Osteria Salvagente — Restaurant in Trieste

I am, unfortunately, forced to change my review and will explain exactly why in a longer post, in my opinion, worth reading. We visited this charming place in June, earlier in the year. Our experience was phenomenal and we decided that it is simply a must for us to revisit the place if we ever come to Trieste again. And so we did. On Friday morning my wife sent a message via facebook asking if we can make a booking for Saturday evening. She got a response tht, unfortunately, all tables are booked. We were disappointed but, fair enough, not surprised. Later during the evening, around 21:30 we were walking around Trieste and decided to try our luck with the place, just randomly walking in and seeing if we can get a table inside. A very nice, young waitress told us that, unfortunately, they are full. I asked if there is any chance to book for Saturday late evening, and she said that we can definitely do that. We were a little surprised because earlier facebook message said that they are fully booked. She confirmed again that they do have free table at 21:00 tomorrow, took our booking details and we sorted it out. Little to say we were really happy as we did have a special occasion that evening and to be able to eat at our favorite Trieste restaurant was a cherry on top of the cake. We came tomorrow at 21:00 and the same waitress went to check our reservation. She, then, called us inside as there were some "problem". The guy working behind cash desk told us that someone canceled our reservation and that they do not have a free table. We were in a bit of a shock but explained that we definitely did not cancel anything. The lady, also working behind a bar then told us that once she came in the morning to check to bookings, she found our reservation on which someone crossed our names and said it was canceled. She kept apologizing for the inconvenience but definitely not sincerely, we had impression they just want us out of there as soon as possible, without making too much of a fuss. When I asked the young waitress how.this could be as she personally took out details yesterday, she acted as if she never saw us before. Unnecessary and rude. No one canceled the reservation. What probably happened is that the young waitress made a mistake. Took our reservation without checking availability and left it on the desk. Once we arrived in the evening, they were caught by surprise and did not know what to do. So they said that someone allegedly canceled a reservation. Pathetic, pure lie. Such a shame and disgrace for a place like this with amazing cooks and delicious food, probably best we tried in Trieste. Their representatives showed just how big of amateurs they are and gave a perfect example of how not to treat guests which maybe recommended the place to people they know. Not how you treat people and do business. If someone told us honestly that a mistake was made, i stead of lying to us amd making up some excuses("someone" cancelling reservation) we would have been disappointed but mistakes happens. This way it is only a bitter taste that we feel after and unfortunately will never come back to this restaurant. I would advise everyone planning to visit the place to triple check their reservation just in case, simply to avoid...

Sadly, I will need to update my visit to the restaurant from yesterday to 1 star experience due to the following situation (long explanation):

I wrote on Facebook to Salvagente to ask if there is place to book for Saturday. They said - i am very sorry but we are fully booked. Okay, my husband and I went there on Friday to try our luck for that night as we were very impressed by the service and mainly food in June when we visited. We enter the restaurant asking if there are free tables and they say no. We said okay, it's not possible to eat here then this time. Just to try our luck, we kindly asked young waitress with glasses if it is possible to book a table for tomorrow (on Saturday) and she was kind, cheerful and happy and most importantly said yes which you can imagine - made us very happy! Now imagine the next situation: we are all dressed up because my husband and I wanted to celebrate our wedding anniversary there, we arrived 5 min before our reservation and we greet the same waitress who took the reservation. We say, we have the reservation for 2, for 9pm. She went inside, came back, passed by and then went inside again. Then she came back and said can you please come back inside. Colleagues behind the bar - a gentlemen and a lady who seamed more experienced to handle these situations told us the following: YOUR RESERVATION IS CANCELLED. And when we asked who cancelled as I didn't get a call and young waitress with glasses who took our reservation shrugged her shoulders and tow of them said we don't know. We just got it like this today. Of course we started explaining that this is not how you treat customers but at that point it was pointless. My take on this experience is that whoever owns this place needs to invest some time observing customer service (as we are not first ones to comment on it) and explaining to colleagues how to treat the customer fairly, rightly, equally and how to take booking of tables seriously. It gives me also the impression that waitress that took the booking was not aware of all the bookings previously done or just didn't think her actions will impact people much (so communication is essential with the whole staff). They do - not because i can't eat anywhere else that night for my anniversary but because every time when somebody asks me where to eat in Trieste - for this restaurant i will surely say where not to eat, sadly.

