Trattoria Milanese — Restaurant in Milan

In short,
Would I eat their food again? Yes.
Would I ever go back? NEVER in my life.

Service - This is what ruined my evening. Such a bad first impression of an established restaurant like Trattoria Milanese.

The host (older tall white man with grey hair wearing rimless square glasses) glanced at me as I walked in but once I got up to the host stand he kept staring down, at a tablet or book. Only when I said “ciao” to him he then “half” looked up and replied “Yes?”. No smile or anything. I explained that I’m eating solo and don’t have a reservation. He took a look at the bookings and sighed, told me that there’s a seat but I can only sit for 1.5 hour, which was completely fine by me.

He brought me to a large table for 6-8 people, with another solo visiter already seated at one end while I was seated at another. It was really uncomfortable (see pic) so I just jumped onto the next chair. I looked around and realised they were seating solo eaters together, at communal tables, which makes sense but I totally didn’t expect from them since they’re on the expensive side.

Might be worth mentioning that as he walked back out he mumbled something to the team, I only heard the word “solo”, and they all laughed. Whatever he said, it’s not pleasant seeing from my end.

Food - I read the menu beforehand so I placed the order very quickly and food arrived super fast as well.

Bread - I didn’t have any.

Funghi Porcini Freschi Trifolati (Sautéed Porcini Mushrooms) €16 - Cute simple dish. Just straight forward, cooked, savoury, mushrooms.

Risotto e Osso Buco (Saffron Risotto and Ossobuco) €32 - Pretty much came here for this and it’s actually quite decent. Meat is cooked very tender and I like that it’s on the fattier side. A nice surprise is the little piece of bone they’ve put in, scoop out the bone marrow and mix in with your risotto, best mouthfuls ever. However, meat is heavily seasoned (salty), whilst the risotto is bland, I guess it only works out when you have spoonfuls of both together. BUT, for €32 I don’t think it’s worth it.

Environment - It’s a restaurant with history so naturally it has all the older decoration, which actually is quite nice coming from a tourist point of view. The atmosphere is homey, disregarding the unfriendly welcome they expressed at the door.

From a hygienic perspective though, air circulation wasn’t the best inside and you do see flies and unfortunately one landed in my wine before I was half way through it (video of it happily swimming inside).

Price - €57 in total including an appetiser (€16), a main (€32), a glass of red wine (€6) and a bottle of still water (€3). Considering the abundance of amazing food in Milan, it’s objectively not up...

I debated on giving this business one or two stars and arrived at this rating in the following way: Food is 4 stars, price is too high so minus 1 star and service was truly terrible so minus 2 stars. So the food is not bad but unfortunately the restaurant itself and the way it is run ruins the dining experience completely.

We visited for dinner. The atmosphere was unfriendly and unwelcoming. As others have mentioned there is only an Italian menu - which honestly I don't have a problem with. However, we noted that the customer experience consequently depended on the waiter. Some guests had waiters who helped them with translations. Our waiter could not care less about us. The table next to ours received a seasonal menu - we did not. They also got help with translations - our waiter clearly had no intention in helping us understand what was on the menu. There was no internet connection in the restaurant. Luckily we knew what we wanted to order but it wasn't pleasant.

The food was not bad, but it was very expensive. We went to other trattorias during our stay in Milan and this one was far more expensive for not so much difference in food quality.

The most annoying part was that our indifferent and unfriendly waiter demanded a tip and when we asked him to exchange a bill, he took the whole amount. We didn't want to deal with him anymore so we chose to leave it but it was not pleasant as it was quite clear that it was too much for a tip and there is no way his service warranted it.

The next day we went to Boccondivino which had a smaller food selection but by far superior service and much tastier food for a fraction of the price. The difference in service compelled me to write this review - just because you are a visitor to a city doesn't mean you deserve to be maltreated in a restaurant. You can get good food at a good price with good service and shouldn't settle for...

So this place I stumbled upon by accident. As a result, I didn't have reservations and when I first went in they told me it's one hour wait to discourage me from waiting. I saw several packs of tourists coming in and some were turned away but others were sat down much sooner than the quoted wait time. I, myself waited about 30 minutes. However they do pack different groups of walk-ins in big tables but I'm still glad they try rather than completely turn you away. The food is decent. I tried the minestrone which is basically a light soup with veggies and pasta. It's slightly salty and blend the same time but I guess that's the point. Their costolleta is quite expensive compared to another costolleta restaurant that specializes in it. The meat is fairly delicious and I think they did a good job. It's however huge but what puzzles me is the color (which is white) and the tendon and texture tells me it's pork but supposedly it should have been veal? I do like pork in general so I have no problem even if it's pork costolleta. It's delicious though. The place is small and packed so you'll feel like you are touching the elbows of the people sitting next to you. The service is functional in that they do what you expect but there is no warmly. Maybe it's a family business and they have no problem with having customer or maybe they just don't like tourists. In any case I just don't feel l had good service. They also took the change directly instead of handing back a change. I was going to leave a slightly bigger tip but since they took the 1 euro then that's fine. I did feel slightly rushed but guess they were busy. Overall it's an alright restaurant and probably better than other tourist...