La Taverna Del Mago — Restaurant in Verbania

Lured by the wonderful reviews, I went to La Taverna Del Mago expecting a nice meal for me and my friends. However, our experience couldn't have been more different. After arriving and being showed our table, the waitress explained that there was no written menu and that it would be presented by the chef. He showed up later on, and was ok, not the most welcoming, but made an effort to explain the dishes in English. However, once we asked to repeat the dishes since we couldn't remember 8 complex dishes, he became arrogant. (This could have been easily solved with a written menu). It only got worse when we were told there was no wine list (we like to select not only according to taste, but also according to budget). We were told "why do you want the wine list since you don't know italian wines, it won't serve you". We should have left at this point, but we remembered the good food reviews and stayed. However, the food was nothing to rave about. Amongst 5 dishes, two were ok, while the other three were bland. Also, we ordered two meat dishes and were not asked how done we'd like the meat, which was rare but slightly burned. At no point during the dinner were we asked for our opinion about the meal. We also had a dirty water cup, and when we asked for another one, we were offered no apologies and were asked if we wanted to transfer the water from the dirty cup to the new one?! To top it all, we ended up paying more than expected for this miserable experience, since the menu at the entrance stated the primi cost 13€ and the secondi cost 15€, and we were charged 16€ and 20€, respectively. I'd like to know what was the special ingredient that made the chef charge us more.. rudeness perhaps?! Definitely do not reccomend!! The worst dining experience I've...

A very unpleasant experience. The menu is composed of primi and secondi piatti that change everyday - so far, so good - with a fixed price on the menu that is available at the entrance of the restaurant. The waitress gave us a table, but when we asked for the menu, we were told there isn’t one (printed or digital), and that the chef would explain it instead. He did so, but started getting arrogant when we asked him to repeat since we didn’t memorize all the dishes - which would have been easily solved with a written menu. Then, when we asked for the wine list, we were told (again!!!) that there isn’t one. When we insisted, we were told by the chef that if we saw the list (that doesn’t exist…) our choice would be price-based only. That was incredibly rude. When the food finally came, it was not at all deserving of the good comments we had read on TripAdvisor/google - the primi were okay but mostly bland and the entrecôte and tagliata (the secondis) were too rare (we were never asked how we would like our meat done) and one of them came without a side dish. Finally, when the check came we ended up paying a different price than the one set on the menu - 16€ por the primi (instead of 13€) and 20€ for the secondi (instead of 15€). That was just dishonest and ended a mediocre experience in the worst...

We were 5 friends that went for dinner and all the experience was unpleasant. After we sit, we asked for the menu and we were told that it didn't exist (in any language) and the chef would explain the dishes. He did it but he seemed annoyed when we asked him to repeat since we didn’t memorize it all. Then, when we asked for the wine list and we were told that there wasn't one available as well. When we insisted, we were told that our choice would be price-based if we would see it. Regarding the food, some dishes were okay but some were way below our expectations. We were never asked how we would like our meat done and one of them came without a side dish. When the check came we ended up paying a different and more expensive price than the fixed price set on the general menu at the entrance of the restaurant. This just feels like acting in bad faith making it a very...