Experience in June 2023: Amazing experience! We didn't book and they didn't have place outside but they offered us to sit in. Pasta alla busara, mussels with home made gnocchi and a bit spicy ragu (my personal favourite!) and seabass were amazing! Staff is very kind and prices are fair. The atmosphere inside reminds me of fisherman boat and it feels very welcoming. We will be back...

Unacceptable Service – I Will Not Return

I travel often and dine out in many countries, and I’ve been to this restaurant in Italy three times now. The food has always been good — which is exactly why this experience was so disappointing, and frankly, unacceptable.

I ordered a pasta dish (which was delicious), and after a few bites, I asked the waitress if I could order a different pasta — just to try something else. She didn’t answer. She didn’t ask any questions. She just walked away in silence.

A few minutes later, I told the waiter that I had asked to order another pasta. His response? “You ordered another pasta. The chef is making you the same one.” I tried to explain it was a misunderstanding — a language issue, maybe — and that I didn’t want the same dish again. He couldn’t have cared less. He ignored me, and that was the end of the conversation.

Soon after, they brought out the exact same pasta again, dropped it on the table, and walked away without a word. We didn’t even touch the second plate — and they still charged us for it.

Not once did anyone apologize for the mix-up. No one offered to fix it, or even offer something small — like a dessert or a coffee — to smooth things over. Nothing. The attitude was: “Not our problem.”

And the waiter in particular? Shockingly rude and arrogant. Zero hospitality. Zero effort to understand or help. It felt like we were being punished for their mistake.

I’ve had many amazing experiences in restaurants across Italy, but this was by far the worst service I’ve ever received. No matter how good the food is, I will never return — and I strongly advise others to avoid this place unless you enjoy being treated with complete indifference.

Certo! Ecco la traduzione in italiano, mantenendo lo stesso tono assertivo e professionale:

Servizio Inaccettabile – Non Tornerò Mai Più

Viaggio spesso e mangio fuori in tanti paesi, e sono stato in questo ristorante in Italia già tre volte. Il cibo è sempre stato buono — proprio per questo motivo questa esperienza è stata così deludente e, sinceramente, inaccettabile.

Ho ordinato un piatto di pasta (delizioso), e dopo qualche boccone ho chiesto alla cameriera se potevo ordinare un altro tipo di pasta, solo per provare qualcosa di diverso. Lei non ha risposto. Nessuna domanda, nessuna spiegazione. È semplicemente andata via in silenzio.

Dopo qualche minuto, ho spiegato al cameriere che avevo chiesto alla cameriera di ordinare un’altra pasta. La sua risposta? “Hai ordinato un’altra pasta. Lo chef ti sta preparando la stessa.” Ho provato a spiegare che si trattava di un malinteso — magari un problema di lingua — e che non volevo lo stesso piatto. Ma non mi ha ascoltato. Mi ha completamente ignorato, fine della conversazione.

Poco dopo, hanno portato lo stesso piatto di pasta, lo hanno lasciato sul tavolo senza dire una parola e se ne sono andati. Non abbiamo nemmeno toccato il secondo piatto — e ce lo hanno comunque fatto pagare.

Nessuno si è scusato per l’equivoco. Nessuno ha cercato di rimediare in alcun modo, neanche offrendo un piccolo gesto come un dolce o un caffè per rendere la situazione più accettabile. Niente. L’atteggiamento è stato: “non è un nostro problema”.

E il cameriere in particolare? Estremamente scortese e arrogante. Nessuna ospitalità. Nessun tentativo di capire o aiutare. Sembrava quasi che fossimo noi ad aver sbagliato.

Ho avuto tante esperienze meravigliose nei ristoranti in tutta Italia, ma questo è stato senza dubbio il peggior servizio che abbia mai ricevuto. Per quanto il cibo possa essere buono, non tornerò mai più — e sconsiglio vivamente questo posto a chiunque non voglia essere trattato con totale...