Osteria San Paolo — Restaurant in Pisa

I've dined all over the world -- New York (since my childhood), Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto, Montreal, Paris, Berlin, London, Barcelona, Dubai, Moscow, ..., and we make seriously good food in my family. In addition, I was a waiter when I was young and I come from a tradition of hard work to make excellent experiences for those one serves on the job.

I don't like writing negative reviews. It's hard running a restaurant or being a waiter, and negative reviews leave a mark on the business. So I write negative reviews only when I think they are called for to warn other customers of what they might be getting into. I also believe in a kind of low-level justice. If a business has disserved you and you gave them a chance to correct the issue, but they continued to treat you poorly, then I think a negative review is called for just for that lack of consideration.

I also try to be fair. So here is the good side of my experience at Osteria San Paolo: the food here was quite good --not the best I've had in Pisa, but solid. The presentation was quite nice -- the place is fancy. The wait staff was professional, too.

Unfortunately, here is the bad side (why 1 star): the problem was the owner and one of his side-kicks. The owner would not let us order what we wanted from the menu, even though the problem wasn't, say, lack of the items in the kitchen. First, he insisted that we order an appetizer and one main course (not firsts and seconds as in some Italian restaurants, although he had first, seconds, etc. all on the menu). Then, he insisted it was too much to take down our individual appetizer orders. No, he should just bring out plates for us. This sounded good, although it was bizarre to think he and his staff of five couldn't handle such a thing or that he wouldn't try to please the customer. To be honest, something instinctive told me we were being had.

What happened is that the owner stacked the table with about two times the number of appetizers as there were people, without alerting us to the mounting cost or how he conceived of it, and he also added dishes not on the appetizer list -such as a huge tray of langustin that must have cost a fortune.

When it came time to pay, he wouldn't let those among us who were on a budget (like graduate students) pay separately for just their portion (for instance, we could easily have taken responsibility for items and he could have just crossed them off as we went, but...), nor was he willing to break down the bill so people who took more food could pay in more. He was stubborn and not helpful. And he charged us about twice as much as the menu suggested for what he had said we would eat.

That all was pretty frustrating and felt borderline corrupt to me, but the main reason I write this review is that when I tried to explain to him the misunderstanding and was clearly frustrated that he had not let us order what we wanted from his own menu, his sidekick became arrogant and said that the problem was us and that she knew her boss would never have limited our options. Okay ...

So, we get difficult service from the owner, can't order what we want from his own menu even when the items are in, pay twice as much as we would have thought looking at the menu, get attitude when we legitimately question the whole thing, can't itemize the bill for those among us who aren't on salaries or subsidies from their universities, and then are insulted as we head...

I love looking for restaurants that are for locals when I’m in holiday. Osteria San Paolo is exactly that. I was lucky to find this place on Google Maps and the reviews were great. Our reservation was ready and that’s when we met Carlo. Carlo was incredible. He catered to our every needs and recommended lots of things to try.

We also had their house wine which is produced by them and it paired amazing with the dishes we ordered. Every bite of every plate was absolutely incredible. Each serving was plentiful and the my whole family enjoyed their meals.

Carlo also recommended desserts and liquors after the meal which were fantastic. This restaurant is a hidden gem. It has plenty of awards as well and I feel it’s good enough for a Michelin star.

If you’re in Pisa and go from the train station to the Leaning Tower, stopping here for a...

I agree that this is a lovely family run business, with great staff (Gergio) and nice food. We had a meat platter between us to start it was fine, my wife had muscles and spaghetti for her main, it was great; I had pumpkin ravioli as my main, it was lovely, however only five pieces, I was still very hungry afterwards, 20 pieces would have been appropriate, it was €15, so € 3 per piece. I had to go for a pizza on way home. My wife had cheese for after, the portion was far too much she could not even eat half of it, 8 huge pieces. If my main had of been half that size I would have been pleased. We had a nice bottle of wine for €14. Overall a nice experience and if my main had been a good size I would give 4*, however it wasn't and so I...