Fiaschetteria “Pistoia” — Restaurant in Amsterdam

Unexpectedly disappointing. Although I’ve not been to their restaurant on Utrechtsestraat, I had heard so many good things about this restaurant, so we were extremely keen to try their new branch on Lindengracht. From the moment we arrived, we felt extremely rushed to order and then get out. With about half an hour to go before needing to vacate our table we were just suddenly served the bill which most people would consider extremely rude and uncomfortable (mentioned on numerous other Google reviews too). The atmosphere is also extremely chaotic - there is so much noise and a constant whining of the pasta machine that my ears were literally ringing after dining here - it is very overwhelming and unpleasant. Then, while I’m not usually a fan of food taking long to reach the table, there needs to be a balance. Unfortunately the very quick turnaround time (5 mins tops - which added to sense of being rushed) from ordering was evident in the quality of food we were served. For starters, the bread should have just been left off (somebody needs to revisit the recipe and add salt), and the pasta portion size and quality of cooking (flavor and technique) did not correlate with the price. You can quite honestly eat better pasta and get a much better level of service at Spaghetteria for a better price. Finally, the wine menu is essentially a physical cage of wines with little to no explanation offered over the differences as the staff are clearly too rushed. Overall a very disappointing dining experience for a restaurant that has managed to successfully establish itself in another part in the same...

food poisoning from their food (!) mixed feelings about service expensive (albeit tasty)

As the result: 1 star

When I arrived in snow storm, completely soaked and frozen, the waiter stopped me in the door asking if I have a reservation, which I did with my two other friends already there. I looked from the door opening to see if my friends were waiting for me and couldn't see them. I panicked because I thought I was maybe at the wrong pistoia (2 locations in Ams). The waiter, seeing a soaked woman in distress, was polite enough to tell me that prob this is what happened (wrong location) but he did not offer me to come inside and e.g. have a tea to warm up (I was shaking). When I finally got a hold of my friends, turned out they were sitting in that very same restaurant, just tucked away in the corner, and I would have seen them if invited by the waiter to take a look (which he did NOT). So this gentleman definitely lost points on service there.

Once seated and trying to warm up, we were rushed through the courses and presented with a heavy bill. Food was great all along, but some parts were strange (bread tastes like paper? too much oil in pasta?). Portions were little and too pricey. Desserts were excellent but again too small.

But the worst part happened after: their pasta with cinghiale made me SO SICK I spent the whole night being awake and miserable. That was the only thing that I ate that others did not. Too bad for Pistoia, I will not come back and will tell all friends to not go there -...

I’m quite disappointed in this restaurant. The food was absolutely fine, fresh and prepared in a true Italian way. But the staff completely missed the mark.

I’ve never met Italians who were this rude. We had a reservation at 18h (and they work with time slots here, Amsterdam’s way of turning postage-stamp-sized restaurants into cash cows). By 18:40, we finally had our wine on the table. In the meantime, the staff was just busy rushing back and forth, cramming people into their tiny tables.

Ordering an appetizer first and then deciding on your main course is simply not an option at this place, as we quickly learned. The waiter told us we had to order everything at once (to keep things moving I assume).

Well, things certainly moved quickly because as long as we waited for our wine, our food and dessert were served just as fast. The time slot ended at 20h, and by 1945, the staff was already standing at our table with the card machine. We honestly shared our thoughts about how everything was handled, and their response was: “We’re just doing our best.”

From our experience, it was all completely lacking in the warm hospitality Italy is known for. These folks should take a trip back to Italy and spend some time at their uncle and aunt’s restaurant to remind themselves what Italian hospitality truly stands for, because here in Amsterdam, they’ve...