Trattoria Le Maschere — Restaurant in Genoa

Do not eat here.

I had two dishes: Hot octopus with potatoes - mostly luke warm, but I was very hungry so I finished it. Mixed fish grill - it consisted of salmon, white fish (beam?), tuna, one piece of calamari, 2x octopus and 5 or so shrimps. White fish, calamari and octopus were OK. Salmon was as dry as wall, overcooked to such extent that the only thing left was the flavor of oil. For tuna, I had to ask the waiter for what the hell is that thing. Didn’t even continue eating after that and returned it to the kitchen. Was offered another piece of salmon but given what I already experienced - I decided against it.

Given the crime that they committed against the fish (which I was assured was fresh before turned into cardboard), I was surprised to find they still charged half for that dish. I was ready to pay for the somewhat warm octopus, wine, water and bread.

The waitress acted as if she was doing me a favor. Even threatened to call the police when I asked why should I pay for something that was criminally bad and returned to the kitchen.

The good thing is I am not worried about food poisoning. Given how well everything was cooked there was no chance for anything to survive, including flavor.

Oh and they forgot part of my order, which was the vegetables. I guess...

We found this restaurant totally by luck. Our flight was cancelled and airline sent us to a 3 star hotel at the down town. Hotel gave us meal deal with this restaurant for our compensation. They provide us what is called Tourist Menu which has first dish, second dish, salad (or fried potato) and 1 large glass wine (Normal price was 14 euro per person, we did not pay anything because it was included to Hotel's meal deal). Foods were very simple but very tasty. All foods are local Italian dishes. Decoration makes you feel like in an Italian movie because decorations are old style. Staf does not speak very good english, but they are friendly and kind, there is good internet connection in the restaurant so even if you dont have mobile internet you can connect and check the food from Google and use translation if needed. If you are visiting Genoa and want to taste some local original Italian food, we definitely advice this location. Finally, in a weekend, you might need to do reservation as it was full at a...

Food was good, busy place, pleasant atmosphere. However I was surprised to see the waiter (owner?) open the bottle of the white wine I had ordered which he admitted afterwards he knew wasn't properly chilled. Instead of suggesting another (chilled) wine or any other solution he simply turned away and did not seem to care at all. Secondly when asking for the bill I was offered a piece of handwritten paper instead of what should have been a tax invoice (called ricevuta fiscale oppure fattura). No comment given nor was I even asked if I preferred one of the two "official" options to bill clients. Not only did I feel patronised on these two occasions, but - even more so- I felt for all the other Italian entrepreneurs who do not have the possibility to "avoid" paying their taxes like the Trattoria Le Maschere team instead seems...