Trattoria Sabbioneda Da Romolo — Restaurant in Milan

I walked into this place a little after 1pm today and was immediately seated. The male waiter took my order and left bread on the table, and gave me water and wine I ordered. There is an oldish woman who comes around too and when I realized they only spoke Italian I typed a request for balsamic vinegar and olive oil for the lady. She kind of huffed and brought it back as requested but I thought she was a bit hostile. Food like most reviewers said already was fantastic, as was the wine. The one star is just for the somewhat rude female server/proprietor who seemed to act more warmly towards Italian speakers. It’s just a weird situation because this restaurant is extremely close to the central train station area where there are tons of hotels with visiting tourists. If you want a touristy free place (totally understand not wanting your business to morph into a tourist trap avoided by locals) why locate it there? Milan is big city after all. Just odd. Anyway, the lady was a BIT more friendly near the end but never engaged me as she did the Italian customers, but then again I don’t believe she spoke much English so what can you do. At the same time, I have traveled to dozens of countries in Europe and Asia and have engaged biz owners and workers who don’t speak a lick of English. If you want to be friendly there are ways to be friendly or express hospitality. This lady was plain not interested. So if you don’t speak Italian, and if you’re looking for good , local Milanese, affordably priced food, and if you can withstand mildly unfriendly servers, then this is a solid spot. The food...

Visited: lunchtime, Friday, March 7, 2025. Should you wish to feel most unwelcome when visiting a restaurant, please do head here when in Milan. The food was absolutely average (modest, as a matter of fact), the waiter at my table courteous, the lady at reception/till someone to instantly forget as soon as you exit the door (if you care to read other reviews, you will notice how others have also, in negative terms, described her). She failed to offer a simple "thank you", a polite question ("did you enjoy your meal?"), an invitation to come back ("see you again") and, instead, decided to keep her mouth completely shut while adding up the tally (also including an item that hadn't been ordered!), offering no greeting whatsoever to her patron. Honestly, with so many other great dining places in Milan, why waste your money here with someone who willfully ignores the most basic rules of hospitality? Left the place (vowing to never come back) with a very bitter taste in my...

Terrible is an understatement. I called to ask if there was a table for two. The lady on the phone was impatient and from what I gathered she said OK lunch for 2 and hung up the phone. We made our way there from the other side of Milano city. We arrived at 1:45pm and a table had just been seated before us. We stood at the door for a good few minutes trying to get the attention of the waitress and bar man, they avoided acknowledging us for as long as possible until we waved our hands in their direction. The barman simply shook his head and said "KITCHEN IS CLOSED." We were confused as the closing time is 3pm. There were free tables in the restaursnt and the table just sat before us had not even ordered yet, so how can the kitchen possibly be closed? INHOSPITABLE to say the least, and prejudice against non-italian (English) speaking people. So at 2pm it left us with no other option for lunch as our other choice of restaurants were 30mins away. Feeling very hungry and...