Hotel Ristorante Giardinetto — Restaurant in Pettenasco

We stayed at the hotel from 2-7th June as part of a group booking by Great Rail Journeys. It was not a good experience. We had requested rooms with a view of the lake and a balcony if possible; we were given small, pokey little rooms looking out over the car park. The bathrooms were small, the towels looked liked they could do with replacement and there was only 1 round power plug in the entire room. The air conditioning never worked and a young member of staff we called to fix it suggested we open the window! We asked on two occassions for tranfer to the the requested rooms and were told that none were available. A lake view room did appear on Booking.com during our stay but we were told that was only free for one night. We did not feel that staff made much of an effort to meet our requests. [NB We are not clear whether the problems with the roooms were the responsibility of the hotel or the tour company - either way it spoiled our holiday experience] |What was clearly the hotel's responsibility was the food: it was terrible. We appeared to be given a different menu to the other guests and visitors and our meals were awful. Italy is one of the best destinations in the world for great food and what we were served was a disgrace to Italian cuisine. Portion sizes were ludicrously small (half a dozen pieces of pasta) vegetables were of a poor quality, unseasoned and poorly prepared (3 small wedges of potato as a main course) . There appeared to be only 1 set of pepper and salt mills for 4 tables. The salad was pathetic - ice berg lettuce, sweetcorn from a can and chopped tomatoes. Dressings were a non-descript mixture of oil and Balsamic vinegar, sometimes with what seemed to be a garlic and yoghurt concoction. Overall you wouldn't get away wth serving such food in a zero star pizza house in London. Given this was supposed to be a 4 star hotel it was clearly not up to standard. Again, we were not absolutely sure whether this was the hotel company skimping on food costs or the Tour Company having agreed a very cheap deal. Either way, something should be done by one of the parties. We will never visit the hotel again or recommend...

Wonderful Stay with Great Service and Breathtaking views ||We spent two nights at Hotel Giardinetti near Orta San Giulio and had a truly lovely experience.|    •    Warm and Helpful Staff: The hotel staff was incredibly friendly and helpful. They carried all our luggage to our room and were happy to assist with any questions, even showing us points of interest on a map.|    •    Clean and Comfortable: Everything was spotless, and the air conditioning worked perfectly. Our room came with a beautiful private terrace with a sea view , which made the stay extra special.|    •    Great Beach Access: The hotel provided a beach bag with towels and offered free access to fresh towels whenever needed. Swimming in the lake just in front of the hotel was fantastic, and there were comfortable sun loungers available at no cost.|    •    Rooftop Bar: The rooftop bar was a highlight – it offered stunning panoramic views of the lake, delicious drinks, and complimentary snacks.|    •    Pool & Water Activities: Although the pool was not heated, it was refreshing, and there was also a small bar by the pool selling drinks and snacks. The hotel also offered paddle boards, pedal boats, and kayaks for rent, adding to the experience.|    •    Parking: There was an EV charging spot available and convenient space outside the hotel for loading and unloading luggage.|    •    Good Breakfast (with Some Variation): By Italian standards, breakfast was generous and included good coffee and lactose-free options. However, guests used to German or Nordic breakfasts might find the sweet-to-savory ratio a bit high. The breakfast staff was somewhat inconsistent—some were very kind and attentive, while one in particular was rather brusque.|    •    Convenient Services: The reception staff kindly helped us book a taxi for dinner reservations without any issues.||Unfortunately we did not have time to try the restaurant at the hotel although we’ve read good reviews about it . ||All in all, this was a peaceful, clean, and very enjoyable hotel that provided excellent value for money. We would definitely recommend it to anyone...

This hotel was part of our Great Rail Journeys 'Italian Lakes' holiday. Nice looking hotel in a fabulous location. The Reception staff were lovely and very welcoming. We arrived at our room - the first disappointment! It was NOT a lake view, we benefited from a 'road view' and the road in question was busy, fast, noisy and almost on a level with our tiny balcony - if the balcony door was open it was impossible to hold a conversation in the room.|In the evening, before dinner (in the hotel), we thought we'd have a pre-dinner drink on the roof terrace. Second disappointment - we arrived on the roof terrace, lovely views across the lake (which our room didn't enjoy), but no sooner had we strolled forward to admire the view, when a VERY rude bar staff member made it VERY clear that we were not welcome unless we'd booked! We were practically escorted out - outrageous! We had booked a hotel with a roof terrace with views over Lake Orta, and we were refused admittance onto that roof terrace. All we wanted was a pre-dinner drink, we'd already booked dinner downstairs in the restaurant.|This was our first night, we had booked a single night prior to the arrival of our group, so we had dinner alone in a lovely part of the restaurant, great menu and nice food.|The following day, our group arrived then things changed - Third disappointment - we weren't allowed to sit in that part of the restaurant, we had a different and not very inspiring menu and when the food arrived the portions were miniscule. There appeared to be just one cruit set between 4 tables. We were invited to help ourselves to salad, which was merely lettuce, tinned sweetcorn and tomatoes.|On several occasions I awoke during the night actually feeling hungry!!|Needless to say, we won't be hurrying back...