Enoteca Baldi — Restaurant in Greve in Chianti

I came here to eat dinner, and there were two empty tables. I asked to be seated at one of them, and they said I would have to wait 20 minutes. There was no one else waiting. I wasn’t sure why he didn’t seat me at one of the empty tables, so I waited outside the open door and watched as another couple came in after me and they were seated right away (no reservation). I asked the manager and he said it was because I was by myself. They prioritize you if there are more people so that they can make more money. They don’t care about the costumer at all. I had eaten here twice in 2021, and was excited to be back again two years later, but instead I was treated like a nobody and given no priority since I was by myself. What they don’t know is that I am a travel blogger, and that I review restaurants and hotels. You never know who you are having at your restaurant, and everyone deserves the same amount of importance and respect. I was going to highly recommend them to my followers, but now based on how they treat people, I cannot recommend them at all.

• Upon receiving the restaurants reply - I was not offered a drink, the wait time I was given was not 15 minutes, the table they say was for “3 people” is where they seated 2 people, and the table they said was for “1 person” had 2 people sitting at it. So they could have told the couple that came in after me to wait the 20 minutes for that table as it sat two people, and I could have gotten the table that was available. The saying goes - “First come, First served.” He says in his response that I had childish behavior - for asking politely why they were seated instead of me? Everyone in the restaurant had compassion for me in the exchange and were looking at the owner/manager with shock at how he was treating me. If you look at all the 1 reviews here on Google, you will see time and time again that their service has been stated as horrible and that they are incredibly rude and unkind to their customers. My experience is not the only one. I highly recommend avoiding this place, and there is another place around the corner that is so delightful and beautiful! It is under a canopy of grape vines and has twinkle lights and an amazing view over the valley! They also treat everybody with the same kindness and respect. It is called - Ristorante Oltre Il Giardino. I recommend heading around the corner and trying...

In short - food is probably good, service absolutely shocking and even threatening. Plenty of other lovely restaurants with great service in Panzanno.

Decided to pay a visit to the restaurant with a family friend who has been many times and speaks highly of the owner. We had to wait a 5 mins for our reservation which is fine - it was last second and they were busy.

The youngish barman came out to our surprise to accost us for being rude to the wait staff. Certainly not my intention and perhaps something was lost in translation, as I only wanted to clarify that we had a reservation and were not a walk in. Either way we were not given a chance to discuss or explain and were simply told that we were not nice people as the barman walked away.

It was a big red flag for the service staff at the restaurant, a very unusual and concerning way to deal with customers. We decided we would not be eating there after this interaction, and dipped in to let them know.

This is where the drama really began! The barman flew into a rage and in front of the whole restaurant shouted at us, stating that the restaurant only served nice people (quite the contradiction!!). He had to be physically restrained by his colleague (it seemed this was not the first time he'd done this) as he lunged towards us as if to try and attack. This is unusual behaviour to say the least for any person, let alone restaurant wait staff.

I'd highly recommend you give this place a miss. Their responses to similar reviews are as dismissive and rude as you would expect. If you do go, make sure you don't do anything that might upset the fragile ego of this...

I have been remiss not to post about Enoteca Baldi over the years.

I lived in Panzano for 6 months in 2019 and this year have spent 3 weeks there on 2 separate occasions. I have lost count on how many times I have been in this Enoteca.

It is the most accessible wine bar you will ever find. In a town of 900 people to have a wine bar with 1500 labels to choose from including the best of Tuscany, wider Italy, Burgundy, Champagne and Bordeaux…and then wider Europe is a rare treat.

The staff led by GianMaria and Eleanora on the floor, with Mimmo and Kikka in the kitchen, are professional, fun and know their stuff. And they play cool music.

Food is excellent, a mixture of classics and a little edgy, and speaks of freshness and what is in season. Every Friday there is a special fish menu that showcases what is best in the market.

This has become a second home for us and has never let us down. From apperitivo through lunch and dinner to digestivo it is a magical place that is a rare gem. Lots of people make the Pilgrimage to Dario Cecchini in Panzano, but the smart ones take an extra day to sit in the sun in the piazza and enjoy great food with an extraordinary selection of wine at Enoteca Baldi. Do...