Ristorante alle Bandierine — Restaurant in Pisa

Update: This restaurant falsely flags negative reviews to get them removed. That should tell you everything you need to know.

I really wanted to enjoy this place but just could not.

We were very grateful that the polite hostess was able to fit us in 45min after our arrival. They even opened a table for us inside when we got too cold.

However, it went downhill from there. Due to short staff and other customers causing problems, we waited a very long time to order. The food arrived quickly, so that helped.

Now for the food: Cod cake was pretty good and so was the Spaghetti San Marco. Nothing extraordinary, but good.

We ordered two entrees and they just weren't at all what we expected:

The duck was overcooked (grey on the inside) which destroyed the flavor.

We also ordered the Lamb and, to my surprise, I was presented with a completely different cut of meat (see photo). This was disappointing after watching a table before us get a beautiful plate of lamb. It was okay, but overcooked destroying the flavor.

Our waiter never made it to our table to check our food and we were ignored the rest of the evening. Never asked for coffee, dessert, etc and our bill was sitting up front.

I do not blame our waiter, as he was busy dealing with rude customers, rather the management. It was understaffed and the kitchen quality was not managed.

I would avoid...

We came here after reading reviews and walked about 20 minutes to get here. We wanted some delicious traditional Italian food.

At first glance the place was very cozy. Prices seemed fine, about 10-15 € a plate. We ordered a ravioli with ricotta and spinach in butter, a pasta with tomato sauce green pepper and cognac sauce, a half liter of the house white wine and a liter of water.

First we received our water, which was room temperature, on a hot day that is not very nice.

Then we received our wine, also room temperate not very nice on a hot day. Maybe that’s how they serve it but we are use to chilled white wine.

Then, we got our meal, I don’t know what it was about my pasta but first of all it had such a funky taste. Never tasted something like that before, the pasta was not cooked properly. I know in Italy the pasta is harder and that’s how you cook it, but I’ve eaten at at least 20 restaurants in Florence, Rome, La Spezia etc etc and this was just under cooked.

My girlfriend had the ravioli which was absolutely tasteless, and dripping with butter. The ricotta on the inside was completely dry and felt like sand.

Only reason it gets 2 stars is because the server was amazing and she was very kind and caring

We don’t like to complain, so we didn’t instead we write a review and we won’t eat...

As previous reviewers have said, this restaurant seems to specialise in spaghetti pasta dishes with seafood. We like seafood and encouraged by the reviews here, we booked a table at this restaurant. We were not disappointed!

We missed out on the antipasto and went straight into the primi piatti, where I had octopus in a tomato sauce with spaghetti, and my wife had small clams in a wine sauce - on spaghetti. Both dishes were great, the octopus was particularly tasty. And for the secondi piatti I had a roast vegetables and Pienza pecorino cheese, which was simply historic! My wife had octopus with potatoes, which was very tender and tasty.

For wine we had the house red, like a previous reviewer, which was excellent.

The service was prompt and efficient. The background music was 'nightclub classics' from the Ella Fitzgerald era which fitted the occasion very well. Bread was served with the meal and when it ran out, more was quickly provided without prompting.

All-in-all, we had a very enjoyable time. I can thoroughly recommend alle Bandierine for their seafood and so if this is what you like,...