Taverna del Pappagallo Ristorante e Pizzeria — Restaurant in Stresa

Stopped in with friends on my trip to Stresa. We were looking for fairly inexpensive and certainly not looking for Michelin Star food nor service. However … First, this is not a white tablecloth kinda place. If you’re looking for fine dining with servers who wear tails and explain how every dish is prepared and such, this is not your place. What you will get is great food at a good price and your party will be able to talk, laugh, and have a bit of casual dining without any pretense. The servers are easy going. The menu has a good selection. The wine list is sorta simple but it works. My guests had the veal, the Orecchiette with broccoli, and the beef. Each said their dish was good. I had the lasagne and -- OMG! -- it was to die for. No joke. I’m not lying. It was the best lasagna I’ve ever had anywhere at anytime bar none. I dreamed about it that night and couldn’t wait to go back the next day and have another round. It was without the tomato-type sauces served in the US but was made with a creamy/cheesy sauce instead. I’m drooling writing about it a week later. WHATEVER YOU DO, YOU MUST TRY THE LASAGNA. The deserts were in a large case up front so you, naturally, got a chance to walk up to the case, stare, dream, lust after, and then select your sin. Very reasonably priced. Kids were in the place but so were elderly folks --- looks like a lot of locals ate there quite a bit since the servers seems to know a good many of them. Not too loud. Casual attire though the locals were certainly dressed better than the US tourists. My recommendation is to go, go hungry, try the lasagna, try any/several/all the desserts, and have...

Pappagallo is one of the best places to eat pizza in Italy. Why? Because they have good ingredients and they are using a wooden oven. The first sign that showed us that it is a good place to eat, was the queue right in front of the entrance, before 18:30. At 18:30 sharp, the owner opened the door and the entire ristorante was full of people and all tables were occupied. Pappagallo is a basic but nice Italian restaurant in Stresa, and it is perfect if you intend to not go to city centers and avoid tourist traps. The prices are very good, warm ambience and very friendly staff (love the way they speak to you in Italian). There are lots of authentic Italian dishes (pizza, pasta, meat, cheese platters and seafood) but the wood-fired pizzas are exceptional! We tried pasta amatriciana, pizza four seasons and pizza arrabiata (with spicy sausage), plus some nice lager beer aside. No other comments, the...

Pizza napoletana with some room for improvement. The restaurant has a large vine pergola to dine under, which creates a nice ambiance. The menu offers pasta, fish, meat and pizza napoletana. Obviously the wide selection does exist to please everyone (burgers…for Americans I guess…). Try their own craft beer (IPA and Lager) if you like beer. There are special pizzas with local and regional ingredients which is nice. You can also opt for the classics and order a pizza margherita (Tricolore). The style of pizza is napoletan, so you get a large crust. In this particular case, the crust was enormous. You definitely get full with it, but I have tried other pizza napoletana with a better base to crust ratio. This could be improved. To make a enormous crust, only for the visuals - I don’t like that. But decide for yourself if you...