La Lanterna Di Spiazzi

Excellent small restaurant near nice atmosphere Hotel in Monte Baldo mountain with touch of nature and forest

Had lunch after our visit to the Madonna della Corona. We sat across the road with views across the valley. We had three pasta dishes and they were all good. Staff was pleasant and attentive. Got a free Limoncello.

I wouldn’t be writing a review at all, if I hadn’t received an email from La Lanterna asking about my experience. (They have my email address because we logged onto their internet/WiFi). So, we walked onto La Lanterna terrazzo -outdoor seating- after a visit of the Santuario Madonna della Corona, on 8th August 2022. This was about 2pm and the terrace wasn’t full. We ordered a Caprese and Melon Prosciutto ham to start with. These aren’t starters that need to be cooked. They need to be ‘assembled’. We waited ONE hour to be served. For the main dish we had asked for lasagna. Another half-hour wait. That made it a 1.5-hour wait, for a rather uncomplicated meal. We ate the lasagna with very little gusto as we didn’t have any appetite any longer. Then, as my husband got to the ‘centre’ of his lasagna, it proved to be cold inside. Anyway, we were impatient to leave so we got up to go pay the bill. A waiter had asked us how our meal went. We had told him that a lasagna was cold inside. Guess what? As we are leaving, to go pay, he says that he had checked, and it wasn’t cold inside. As we are paying, and we are asked to check our bill, my husband says he won’t be paying for one of the lasagne. (It’s a 10€ loss). Another waiter/maitre-d’ butts in and says that he had also checked, and the so-called cold lasagna had been quasi finished, and, no, it wasn’t cold. So, come to think of it, there were two waiters who probably had stuck their fingers into half-eaten lasagne to actually check if they were cold, and if we were lying!!! The second waiter —of subcontinental descent— got extremely cocky with us. And then I suddenly realised that there was probably some reverse snobbism/racism going on: I’m of Indian descent and he probably presumed we were trying to get a free meal out of them. The argument ended in a screaming match; and with us of course paying our entire bill…and the cost of a 10€ half-eaten cold lasagna is this bad review. There’s nothing extra-special about this restaurant. And, no, I don’t want to be waiting for ever for a (readymade) meal that takes 1.5 hours to be heated; that’s badly served; and then we are blamed for being liars.

Stopped here for a spritz, great view over the valley. Friendly staff who gave a very warm welcome and helpful advice about using the bus.

People working there are rude and ice cream is mediocre at best (strawberry sarbet). Go to another place for a pitstop.