Giardini di Olivedo

"We had a lovely lunch at Olivedo today. The service was great and the food was delicious. They ran out of the menu item that two of us ordered and when I changed to an item that was more expensive they didn’t charge me the extra. That’s what I call going above and beyond."

Jennie Hardware

"There are a few things that went wrong during my visit.

1) When I ordered at the bar, the receptionist kept asking us to order more food, appetizers and drinks. Even though we said we didnt want to. It made us really uncomfortable. I get it that youre trying to upsell and get us to buy more food, but please do it nicely and dont smirk at us for not ordering appetizers?!

2) We ordered at 19:45. At 20:45, the food still didnt come. We went to ask at the cashier, and only after reminding them, then did the chef turned on the stove and started cooking and promised to serve the food in 10mins. Fortunately this was the case.

3) Unfortunately the food was a huge disappointment. They costed 20 euro a plate, but the taste was mediocre, like microwavable food.

4) We paid right after ordering, before we ate the food. After we finished the meal and wanted to leave, the staff asked us “have you paid yet?” Normally this is a normal question but since we have had 3 disappointing instances, it was really upsetting for them to do this.

++++

On the bright side, the view was awesome. But this has nothing to do with the restaurant."

Jan F

"I usually refrain from giving negative reviews and I'm not usually picky over food, but my experiences today have really encouraged me to share so you can make an informed decision while in Varenna 🙏🏼

First of all, the staff that took our order was very rude: we ordered enough food and drink for 5 people, including 5 main dishes, and the staff kept judging our orders and pushed us to order more again and again. When we said no, he was giving us an attitude.

Upon completing our order, we paid immediately.

Drinks and appetizer came rather quick. And then they had us waiting for the main dishes. After 1 hour of wait and the food didn't come, one of my friends went to the order station (which is next to the kitchen). The kitchen staff was just chilling and they weren't cooking any food. My friend got really angry and only then, they started cooking our food. They said it'd be ready in 10 mins.

After such a long wait (and spending a huge amount of money, i.e. €20 per main dish), the food that were served were really really disappointing. I've had great food in Italy, but the food served here are even worse than those that you can buy from supermarket and microwave yourself.

At the end, when we were leaving, multiple staffs kept asking us whether we have paid. Under normal circumstances, this might be okay, but given our back-to-back negative experiences, this was like adding more fuel to the fire.

Honestly, one of the worst experiences I've ever had and it was really sad because I loved Varenna the moment we reached. Such a lovely city, but our memories are tainted due to this experience.

Please please please avoid this place as much as possible 🙏🏼"

Maggie