Rivafelice — Restaurant in Ronciglione

Update, May 2024: This is still my favorite restaurant. Everything is fresh and made by loving hands. This time we had the honor of having a friendly conversation with the owners, Luigi and his lovely family. These people work very hard to give the diners the best experience. It is very appreciated! May 2023: In the place where I come from, you don't expect much of restaurants with a great view. In that matter, Rivafelice came to me as an exeptionally GOOD surprise. It's a genuine family restaurant; that means they make the menu, they make the food and serve the food. Everything is fresh, made from local products and made by hand. The manu changes daily or weekly, depends on what they have fresh. For starters I had crostini with some kind of wonderful foam of baccalá (cod fish), which was crunchy and soft, and joyfully dripping with olive oil and not fishy at all. For main course me and my wife had pastas: she ate delicious baked lasagna with creamy cheese and fiori di zucca (zucchini flowers). I ate their hand made long pasta with something similar to ragu souse, but made with white fish, instead of meat. All was wow. To make things even better we shared a wild berry crostata (pie), that really closed the deal well for us. We drove safely home with just a pinch of their Fogliano red vino della casa in our blood and big smiles...

End of September, with the crowds gone back to the city, was a good choice of day to visit this lovely lakeside location. lt is well sheltered from the wind, nice and cozy in a glass enclosed patio commanding fabulous views. We were served homemade bread, the canapés of liver pâté, and burrata, (creamy mozzarella)anchovies and cherry tomatoes were exceptional! Vegetable lovers (or people on diet) will be sorely disappointed though, what little there was on the menu, was not "al dente"😫 but overcooked and drowned in oil. ltaly can do better! As for vegan choices, there were rather pricey roasted wild mushrooms (boletus edulis) gathered from surrounding...

This is a great place to eat just by Lake Vico. Service is excellent (if not a bit too eager), the ambience is lovely, great views, well shaded and cool during balmy warm days and just by the beach, where they have a sunbed and umbrella renting service. The food is really good, but a bit verging on the oily in my opinion.

All in all a great choice if you want to splurge or impress a date with a full blown treat to the beach, but not so much if you are...