Lo Spuntino — Restaurant in San Gimignano

We came here after reading not too many bad reviews and runing to try and escape the rain. When we arrived, we were greeted by a lady who seated us and began to stand in the corner and chew her finger nails and suck her fingers as if she thought nobody was watching. The young girl who served us looked like she was having the worst day of her life and she was making us pay for it! She had no smile, spoke without a single care for what we required as paying guests and didn't really care that we were even there. The food was average and underseasoned! Eat somewhere else, because I honestly could have done much better myself at home! I ordered the Penne alla arrabiata, My husband ordered Pizza 4 quesos (he said that it was very bland) and my Daighters had Fettucine with a beef meat - which tasted not too bad. Probably the best out of all 3 meals. This little place lacked character, the food was not so great, the tables were black and boring and the staff were unfriendly and...

Sadly, our experience was not good at all. To us, the restaurant seemed very much like a generic tourist trap.

We took the bruschetta with tomato and garlic as a starter, the bread was very dry, hard and stale, the tomato on top was nothing special, we couldn't barely taste any garlic.

For the main course we had the truffle pasta, and while the price was somewhat lower than average in S. Gimingnano, the quality was as well. The pasta was obviously not freshly made, it tasted like standard barilla pasta from the supermarket which have not been boiled long enough, and the truffle-sauce also tasted, like there were no fresh truffles in it. On top of that there were no fresh truffle slices or anything, as you can see on the photo.

With all the award- and recommendation-stickers in front of the store it really seemed like a tourist-scam in hindsight. We payed 56€ for two people, which was way too pricey for the bad quality of the food.

No...

Hot (39 degs) and hungry; Lo Spuntino was ideal. Cheap and cheerful; staff were pleasant and put up with my poor Italian (given that I was grunted at by the waitress in the hotel I was actually staying at when I wanted a drink; this felt like a bonus!). I had a Bosco pizza; cheap; good size and just what I wanted and they bagged the remainder for me to take away. Inside the cafe was simple and homely; but clean and welcoming. It is easy to find; down a side street just off the main shopping area but not swamped by the tourists that need to sit next to the shops. The 'other' artisanal gelateria is close by for pudding: it has nice ice cream without the ridiculous queues found up in Piazza Cisterna. Overall a satisfying snack in a pleasant cafe...