If pasta had a soul, this kitchen tortured it and dumped it in panna as the final insult.

And speaking of panna—good Lord. The plate was less “pasta with cream sauce” and more cream with pasta garnish. It looked like someone tipped over a gallon of expired dairy onto the dish and called it a day. I didn’t know whether to eat it or build a house with it. Italians would riot if they saw this mess.

No seasoning. No texture. No balance. Just a thick, greasy cream swamp that clung to the tongue like a bad breakup. And if that wasn’t enough, there was a sprinkle of sad-looking parsley on top like it was going to save the dish. Spoiler alert: it didn’t.

Even the plate looked a little shy. The only sweet part of the meal? The lovely waitress—and the owners, who were so embarrassed they didn’t even bring...

This place was recommended by the owner of the place we stayed in so we decided to give it a try.

We went without a reservation on a Saturday night and managed to book a table for 30 minutes later. The place is ideally located, near the castle and it looks cosy and typical Italian. There are lots of wines on the shelves and lots of Prosciutto and other salamis hanging over the bar.

We only tried traditional food: vegetarian lasagna with pumpkin (unexpected combination, great taste), Cappellacci di zucca ( pumpkin cappellacci) - sort of big tortellini filled with pumpking puree, served with a butter sauce and sage. Again an unexpected combination, interesting taste (but not for those who dislike sweet and spices in the same dish) Sfogliatelle with proscitto crudo and an interesting meat-paste filling, served with parmesan on top (please see the picture) desert: typical cake from Ferrara, made with almonds and baked pasta on top. Very tasty, quite dry.

Everything was delicious and interesting, the food came quickly, the service is fast and good, the prices are ok, you can pay by card. I'd definitely...