Restaurant Be free 100% Gluten free ,senza lattosio. — Restaurant in Olbia

While travelling in Olbia, I found this place through Happy Cow. As the name suggests, it’s specialized in gluten free foods and it happens to have some Vegan options as well. As a Vegan myself, I usually try to support the local Vegan or even places like this that caters to specific dietary restrictions over businesses that cater to the local cuisine. However, I had the worst Vegan food ever I have to say… I had the Caponata and Lasagna. Caponata and Lasagna being the local Italian foods, the chef has failed to make it as tasty as the gluten or the meat versions. The wild, black rice that came with the grilled veggies in Caponata were not cooked thoroughly, it was too hard for my liking. I understand that my Asian upbringing has prepared me to be more strict with how the rice should be cooked, but I can totally imagine a lot of people would find it too “al dente”. As for the lasagna, the texture and mouthfeel of the gluten free lasagna sheets were so off. It felt like I was chewing overcooked, super sticky rice cake. It wasn’t tomatoey at all, the spice mix was so bland but at the same time, my portion had a big chunk of spice that I can’t tell what it was… I bit into it and it really tasted like I bit into a bitter yet cooked nutmeg! Super perfumery and it wasn’t pleasant at all that I had to spit it out. I feel truly sad that a place like this ruins the reputation of the gluten free foods, which is that all gluten free or even Vegan foods are bad foods. I really hope that the chef takes note of this and improves the flavour and texture profiles of their dishes. I see a big potential and I wish...

Disappointing place, even with dietary requirements you'd be far better off with some of the other restaurants in Olbia. My girlfriend is gluten intolerant, so we wanted to try this place. We started out with a gazpacho which was, while a little on the salty side to my taste, pretty good. I followed up with a sheep burger, which was decent enough. Nice patty which wasn't the juiciest but had a good taste, bun was fine for a gluten free bun. Side potatoes were very salty, otherwise a little sad. My girlfriend had a lasagna, which was soggy and out of balance, and included some sort of curry cream. It's a flavor I guess, but something that I would've mentioned on the menu. Tiramisu for dessert was good, but the crepe was dry and boring. The crème brulée was barely touched by a blowtorch. Just a very gelatinous creme with slightly warm sugar on top. There was also a glitch with the digital menu. I think they only activated part of the menu after we came in, because when we checked the menu for desserts there was way more available on the menu. This was the case for both our phones. Don't know if it was a glitch or if we came a little early for some of the dishes. In the latter case it's something that should've been communicated. The water served tasted of chloride. While I understand cooking gluten and lactose free can be a little more expensive, we've had far better meals in Olbia for about the same amount of money, all of which also catered for my girlfriend's dietary...

We wanted to support a cafe with *vegan options. So we left all the beautiful restaurants facing the sea near our rental and drove downtown. It's on a main street, extremely busy, cars lining up on the street in traffic where you need to pay for parking in a garage across the street. There's *one table out front outside. The rest of the restaurant is indoors in a dark small cramped space. The electronic music was loud. The volume where is affects your food experience. It's not a nightclub guys, it's a restaurant. We ask to see the menu. The guy points to a QR code on the wall. For a cafe called Be Free, I'd love to Be Free of my phone, having to grab my device I try to escape from during dinner and look up a menu that you're too lazy to print. Wait, your data might not work in Sardinia, let me now jump on your wifi just so I can scan your menu and look on my small phone. The guy then uses his phone, and tells me they have a *few vegan options, not a ton, but a few. Look, it was Summer by the sea. A dark, cramped, loud cafe with traffic backed up out front is not the romantic or fun experience you come to Italy for. The vegan dishes were between 18-25 euros each, for meat free, dairy free dishes. Gouging foreigners on top of it all. Pasta at 18 euros a plate is crazy, especially in such a dingy location. We really wanted to love it and drove 35 minutes...