Osteria all' Orrido — Restaurant in Circolo di Locarno

The location is stunning, with its balcony 50m high overlooking the Maggia River next to Ponte Brolla Bridge. The menu of « gourmet burgers » which you could customize to your liking sounded very promising, they even had a Waygu beef option and special red and black burger buns. Without hesitation, all three of us chose their special Waygu beef burger with a wild mushroom sauce and crispy onions on a red bun. We were famished after spending the past 8 hours descending two canyons and were very eager to sink our teeth into this juicy delicacy that was advertised. The restaurant was only half full so we didn’t expect a long wait. It took them 20 minutes to take our order, I asked if I could add cheese to mine and was quickly served with a disapproving look advising me not to ruin this delicate meat with a layer of additional fat, feeling rather embarrassed for the suggestion I accepted the waiter’s instructions and reluctantly opted not to take cheese. Twenty thirsty minutes later and we finally had our beers. I must say that the Moretti grand cru ale was rather delicious.

After a full hour, our bellies ached with emptiness and we were feeling rather annoyed. At this very moment we were presented with our meals….

At first glance the burgers looked rather appetizing however it was already clear that something wasn’t as advertised. The buns were not red, but white. We thought no big deal, a red bun is really just for visual effect, no noticeable effect on the taste and anyway as hungry as we were those burgers wouldn’t be seen for longer than a few short minutes. I like to cut mine in half to get the view of the cross section, my friends both bit right into theirs. Luckily the knife was serrated, the bread was so stale this was like sawing into a cinder block. Before finishing my center cut both friends were already groaning about the dryness and lack of taste. I looked at the cross section of this burger and was faced with a half inch thick slice of gray Firestone sidewall. The taste was something like the head of a burnt match wrapped in sandpaper, fortunately for me I was advised not to add fat! Each bite required two gulps of ale to go down at least the beer was good.

We normally would not have eaten it if we were not so hungry but even then we could not bring ourselves to finish this catastrophe. My friend mentioned he’d better not as he was still paying for his dental work. So we decided to do what we rarely ever do, send it back! We called the waiter over and told him our dilemma, showing him this charcoal briquette of a burger. To which he replied with shrugged shoulders and saying « ah, it’s well done » and walked away. We were a bit stunned by this apathy for a moment but after another 10 mins we decided to call another waiter over and show her the problem. Luckily she was more responsive. She was kind enough to remove the burgers from our bill in the end and wanted to offer us deserts, that we...

Best burger I’ve ever had. By. Far! This was amazing and I can only recommend it to anyone else. The view is fantastic and you really forget that you are sitting close to the road as you hear the water all the time rushing through the gulley. It is really a peaceful place to visit and have a burger and a break. I shouldn’t forget but this was another highlight and utterly important- the lovely staff working in the Osteria made it special and rounded up the experience. If I could give more than five stars I would do so in...

I had a great experience at this fantastic place, wonderful service (thank you Kenya!), very good Cappucchino, and the sweet potatoe fries and salad were lovely as well. Highly recommandable, the view is just stunning, the Maggia river flowing directly down beneath in the canyon. Very peaceful despite the...