Locanda del Pompiere — Restaurant in Verona

We met the owner while getting lost in the city, the restaurant is thankfully in a small remote plaza, just off the main thoroughfare. And blissfully calm.

We promised to return, the owner was so nice and talkative, sharing insights about the local restaurant scene. That’s how we learned that this location is the fish offshoot of its more renowned older brother, focusing on meat.

But like fish, so we came back here.

We ordered 3 equally good dishes, expertly cooked and plated. First came the vongole, very good rendition, lacked garlic and white wine in my opinion, but right on for the salty, briny taste.

Then, the linguine with Sicilian sweet red prawns, we have been dreaming since Sicily 3 years ago, that dish was flawless and should be ordered as the thin fish sauce expertly envelops the linguine. A masterclass of execution here.

Finally, the vitello tonnato was made to perfection, tender, a slow steam cooked veal opposed to the tuna mayonnaise. We wish we could order that every week and if it is still on the menu (I do not see it?), it should be ordered. Not a lot of restaurants have this emblematic dish of fine Italian dining.

We felt we should indulge in the local Prosecco offering and we were expertly guided through the choices, so not a stretch to say that service was flawless from start to finish. Sign of a great restaurant, the owner stopped by our table at the end and shared a local secret.

Again, when you deal with the pros, you get pro hospitality.

Overall, for the atmosphere, dining and service, we felt this was an outstanding experience and we wholeheartedly recommend this restaurant to everyone. Great value for the quality delivered and really nice people in the heart of Verona.

P.S.: if this review and pictures were helpful in selecting a place, please leave a 👍,...

We came here following the very good reviews, after few days exploring the incredible food scene of Verona. Our experience didn’t started well as nobody was here to welcome us when we came in (a detail but never a good start). We have been brought to the upstairs room which lacks of warmth, it’s a tall roof so the noise coming from a 10 people table was amplified and we needed to elevate our voice to be heard. Unfortunately we didn’t like the service. Our waiter was not attentive, walked away few times to see other tables while we were talking to him, didn’t care about what we were saying about our wine taste, so we ended up drinking what he wanted, not to our taste. Food wise, it could be good, but details are failing. The spaghetti all vongole were tasty but crunchy (extra sand included). We ordered the wild fish of the day. We haven’t been informed of the weight and ended up paying 100 euros (for 2) for a fish which was really good, but that we felt really overpriced for the quantity we had to eat. The fish service was clumsy and we had to remove all the fish bones from it. It was served without sauce, and only with a bit of chicoree salad, and olive oil (good discovery fish/olive oil). The tiramisu disappointed us as well. It was unfortunately our least favorite experience in Verona. Maybe it’s made for locals for a change of food scene with a fancy touch, but to make it work, we feel the details should be more considered. It was...

HORRIBLE AND UNACCEPTABLE SERVICE. We were screamed at by the owner after returning a plate of vegetables that were cooked with butter...after having clearly said that we are vegan.

He interrupted our nice family lunch and started SCREAMING at us saying that his restaurant was not vegan (something that we already knew) and that he cooked his vegetables the way he wanted and that he does not a support veganism. No one asked him to do so, we just returned the plate since we were not going to eat it, that is all.

The owner is very aggressive and it is totally unacceptable to scream to clients that way. I have never been treated so badly in a restaurant in my life. I had to ask him to please leave our table, since he did not stop repeating that his restaurant was not vegan. Totally a crazy and aggressive man.

The food was not even that good. He still charged us the plate and we paid since he was really scary and we did not want any more screaming.

There are nicer restaurants in Verona, don't waste your time eating there. Owners that don't know how to treat clients should not own...