Locanda alla Scala — Restaurant in Milan

DO NOT COME HERE. Where do I begin? I wish I read the review from the lone reviewer who said that all the reviews were fake. They 1000% are. I booked this restaurant based on the reviews, not noticing that most of them are from “local guides”. It was booked for a special occasion that was ultimately ruined by several factors.

RUDE STAFF: they were incredibly pushy with their insistence we buy a bottle of 70-80€ wine. We tried it - didn’t like it and decided to just get cocktails (we have ordered wine in every single restaurant we dined at in Italy - so this says a lot). Once we decided against the wine, the IMMEDIATE demeanor of the staff changed.

They stopped checking in on us. Meanwhile, they hugged, laughed and sat next to tables that ordered and ordered bottles of their overpriced wine.

AWFUL SERVICE: can you imagine a so called established restaurant not knowing how to pace the food and sending out 4 out of 6 entrees so far apart from the last 2 that the first 4 people finished their dinner before 2 of us even GOT our dinners.

SUBBAR/EXPENSIVE FOOD: we ordered a zuppa w mussels and 50% of the mussels were closed.

We are easy going people, and for a restaurant to anger us THIS much should tell you what you need to know.

Oh and it is a major tourist trap. While I’m American, the fact that the entire restaurant was speaking English, was a major red flag. If Italians don’t want to eat here, neither should you. And I did speak with the restaurant manager who offered nothing more than a...

So made reservation a few weeks ago for lunch. Nothing on website about a limited menu for lunch, but when we were seated were given the Business lunch menu, without other option. Flustered maître d' kindly got kitchen to accommodate my request for the veal cutlet as that was what we came for, yet seemed to have difficulty processing order of primi and secondi courses. Young server, after requesting an Arneis, made sure to let us know it is a white wine lol... Odd general attitudes... Food was good. Risotto w asparagus nice but in need of pepper and cheese, both brought upon request. Gnocchi good as well. Secondi of cutlet very good, but served on bed of browning lettuces, with sweet tomatoes. Pulpo was very good, tender and with a braised Swiss chard in need of seasoning. As saw a neighboring table get desserts, we looked forward to ordering the fruit tartlet we saw at nearby table, yet what arrived was bereft of similar fruit and served with an odd and distasteful array of crumbs alongside. Although server, upon request, brought some berries to compensate, we were discouraged by the attitude and decided to leave. We felt very much that the restaurant was not oriented to serving Americans or some such perspective as acted as doing us a favor to spend a substantial amount for lunch. 3 glasses of wine, 2 primi, bottle of water, 2 secondi, €139. All in all sadly disappointed after looking forward to our...

Beautiful and cozy dining room. The staff were very friendly, worked great as a team, and were very attentive. We had the polpettes to start, which were tender and flavourful. Our secondi included the swordfish, which was incredibly tender, delicious and quite filling. We also ordered the Argentinian beef fillet, again, remarkably tender and yet very lean and savoury and was served with a red sauce, chimichurri, mustard, and black salt as condiments. As a side, we ordered the mashed potatoes which were velvety soft and had a hint of tangy flavour which suggested a little cheese or buttermilk in the recipe. For our primo, we ordered one of the daily specials which was the stand-out dish of the evening: tagliolini in a hazelnut butter sauce with freshly shaved white truffle. This dish was out-of-this-world delicious. We finished off the meal sharing the garden tiramisu and the warm ricotta pastry with Bailey's infused chocolate sauce, both excellent. Prices were a little high, even for the area, but, as tourists experiencing Milan for our first time, we were willing to pay a little extra for what was a wonderful and memorable...