Vivace Ristorante — Restaurant in Siena

What was supposed to be a romantic evening with my husband on our first night in Siena during our honeymoon turned out to be a major disappointment at Vivace Ristorante.

We had made a reservation for 7:30, specifically hoping for a table on the terrace with a beautiful view overlooking Siena. Instead, we were seated at a less-than-ideal table, and the staff made no effort to offer a warm welcome. From the very beginning, the atmosphere felt uninviting.

The service was extremely slow. It took over an hour and a half for our food to arrive, and when it finally did, the dishes were mediocre at best. Honestly, my grandmother’s recipes back home are far better. To make matters worse, the head waiter was shockingly rude—not only to us but also to his own staff. Having worked in food service for over 10 years, I could clearly see how poorly he treated the servers, and it was uncomfortable to watch. The only kindness we received that evening was from the younger staff, who tried to make up for his behavior.

One moment that really stood out was when my husband tried asking a simple question about the area. Mid-sentence, the head waiter interrupted him, walked away, and never returned to finish the conversation. It was dismissive and incredibly disrespectful.

On top of everything, one of the first things we ordered was bottled water. It never came, yet we were still charged for it. When we tried to get the head waiter’s attention to address it, he blatantly ignored us, making us feel like an inconvenience rather than valued guests.

If you are American—or really any tourist—avoid this place. It feels like a tourist trap with overpriced, average food and unfriendly service. Siena has many wonderful restaurants with genuine hospitality—unfortunately, Vivace is not one...

Really an amazing restaurant, I cannot reccomment this place enough! It has perfect location, charming view from a romantic terrace, wonderful stuff (Antonio is really one of a kind, his English the best I ever heard in Italy in 20 years…) and the food we had was exceptional. Actually I was blown away the moment we entered the restaurant, as the waiter was immediately helping us with the babystroller and tried to distract our baby girl from having a tantrum in pouring rainy day in Siena. You can tell they know how to take care of their clients! The service only got better as they were ready to help us choose and in perfect English. We tried the seafood and also the burrata pasta and both was excellent. We saw other dishes that made us sorry we were there just for one day… We enjoyed their desserts, wine and the caffè granita too. The rain gave us enough time to savour it all… And all this time we felt welcomed, our baby included. We had no idea the restaurant had an amazing view and were able to see it as our waiter invited us to enjoy it despite the rainy day. His colleague even offered some interesting information about the city when he saw me looking at the pictures of Siena… they were very welcoming and professional, really a delight that made our visit so much better. All of them, the italian mamma from the kitchen as well. We will be back and congratulations to the owner, you have a real treasure. (Honest review of a demanding guest who looks for how the best service is delivered, as I got spoiled in Costa Smeralda. ;)) I came back later when the rain finally stopped for good to see the terrace once again as Antonio suggested, to know what to look for on our next visit. Grazie mille e...

This is a definite zero if I could put it. This is nothing more than a tourist trap intended to milk tourists for their money for a mediocre ambience. We had went there in order to enjoy drinks and dinner while watching the sunset over the Tuscan mountains and had brought our own wine bottle which had one glass remaining in it. We were greeted by the waiter and he had pointed out that this is a very nice bottle of wine. After we had sat down we ordered aperitif drinks ahead of dinner and the wine that we brought was clearly visible on the table. The drinks were served and then 10 minutes later, another waitress came and said in the rudest possible way we cannot bring our own wine claiming that it is a policy in Siena (an absolute lie). She then says there is a corkage fee (if it is policy why is there a fee). Here comes the ridiculous and outrageous way we were treated. I asked what is the fee she replies it is 15 euro. I say it is one glass and she can clearly see that. I declined. What follows on is we were asked very rudely to move to a different spot in the restaurant despite us having not drank our wine this far and having ordered our aperitif. Next she comes back and says the manager is very upset. I asked to see the manager she replies I'm the manager. I asked for our bill she had the audacity to charge the corkage fee. After saying I'm not paying for that the real manager asks me to go see him. We remove the corkage fee and we leave. Priced extremely high and the ambience is leaving lots for...