Ristorante Enoteca da Giovanni — Restaurant in Montecatini Terme

Me and my Fiance went to eat there after a recommendation from our hotel, everything started out fine at the beginning.

They gave us menus and a special menu which they said was there truffle menu which had dishes but no prices. I asked the waiter Luigi how much one of the pastas on the special menu was and he said 20 euro and you add truffle for €6. So I said so 26 euros? He said yes. We ordered that pasta and I had another dish from the regular menu with prices. Told him we will take one artichoke salad to share and he said yes share.

The dishes came out eventually, plates small for the price but the taste was ok. One od the waiters came over and sliced some truffle over my fiance's pasta like they do in the states with the parmesan. I asked for the desert menu and they rolled out a cart and I got some tiramisu. Overall not a bad meal so we asked for the check. To our surprise it was $172 euros!!

I looked at the receipt and was confused so I called our waiter Luigi over and asked him what the charge for 42 euros was? He said for the truffle, it's 6 euros per gram and we got 7 grams of truffle!! I'm like you didn't say that (special menu is in Italian). Also how do you know how many grams we got, they other waiter didn't have a scale, he just sliced some truffle over without really measuring. He just kept pointing at the menu and suddenly didn't understand English very well.

I also noticed that instead of sharing the salad, he charged for two salads ( we thought they split the salad in two plates by how small it was). The salads were 13 euros each. Slice of tiramisu was 20 euro and they added service charge of 13 euros. Oh ans the pasta on special menu wasn't 20 euros like Luigi said, it was actually 30. Well maybe it was 20 for Italian guests but for Americans it could be 30, not sure.

Overall we felt pretty scammed, when we went back to our hotel, I showed the guy that at the reception that recommended the place our bill and he was stunned. Called over two more employees to show them and they couldn't believe it themselves and kept apologizing.

So to sum everything up,...

You cannot say anything wrong about the Restaurant. It seems special at first sight. Tiny square close to train station hidden behind trees - you need to know bout the place to get there. But being special requires something that this restaurant lacks and I can't really say what it is. The food is delicious - not really Tuscan, you can find variety of fish and seafood, but it is not this international Italian too. It tastes and looks amazing but I am really not sure if it's worth those prices. Some dishes probably are but paying 20 euro for pretty simple pasta is a bit much. I also didn't feel that special atmosphere lots of tourists mention. You can feel a bit overwhelmed by the staff - like you should do or say something, like they expect smth from you. I felt pretty strange when the owner was nearby looking as I eat - maybe if we were able to communicate in common language, this would make the visit special. It was great food and a strange feeling of being watched all the time. I'm not really sure if I'd chose it again. Maybe for...

Profoundly disappointing experience.

This is an old-school restaurant with a balanced menu and authentic staff — something I usually appreciate.

However, in nearly 11 years of Russia’s war against Ukraine, it’s natural to expect a basic level of sensitivity toward Ukrainians who do not want to be addressed in Russian. Hearing this language is painful — it is associated with blood and death.

Despite our polite request not to be spoken to in Russian, the restaurant sent a female staff member who insisted on using it, even delivering a short speech to justify her choice.

That response showed a profound lack of empathy and cultural awareness. A place that values hospitality should respect its guests’ boundaries and the tragic reality that defines them.

There are plenty of other places in the same price range with better food, service, and atmosphere, where respect and understanding still...