Osteria del Vecchio Fossato — Restaurant in Sirmione

⚠️ WARNING: Unsafe, Aggressive Owner – Do Not Go Here

I feel obligated to share a serious warning about Del Vecchio Fossato in Sirmione after a disturbing and violent experience with the man who claimed to be the owner.

My cousin and I were initially confused by the layout, as there is another restaurant directly across from Del Vecchio Fossato. The two patios appear connected, and many tables were visibly open. When my cousin asked the server if we could sit outside, he told her there would be an hour wait. When she asked about sitting inside (thinking the other patio belonged to the same place), he simply said, “we’re not serving inside,” rather than clearly explaining that the other restaurant had nothing to do with them.

When I arrived just five minutes later and spoke to the same server, he suddenly told me there was no wait at all, despite the empty tables being there earlier. When I politely questioned why he hadn’t explained the patio belonged to another restaurant, he turned his back and marched away rudely without a word.

But what happened next was genuinely frightening.

While I was retrieving our stroller from the public pedestrian street between the two restaurants, I was approached by the owner of Del Vecchio Fossato. He began shouting, cursing, and aggressively ordering me to leave the public space. I told him I had a right to be there and that he had no authority to threaten me. At that point, he started swinging a glass bottle of wine at my face, behaving in an erratic and threatening manner.

Fearing for my safety, I pulled out my phone to record — and as shown in the video I uploaded — he struck my hand and violently knocked my phone to the ground. This was not a misunderstanding or heated argument — it was physical aggression from a man who clearly lacks control or regard for others.

And it didn’t stop there.

While we were finally seated (safely) at the completely separate and polite restaurant across from them, the same man returned, came up in front of our table, and gave me the middle finger repeatedly, continuing to intimidate and harass us.

This man is not safe, and he should not be operating a business that interacts with the public. His behavior was hostile, physically violent, and absolutely unacceptable by any standard — especially in a tourist destination where people come to enjoy themselves.

There are many other wonderful, respectful restaurants in Sirmione. Del Vecchio Fossato is not one of them. I urge all visitors — for your safety, your dignity, and your peace of mind — to stay far away from this establishment. ——————-

UPDATE:

Reply to the owner: Your reply sadly proves exactly what I warned others about — your tone is aggressive, disrespectful, and completely lacking in professionalism. Instead of addressing the facts of what happened — including the video evidence I shared where you physically hit my hand and threw my phone — you chose to insult, degrade, and belittle me with personal attacks, calling me “infelice”, “cafona”, and “gentaglia.”

This type of unhinged response only confirms that you are not fit to be dealing with the public. Any tourist reading your comment should ask themselves: is this how a responsible business owner responds to a serious complaint?

The truth is simple: I remained calm, I stood in a public space, and you responded with verbal abuse, physical aggression, and threats — all caught on video. You then followed me to another restaurant to continue your harassment.

People don’t need to take my word for it — the video speaks for itself.

Sirmione does not deserve to have visitors treated like this. Tourists come here to enjoy beauty, history, and hospitality — not to be attacked by someone who cannot control...

I can only say the experience was bizarre, people who behave like what I assume to be the owner of this establishment should not be in the hospitality business!! As my daughter expressed in the previous review, we sat down for lunch and only then noticed the very limited lunch menu we asked for options and were treated with total disrespect by the waitress as she said there was nothing available outside of what was on the menu, we paid for two bottles of water we had ordered and left, proceeded to eat at the restaurant in front where we were treated like family, what a difference, we left the bad experience behind us, unfortunately an unpleasant surprise was near, as we left the other restaurant the owner of this establishment came to confront in a very aggressive manner my daughter telling her she should not write reviews as the one she had, I had to step in between my daughter and this very disturbed person who was obviously uncapable of restraining himself, it is clear our waitress was only following the example set fourth by the owner of the place, I do not know how this place is still in business, one would assume we are the exception to the rule in the way we were treated, but I just laughed my heart out as I am walking away one of the nearby store owners mentioned to me "why does he always have to behave like that" referring to the owner's attitude towards people, on my way out of Sirmione I stopped by the police station to mention the case, I stopped short of lodging a formal complaint because on a schedule to leave for Milan, this is otherwise a beautiful town with great people stores and...

Wir waren in den letzten Jahren insgesamt 3–4 Mal in diesem Restaurant essen – jeweils im Abstand von etwa zwei Jahren während unseres Urlaubs in Sirmione. Dadurch konnten wir die Entwicklung des Lokals über einen längeren Zeitraum gut beobachten und bewerten.

Zunächst das Positive: Die Qualität der Speisen war – wie in den Jahren zuvor – insgesamt gut. Auch der Service ist aufmerksam und freundlich geblieben. In einem Restaurant dieser gehobenen Preisklasse darf man das jedoch auch erwarten.

Leider mussten wir bei unserem letzten Besuch feststellen, dass die Qualität im Vergleich zu früher leicht nachgelassen hat. Die Gerichte sind nicht mehr so raffiniert angerichtet wie früher, und insbesondere die Portionsgrößen sind im Laufe der Jahre spürbar kleiner geworden – im Gegensatz zu den Preisen, die deutlich angezogen haben. Diese Preisentwicklung steht für uns mittlerweile in keinem Verhältnis mehr zur gebotenen Leistung.

Ein konkretes Beispiel: Das Lachs-Tartar als Vorspeise war ordentlich, aber weder in der Zubereitung noch geschmacklich außergewöhnlich. Der Lachs war relativ grob gehackt, die Würzung schlicht gehalten. 25 Euro pro Person für diese kleine Portion empfinden wir als überzogen – gerade im Vergleich zu ähnlichen oder besseren Gerichten in größeren Städten wie München, wo deutlich weniger dafür verlangt wird.

Auch die Hauptgerichte lagen preislich im Bereich von rund 30 Euro. Ich hatte gegrillten Oktopus und Kalamari: Drei kleine Oktopusarme, vier Kalamari, etwas grüne Soße auf dem Teller und sechs kleine Bratkartoffeln – geschmacklich solide, aber keine besondere Komposition, keine kulinarische Raffinesse. Auch hier stimmt für uns das Preis-Leistungs-Verhältnis schlichtweg nicht mehr.

Ein weiteres Manko: Die Weinkarte ist zwar recht umfangreich, aber es fehlen jegliche Beschreibungen zu den angebotenen Weinen. Man erfährt lediglich Name und Produzent – keine Infos zu Rebsorte, Geschmack oder Region. Beratung durch das Servicepersonal? Leider Fehlanzeige. Man wird relativ zügig zur Bestellung gedrängt – schade bei einem Lokal, das sich offensichtlich im gehobenen Segment sieht.

Abgerundet wird der Eindruck durch ein Detail, das für uns sinnbildlich für den Gesamteindruck steht: Bei einer Rechnung von knapp 180–200 Euro zu zweit ist es in Italien fast schon Tradition, zumindest ein kleines Gläschen Limoncello oder einen Averna aufs Haus zu bekommen. Hier? Nichts. Und auch wenn das keine Pflicht ist – es hätte den Gesamteindruck zumindest menschlich abgerundet.

Fazit: Das Restaurant bleibt solide in Qualität und Service, aber das Preis-Leistungs-Verhältnis stimmt für uns nicht mehr. Wir sehen keinen Grund, bei diesen Preisen wiederzukommen – vor allem, wenn es in der Region viele Alternativen gibt, die weniger inszeniert, dafür ehrlicher und stimmiger auftreten.

Leider keine...