Malpighi 8 — Restaurant in Milan

I rarely leave reviews, but my visit to Bar Malpighi 8 left me genuinely puzzled – and not in a good way. From the outside, the place looks promising: trendy signage, decent lighting, a bit of that Milanese aperitivo buzz. But once you step in, it quickly becomes clear that this bar is coasting on aesthetics and little else.

First off, the service was… apathetic at best. We waited nearly 20 minutes to place an order, despite the place being half-empty. When the waiter finally appeared, he looked like we were disturbing his evening. I get that laid-back is part of the vibe, but there’s a fine line between cool and careless – and this was firmly in the latter.

The drinks? Overpriced and underwhelming. My Negroni tasted like it had been sitting in the sun since brunch. My friend’s spritz came in what I can only describe as a perfume sample portion – and yes, it was mostly ice. They charged €12 for that theatrical insult.

The final touch was the aperitivo food – a tiny tray of soggy chips and two sad crackers that felt like they had been recycled from the table next to us. It’s Milan, guys. You’re supposed to care about the details.

To be fair, the playlist was good – but unless you’re going there just to Shazam songs and look at people pretending to enjoy themselves, I’d strongly suggest walking a few blocks elsewhere. Milan has too many genuinely good bars for this one to get away with being so mediocre.

Avoid unless you’re in it for the Instagram photo and...

Unfortunately, I had a very disappointing experience at this place. During my visit, a waitress accidentally spilled Aperol over my light-colored dress, which is made of delicate fabric and worth €270.

While accidents can happen, I was shocked by how unprofessionally the situation was handled. Despite kindly asking for at least the dry cleaning costs to be covered, the staff refused any responsibility. My boyfriend, who calmly raised the issue, was even asked to leave the bar.

I expected a more respectful and customer-oriented response. It’s upsetting that a valued garment was damaged and no accountability was taken.

Response to owner’s reply:

I’m saddened by your response, which misrepresents what happened. The police were called by us, not you. You initially offered €10, not a proper solution, and made remarks such as: “If someone can afford a €400 dress (by the way, it was €270 – if you had listened properly), you can also afford dry cleaning,” and when we asked for dry cleaning coverage: “Shall I also drive you home?”

You then asked us to leave when we kindly insisted on reimbursement.

We chose to leave despite calling the police ourselves, as we had a dinner reservation at 9:30 p.m. and didn’t feel the situation was worth escalating further.

I remained respectful and clear – and expected the same. I will now follow up via email with the receipt and hope for a...

Edit: The food was dreadful, it’s my honest opinion as one of your guests. We spoke to the waitress about the salty “cacio e pepe”. She apologised and I asked her to speak to the “chef” to reduce the amount of salt that’s added in future dishes. The basil and tomato pasta was more edible, but definitely not tasty. I recognise true quality and your food is not!! I’m a resident of Milan of many years and eat out at least 3x a week, I know when food is good or bad. There is nothing unfair about my review, or defamatory or false. I suppose your restaurant doesn’t like negative feedback about how poor the food is that you serve, I suggest that you take my feedback and make improvements. You can see from my profile how many reviews I’ve put on Google Maps, in Milan and elsewhere in the world, all are my honest and sincere thoughts. Pity you cannot accept. Star rating reduced to 1* as a result of the restaurant’s response

Service was okay and prices were good, but unfortunately the food was terrible. The carbonara pepe was extremely salty, most of the meal was left. The penne tomato basil was without favour, and despite the waitress denial, it seemed to be from a jar bought from a cheap supermarket....