Antica Bottega di Pisa — Restaurant in Pisa

I have no idea how this restaurant got such good reviews as it doesn't deserve them. I live in Italy, and have done for many years. This week, while visiting Pisa, I broke my golden rule and ate at a restaurant on the Via Santa Maria -- almost certainly a bad idea, but Antica Bottega had very good reviews so I gave it a try as I didn't want to walk to far. I was very sorry I did.

The menu was not very exciting, but I gave a try to the prosciutto e melone and a pasta with pesto e zucchini, both very safe and simple dishes. My first clue that not all was right was when both dishes arrived at the same time. This would never happen in a genuine Italian restaurant, as the courses are never served together. The prosciutto was not even "nazionalle", which is a very basic version, and I have had better melone in Finland. The fusilli was overcooked to the point that I thought they got the recipe from and airline, and their idea of pesto was to throw some chopped basil on top. All of this for €23.

My advice is to give this restaurant, and all the others on the via Santa Maria, a miss. Go to the mercato, not far away, and get something much better for...

I will just say this as nicely as possible: that bald man working there should be fired so he can understand how important service business is. We came in as a couple, wanted to start with some Aperol and pizza offer they had for 7 euros. As we were ordering, we told that horrible waiter that we would start with that and order food later on. Mind you, the place is half empty. He said that we can’t just have the aperol and the pizza offer and we had to order more and we told him that we are going to, after we start. The drinks come… not the pizzas. We wait, nothing. Turns out this man did not even bother telling the kitchen about our pizza snacks which should have been brought before we asked for it. We ended up spending 40 euros with the food we ordered with 5 euros service fee, of which I hope he gets none. If I were to come to Pisa again, definitely not visiting this place or suggesting it to anyone. The other waiter was super kind and the food...

The food was mediocre at best. What really stood out to us was the awful service. Plates were already being taken away during meals, our kids were still eating and the waiter asked multiple times if they were done and if they could take the plates. It really felt as if they were just trying to fill and clear tables as fast as they could to make sure they could serve as many customers as possible in the minimum amount of time. When we were asked if we wanted dessert, obviously we kindly declined and had that elsewhere also honestly telling them the way we experienced their service was horrible. We would recommend going to a less tourist driven restaurant if you want good food and service. The reviews here also try to justify the price with tips being included but again you´ll get better food and a lot better service at 1/3 the...