Restaurant L'Aurora — Restaurant in Geneva

I have travelled the world extensively over 40 years. I ate at all restaurants ranging from pop & mom’s to Michelin three stars. This is my honest review of the restaurant L’Aurora in Eaux-Vives neighborhood, Geneva, Switzerland.

Tucked away in a small alley, this charming restaurant has two separate entrances — one for the wine bar side and another for the dining area. The restaurant also features a few outdoor tables right in the alley, which can be perfect on those early warm spring days or later in summer when you’re looking for a quiet terrace with character.

The service was very friendly and welcoming. We were offered a small amuse-bouche of focaccia with a mozzarella cream — a nice touch, though the focaccia could have used a bit more seasoning.

As a starter, we had the beef carpaccio, which was very well seasoned and made with fresh, well-cut slices of beef. For the main course, we tried the cuttlefish risotto. The portion was generous and the dish was nicely balanced in flavor. The cuttlefish was served fried, which added some texture, though we felt fresh, non-fried cuttlefish might have suited the dish even better.

Overall, a very good experience with a pleasant atmosphere, friendly staff, and flavorful dishes — with just a few small areas for...

Terrible experience ! We were late for our reservation, we apologized and got seated. The waitress was clearly pissed while taking our order. We were 2 people but ordered one main course, a wine and a dessert. She asked "only one for 2 people?", we said yes, she left without saying anything. 1 minute later someone from the restaurant arrived -also pissed- telling us "this is a restaurant. You cannot only order dessert". We explained that we had also ordered a main course and drink and he said "which one did you order? show me on the menu". We showed him and he was about to leave without saying anything (no one says "thank you" in this restaurant apparently). We told him that his behavior was unnecessarily impolite, he said that he didn't speak English and told us to leave the restaurant!! In short, it was the rudest behavior I've ever experienced in a restaurant! If there is a minimum consumption required, write it, dont kick people out ! Updated: the owner just replied that they kicked us out because they didnt want to give a table for a small consumption. We were not aware. And there is a politer way to say that to your customer instead of “you need...

Sadly, I had high expectations coming in as it was recommended to me by multiple people. However things went wrong from the very beginning.

As a fan of Italian cuisine, I do expect quality and taste, but I can make the difference between great food and my own taste. In this case, not only did my plate arrive very late, not to say they forgot it, there was nothing special about it and frankly, as a whole, much of the ingredients didn't feel properly incorporated.

Mistakes happen, and the chef, as a professional came and asked what was wrong. Very nice guy.

None the less, the owner, who's pride clearly surpassed his professionalism, felt insulted, and didn't hesitate not only to do zero commercial gestures, but made made us clearly understand we where not welcomed again. Firstly by not giving us a chocolate with the coffee as opposed to other tables(maybe the Italian way of saying you're an idio**) which is the least we felt, secondly, I would've loved not to write this and speak with him directly, but he gently turned his eyesight away when we where leaving.

This is my first, and hopefully last...