La Felicetta Restaurant Trattoria — Restaurant in Viterbo

I previously rated this local family heritage restaurant very highly. Unfortunately, the daughter of the original owner has lost her way. Perhaps the stress of Covid restrictions, perhaps general decline that sometimes occurs with children of the original owner. I ate outside, and had to basically do calisthentics to gain attention. I was seated with less than courtesy, then properly ignored, at a table filthy with remnants from the overhead vines which could have the potential for ambiance. Granted, there was wind, but I've gardened for years... the tables should be removed and a good brushing to remove debris regularly is in order if you don't want to serve decent dishes atop garden debris.

After insisting on service, it was granted, but not without a bit of lightly disguised attitude. Plates were unceremoniously plopped down without a single word extra, and I felt like my presence was more an annoyance than a privilege for the establishment to serve guests and earn a living.

Slow, discourteous, inattentive, tables littered with vine debris and not a single effort to brush it clean. I had to do it myself. After all of that, every single thing had to be requested... water, caffè, conto... I was very disgusted. The bill was much more than expected, and while the quality of the food was good, it was ruined by all else. Maybe another chance, but likely not.

UPDATE: A good friend with whom I was dining in the above experience (at my suggestion, I was ashamed) returned to give the place another chance. He had requested a slight change to the dish, which the wait staff asked about, then returned and abruptly stated it was difficult if not impossible. They suggested they would try another accommodation for my friend in his request for the dish, then brought something entirely different, unrequested and not to his liking. After this, the daughter-owner (the father was an entirely different story on my first experience there for my excellent review), told my friend he was never welcome in their restaurant again... as if his request was outlandish and their error to be accepted wholeheartedly. Absurd!! Never, ever again. When will establishments learn that they offer service to the customer, not the other way around? It's as if a great privilege for the customer to come, tolerate just anything slammed in front of them, then compliment them for the privilege to pay a price higher than the local average....

Love this place! The hostess spoke very little English, but whipped out her phone and translated everything we needed to know like a pro! She inspected our American COVID cards and after passing inspection she pushed us into seats and started going over the menu using her phone to cover what words she needed to supplemented in english for us. Then a gentleman seated just to our left jumped up and helped her explain things and another lady off to our right side was also poised to jump in. What a friendly awesome place for to Americans just coming into Viterbo! We had carbonari (?) Spaghetti noodles with (local?) Bacon (panchetta?) pieces and eggs in it. It was so tasty! After that the second dish was local rabbit braised in a sauce that we couldn't figure out, but was just so much flavor! (Rabbit went down to fast for pictures 😁) We will...

I tend to give good experiences a 4 star review, as it's near impossible to have a "perfect" experience. The more I think of my dinner at La Felicetta, the less I am able to nitpick it.

This is the kind of restaurant that makes you want to move to Viterbo to eat there as often as possible. The owners are present both in preparing and serving the food, which means there is true care being given to ensure the experience is a positive one.

All options on the menu are tried and true traditional recepies and you really can't go wrong no matter what you order. The quality of the ingredients is superb.

Rather than this being a "Let's go to Terme dei Papi and then eat somewhere" this actually steals the spotlight and is more of a "Let's go to La Felicetta and then maybe swing by the...