La Vista — Restaurant in Varenna

How disappointing. We went there as we saw the great reviews and that they had vegan / vegetarian options BUT apart from the beautiful view there wasn’t much to be desired. The eggplant in the grilled vegetable was completely undercooked- hard. The caprese was very average and if you compare the photos from a past review that I have attached, you’ll see it’s clear we got some half-arsed effort tonight. Our vegan caprese lacked detail that it once had- no heart shape cheese and only one little fresh basil which is SO necessary for flavour. Compare the photos from the review and tonight, where there used to be basil throughout the dish. Our Seitan dish was half the size of the photo in a previous review AND was barely edible- VERY over cooked, difficult to cut with a knife. What’s more the ratatouille it came with was cold. It was very underwhelming. We also had a pasta dish which was also cold and lacked flavour. Oh, and my wine came with an insect. My only regret is I waited until the bill to give feedback. I should’ve sent it all back to the chef. There was one nice waitress but overall the whole place lacked personality and didn’t feel welcoming at all. We’ve eaten at a LOT of places and call ourselves “foodies” - I rarely leave a negative review, so to write this says exactly how disappointing the experience was. To top it off - it was the our most expensive meal in Lake Como for us- 4x the lunch we had earlier in the day that was so authentic, served warm, and delicious and satisfying - which makes it even worse. I’m always happy spend the extra $$$s on a great meal, but sadly...

This is a fantastic restaurant. My family of five (3 children) stumbled upon it and dropped in later in the evening 9pm-ish on a Friday, not necessarily expecting to be able to be seated, if at all. They were very accommodating snd seated us right away and took care of us like we were family. The views from this terrace are nothing short of spectacular. The sunsets are amazing. And on top of that the quality of the food is fantastic. If you want to spend less money and “people watch” and have it be loud, there are plenty of other restaurants right along the lake in Varenna. They have their place too. Don’t get me wrong. However, If you wanna slow down a bit, have very delicious and high-quality food, have amazing views, and a bit quieter conversations, slower pace, this place is your place. During your visit, pick a night, and get dressed up and come to this place. I don’t know, but I don’t believe there’s any other place in Varenna that have a 360 degree patio and a view like this one does. Entire staff were super friendly, the owner was very involved and clearly cares deeply about this place. Would highly recommend adding this into your rotation, expect to spend a little bit more, and you will get a lot more from it. This restaurant is a microcosm of the reason you chose to come to Varenna and Lake Como for vacation. Come dressed up, not for the judgment of other people here, no not at all, but for yourself to have a more meaningful meal with your...

This was our last night in Italy for our honeymoon and we wanted to spend it having a special dinner so I made the reservation at La Vista months in advance. The restaurant is located overlooking the lake and has a beautiful view. Unfortunately, the owner/manager sat a table in front of us, which would not have been an issue except he proceeded to stand at the table nearly our entire meal. It was clear he had a personal relationship with them and was ensuring they had a VIP experience. They were given the middle front table of the restaurant (with their dog) and he was standing a foot in front of us, blocking views of the lake, not only for us, but for the entire restaurant for nearly the entire meal. We did three courses, and he was still there by the time we were served dessert. After an hour of this, we decided to move to a table adjacent to where we were sitting and were scolded by the same manager for doing so. The food was also hit or miss. We enjoyed the octopus app and the steak plate, but the beef tartare and shrimp spaghetti were misses. The crème brûlée was also a weird jello and basically inedible. Tiramisu was okay but also not worth it in our opinion. The servers were nice otherwise, but the whole point was to have a fine dining experience with a view and that was not...