La Ghiotteria — Restaurant in Pisa

One of the worst experiences I’ve ever had at any restaurant. You’ll see from my other Google reviews that I only tend to give out 5 stars; I usually don’t find it worth my time to write bad reviews, or indeed to give out one stars at all. This time was an exception because I genuinely don’t think that the owner deserves any patronage from any self-respecting person.

On arrival, we opened the door and before we could even set foot in the restaurant, the waiter (whom we assume to be the owner) moved towards us as if herding cattle, and gesticulated that we should sit outside. This was even though there were clearly empty seats inside which were not visibly reserved.

The owner did not even bother to speak to us; just showed us to the table and plopped down a QR code for the menu and walked off without another glance. We were then left there for about 15 minutes without any movement, so my friend tried going in to ask again to have our order taken. Again she was greeted by the same commanding hand gesture from the owner before she could even get a word in.

Shortly after, the owner came back out again, not to take our order but that of the table next to us. We thought he would take our order as well since he was already there, but he deliberately ignored us and went back in. The owner came back out with drinks for the table, and we tried to flag him down again—but he thought it appropriate to ignore us. Perhaps he is blind and deaf and mute but more likely he’s just a provincial racist who would rather forgo easy money than serve an Asian table. Power to him I suppose—it’s his restaurant and he’s free to do what he wants. Luckily, I am also free to write things as they are in my review.

We sat for a few minutes and tried to flag down another waiter, who told us he’d return in a minute—5 minutes passed with no movement. This was not a busy afternoon for the restaurant so there’s really no excuse. At this point we had enough so we left.

Suffice it to say, nobody should come here unless you like to be treated as if you do not exist. Maybe this restaurant is good if you’re not of a race that the owner disapproves of—but we wouldn’t know. It baffles the mind how this place has 4.8 stars with 2.8k reviews, yet was relatively empty at 12.30pm on a Saturday afternoon. I think that says a lot about the true quality...

Folks, we (family of four) we’re excited to find what appears to be a family-owned/hole in the wall/no frills type of restaurant in Italy, let alone in Pisa. We walked in the establishment at 3:15 (close at 4PM) and were warmly greeted with “disgruntled look” without any salutation - RED FLAG 1.

My mother thought it was odd but I gently assured her that it could be the Italian thing at first but they will warm up to us as the establishment was busy (it’s a small and cozy place). Best to describe would be: we were ignored - RED FLAG 2.

We were promptly seated at 3:20 and the gentleman kept repeating “we close at 4...we close at 4” as he was fixing the table - RED FLAG 3.

Sensing that we may be of inconvenience we wanted to rush the order. When I called the lady to order she dismissively said “five minute.” - RED FLAG 4. I knew something was off by now.

We tried ordering and she said her kitchen fire is done so nothing hot (pretty much their entire menu) can be made. We walked out since there was no point. At that moment I thought, it would have been nice if the owners had communicated this (no kitchen fire) even before being seated/served bread and water, instead of being rude and dismissive and sitting us down. There was this sense of “we won’t serve you again so we don’t care” kind of worldview. Truly sad as my trip so far has been magical and full of surprises. She then got annoyed at us for walking out (I understand her side since she had to serve water and bread) and distastefully and without respect yelled at us “I told you FIVE MINUTE only” and then she slams the door - not the best feeling to experience.

I get the culture. I get that she gets lots of clueless and rude tourists but it’s her demeanor and the way she communicated the entire process that got me to take my precious time (traveling in Italy) to write this for future patrons.

The establishment is local friendly as I’m sure the food will be amazing. They expect you to know that the closing at 4 means, closing at 4 and not stop taking orders.

Just to end... It’s not about who we are and where we are from...There is mutual love and respect exchanged and shared. I regrettably expected the same kind of respect that my family showed to the restaurant owners. It was a sad moment and day in this beautiful...

We were 5 and we went to have dinner, as I read good reviews about the place. However as we arrived I could tell it was not going to be as expected. As soon as we asked for a table, the waiter told us to sit outside as there were no empty seats inside. That was fine as the place seemed a bit busy, but it took her 10 minutes to clean the table and another 10 to bring us the utensils. After that we saw 3 italian women that were seated as soon as they arrived, so after reading now some reviews I suspect they don’t like tourists. When we finally sat down, it took them 20 minutes to come and take our orders.

I have to say that while we were waiting the waiter was just greeting what seemed like her friends when they passed by the restaurant, while she was ignoring us. Also the street was dirty and there were drunk people behind us just coughing and shouting the whole time, they were also the waiter’s friends and everytime she came outside she went to chat with them and laugh, that made us feel really uncomfortable.

It took them almost an hour to serve the food we ordered, including a cheese board, while they served the italian women their food almost instantly. So everything came together an hour later, we ordered a carbonara, a risotto, raviolis and a salad. The quantity was good but the taste was poor, especially the carbonara was awful, probably the worst one I have ever tried. Maybe they should focus on the quality of their products instead of the quantity.

After we finished, we also had to wait to get our check. It was our worst experience in Italy, as the service was terrible, probably the worst service I have ever seen. There are better places to go in Pisa, please do yourself a favor, and...