quel che antico bistrot — Restaurant in Siena

What we thought would be a lovely lunch ended up being a very disappointing experience.

Starting with the positives, the atmosphere is lovely, the wine glass was generous size and the wild boar pasta we had was good - both being on the expensive side so we are glad these met expectations (for reference, €37 for a wine, cocktail and one pasta).

However, unfortunately, to start things off our drinks came out after our food, and when they eventually did arrive the ice had melted in one of the cocktails so had obviously been sitting for a while. The cocktail was also the wrong drink but due to the time it took we didn’t send it back. The service was incredibly inattentive, we weren’t offered any water and there were no napkins at all, which are minor issues when isolated however these things add up! The waiters were majority indoors or standing talking on the streets. We were hoping to order more food at the beginning along with the pasta but after 10 minutes of not seeing a waiter we gave up - it also took us two asks to get the bill. Finally, the bill came with €3 service charge each - which is absolutely fine however after reading the responses to previous reviews from the restaurant, they explain this service charge covers the quality olive oil, bread, vinegar etc that comes with the food, which we received nothing of.

I try not to always rely on reviews for places however in this case, I wish I’d read the reviews from this restaurant as it looks like our experience echoes...

I visit this magical place every time when I'm in Siena so every few months and every time I was obsessed with Brunello and food. Today there was no Brunello, service was unfortunately ignorant and really disappointing... we were waiting for a waiter to come for more than 20 mins just to order water... after another 30mis came starters and still no drinks. When we remind about water and wine a waiter who was a man in the age about 50 y.o answered us with annoyed face that he was not the one who took the order and that was exactly him. Then we didn't even finished our starters and he put plates with first course on starters and he forgot fries that we ordered for children and we needed to remind him once again so we started eating and children were waiting for another time for their meals.... when we said that we were waiting for so long and if he forgot he didn't even say a word " sorry"... so disappointed because I loved this place and I wanted to take friends in 2 days when they join me but I won't... something happened but service not is really ignorants, just young girl saved the honour. The ambiance of the resto, open kitchen and location is still amazing surrounded by beautiful, antique buildings. Food was good but ravioli was a bit over-boiled...

They tried to scam us, so happy we read the Google reviews! We made a last minute decision to come here because the atmosphere seemed lovely (and it was), but we were wary because of the reviews. Exactly as everyone else said, at the end of the meal they charged us more than the price listed on the menu and tried to say it was an “added tax” (this is not at all standard in Italy - the price on the menu typically reflects the total price including tax. In the rare occasion that there is a separate service charge that is clearly indicated and noted on the menu, not bundled into the price per item at the point of payment). When we pointed out the discrepancy and refused to pay, they apologized, adjusted the price accordingly and offered free cantucci as an apology. It’s a shame because it is a lovely restaurant with otherwise average food and nice service; we would’ve been happy to leave a better review were it not for the weird approach to try and charge more than the menu price at the point of payment. If we hadn’t known to keep track, we would’ve...