All’Osteria di Casa Pepe — Restaurant in Trieste

We recently dined at this restaurant, and while the food was fantastic, our overall experience was marred by disappointing service.

We arrived without a reservation, and despite the restaurant being crowded, we managed to secure a table for two. The ambiance was lively, and the atmosphere seemed promising. We ordered pizzas and some appetizers which turned out great.

Unfortunately, the service fell short. After finishing our meal, we waited for around 30 minutes without anyone coming by to clear our plates or ask if we wanted anything else. The table light ran out of batteries during this time and when the boss came to replace it, we took the opportunity to kindly ask about desserts. She assured us a waiter would be with us soon.

However, it took another 10-15 minutes before anyone came to clear our table. I asked again for desserts, and the waiter promised to return quickly, but that "minute" never came. After an additional 15 minutes of waiting with no drinks, plates, or desserts, we decided to pay and leave.

While I hesitate to make assumptions, the lack of attention felt particularly off-putting, and as foreigners, we couldn't help but feel like we were being treated...

Arriving without reservation after a first puzzled look, the waitress found a solution for a table which had a later reservation. We received the “benvenuto” of the house, which was nice but not really to be remembered. As first course we had the zucchini flowers filled and fried, which were also nice but still nothing special. The draft beer (bionde) was good and the housewine as well. My grilled mixed seafood plate was great and very tasty (only the swordfish slice was extremely dry) 👍 But the two other dishes (second plati) were the baccala fish for my husband and his sister with tomato sauce and potatoes. The potatoes were mostly and best case “al dente”, partly you couldn’t get the fork through and the dish was absolutely tasteless. For them it was a disappointment. We believe that the owner took away our plates but didn’t bother to ask if the food was ok or why all the potatoes were left on the plates. The place is very nice but be careful with the ladies toilet: I got stuck for @ a minute and couldn’t open up from the inside, but then I got out 😅 The waiters were very nice and friendly, even though it took them about 10 minutes to...

It's our first evening in trieste, and we came to casa Pepe by coincidence (and not regret it). It's a relax yet elegant atmosphere, and my! The food was fabulous - my last time having zucchini flowers was a decade ago in Australia, and I was just too pleased to having it here (and again, not regret it, we finished the dish in 5 minutes 😊). My spaghetti with clams was as delicious as my partner's pizza trieste, and on top of that, the beer and wine just accompanied the food so well. Hope we will go there once again, but our stays in trieste is short and it seems there are so (too) many good...