L’antiquario — Restaurant in Trieste

Horrible, horrible service, food was okay.

The restaurant was moderately busy and we sat outside, party of 4. We ordered drinks, 2 starters and 4 main dishes.

The starters came in after 20 minutes, which is pretty standard. However, afterwards we had to wait further 50 minutes for the main courses! That means that people without starters had to si 1 hour and 10 minutes without any food.

When the main courses finally arrived, they served us only 3 out of 4, with the 4th being "just put on the plate". Well, I don't know what they were doing, but it arrived after further 10 minutes, bringing the total oreder-table delay to 1 hour 20 minuts.

Naturally, we complained. The servers were very rude, said it was our fault for ordering starters and we had to expect delay and that this is how they do it, and that waiting for so long is normal. Not a single "sorry you had to wait" was said in those 10 minutes of conversation, which would have been enough. Not an acknowledgement of "perhaps we should have started making the main dish bit sooner". They put all the blame on us for having the audacity to spend money in their restaurant and not enjoying hour+ long wait.

At this point, I grew tired of them trying to defend the indefendible and left, but my friend in the end managed to get a bit of discount. Not sure how, but considering she is build like a bodybuilder, I assume she got angry, threatened them with beating and they gave in because of fear.

So, avoid, avoid, avoid. And avoid.

EDIT: the owner replied, so I am editing my review. They claim that they apologized several times, that is simply not true. They got defensive and blamed us. It is true that they removed one dish from the bill, and I said we got bit of discount and which was nice. (15 eur out of 120 eur bill). We had to argue for that for about 15 minutes.

They also claim we cannot expect to eat in a flash, yet there was party of 6 that came later than us, had simmilar main courses and had long finished eating before our main dishes were served to us. So, it was clearly possible to eat without having to wait for over an hour. This restaurant's issue is that they serve starters, you finish them and only some time afterwards they start making your main course, making you wait for your dish basically two times as long...

Based on a very interesting concept - old antique shop, this restaurant attracted us whilst we stopped over in Tristie as part of our European driving trip. We were able to bring our dog in as the restaurant is dog-friendly, which was excellent. The bread was served cold - if it was warm it would be better. I had three courses - cod chopstick as starter, pork rib as main and apple pie as dessert. Whilst the menu was fancy, I found all three of my dishes/courses average. I couldn't taste much of cod in the cod chopstick to be honest. The pork rib wasn't very nice I am afraid. The apple pie wasn't particularly tasty either. My partner had mozarella as starter and beef shoulder as main. They were actually very good. The service from the waitress was outstanding - well done! I really like the story about the restaurant and I feel if certain dishes can be revised and improved this would be a very...

Absolutely amazing experience! The service was top-notch from start to finish. Our server, Manuel, was phenomenal — warm, engaging, and incredibly knowledgeable. His English was excellent, and he took the time to walk us through the menu, answer our questions, and recommend the perfect wine (easily my favorite of the trip so far!).

We started with the meat and cheese platter, which was beautifully presented and so fresh. Each of us ordered different dishes, and every plate was fantastic. You could truly taste the quality and care in the food.

We sat outside under the lovely Trieste sky — the location is perfect. Lots of foot traffic and people-watching, but not too loud or busy. Just the right balance of charm and energy.

Such a memorable meal in a beautiful setting. Highly recommend! Thank you, Manuel, for making...