Al Company — Restaurant in Vicenza

Overall, a pleasant dining experience, we were seated immediately, but waited awhile for service, which was approximately 10-15 minutes.

As generally known, if it is fully packed, there'll be a wait involved. Attendants and waiters were very polite and responsive to our questions. Extra drinks were easy to get, with just a raise of the hand.

T-bone steak ($28 Euro) was delicious as is (approximately 12-18 Oz, and 1" it was cooked properly, as requested, medium rare), It came with sides of grilled polenta cake, and potatoes, and a garnish of lemon. However, there are no condiments like steak sauce available. The only things available condiment-wise, was olive oil, spicy olive oil, and vinegar.

FYI when ordering a pepperoni pizza, this will only get you bellpeppers on top, instead look at the menu and try to identify what you want (there is a small English translation given of the ingredients), The size of pizzas aren't described fully in menu, just the ingredients, but they are generally approximately 13" to 14" wide, and thin crust, costing around $7.50-9 Euros. A mac and cheese entree will set you back about $10 Euros.

Cokes and sodas are $3 Euro a piece, and are in mini sizes (7.5ml). Sorry, no free refills here. A large bottle of sparkling water, however, is $2.50 Euro each, and serves 2 people.

Note: there are extra charges of mandatory Italy VAT taxes (IVA) attached to each menu item, and the cover.

Here "coperto" or cover charges added, indicates how many people are eating: for example "2 x coperto" indicates 2 people are dining.

Value Added Tax in local language is IVA or "Imposta sul valore aggiunto". The Italian VAT rates are as follows:

Standard rate: 22% [Reduced rates: 10% and 5%] Super-reduced rate: 4%

In this case, 10% IVA was used by this restaurant.

Total cost for a dinner for...

Risotto was wildly undercooked. Actually crunched with each bite and left me gaseous and a bit nauseous afterwards. Service was good up until they served us our first course, which was the risotto. Wife was smart to stop after taking a few bites (had decided to take more than one bite to at least show she had attempted to eat it). I, on the other hand, ate most of the dish while thinking it was probably cooked that way for a reason (?).

We then waited twiddling our thumbs for about 45 minutes looking around until a waitress finally asked if we were okay. She took up the dishes and we waited another 30 minutes before canceling the rest of our order and leaving.

I'm sure they don't need our business, but it would've been nice to have been treated as if they did. Also, probably our ignorance on how risotto rice should be cooked, but that first encounter will likely keep us away from ordering the dish from future restaurants. Picture absolutely does no justice, but you can probably still see the white, hard centers...

Personally this is one of my favorite restaurants in Vicenza. From the atmosphere, to the venue, service and the food is absolutely amazing. If you’re an American and you’re just learning Italian, not to worry, the waiters/waitresses also speak English. I can’t say enough about the food- which is absolutely amazing. It’s hard to say no to desserts when they bring out the tray to you. So many lovely options. This is a must add to your list if you’re in the Vicenza area. Highly...