56 Restaurants in Bologna – Diner Beware!
One reason for selecting Bologna is that it is famous for its cuisine. Well, I didn’t find it so. I was later told that Bologna’s reputation for good food lay more with foreigners than with the Bolognese. Perhaps many, many years ago there was truth to this myth. I was also told that if I wanted good Bolognese food I would have to go outside the city walls into the countryside. So, divest yourself of this myth. What Bologna does have, are some restaurants that are far from honest!
Bologna has several Southern or Sicilian owned restaurants, and you will more likely find these charging you more than they should. I first went to the Regina Marguerite, S.Stefano 40 for a fixed lunch and enjoyed the food. So I decided to go back for dinner. When I went to pay, I looked at the bill, trying to understand it when my waiter, “Guido” told me that he had made a “mistake” and deleted 7 euros that he had overcharged me! I went back again, and this time he found that he had made another “mistake” for 1 euro. I discovered that this restaurant is notorious for making “mistakes”. I took a friend to an upscale Sicilian restaurant, Panne e Panelle on via San Vitale 71 recommended by a fellow student for its fish dishes. When the bill arrived there was an item Varie [“various”] for 5 euros, but for the life of me I can’t think what this charge applied to.
Still, none of my experiences can equal what happened to my friend. He had found a restaurant just up from Piazza Verdi in the university area. It too was a “southern” restaurant, [the name escapes me, but one room serves also as a store] and according to the owner serves a cuisine from Lucca, Sicily. When my friend received the bill, he was quite amazed to discover 10 euros charged for two dolce [desserts] which none of our party had even ordered! To add insult to injury, the owner was less than graceful when my friend asked for the charge to be removed.
It was not Sicilian/southern restaurants that alone were guilty of such sharp practices. For example, my instructor took a school party for a farewell dinner to a modest looking trattoria named Il Cantinone at 56a via del Pratello. The food was good and prices reasonable and so I decided to go back on my own. I ordered “lasagne Bolognese” which is lasagne with meat in white sauce. All pastas were listed as between 7 to 8 euros. When I went to pay, the waitress screwed up her face in an unctuous smile and asked if I had enjoyed my dinner. I said yes, and was charged 13.50 euros for the lasagne! I paid this price for lasagne only one other time, at a much fancier and famous restaurant. On another occasion I invited my friends to dinner at Alferico, S.Stefano 33a. The waitress-- we suspect was an Eastern European-- served us with a smileless face, and when the bill arrived I noticed that she had charged me 51 euros for 4 main dishes. I knew that two of the dishes cost 12 euros each. Later I discovered that all four were each 12 euros!
The moral is check your bill and know what the dishes cost! There are, of course, honest restaurants in Bologna where waiters and managers do not indulge in sharp practices, but unfortunately, the dishonest ones leave a bad taste in one’s mouth. Such treatment will only harm Bologna’s efforts to encourage tourists to visit the city.
Before I give a list of restaurants and their charges, I will describe in my next blog a typical Italian meal and what I usually had for dinner.
Bologna has several Southern or Sicilian owned restaurants, and you will more likely find these charging you more than they should. I first went to the Regina Marguerite, S.Stefano 40 for a fixed lunch and enjoyed the food. So I decided to go back for dinner. When I went to pay, I looked at the bill, trying to understand it when my waiter, “Guido” told me that he had made a “mistake” and deleted 7 euros that he had overcharged me! I went back again, and this time he found that he had made another “mistake” for 1 euro. I discovered that this restaurant is notorious for making “mistakes”. I took a friend to an upscale Sicilian restaurant, Panne e Panelle on via San Vitale 71 recommended by a fellow student for its fish dishes. When the bill arrived there was an item Varie [“various”] for 5 euros, but for the life of me I can’t think what this charge applied to.
Still, none of my experiences can equal what happened to my friend. He had found a restaurant just up from Piazza Verdi in the university area. It too was a “southern” restaurant, [the name escapes me, but one room serves also as a store] and according to the owner serves a cuisine from Lucca, Sicily. When my friend received the bill, he was quite amazed to discover 10 euros charged for two dolce [desserts] which none of our party had even ordered! To add insult to injury, the owner was less than graceful when my friend asked for the charge to be removed.
It was not Sicilian/southern restaurants that alone were guilty of such sharp practices. For example, my instructor took a school party for a farewell dinner to a modest looking trattoria named Il Cantinone at 56a via del Pratello. The food was good and prices reasonable and so I decided to go back on my own. I ordered “lasagne Bolognese” which is lasagne with meat in white sauce. All pastas were listed as between 7 to 8 euros. When I went to pay, the waitress screwed up her face in an unctuous smile and asked if I had enjoyed my dinner. I said yes, and was charged 13.50 euros for the lasagne! I paid this price for lasagne only one other time, at a much fancier and famous restaurant. On another occasion I invited my friends to dinner at Alferico, S.Stefano 33a. The waitress-- we suspect was an Eastern European-- served us with a smileless face, and when the bill arrived I noticed that she had charged me 51 euros for 4 main dishes. I knew that two of the dishes cost 12 euros each. Later I discovered that all four were each 12 euros!
The moral is check your bill and know what the dishes cost! There are, of course, honest restaurants in Bologna where waiters and managers do not indulge in sharp practices, but unfortunately, the dishonest ones leave a bad taste in one’s mouth. Such treatment will only harm Bologna’s efforts to encourage tourists to visit the city.
Before I give a list of restaurants and their charges, I will describe in my next blog a typical Italian meal and what I usually had for dinner.
posted by Toby1939 at 10:52 AM
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