La Lanterna — Restaurant in The Hague

First off, let me begin with the small and quite unfriendly entrance! In which we had to wait 10 minutes for our reserved table.

Once we had been sat down, on this small table with a cold wind everytime the door opened, the waiter immediately expected from us to tell him what we would like to eat as starters. I mean, c'mon, we just sat down 1 minute ago. He even was ill tempered when we responded with the question to see the menu.

After a bit of hassle, 1 waiter came up to take our orders, whilst we were calling it out he interrupted us with an advisory plate. Before any of us really had decided he took it as a done deal and went to arrange the dish. Since they took the menu's rather quick after, we were just in awe/doubt to see what we would get.

Eventually, after about.. 30/45 minutes, we had 3 plates which contained fish and a small portion of meats. 2 plates fish, and 1 plate with small meat ( 3 types ).

Since 2 of the company of 4 didn't like fish, the dish was quite dissappointing. The taste of the given dishes was rather enjoyable though! It would have been nice to know though, that this particular dish was going to cost us €75,-

Well.. starters done, up to the main dish.. which, well, we had to wait another 1,5 hour for to get. That's just amazing right? Since they had so much time to prepare the main dishes, you'd think it was to be perfect... right?? Well.. think again, they weren't.

Main 1 and 3; chicken with massala sauce, chicken had a "glassy" texture.. it tasted very neutral, no flavouring at all.

Main 2; entrecote with gorgonzola sauce, i mean.. it was nice.. I ordered this, however.. when you want medium/raw, and you get the steak like.. fresh from the butcher rare..after 1,5 hour? Something is wrong there.

Main 4; steak dish, no comment, was good according to friend who ordered this.

With all of this, you'd expect some garnishes whom lift the mains up, but.. we had a DAMN plate with, raw cauliflower, watery broccoli and rather well tasting jagged potato's.

We didn't even make it to the desserts as we had lost all trust.. but mostly all time in that evening. We went home rather dissapointed and with empty wallets.

In total we were billed a staggering €256,75.. wonderfull.. not.

My advice.. avoid this establishment, but if you go, avoid the advisory waiters and take your time to explore the menu. Also plan your entire evening for a...

I ordered via Thuisbezorgd. They said it takes approx. 50min on average. After 1h 10min I called the restaurant and they promised to be there within 20min. It took another 35min instead. So I ended up waiting for almost 2h. The food arrived hot. The Spaghetti aglio e olio were drained in oil. When I was done there was literally 1cm oil left in the container, which is way too much. The taste wasnt super, but acceptable. The potatoes I ordered were partly burned and didnt taste very well. I had to add some spices myself and they were too oily as well. The portion size of the Spaghetti was a bit small. The potatoes were a good size relating to the prize. All in all I will not order again. If you know it's going to take you longer, have the decency to call your paying customer and...

La Lanterna to me is everything that is great about a free world. The people here care about just one thing, providing you with a good meal. They do not care about image or status, they want to make your belly smile for the best price possible. Do you prefer to eat at home? No problem, for just 6,50 you have a great take out pizza. You want to sit down and take some time? That's fine, here you can wine and dine all that is fine about Italian cuisine. Good price, good food make for a great time. If you are just coming for a takeout, sit down and have a Italian Expresso while you wait. If you are feeling funky make it an Amaretto. Let la lanterns illuminate your path to...