Bottiglieria 1881 Restaurant — Restaurant in Krakow

I write this review after my first visit in Bottiglieria 1881 and a degustation menu with wine paring. I wish to say that since long time I was looking to go to Bottiglieria 1881, but the recent 1-star Michelin award made me convinced about the quality I could find in this place.

As automotive publisher & journalist I’ve been traveling around Europe, visiting various starred restaurants, such as Jean Claude Leclerc (France), Viva Viviana Varese (Italy), etc.

What brings you to a Michelin starred restaurant is the wish to get a 360° experience, something to remember for long time and share with friends. Unfortunately, this time such experience didn’t happened at all.

Service, music and the whole atmosphere were not good as a Michelin starred restaurant should be. I don’t know when the inspectors of Michelin were here and if, because of the outbreak, the staff changed. For sure yesterday the service was cold, never smiling, not really skilled and willing to spontaneously well explain the dishes, the preparation, etc.

Since we arrived, as the table given was a bit dark, I kindly asked for a candle, but… “no candles available”. No candles in a high standard restaurant?! Ok, maybe because this is not a right place for a romantic dinner. We discovered in fact that the restaurant plays all the time loud club music. When I gently asked if this is the music they play usually, the waiter replied “yes, we like to make the atmosphere loud…”. Ok, weird for me. But it’s their style which you don’t expect from such an expensive and quite elegant restaurant.

The same guy, when served us the first wine, didn’t say anything about the bottle, I had to ask. His answer was really short, making me feeling he didn’t really know much about it. Also, it was weird for me to see him holding back the bottle with the full palm over the bottleneck, right where the wine is poured, while he didn’t have white gloves or a cloth… not hygienic at all, especially nowadays.

Other issue was that, as we were downstairs, the waiters were coming down rarely, forgetting to take back empty wine glasses, etc. Also, the difference in time between the wines and dishes, was too high. Especially when you serve a cold white wine (half glass in the degustation menu) and the dish arrive 10 minutes later, when the wine is warm or already drunken…

Going to the food part. The dishes were generally tasty, the “mise en place” really beautiful but sometimes too simple. I personally found a few dishes not really sophisticated and deserving a Michelin star.

This made me thinking that they could have changed the menu. In fact, I’ve been told that 4 dishes were introduced the day before. One of them was the duck breast, not tender as a duck in a fine dining dinner should be, also the wine pairing was not matching. The high tannin red wine served, was leaving the mouth too dry for such a gentle and not fatty meat. The meringue with rhubarb was a bit sticky at the palate.

So, these changes in the menu were not a really good idea. Maybe the main target was justifying the new price of the degustation sets, which compared to the menu published in Facebook one week ago (when we booked) got around 30% higher… plus now they even charge 12,5 % for the service which before was only for big groups. Our dinner (4 ppl) costed more than 2500,00 including 270,00 PLN (!) of service. Service which didn’t deserve any tip actually and made the whole experience really low quality.

I don’t recommend this place unfortunately, I find other restaurants in Krakow much better and with higher quality of service, such as: Fiorentina, Biala Roza, Farina, etc.

If you are looking for a real Michelin star experience,...

Some time has passed since my visit. I wanted to have some distance to my experience at this restaurant.

Food is ok. Nothing out of this world, rather what was to be expected at a such gourmet, awarded place. Maybe except for artichoke dumplings which were smothered with red wine sauce completely overwhelming this humble vegatable and a cod fillet with a gazing hole in it (surely pierced with a thermomether in order to check its inner temperature).

What was really anoying though is the service. Each dish is brought to you and collected afterwards from you by a different server who additionally says „It was amazing dish, right?” What are you suppoused to answer to such imperative question? Having constantly a new person at your table dissolves the possibility of a mutual experience and sort of guidance by a representative of a restaurant. Sommelier makes you feel stupid and uncomfortable, even if she is right and I am wrong, there different ways to say that „It’s the first time I hear that Chablis is a full body wine” or „I do not care about Polish wines because I did not need to study them for my certification”.

Tables are really narrow and small. A bit claustrophobic even. Please avoid a table in the celler beneath the stairs, opposite to a toilet. I cannot imagine eating at that table with people coming down the open stairs directly above my head.

Overall, the service made this experience really upsetting. All these remarks were shared with the maitre d’ restaurant who listened carefully to our remarks for good 10 minutes and thanked us for them. Nevertheless the obligatory service fee of 12,5% was added to our bill.

This place (for me) is very patronising and prententious. It made me feel very uncomfortable and not welcomed. A big no-no for me. Maybe it is a harsh critique, but I believe that the only restaurant in Poland with a Michelin star should be kept to higher standards and more may be expected of it than from other not so highly...

After getting to know about the recent Michelin Star rating I was successfully getting a table spontaneously by writing an email a day before. The website is showing that booking a table in the near future is really not easy at B1881. For every gourmet reading this review I have to say at this point, that I’m not the right person to listen to. But for someone who is usually drinking a beer and visiting average restaurants, but who is interested and open for new food and wine experiences I guess my rating is pretty significant.

Kajetan (the sommelier) was welcoming us and during the starters inviting us to the wine cellar to show us around and finding out what he could serve for the main courses. We were choosing white wine and the wine was matching my expectations towards being suitable for the average wine drinker but at the same time giving some interesting taste experience. The 7 dishes (plus starters and deserts) were really tasty and for my “average tang” definitely a extraordinary experience. It was very recognizable that most dishes had a polish touch by the spices used or by being based on more traditional polish dishes.

The atmosphere is relaxed and more easy going. As I was told from my colleague, that for a Michelin Star restaurant the service is different but we both appreciated that it wasn’t that stiff as it would be in the surrounding...

The overall pricing was totally reasonable. Around 950 PLN (ca 200 EUR) for 2 person for 7 dishes plus 3 starters and 3 deserts with Wine, sparkling wine and water is in my opinion ok and reasonable.

@B1881: in case you’re reading this it it would be awesome to receive my invoice as...