Paca Ristorante — Restaurant in Prato

READ BELOW FOR LACKLUSTRE SERVICE

The food was incredible. The pairing of ingredients together was exquisite. We found some of the desserts too sweet for our liking, but other than that, liked almost everything else that we’ve had.

The service, however, fell short of our expectations. We had travelled from Florence into Porta for this meal. After the meal it was already 10pm, all dark out, and we asked the restaurant to help us book a taxi back into Florence and also for the price of the taxi. The waiter told us it would be 30-40 euros so we agreed to that. There was no further communication other than that price range.

The taxi came really quickly and we boarded but about 10 minutes later into the drive, before the taxi boarded the highway, the taxi driver suddenly stopped the meter and manually increased the price to 52 euros and told us to pay that before he continued driving. Obviously we were shocked because the price almost doubled from what we were told and due to the language barrier (the taxi driver couldn’t speak a word of English and had manually increased the price showed on the meter only), we felt it was best to turn back to the restaurant to get help.

We got back to the restaurant and the same waiter did help us to talk to the taxi driver but after 5-10 minutes, said he had to go back to work and that this was between us and the driver. The driver wanted us to pay 10 euros as a charge for that 10 minutes drive, which we refused because he had jacked up the price halfway without telling us beforehand. The waiter simply left us outside with a taxi driver who was calling the police and us, who couldn’t speak a word of Italian with him.

Some of this could be miscommunication between the taxi company and the restaurant which helped us booked the taxi. But the likelier option was that the 30-40 euros range is a local price quoted to the restaurant and the 52 euros was a tourist price belatedly laid out to us by the taxi driver. We felt like the waiter could have done more for us, instead of leaving us stranded outside his restaurant at 11pm in the cold without offering any further help and saying he had to go back to work.

In the end it was our amazing Airbnb host who saved us by getting another taxi driver for us and speaking to the previous taxi driver over the phone for another 20+ minutes.

For such a highly rated restaurant we expected better service - as tourists booking through a restaurant or a host, we would have expected the price to have been agreed upon and communicated. The restaurant helped us to book and told us a price range (without further context like saying there was a night charge or tourist mark up etc.) and then when a dispute arose did not deal with it.

It was a distasteful end to...

CHE PIACEVOLE SORPRESA

Dopo aver letto alcune recensioni su internet e dopo aver sentito dei buoni commenti da parte di amici, abbiamo deciso di provare questo ristorante nei pressi di Piazza San Marco. Il locale non è enorme, è accogliente, arredato con cura (nella sua semplicità) e con il numero giusto di coperti per avere adeguata privacy e quiete. Si viene accolti da personale attento e preparato, mai invadente. Abbiamo optato per un menù degustazione, lasciando mano libera alla cucina e con il senno di poi posso affermare che è stata la giusta scelta. Il percorso ha spaziato su tutti i fronti: terra, mare, primi, secondi, preparazioni più tradizionali e preparazioni più originali. Ovviamente ci sono stati piatti che mi sono piaciuti di più e altri meno, ma le competenze e le materie prime usate dai cuochi, direi che sono fuori discussione! Le portate che ricorderò nel tempo son si sicuro: Il piatto di ceci nelle 3 "forme", cioè croccanti, in forma di sorbetto e spuma; i passatelli di capasanta, cozze e zafferano; la "frittella" di ceci con petto di anatra, crema di formaggio e verdura; ben fatta anche la lingua. Siamo rimasti tutti piacevolmente colpiti e soddisfatti e se proprio dovessi trovare qualcosa su cui aspettermi una crescita ulteriore in futuro, è nei dessert: dopo una cena del genere, in un locale del genere, mi aspetterei formaggi e dolci all'altezza della situazione, non piatti "ordinari". Erborinato a parte, gli altri formaggi non li ho trovati particolarmente originali e/o con particolari note aromatiche; come il dolce, magari tecnicamente ben fatto, ma con sapori non così caratterizzati. Nulla di drammatico, ma se volessi raggiungere il top, cercherei di migliorare ulteriormente quella parte del menu. E come diceva il mio compagno di tavolo, non c'è motivo per cui ad un ristorante del genere non gli venga riconosciuto l'ambito "Macaron" della famosa guida rossa. Grazie e complimenti a tutto lo staff, sicuramente un posto in cui tornerei volentieri e che mi sento di...

Paca was a blessing. The best dining experience we had while visiting Italy. A soon as we stepped into the restaurant we felt it would be something special. I noticed some disdain towards Americans in Italy but here you felt a genuine warmth and a genuine hospitality. The food was wonderful. Every dish and every course. The wines were wonderful and the biondi Santi the sommelier selected to wrap up the final courses was exquisite. The dishes were great and the glassware and all the little details. Glasses never went empty. I wish I could give Paca 10 stars. Thank you Mateo (hope I got that right) and the rest of the crew for a special evening. We felt...