Verona restaurant recommendation
 

I'm recently returned from a very pleasant week in Riva del Garda, at the top of lake Garda in Italy. We flew in and out of Verona and decided to spend a day in Verona itself on our way back. I'm going to wimp out (yet again!) from doing a full trip report but I just have to share a restaurant recommendation in Verona.

A couple of weeks before we left Ireland for Italy, one of the weekend papers carried a feature by an Italian restaurant critic based in Ireland in which he listed his favourite 30 restauraunts in the world. One was in Verona and we know Paulo is pretty fussy when it comes to Italian food so we figured it must be good and we took a note of the name.

The restaurant is called Antica Bottega del Vino, 3 Via Scudo di Francia, 37121 Verona, Tel 045 8004535 (very close to the Piazza delle Erbe). A plaque on the outside lists it as a historic buildings in Verona and it is one of the few remaining taverns from the 19th century in Verona.

We happened upon it by chance and decided to try our luck later in the evening. We turned up around 7:45, without a reservation and with a 7 month old baby, neither of which we thought would increase our chances of getting a table!! We were lucky and the staff made us feel incredibly welcome . The food was excellent. Paulo had mentioned in his review that the house speciality is Risotto all' Amarone. I would go back to Verona in the morning for this dish. It was superb. The waiters were great. They helped us by suggesting a wine from the enormous wine list that was exactly what we wanted (and at EUR50 was one of the more reasonable wines), they were great with the baby and service was faultless.

I think the Risotto was around EUR11. For main course we chose chateuabriand (EUR52 for 2) which I think was the most expensive main course, and we had 2 desserts. All in all with our EUR50 bottle of wine the meal came to EUR147. We could have chosen cheaper wine and main courses but figured we should go all out! Given the quality of the food and the great atmosphere we felt it was good value. It was one of the most memorable meals I've ever had.

If anyone would like details of hotels we stayed in in Riva or Verona or other information, I'd be happy to share details.

Jane

ttt

We were in Verona last year for the Mille Miglia. It is a great city with wonderful restaurants.

I am planning a trip to Verona and would love any hotel recommendations!

You may email me if you wish.

Thanks!

A few of the best meals I have ever enjoyed in Italy have been in Verona. (Although I did not have a chance to sample their famous horse meat preparations!)

If you ever visit New York City, you might be interested to know that Bottega del Vino has a branch in midtown Manhattan. But I do think the Verona original has superior food! Quite a wine list and array of wines by the glass, as well! Glad you enjoyed, LittleJane and thank you for posting..

I enjoyed my 1-week stay at the Hotel Verona in October 2005. It's convenient, nice and functional, the location is excellent and easy to reach from the train station. I would gladly return.
http://www.hotelverona.it/

ekscrunchy says "A few of the best meals I have ever enjoyed in Italy have been in Verona. (Although I did not have a chance to sample their famous horse meat preparations!)"

My wife and I found ourselves in a Verona restaurant that had donkey on the menu, prompting her locally famous statement, "I never eat anything that wears a hat!"

The hotel we stayed in in Verona was the Hotel Mastino. It's a reasonably priced 3 star.

We stayed in the modern part of the hotel which is across the road and down a quiet side street. It is functional, has all the amenities you would want and the location is fantastic, right beside the arena.

I would definitely recommend this hotel for a one or two night stay in Verona. If I was staying longer personally I would want somewhere more luxurious and with a swimming pool but for a 1-night city break the Mastino was perfect.

ekscrunchy, thanks for the info. I remember they said they had other restaurants but I had forgotten where. And I was amazed in Riva del Garda when we went shopping for baby food in the supermarkets to see jars of horsemeat for babies from 4 months plus. I knew horsemeat was a delicacy there but didn't know it was such a staple part of the diet they would even have a baby food version.

Littlejane: I am bowled over by the horse meat baby food idea! I had NO idea! It might almost be worth bringing one of those jars home as a quirky gift!

To add to your great information, one of my favorite restaurants from my two days in the city is Al Pompiere; I do not see it mentioned much in the various guides but I had one of my finest meals EVER in Italy there. (Specialty is salumi; not sure if horse is on the menu!)

And I second the Bottega del Vino recommendation; we had snacks at the bar and they let us taste various glasses of Valpolicella and Amarone for no charge after we bought one or two glasses...lots of atmosphere in that place; I wish I had had more time there...

The best meal we've ever had in Verona was at Il Desco at Via Dietro S. Sebastiano 7. It looked like just another restaurant but the food was incredible. They had a multicourse dinner for 100 euro but we just order ala carte as we didn't want to eat that much. We stayed in a very large suite (reasonably priced) at Hotel Leon d'Oro just outside the old town gate.

We are just back from two weeks in Italy and France and wanted to report on a terrific B and B we stayed in Verona- I believe I found it on Trip Advisor but thought that it is a must to pass on to Fodorites! It is called Domus Nova. Check out their websitehttp://www.domusnovaverona.it/.
The location is terrific it is right on Piazza dei Signiori with views of the Bell tower and the Square from the room’s balconies. They have 3 rooms each with their own bathroom. They are large rooms and with the common area that is used for breakfast it seems like a cozy apartment for rent! The breakfast was served to us by two women – fresh fruit and excellent pastries! The common sitting area is for breakfast or to unwind in following a long day or for an afternoon break. The rooms were so beautiful- there were paintings on our ceiling that were 800 years old- all of the linens are top quality, bedding was very conformable and even a Jacuzzi shower! Also important at this time of year of is the a/c system which was excellent. The hosts Giovanni and Anna Roberti were lovely and very helpful. We took two rooms there for 4 nights. One for my husband and me the other with two twin beds for our teenagers. I would highly recommend anyone looking into visiting Verona to check this site out for superb accommodations, location and service.
If you do stay there try out the restaurant on the Piazza – we had really great pizza and pasta dishes there. One night when we stopped for a glass of wine the owner sent us complementary pizza which made us feel very welcome too!