Osteria il Ghibellino — Restaurant in Siena

I went with my mom and sister after searching for gluten-free options, found this place. We walked in and were eager to eat.

We ordered a chickpea flatbread (shown in photo) which came with Parmigiano fondue and sautéed spinach. I would say it was a decent appetizer, we enjoyed it.

The issue I had was the main course, beef sirloin with olive oil and rosemary. Look at my plate- this alone was €18. Very small portion size for that price with no side. I asked for medium-rare and it came to me RAW. As Gordon Ramsay would say, it was so raw that I could hear it moo. It even jiggled when I cut into it. Based off of the picture you wouldn't even guess it to be beef. It has the color of tuna... it looks anemic.

I let the server know, he took it back for me to have cooked with no pushback and it was indeed returned medium-rare. I appreciate that, but it had absolutely no flavor whatsoever. I'm truthfully not even convinced it was even beef. I let my mom have a taste and she frowned and looked at me and apologised because she felt bad that I had to eat that.

I want to assume that I just got unlucky but not all of the tables were filled, so they couldn't have been excessively busy. The atmosphere was OK, pretty average. Servers were adequately accomodating. I wouldn't recommend this place to anyone seeing as I could literally buy beef sirloin from a grocery store and sear + bake it with nothing to season it other than salt and pepper for like $5 at home.

P.S. - don't order the "Green Salad." It's not a salad, it's a few leaves of lettuce and you won't get anything to dress it with, just salt...

The atmosphere has old-world charm. Excellent wine selection and delicious food. The waiter we had did not seem interested in his job nor did he show interest in being there. When I asked his opinion on certain dishes he shrugged his shoulders with a blank stare. I ordered for the table a starter off mixed salad, second course of pasta and two main courses, sliced sirloin with thyme butter, and Osso Bucco. He repeated back to me the entire order accurately so we both understood each other. The food was delicious. Rather than follow protocol, he brought the main course and starter together. He did not come back to check on us until our plates were finished. I inquired about the pasta and I was told, sorry the kitchen is closed. There was no attempt or interest shown in his error. For this reason I will not return nor do I suggest anyone eat at this establishment until their service staff is...

The service was bad - my husband is Celiac and he was served stale gluten free bread. The moment we finished the meal a male server (not sure if he’s the owner or an employer) asked us if we wanted something else because there was a second “turn” of diners. When we said we wanted to wait a bit before deciding, he asked when exactly we would order. We finally decided not to order anything because of the way we were being treated and the server brought us the bill straight away (even though we didn’t ask for it). In most Italian restaurants they don’t usually bring the bill unless you ask for it.

Definitely don’t feel welcome at all! Siena has been beautiful so far, this has been the one bad experience we’ve had. I do NOT recommend coming to this place if there are other places...