Antico Tagliere — Restaurant in Siena

I'm American but I lived in Italy for 3 years and speak the language well. I was with my Brazilian in-laws and we were looking for a place to eat after a long day touring that would accommodate our large group of 10. Knowing that 3PM was very late for lunch I asked the waiter (in Italian) if it was still okay for us to dine there and he politely said yes and directed us to the large table in front of the completely empty restaurant. His female colleague was obviously not in agreement. She was visibly upset but what she didn't realize was that I understand Italian and could hear her complaining to him that he allowed our group in the place. He told her not to worry and that he would take care of everything ("ci metto aposto tutto").

We took our seats and maybe half of our group went to use the bathroom. They immediately returned having been told they had to order first before using the restroom. In all my years in Italy I have NEVER encountered a policy like this. The waiter soon came to take our order but we weren't ready yet. As you can imagine it takes a while to translate an entire menu from Italian to Portuguese and then help people decide what to order. He came a second time and we still weren't ready. At this point, his female colleague, whom I could hear badmouthing us the entire time because she was seated right behind us, stormed out of the restaurant in disgust. It's not as if they had any other customers to serve nor at any point did they inform me there was a time constraint.

When the waiter returned a 3rd time I told him that I had heard what his female colleague said and it didn't make us feel very welcome. Furthermore, I expressed my disbelief that we could not use the restroom before placing our orders. While he had been nice up to this point, his attitude quickly changed and he rudely stated that in their experience many people come to the restaurant, use the WIFI and bathroom and then leave and therefore we had to suffer the consequences of these other peoples' actions even though we had given no indication whatsover that we were "these people." Furthermore, he offered no apology for his colleague's actions. In fact, I think he was rather ashamed of the fact that I understood what had transpired, yet, as a representative of this restaurant, he offered no apology for her actions. And when we left the restaurant not a single person gave me the customary "grazie, arrivederci". Not a huge deal but a clear an indication of how they treat their clientele.

I certainly don't expect Michelin level service at a hole-in-the-wall like this but I do expect a minimum of respect and civility. I wonder if they were discriminating against our group because they assumed we hailed from South America? Or Spain? Or perhaps they resented the fact that we were eating so late prolonging a siesta? In any case, one should not leave a restaurant asking these questions. The bottom line is we were totally unwelcome. There are so many wonderful places to dine in Siena. This is not one of them. I would avoid this place...

Ho scritto recensione su Tripadvisor intitolata "forse i taglieri". Nella recensione mi sono espresso in modo pacato, senza denigrare nessuno, rispetto a ciò che ho trovato nel piatto; ho anche riconosciuto la nostra responsabilità nel non aver letto attentamente quanto scrivete rispetto alla "gastronomia". Ora mi ritrovo sul profilo facebook del locale citando cose non vere e con tanto di sbeffeggiamento nei mie confronti. Innanzitutto non avevo pubblicato nessuna recensione su google (lo faccio ora) ne tantomeno siamo alla seconda recensione negativa per lo stesso tavolo, visto che eravamo solo in due ed abbiamo un solo profilo Tripadvisor. Quindi è molto sgradevole citare cose non vere con l'intento di strumentalizzare, cercando di screditare l'opinione altrui, distogliendo l'attenzione dalla cosa fondamentale, la qualità dei piatti. Detto questo a parte prendermi in giro sul vocabolario Zingarelli (a proposito il dizionario della lingua italiana si chiama Zingarelli e non Zingaretti), resta la qualità dei piatti caldi sulla quale, senza nessuna presunzione, la inviterei a riflettere anziché sbeffeggiare, visto che leggo (e l'ho fatto solo ora, non avendone lette prima) recensioni buone sui piatti freddi, ma cattive recensioni sui piatti caldi. Come dicevo io mi sono assunto la responsabilità di non aver letto attentamente ciò che scrivete, magari con un pochino di umiltà potreste valutare se riflettere sui piatti caldi che servite. Con 10-11 Eur a Siena, in città, ottimi pici cacio e pepe e ribollita gli abbiamo mangiati, certo con anche l'aggiunta di 2 Eur di coperto in più. Credo che pagare qualche Eur in più, ed a prezzi onesti, a fronte di buoni piatti.... Per completezza sullo Zingarelli la definizione di gastronomia è "l'arte di ben preparare cibi" e sulla Treccani , Garzanti ecc. gastronomia si sintetizza in "l’arte di cucinare e preparare i cibi". Quindi che siano fatti "in gastronomia esterna" o meno, la gastronomia resta l'arte di preparare i cibi, e quindi per restare sul concreto di ciò che c'era nel piatto, i pici e la ribollita non erano buoni. Avevo anche scritto che salumi e formaggi sembravano invitanti e che tornando avremmo assaggiato quelli, ma viste le sue modalità non torneremo. Ma sono certo che, visto il suo atteggiamento, la cosa le farà solo molto...

We walked through Siena’s old town and stepped into a nearby restaurant. We were told we couldn’t eat our roasted chestnuts inside (which is totally logical and wasn’t our intention). The menu had only panini and salads, and when my partner chose not to order, the server took the menus away, saying a table for two means both must order and that it didn’t matter that the other person (me) wanted to order. They also said they didn’t serve coffee and the only non-alcoholic drink was lemonade. We left. Unwelcoming...