Osteria del Castello — Restaurant in Verbania

We’ve dined at Osteria del Castello twice, and the contrast between visits was staggering.

On our first visit, though seating was tight, a gracious staff member made space for us and we enjoyed the evening enough to purchase a €25 bottle of wine from their bottiglieria to take home. That goodwill is what brought us back.

This time, however, the experience was completely different—even though the restaurant was far from full. We arrived slightly early, were told to return later, and when we came back as instructed, we were nearly refused seating again despite plenty of empty tables.

Once seated, the disparities were hard to ignore: every other table received bread, but ours never did. I ordered my steak medium-rare; it arrived overcooked. My husband’s steak, ordered medium, was cooked exactly right. My vegetables came separately and awkwardly before the main course. They were cold by the time my entrecote arrived.

With the restaurant not even busy, these weren’t the signs of an overwhelmed team—they reflected inattentive and uneven service that left us feeling like afterthoughts rather than returning guests who had previously supported their business. It was difficult not to feel snubbed.

The setting is nice enough, but hospitality is more than scenery. If you value consistent and considerate service—or simply want to be treated the same as other diners—I would look elsewhere. “Se desiderate un servizio attento e un trattamento equo, vi consiglierei di considerare prima un altro locale. Purtroppo, in questa occasione non abbiamo ricevuto la cortesia e la considerazione che ci...

We ate better real Italian food in the past. It wasn't authentic Italian food but it was okay.

Unfortunately that has been the best part of our visit.

Beside the middle class fake Italian food there have been many bad things:

The white wine was warm and the red whine was ice cold. Each time we faced the eyes of the staff they looked mad at us and to every local customer they did a friendly chat about their day or friends. We had two kids with us. A 3 year old and a 8 month old baby. There was no offer for a baby chair and when our 3 year old was shouting one of the stuff grabbed his arm so hard that he started to cry.

We instantly left the restaurant and while leaving we saw the staff smiling. Outside we saw how they refused a black guy to have a seat.

No offense but Italians normally are very friendly people but these guys.... I don't want to use the word racist but no other...

We came in a bit early (18:20), so we were told that we could get a table and a drink, but kitchen opens from 19:00. No problemo, so we sat down and drunk a very nice local white wine and already became some very tasty finger food as an appetizer. After that we had very good meat/steak and a dish with octopus, sardines and salmon! Also the creme brulee and the Panna Cotta were delicious! Staff friendly. For sure a good...