Il Guelfo — Restaurant in Sirmione

I had originally planned on going to a different restaurant based on trip advisor reviews, but happened to walk past this one while I was on my way to the other place and liked the menu better, so I changed my plans. I'm really glad I didn't research this restaurant first, because I wouldn't have given it a chance with such abysmal reviews, and I would have missed out on a really lovely dinner. First, the server was very friendly and greeted us immediately. She did not speak fluent English, but I don't expect her to (I'm visiting Italy, after all), and she didn't seem to mind taking her time to help people who don't speak Italian. The caprese to start was perfect - very fresh and tasty. The house white wine was better than expected, and the beer selection was also above average. The tagliolini was obviously freshly made in-house and had perfect texture. The pizza was amazingly good, and honestly much better than the pizza we had in Venice - thin, crispy, exquisite harmony of ingredients. We were too full for dessert, but did enjoy some limoncello. If you want something away from the crowds, but still with a great view and authentic northern Italian cuisine, give this...

We stopped here in Sirmione thinking it looked charming and traditional. Big mistake.

I ordered vongole – what arrived was simply pasta boiled in plain water with clams dumped on top. No seasoning, no flavour, nothing resembling a proper sauce. When I politely mentioned this, the waitress was abrupt and rude, literally snatching the plate back and telling me to “eat it and pay for it.” No offer to fix the dish, no apology.

We refused to eat it, but they still charged us. The pizza was soggy and bland, and the ravioli was watery, flat, and flavourless.

To make matters worse, my husband had bad stomach next day – clearly not the sign of a clean kitchen.

There are many wonderful places to eat in Sirmione – sadly, this is not one of them. Poor food, terrible service, and zero respect...

Unfortunately this is the worst place I have eaten at in Italy. I ordered a bianca pizza and it came with hardly any Mozzarella to make it a white pizza. The pizza base was so hard you had to use force to snap it. We never complain when at a restaurant but when we mentioned that it was too hard to eat the owner said it was a special pizza bread from the area and it was supposed to be like this. I could not eat more than what's left in the picture and the lady was continously rude that we didn't like it even when we were trying to leave after paying and refused to either provide something different or solve the...