La Pergola Rosa — Restaurant in Turin

This place is horrible and expensive.

Well maybe we should have been more specific in our critique. But actually it was for your sake that we did not get into details.

Let us explain.

The horrible thing was partly the feeling we got from the waiter, and partly from some of the food and the wine. The expensive evaluation is mainly from the overall ratio between quality, service and price. And then we end with a very expensive meal with a service that made us feel uncomfortable. When you compare to other places in Torino, you get very good service and food for the price of 133 euro. If you want we can mention a lot of places. And its not for 3 adult coperti. Its for 2 adults and one 4 year old child.

The truffle dishes was ok, especially the risotto. And the price for these 2 dishes was very reasonable. The salad and the brasato was ok. The plin we thought had a very strong taste of lam. And our daughter, who normally loves plin, did not like them. Maybe that is just a matter of taste.

The tagliata was in our opinion something that should not have been served like that. We asked it to be medium. It came very dry, tasteless, and totally grey, as it was "well done" not medium at all. This dry meat was breaded with a soaky and tasteless breading. If you bread the meat, should it not be crisp? Like a japanese Gyukatsu, with the rosa meat inside and the crispy breading on the outside. 20 Euros for this tagliata is not acceptable in our eyes. Hence expensive, as we did not even finish it.

We thought the desserts had a low quality and were not freshly made. We had eaten at "Ristorante Tuorlo vino e cucina" for lunch and compared to their freshly made desserts at the same price, they were world apart. Expensive when considered the quality.

But the worst. was the service from a somewhat passive agressive waiter. We actually felt sorry for her, as she seemed angry and sad. But it made us very uncomfortable, and of course that is a reason why we think this experience was horrible and expensive. And actually it also stopped us from complaining at the restaurant, as that would have been the right and most fair thing to do. The other waiter, a little older and the chef, seemed really nice, smiling with a polite and positive attitude.

The wine: One of us really did not feel like drinking wine, but the waiter was kind of pushy. We said that we considered a Barolo, but she was very eager to pour a Langhe, without having a sense for the costumer mood or wishes. It was obvious that one of us did not want wine. The other did want wine, a glass of barolo. The waiter seemed irritated and as she wanted to pour the langhe. But we insisted on the barolo, so she went to get it. This is not a feeling you want when you order wine in a restaurant like this.

But the worst is yet to come. When she came back with the wine bottle she had twisted the label of the wine into her hand, when pouring the wine, so the label was invisable. I was trying to chat about the wine, telling I like barolo. She quickly poured the glass and said: "yes Barolo" and went away with the bottle, still with the label turned to her hand. I was baffled and could not believe this. Even in small and more casual places they would of course show you the label of the wine etc. telling about the wine or at least let the costumer ask. This behavior in a restaurant like this is just unacceptable. The wine did not taste like barolo by the way, and I did not finish the glass. They charged 12 Euro for this glass, with that horrible service. Thats just expensive and unacceptable.

Furthermore the waiter seemed to get more and more agressive and unpleasant as the night went by. It was like she was in an argument and fight with someone in the kitchen. Some disagreement was surely going on. There was even yelling. At some point she seemed to have been crying also. We of course felt bad for her.But we did not understand what was going on. Towards the end of the meal she was nearly throwing the spoons for the desserts onto the table.

Full review on tripadvisor. Not...

This was an absolutely amazing experience. It's a must-visit in Turin.

The chef is very friendly and inviting. His hospitality is to the point that you feel you have been invited to his home. There is a lot of personal contact and you really feel that the chef takes pride in his work and wants to share this enthusiasm with his guests. The chef speaks great English, so there is no problem if you don't speak Italian.

The atmosphere of the restaurant is very cozy and inviting - furthermore it's located in a beautiful part of town. Small quirks like having a beer served in a red wine glass are very fun.

I had two nice courses: an agnolotti and a braised veal with wine. The dishes were not extravagant, but very tasty and well-portioned.

In addition, my girlfriend is a celiac, and the chef is very accommodating for this type of allergy. She had plenty of options to choose from. In case you have a dietary restriction that forced you to eat gluten-free, this could be a consideration for you.

All in all, thanks for the wonderful evening and the best of luck to the chef and his staff! I will visit this restaurant again if I'm ever in...

This is a special place, with a warm, softly-lit ambiance. Chef Angelo and his wife Tina were excellent, attentive hosts, going over menu options if you have food sensitivities like celiac/gluten. The food was excellent and imaginative with w enough variety to more than please a variety of palates. Fish was excellent. Pasta al dente and tasty. Desserts sublime. Cant recommend enough. Pro tip: can will probably leave you at an open plaza along XX Septembre. Walk back along the road (don’t go in the plaza no matter what google maps seems to indicate) about 40 feet and look for the rose-lit windows (Rosa!) you won’t regret it. Oh and did I tell you it was 5-10 Euros less expensive per dish without any sacrifice in quality or freshness?

UPDATE: Returned for our last night in Turin. Didn’t want to risk a hit or miss for our last meal. Did not disappoint. Angelo is meticulous with his ingredients and remembered everyone’s preferences. Dinner was superb - pasta, gnocchi, aubergine, veal, lamb — all succulent. I even braved the 2 chocolate dessert which was so dense it had its own gravity (and covered in gold leaf!) Cinque...