Grand Cafe San Marco — Restaurant in Valeggio sul Mincio

We drove to Borghetto based on a recommendation to us a beautiful small town. The views did not disappoint, the vibes definitely did. We had spent the day sailing on Garda and were no doubt looking a bit sun burned tired from the 37c heat, but not dishevelled by any means. The first restaurant we inquired about a table at said they were fully booked. The Grand Cafe San Marco looked a little more like our typical family style restaurant so we decided to give it a try. When we were seated I sensed a slight disdain at our presence, I chalked it up to not speaking Italian, something I am very apologetic about. I have no expectations that I should be able to travel the world speaking only English, the reality good or bad, is that we can get by with a basic understanding of other languages, listening carefully and choosing words carefully. I truly felt unwelcome, the kind of disdain that comes from people who both need and hate tourists at the same time. I felt bad just being there and wanted it to end … the place was 1/2 empty we weren’t taking a table from some high rollers. the food came and it was good, my pizza crust was perfect, and the ingredients and flavour was delicious, perhaps slightly biased by my extreme hunger but worthy of 3 stars even considering the service. Before posting my review I read some others and some Italian speakers share our experience, so perhaps they dont hate us personally for visiting their country, maybe they just hate their job. On the way back to the car we walked past the “fully booked” restaurant that turned us away, empty. This place reminded me a lot of Bruges, small, insanely beautiful, and unfortunately tourists and the industry that serves them ruining it. And that’s a bit unfair to Bruges, maybe throw in a bit of Paris. Do Borghetto a...

AWFUL!!!!! Let's start with the good stuff. The location is beautiful, and that's where it finishes. The service was appauling, we arrived to be offered a table inside. I politely requested that we sit by the river, which given the beauty spot it's in, and the number of tables free shouldn't have been a difficult request. However, the incredibly rude member of staff rolled his eyes, ushered me to collect the menus and the bread from the original table, and seat myself. At this point, we should've left. However, we gave them the benefit of the doubt and then proceeded to wait over half an hour to be served. The waiter again was incredibly rude. Once the food came, it didn't get much better. The veal chop with fries arrived as a slab of greasy, tasteless, deep-fried meat without the fries. Quite frankly wouldnt have fed this my dog. The pizza looked beautiful. However, it tasted like a frozen pizza that we could get back home. We then requested the bill, which took a further 30 minutes to arrive. They kindly charged us for the stale bread we received. Once we waited a futher 30 minutes to pay the bill, we decided to go inside to hurry it along, to which we got ushered around the restaurant, passed from pillar to post. This is by far the worst experience we have had in Italy, and we should have treated them with the same respect we were shown and left...

Go to one or the friendlier intimate places next door!

I grew up spending Summer vacations with my grandparents at Lake Garda. We dined out in the area countless times (over the last 40 years) and also have many local Italian friends. As far as I can remember this is maybe the worst treatment ever received. After touring the beautiful town, we decided to go inside and ask to be seated. At that point we hadn't yet decided on whether we wanted to eat or not, especially as it was around 4 - 5 pm, a bit past Lunch and too early for dinner. The entire reason we came to this town was to enjoy the scenic view over the river, whether we dined or not. We were greeted by what it seemed to be, the head waiter or restaurant manager, and were asked in a rushing manner whether we came to eat or just to drink. We said we would probably eat something however were not totally sure yet, after which he then quickly tried to summon us to sit at the noisy side patio area. We assumed this was for guests who wanted a quick drink, snack, and not take part in the "pricier" restaurant menu. We already noticed several tables with guests on the beautiful balcony overlooking the river, however he then abruptly indicated that it was closed. This seemed very suspicious and without even waiting for an answer he quickly rushed off. We didn't have much choice, other than to leave...