La Veranda dei Pescatori — Restaurant in Perledo

This is the best meal we have had in Italy by far. Varenna is full of tourist traps and it can be quite difficult to tell from the ratings on Google which places are serving real cuisine and which places are able to trick tourists into thinking it's real. La Veranda is not only serving real cuisine but the prices are fantastic, the view was spectacular, and the service was excellent. The lake fish mousse with shaved pears was incredible. Our waiter have us an excellent wine pairing suggestion. It was one of my favorite white wines I've ever had. We moved on to a primi pasta. I had a fried white fish on risotto and my wife had a spaghetti with caviar sauce. Both were excellent but the risotto was absolutely outstanding. Again the wine pairing was perfect, especially with the sunset view of Menaggio in the distance. We decided to go big and get another course because the food was so good. We may have surprised them a bit with that decision but I had tried to explain on arrival that we were wanting a multi course meal. There was a slight language barrier with our ordering, but not in any way that took away from the experience. My wife had a breaded pesto lake fish and I had a beef filet cooked rare with a wine ju and Italian cheese sauce. Our waiter recommended a Sardinian Syrah blend to go with the beef and it was again perfect. The beef itself was cooked perfectly rare, extremely tender and the sauce was excellent. The lake fish was excellent as well, especially with the lime mayonnaise. We got an apple tart for dessert and a dessert wine each. The red desert wine Sangue Di Giuda was very memorable. I enjoy sweet desert wine so maybe not for everyone but it was unlike any wine I've ever had, again at our waiters recommendation. Obviously with a four course meal that we created ourselves off the menu we left very well fed and with a relatively substantial bill, but for the quality and the location I was extremely pleased with the total cost. I expected a significant surcharge for being in the most beautiful location on earth but the price was actually cheaper than a meal of equal caliber anywhere else in the world. I absolutely recommend this place. Nothing has come even close to it's quality for the duration...

This was the worst meal and experience we had in Lake Como after staying for 3 days. We were offered tuktuk service from the train station and I knew the moment the driver looked us up and down then did not greet us that something was off. I was polite & greeted everyone in Italian. When we got there we were ushered inside even though I made reservations 3 months ago for the view. When I asked again to sit outside they said it was not possible due to potential rain (even though there were tables available under their porch with covering & other parties already sitting outside). We were one of 2 parties sat inside and the ambience was abysmal. The servers kept fighting over the lighting (higher & lower, higher & lower). We were not sat near a window with a view. I believe we were profiled and sat inside away from other customers. We are a queer couple and I have tattoos, but I make $500K a year, dress well, and tip well. I would have ordered a bottle of wine, 3 courses for each of us, as well as desserts and digestives. Instead, we ordered one glass of wine each and one plate each and the food was absolutely terrible. We stayed for a total of 30 minutes, didn’t finish anything, and quickly left. As we were leaving, we noticed that every single outside table was now full. We were not offered a ride back in the tuktuk, even though they said they would. I highly recommend not ever coming here. This is a tourist trap and honestly awful. Instead, do yourself a favor and head to Locanda Cavallino or...

To preface my review: 5 star = I stake my name to this establishment, a true culinary treat. 4 = a great experience, well worth your money 3 = mediocre, likely better options 2 or less = better options available

My partner and I both chose the three course fish tasting menu. The starter was several different varieties of fish with different methods of preparation and presentation. Unfortunately, both were mixed results, with most being under seasoned, the rest lacking any particular defining flavour. A definite miss.

The first course was a homemade gnocchi with sturgeon ragout. This is when I realized I had been duped with faux-italian cuisine. The most blunt assessment of this course is a dish reminiscent of canned American alphaghetti. A complete lack of seasoning, both in terms of the gnocchi and the accompanying sauce. Sturgeon is a fairly flavorless fish, so I would say this was executed to perfection.

The final course was a seared whitefish with sturgeon tartare, buttered vegetables and a lime-peppermint mayonnaise. As per the previous course, the whitefish was under seasoned and extremely overcooked. I find it shocking a chef would send out such a dish.

The staff was extremely personable for an Italian establishment, even offering a shuttle to and from the restaurant.

To summarize, I think there are multiple better options for dinner in Varenna, especially given the price point. This was our only disappointing dining experience...