Hostaria G. Strehler — Restaurant in Trieste

Never ever in my life I've been treated that bad. It's so incredible, so disgusting, that I'm literally trembling. I came to Trieste two nights ago: only 1/4 of the restaurant was occupied by customers, but the waitress told us everything was booked. Difficult to believe at 22:30 and closing at 00:00, but ok. I asked her kindly for another place to eat: she replied she doesn't know any other place, that "she only eats there". Rude, very rude.

Today, I'm back at 19:30 so I can be sure I can have dinner. Only three tables are occupied, the rest of the restaurant is empty. Guess what: EVERYTHING IS BOOKED! For any time? I wonder. Well, she adds, I'm sure you won't wait for 2 hours until 21:30! I say that perhaps yes, and she literally starts to laugh...

Please, don't go there. Honestly, the food looks delicious, but I can't understand why the waitress, probably the owner, is so unnecessarily rude not once, but twice. Even an italian customer has tried to calm us because he noticed the bad way she talked to us.

I've been traveling all over 33 countries and I've had very different experiences in restaurants of all kind of cultures: nevertheless, this has been the worst episode so far and by far.

What a shame.

P.D.: after reading the owner's answer, I feel compelled to add some insights:

1.- when we first tried to dinner there, she didn't say it was compulsory to make a reservation if we wanted to go any other day.

2.- the only way to do a reservation is calling to an italian telephone number or in person. Really? Welcome to the XXI century.

3.- after the incident, we waited for an hour at the restaurant's entrance. Not a single client came. So we could have perfectly eaten. The owner's confirms that in her answer: even at 21:30 there was room for us. So I can only conclude that either she doesn't want to work, either she doesn't want to work with tourists (we only saw locals the two times we went there).

4.- of course we are mad but we kept our manners. As for her, as soon as I asked her if she spoke english (even if I manage to speak basic italian), she laughed and turned her back to me, ignoring me and my girlfriend until we left.

Final: sort the reviews from lower to higher and then you will see that, sadly, we are not the only ones to have suffered this unacceptable and...

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we stepped in around 6 pm and managed to request a table for 8 pm, despite the lady speaking very little english. when we arrived, i told her i had coeliac disease (in bad Italian) and she immediately pointed out which items would be suitable for me.

they don't have gf bread or pasta here, and focus on naturally gf dishes instead. i had a beautiful red rice salad with peach, melon and prawn, which i plan to recreate at home soon, and then a main of "frico" - a local dish of fried cheese and potato served with polenta. this was a little rich and oily given the warm weather, but would go down excellently with a beer in the...

Need reservations apparently, if you're not going to allow for any walk-ins or if you know you're always going to book out, do let your potential customers know to book ahead of time. Perhaps even set up an online booking system to indicate that reservations are highly suggested?

Was greeted with a sweet "no" in trying to get a table for dinner on a Sunday evening. Unfortunately, no offer for following days - just a "sorry, no!"

On a positive note, at least they were one of few restaurants open on a Sunday evening in the area. I just hated that I wasted time walking here as they didn't pick up their phones earlier to find out that I was not going to dine with...