What an utterly disappointing restaurant dinner experience, including the service, mostly provided by a seemingly stressed out, impatient, and none-too-friendly restaurant owner (he was, poor fellow, profusely sweating whenever I saw him, even as all three air conditioning units were turned off on this very warm night, for whatever reason). This is a restaurant that, as other more positive reviews prove, holds a lot of promise, but it needs a serious service and food overhaul.

Every time a dish was served, the restaurant owner would shout loudly to silence everyone at our table so he could deliver a plate to somebody, although he had no idea which plates went with which guest, despite having taken the orders himself. Adding insult to injury, he would loudly bellow “excuse me“ (in Italian) before the disruption. Then he would shout out the contents or names of the dishes like an auctioneer. One wonders if this man actually enjoys managing a restaurant and providing hospitality to his guests. I have serious doubts.

Plates came out of order, with some of the first courses being delivered after the second courses. Orders were forgotten. I actually felt sorry for the rest of the wait staff, who were meekly delivering plates and bowls even as the owner bellowed.

(Tip to the restauranteur: provide side or dinner plates for dishes served on ungainly platters. Second tip: make a system for taking orders by number and delivering them without loudly interrupting guests’ conversations. Third tip: provide more paper or laminated or even chalkboard menus — your QR code menus cheapen the experience considerably.)

The food was, unfortunately, mostly tasteless. Spinach unseasoned; bread dry; potatoes overcooked; bland tomatoes (for bruschetta and salad) carelessly sourced. A few dishes, the simple ones, were not bad but merely middling, including the pici pasta in tomato sauce and the pepperoni and cheese pizza; the grilled steak was decently seasoned. Unfortunately, even the steak was a miss: it arrived very rare when it was ordered medium and had to be returned for finishing. The red table wine was, in my opinion, very poorly chosen — in Tuscany, no less.

Ok, maybe I have erred in failing to mention one of the outstanding qualities of the restaurant. It is a very pretty restaurant, and it overlooks a lovely valley. As one of my party quipped, however, we could dine better and more happily by packing a sandwich and sitting on a hill.

Perhaps we just arrived on an off night, or perhaps the regular personnel were unavailable on this night. I really couldn’t say. Needless to say, we didn’t stick around to try out the desserts.