La Famiglia — Restaurant in Alkmaar

Ordered 3 pizzas, focaccia, bruschetta and carbonara and drinks total of €78.00 Every single dish was horrible. Specifically:

All pizzas were cold, the dough was not handled properly (cooked from cold) and ingredients were not sliced thinly but uneven chunks; therefore, the end result was pizzas with a chewy / stale dough, and vegetables that tasted like they were boiled. There was no love or care on these pies.

The focaccia was embarrassing to look at (see image in aluminum foil). How can that piece of cracker be called a focaccia? There was not even a sprinkling of sea salt or any type of herb. Plus it was baked like it was a crispy cookie. I thought it was a stale piece of pita bread that was re- baked. Supposedly it came with herb butter. Well, no - it was a very old garlic smelling type of margarine.

The Carbonara portion was small, cold, no seasoning, maybe a tablespoon of really runny sauce at the bottom of the bowl. It was overcooked pasta and no flavour at all! Very disappointing. Also …. There were pieces of spaghetti and tagliatelle in my carbonara!!! I don’t know about anyone else but I find it gross to think that other dishes were made using either the same pan or the strainer wasn’t properly cleaned before making this order.

The bruschetta … €10 for very 4 thin slices of stale bread that wasn’t even grilled or baked. It looked like crostini not bruschetta. No olive oil - how can any type of Italian cooking not have plenty of Italian olive oil and fresh herbs. The tomato con case tasted like a plain tomato salsa with tons of garlic.

Overall - I’m amazed there are so many good reviews about this place. Do people know how to eat? Folks - respect your hard earned money - do not settle for mediocre or bad. Food is supposed to be...

With the vomar actie: Very bad deal, cheap starter, poor quality main course and ice for dessert (decoration was nice however). On top of that, one main course was not what was ordered, and the other was not as described (just basic pasta instead of oven baked pasta). I gave feedback to the manager, who was a bit receptive. However he explained that his target was to cook with 15 euros in mind / person because of the dheap offer. He said that if I want better food, I should come back for à la carte (which maybe could be a little better, but still... just oce for dessert on the full menu), and that he cannot afford to cook for 30euros / person with the deal. On the plus side he was honest, but I will never come back again. Wine 12.5euros, bottle water 6.5... What annoyed me the most was that when mentioning the wrong order, they were not trying their best to please us... because it was the vomar deal... Again and again they reminded us that by paying less, we get less. Very clear! But on the positive...

Ordered a Carciofedda with extra olives for collection. On opening the box, I realised they had forgotten the olives, plus the artichoke looked grey, and the sundried tomatoes amounted to a bit of scattered minced stuff across the surface. It was cooked well and the base was crispy, but the tomato sauce didn't taste of much, there was hardly any cheese, the toppings tasted of nothing and as mentioned the olives were forgotten despite paying for them. Decently cooked but let down by poor...