Osteria Pizzeria Il Vicolo — Restaurant in Siena

Avoid at All Costs — Unhygienic, Overpriced, and Left Us Sick

This evening, my wife, our two young children, and I dined at Osteria Pizzeria Il Vicolo. Sadly, it turned out to be one of the worst dining experiences we've had in Italy — or anywhere.

We arrived around 19:00 as the first guests. The moment we sat down, we noticed the table was sticky and visibly dirty. Our children scraped grime off with their nails. My son joked the table was made of chocolate; my daughter even put some in her mouth. Hygiene should be the absolute minimum — this was alarming.

We ordered wine, risotto with tomato and basil, a margherita pizza, a platter of Tuscan meats and cheeses, salad, water, and beef stew in beer sauce. To be blunt: almost nothing tasted fresh or properly prepared.

The risotto was watery, with bland tomato sauce and no texture.

The pizza was soggy and undercooked in the middle.

The meat and cheese platter tasted like cheap supermarket items.

The salad was basic and uninspired.

The stew had some flavor, but the beans were drowned in huge chunks of sage and came with stale bread cubes.

My son's pizza also arrived long after the other dishes — not the end of the world, but another disappointment.

Shortly after the meal, I began to feel unwell — and now, hours later, I’m still unable to sleep due to stomach discomfort. By morning, both my wife and children had similar symptoms. Whether from bad ingredients or poor hygiene, the result is the same: our whole family is sick.

I also noticed a charge on the bill that appeared to be for an appetizer we were never served. Only when I returned later to retrieve a forgotten souvenir did I find a paper bag with pieces of dry bread. If that was the appetizer, it was never explained, presented, or touched — and shouldn’t have been charged.

We paid €90 for a meal we mostly left uneaten. Every other restaurant we’ve visited in Italy so far has offered much better food at a lower price. This was by far the worst value and quality we've experienced in the country.

I reached out twice privately to the restaurant before posting this review because I preferred to keep the matter between us — but received no response at all. That silence only added to the frustration.

The only positive was that the service was friendly — but unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to compensate for poor hygiene, low-quality food, and a deeply disappointing evening.

We dine out often and rarely write negative reviews, but this experience demands honesty. Unless this restaurant drastically improves its cleanliness, food preparation, and customer care, I strongly advise avoiding...

We went here for dinner, and the overall experience can be summer up with just 2 words: not good. When we were seated we had to wait about 15 minutes before we could order. The waiter, bless him, tried his best, but didn't know half the items in his own menu. We ordered bruschetta and pizzas for all of us. The bruschetta came in about 5 minutes, however, they were served on soggy bread. It felt like the bruschetta were made in advance and just left in the kitchen waiting for someone to order it. After we finished the bruschetta we had to wait about 90 minutes for our pizzas to arrive. Around the halfway mark we asked our server what was going on, and he was as surprised as we were. Our server or the kitchen probably forgot about our order. Another 45 minutes pass by and we finally get our pizza. We ordered the special pizza tartufo and buffalo mozzarella. The mozzarella pizza had just 2 balls of cold mozzarella on it, as if they were right out of the fridge. The whole pizza was soggy, too oily, and pretty much tasteless. Only redeeming quality was the crust, which was good. As for the tartufo pizza, the truffle was too overwhelming and the pizza was too oily too. And all of this while we were placed somewhere in a corner, shoulder to shoulder with each other and 2 different tables.

In conclusion: don't go here for dinner if you want a decent pizza and experience, there are many other places you're better of...

Probably the worst attitude that I got in Siena in a month of being here, was at this dingy looking place - nearly 4pm, lots of empty tables, I counted 4 full ones, 6 empty ones. I asked if I could have a glass of wine, then coffee, to be honest if they offered me a plate of cheese with my wine so I could keep sitting there, I would have! Instead, chubby light top coloured hair waiter made a scene, was rude, told me they are a restaurant not a bar, and continued to be abusive making a loud scene, till I left. I understand you may hate your job, or maybe your life, but really there is no need for rudeness, or saying no to at least €12 in post-covid times for doing very little, when your restaurant is half empty as it is. Had it been lunchtime, sure, I would not have dreamt of sitting down just for a few drinks, but at 15:38, sorry that behaviour is not on at any time. Especially, as for last 4 weeks I never had a problem grabbing a drink after 4-5pm in any of the nearby restaurants. Train your staff please, so at least they can act in civilised manner, even when they are saying "no" to extra revenue for your restaurant.

PS the "manager's" response just says it all. Instead of apologising, he calls customer who has been shoeed off a liar. I...