Pizzeria Secret Garden — Restaurant in Mergozzo

It's quite interesting that you only have 42 comments in a year, but every time you get only 1 star, 8 more with five stars appear in the same day... these are surely only meant to increase your popularity. But evaluating the satisfaction of your customers does not only take place on your side. There is also restaurantguru, Michelin and other indicators of your guests' dissatisfaction. One of these is also on our personal website with 4,000 visitors per day, 250,000 per year, and this is definitely not good advertising for you. On July 7, my wife and I came to explore Mergozza, the church was already closed, and a waiter was standing in front of your bar... he invited us for a pizza, but we all said no thank you... because we came to explore the town... he invited us to the garden, we were with cameras and we thought that the garden was something special... not just tables and chairs... we thanked and left. We walked to Lake Mergozze and through the old part of the town, we saw the church of St. Katarine and wanted something to eat before leaving. When we came back to your bar Secret Garden, we first waited for the waiter to get a free table, soon also the menu... and then the waiters just walked by and smiled at us... and when we called one, they talking to each other and laughing... finally we got up, thanked for the hospitality and left. We still had several hours of driving to the accommodation in Vergiate, where we were spending our vacation. Fortunately, this was the only negative experience during a 6-day exploration of Italy and 2,215 km. For example in Turin they cooked spaghetti for us in a cafe, because at 2:15 pm there is no place to eat in Italy. Let this also serve as a reminder to you of how guests are treated and when you never know who you are dealing with.

We sat down, got a menu, but in half an hour no one came to order anything. We got up and left hungry - this is not the way to deal with tourists, very bad practice. 7. 7....

We had high hopes for Pizzeria Secret Garden, and in some ways, it delivered — the pizzas were genuinely delicious and the garden setting is absolutely beautiful, creating a lovely, peaceful atmosphere.

However, the overall experience left a lot to be desired. Despite the restaurant not being very busy, we waited over an hour for our pizzas. And we ordered a mixed salad, but they brought a seafood salad. After the starter, eventually, we realised that our order — pizzas — have been completely forgotten. That was frustrating enough, but what made it worse was the lack of any apology when the mistake was finally acknowledged.

Service felt disorganised. There seemed to be just two people working — one who appeared to be in charge and another who was clearly overwhelmed and, to be honest, didn’t seem suited for hospitality work. The stress was visible, and unfortunately, that impacted the experience for guests.

It’s a shame because the food really was worth the wait. But great pizza isn’t quite enough to make up for poor service and being forgotten. With better organisation and a bit of care for the guests, this could easily be a 4- or 5-star spot. As it stands, a fair rating would be 3 stars — or maybe 3.5 if you’re feeling generous because of the food...

Purtroppo sono tante le cose che sono andate storte durante la cena e l'unico motivo per cui scrivo questa recensione è il foglio di carta appeso all'ingresso che invita a farlo.

Siamo arrivati all'orario per il quale avevamo prenotato, ma quando abbiamo comunicato il nostro nominativo ci è stato detto che non risultava nessuna prenotazione a nostro nome. Mi chiedo allora a cosa serva prendere le telefonate...

Ci è stato detto di attendere che si liberasse un tavolo, il tutto mentre le persone che arrivavano dopo venivano comunque fatte accomodare.

Dopo 15-20 minuti ci hanno fatto sedere, ma mentre aspettavamo che qualcuno venisse a prendere l'ordinazione, ci siamo resi conto che tutti i tavoli circostanti erano in attesa da non so quanto, e che nessuno stava ricevendo nulla, se non un paio di pizze contate o un paio di bevande.

Anche le persone che ricevevano del cibo, lo rimandavano indietro perché sbagliato e in più abbiamo notato che le persone dello stesso tavolo ricevevano da mangiare in tempo molto diversi, costringendo la gente a iniziare a mangiare quando uno o più commensali avevano già finito.

Inoltre, si vedeva costantemente una cameriera "rifiutare" le ordinazioni dicendo che le ordinazioni le avrebbe prese la collega, la quale invece correva avanti e indietro lungo la passerella procurando solo un'atmosfera di stress.

Prima che qualcuno prendesse la nostra comanda sono passati 40 minuti, e purtroppo ne sono dovuti passare altri 50 per farci ricevere le pizze. Visti i tempi così lunghi, non abbiamo osato chiedere un dolce e siamo andati via.

Al momento di pagare la cameriera ha provato a scusarsi offrendoci del limoncello, però avrei preferito ci venisse detto dall'inizio che erano in difficoltà, oppure rassicurarci man mano, e invece hanno preferito continuare a far accomodare le persone per poi abbandonarle una volta sedute.

È un peccato perché la pizza non era male e il posto carino (anche se scomodo), ma tutta quell'attesa ha fatto passare qualsiasi appetito. L'impressione che abbiamo avuto è quella di un posto che cerca di far soldi con tutti i turisti che alla fine non riesce a gestire, soprattutto se a occuparsi di tutti quei tavoli c'è così...