Il Battistero Bistrot — Restaurant in Siena

Appalling! Rude staff. Family with a small crying baby were not allowed in even though loads of free tables.

EDIT (after receiving a response from what i assume is the owner as he didnt introduce himself/herself):

As a consumer and a member of public i can review service providers as i wish, because review platforms are to share opinion not only about what food or drinks an establishment serves. It is about how they interact with potential customers as well, therefore a member of staff replying ‘No!’ and turning away (without any please thank yous or sorries) from a potential customer is appalling behaviour. I work in customer service for about a decade now. Introducing yourself and apologising for experience is a must regardless if its restaurants fault or not. Then go investigate what happened and then reply to a reviewer. Questioning how could i review a place ‘without sitting down’ just shows lack of common sense or experience interacting with customers. Maybe you shouldnt be replying to criticism then because, trust me, you are doing it wrong, very wrong. There were MANY tables available outside and inside, therefore if staff does not give a reason for why they cannot accommodate you, customer is left to their own interpretations, which are valid because they were not given any other reason. And if there arent any other reasons given, then by default it must be true. Customer (wether paying or not) is always right, isnt it?

To sum up, most people pay for the experience and not the food/drinks. So my conclusion, now justified by ‘owners’ response, is that the staff (that i encountered) are rude and/or lack training/experience.

Fyi, ‘owner’ (as thats what i know you by). To prove that im right, your response could have been: ‘Hello, I am sorry that you did not have a good experience with our staff at our restaurant.

I cannot comment on the reasons behind you being turned away from our restaurant, but i can reassure you that we do not discriminate against families with small children and cater for all our customers.

If you would visit our establishment again, we would be more than happy to host you and your family and make sure that you have a positive experience.

Kind...

Disrespectful waiters, made me feel discriminated against for being Asian. My husband, who is Italian, was visiting the crypt just nearby and I was with my German Shepherd looking for a cafe to get a drink while waiting for him. I asked one of their waiters in Italian if I could sit down coz I wasn’t sure if my dog was a problem for them. He looked at me and ignored me, at which point I assumed it was the mask so he couldn’t hear me so I asked again when he passed by. He looked at me, looked at his colleague and said something to him that did not sound like Italian or English. The third time I pulled down my mask and asked him the same question again. He rolled his eyes and said “e dove vuoi sederti”, then walked into the cafe. The way he talked made me feel so inferior and unwelcome that tears came rushing down and I walked away to the cafe next door, where the food and drinks and service were more than decent. I have to say I this is the least I expect from such a touristic city and if they continue treating customers like this very soon they won’t be able to earn a...

When visiting Siena I was heading back from the Cathedral and popped into this quaint little coffee shop to order a takeaway cappuccino. To my surprise I noticed the gentleman behind the counter had an American accent whom was from New York but, born in southern Italy. But that’s beside the point of my visit to this shop; after the brief introduction and order placed; whilst my beverage was being made, I asked if I could use the toilet, and I was politely directed downstairs. This is a fair trade whilst visiting cafes, if you’re a customer you might ask if you may use the wash room.

I collected my beverage and I was on my way out the door after paying a reasonable price for the cappuccino when I noticed it wasn’t as hot as I would have preferred. When I mentioned to the gentleman behind the counter her cheerfully had it remade. I was surprised with this gesture as I would have been happy to just have it topped up with hot water, but he insisted on remaking the drink hot.

A great little cafe with personality...