Il Cavatappi — Restaurant in Varenna

Il Cavatappi is one of the best restaurants that my husband and I had the pleasure of eating at during our trip through Italy. Il Cavatappi is nestled between some of the oldest buildings in Varenna, which (combined with the decorations and service) helped give the restaurant a very romantic vibe. The food was extremely fresh, and that applied to every dish we ate (antipasti, pasta, meat, dolci).

I ordered a pasta dish (which I believe was made using a type of pasta flour traditional to the area) and both the pasta itself and the accompanying sauce tasted like something you would be hard pressed to find outside of Italy (and even Varenna). The sauce was extremely special, because it was made with fresh fish ragout using fish caught in the Lake Como area. My husband ordered one of the steaks, and it was honestly superior to the steak we tried in Florence. The Caprese was a show stopper, and our dolci was extremely good as well.

Overall, Il Cavatappi is definitely a restaurant you should make time to check out when you come to Varenna! This was one of the best dinners we had in all of Italy, and I strongly recommend checking it out if you're in or around Varenna.

The only thing I want to note is that it books up fast (it will book up reservations at least 4-6 weeks in advance); you can book via email, but you'll want to make sure you don't wait too long. If you do come as a walk-in, you will get to sit in one of their (very romantic) outdoor seats, but please note that they have a small number of tables and limited capacity. The owner doesn't want any of his patrons to rush (and dinners can take upwards of 2 hours if you go for multiple courses), so he will cut off the wait list fairly early in the evening. If you want to do walk-in, I'd recommend arriving sometime before...

I have traveled to Italy several times now, across multiple regions and cities, and I have to say that Il Cavatappi has shown the rudest service I have ever received in Italy. Bottom line, up front: if you are a person of color, don’t bother with this restaurant.

My family and I arrived at the restaurant an hour and a half before closing. We waited for about twenty minutes at the end of the line, as instructed. Tables start to clear, and they seat the couple in front of us. The host looks at us and says, “They are our last table for the night. There are other restaurants down that way , I’m sure you’ll like them.” They then immediately proceed to shoo us out of the area we were waiting at (where they told us to wait). Again, it was over an hour before they closed, they had tables open, and we were the last people in line, yet they made us leave after having us wait.

Looking around at their patrons and after reading other reviews, it’s no wonder why we were treated this way. It’s sad to think such blatant discrimination exists in Italy.

And for what it’s worth, since we waited in line for a while, we had ample time to look at the food that the tables around us were being served. The fare looked comparable to an American Olive Garden, but we figured we’d stay and wait because we were already there, and we were hungry. So in retrospect, maybe we were lucky that the racist staff turned us away, so we didn’t have to endure consuming their TV dinner “Italian cuisine.”

People of color, please spend your hard earned money elsewhere, and don’t waste your precious vacation time being made to feel embarrassed and humiliated.

Il Cavatappi, il tuo comportamento è brutto, vergognoso e riflette male la cultura italiana. Mi dispiace per te. Riceverai...

We were here in the off-season a few years ago and loved the place. Yesterday's experience was quite different. Since it was still busy season this time, I called and left a message (yes there was an answering machine) with my name, phone number and time of my reservation. I tried calling several other times to confirm, but no answer. When I arrived and requested my reservation I was treated quite rudely. They said "no phone reservations", which begs the question of why they have a phone number and an answering machine. After a moment of recovering from the rude brush-off, I went back in and asked to make a reservation for the following evening and was told they were booked through October, or something along those lines, and that I would have to wait in line for outside dining. How on earth are you supposed to make a reservation if they are closed all day and only open from 6:30-9:00, don't take phone reservations like every other restaurant, and then treat customers trying to make a reservation in person the way they treated me? They seem to like making people stand in line and treat them like cattle, like they're doing you a favor by letting you dine there. I will never go there again. I had made the reservation for my wife's birthday, and luckily we ended up at a lovely restaurant called La Vista right down the street where they treated us kindly and gave us a table without a reservation, the food was excellent and we had amazing views you can't get...