Trattoria "La Botte" 👨🏻‍🍳 — Restaurant in Stresa

The question is what makes a top notch restaurant dining experience? For me that's attention to detail, a refined ambiance, service and most of all the food. Or you could just come here and see what all that looks, feels and tastes like. A family run place with the husband, son and daughter in law in the kitchen and mom up front. The room is sophisticated and warm. All the detail have been covered. At your table you will have a nice flower arrangement and your fork and knife sit on a block of marble so they never touch the table. There is art and vignettes everywhere so as you look around there are stones accents on the walls, paintings, wine glasses ect. You will have plenty to see. As to service my wife dropped her knife and within seconds a new one was brought to the table. Enough said

The food ? Elevated, splendid. And unexpected. I ordered the Iberian pork. Perfectly cooked and displayed served with beets and a yogurt. I have ordered a version of this dish in Miami, spain and Portugal but none rise to the level of this one. The Mrs had the lake fish fry. There was all sort of lightly beaded and flash fried fish along with onions, carrots, zucchini and potatoes. This was not greasy the fish was fresh and plump, just superb. The wine list is extensive with both local wines and wines from Italy and France. I ordered an excellent Rosso de Montalcino. The dessert was a very inventive mix of chocolate moose, cream and rice cakes. I know it's sounds normal but this was so inventive and delicious the presentation was part of the allure. We have been in Italy for 21 days now and have been here 4 other times. This is one of the top restaurants we have dined at. The fact that it's family run takes it up a notch. If you are near lake maggiore head here you...

Disappointing Experience Despite the Hype. I recently visited this restaurant, drawn by the buzz surrounding its Michelin star. Unfortunately, the experience fell far short of expectations.

First, the ambiance is almost non-existent — no thought seems to have gone into the design or atmosphere. The interior is bare and uninviting, and to make matters worse, there’s no air conditioning. Dining in such conditions, especially on a warm day, made it hard to enjoy the meal.

Service was equally underwhelming. The owner greeted me with a smile, but it felt more forced than friendly — the kind of politeness that lacks genuine warmth.

As for the food, which should be the highlight: the portions were surprisingly small, even for a fine-dining place, and nothing on the plate stood out. The flavors were bland, presentation basic, and overall it was difficult to understand what earned this place a Michelin star in the first place.

In short, the restaurant relies heavily on its reputation rather than delivering a truly special dining experience. I left hungry and unimpressed. There are plenty other restaurants in Stresa with a Michelin star...

Turned up without a booking delighted today get a table this evening. Greeted with smiles menu looked great . Order a pre dinner drink wine with the meal . A bit rushed . Didn’t finish aperatif starter arrived delicious carpaccio of octopus . Main course wine didn’t arrive reminded waiter of wine he said half or full we said full . Still no wine meal needed the wine as rabbit a little dry . My husband not impressed a lot of. Politics going on at desk and front of house and kitchen lots of arguments and not paying attention to customers . Need to sort them selves potential but lost it. Don’t try to be too fancy need to get service right 🤔 wouldn’t recommend better places around Stresa as it want cheap had a much better meal and service in the square !! And cheaper the night before ....