Dishonest Service, Bad Food, Vegetarian Violation
- September 29, 2008
- Rated 1 of 5 by
giselle25 from Rotterdam, Netherlands
This restaurant egregiously violated my expressed vegetarianism, offered no apology, and then charged me for the meal. In my 17 years as a vegetarian I've never been so mistreated in a restaurant before or since. The dishonesty was unforgivable: the condescending waiter assured me the dish I ordered - pappardelle with squash blossoms - was completely vegetarian, then when it arrived, tasting mightily unvegetarian, the manager confirmed it was actually fried in pancetta, shrugging that the waiter should've warned me. They then sent out the worst tasting pasta pomodoro I've ever had in Italy. At the end of the meal the bill included the price of the offending pappardelle, which they very reluctantly lowered to the cost of the pomodoro replacement dish upon my complaining. Fuming, after paying and on my way out the door, I told the waiter and manager that they needed to respect vegetarian clients by either providing properly vegetarian food upon request or by admitting to their restaurant's unsuitability and advising vegetarians to dine elsewhere. The chauvinism and machismo of the waiter and manager were obvious: they wouldn't accept being corrected by a woman and didn't care to try to make it up to me. My whole experience of Milan was blackened by this catastrophe and I don't intend to return to the city. A stack of money couldn't compensate for this violation, and I wasn't even offered the courtesy of a comped dish.